TIP 4 mile, Lawrence, MA

Sunday morning, I went over to Lawrence, MA to race in the TIP 4 mile road race which started and finished at the Claddagh Restaurant. Previous races from the Claddagh usually start on Essex Street and head up Water Street towards Tower Hill and feature a nice out and back course. The course for today was more of a tour of South Lawrence as it crossed the Middle bridge and took us out towards Winthrop Avenue and ended up out on Route 28 and came back down South Broadway and back over the Middle bridge via Merrimack Street with a final loop around the restaurant. It was pretty flat with two minor hills and a nice downhill on Route 28 at the now defunct Nassar Ford. Well,enough about the course and lets get to the race.

It was a small field (117 runners) and with all the other racing going on, the field was pretty slim. I decided to take it out with some effort and hit the mile in 5:15. I was all alone and just kept form and hit two miles in 10:50. As I approached mile 3 (16:47), it was getting very windy and it slowed me down a bit especially as I crossed the bridge for the second time. I wanted to break 22:00 but the quick first mile and the wind determined otherwise as I finished in an over 40 PR of 22:29.