Bobby Doyle

 August 10th, 2025

Narragansett, RI

Bobby Doyle 5 Mile

I gave a bit more of my background heading into this race in the Kerri post, so check that out there. A short version of it was I didn’t have much time to prepare for Kerri and Doyle post-Laugavegur and I’d be treating them as early season rustbuster rather than goal races.

With a surprising 21:03 PR at Kerri (5:15 pace), I thought that meant I had the fitness to pursue my 5 Mile PR of 26:23 (5:16 pace). This would take a strong, well executed race like Kerri but I thought if they went similarly, it was a definite possibility. I had improved from 21:31 at Kerri to 26:36 at Doyle in 2023 (5:22 pace to 5:19 pace). Weather was a bit worse than Kerri being mid-70s and humid.

This would be my 4^th race for Notch, although being out of shape it was likely I wasn’t going to score for them as they had a loaded roster including a 2:09 marathoner.

Previous BD Results:

15- 113th, 28:31

16- 46th, 28:10 (very hot)

17- 13th, 26:52 (non-USATF NE year)

23- 48th, 26:36

Bobby Doyle has a great single loop course with only 5-6 turns, but unfortunately due to not being allowed to use Windermere Road anymore the course changed to and out and back format on Kinney road. This meant being unable to run the tangents and a few more turns.

The Race

I felt super sluggish on the warm-up, then purposely lined up in the 10th row or so to force myself to go out slower. It’s easier to control your pace at a race like Kerri than a USATF-NE race when the top 50 are going to blast out at sub-5 pace.

This worked well initially as I locked into 5:15 pace fairly early, but felt that slowing slightly and not feeling especially relaxed. My effort was perfect at half mile, but I may have overdone trying to get back into the race as I passed a lot of people the next half mile to hit the Mile in 5:09, a bit ahead of pace (with the downhill, 5:12 would have been ideal).

The little incline on Earles Court hit me a little harder than expected. My pace slowed a bit more than I’d like and I just felt super sluggish and didn’t feel very motivated to response with a surge or acceleration. I saw teammate Greg up ahead in a pack and wanted to get with him at least. My plan was to maintain around 5:15s through 5K, then hammer the last 2 miles coming back like I did in 2023. I caught Greg and he said hi, then remained in this pack. I noticed we were running way too slow, mid to high 5:20s pace here and that was reflected in a slower mile 2 split of 5:25. Normally in this situation, I’d just keep going on my own and not hesitate to pass, but the group was running like 3 wide and since half of Kinney was coned off for runners coming the other direction, this meant I was stuck with them until we turned.

As soon as we got to Point Judith, I passed them and tried to get back to a sub-5:20 pace. I was successful and started slowly passing other runners, but it just didn’t feel great at any point. I probably was a bit too aggressive- the 5:18 split for mile 3 was fine but the first half of that was probably at 5:25 pace, meaning close to 5:10 after that. I hit the 5K around 16:20 to 16:25. This was the time to move, aided by a slight downhill. In 2023, I felt fantastic here and dropped a 5:06 passing a lot of people. Here, I tried to go but really just managed to keep the gap even. I was running more like 5:20 pace and it felt super hard. I saw some Notch guys ahead and figured for sure I’d slowly close in on them and have a chance to outkick them later. Instead, they were slowly pulling away. I struggled to a 5:18 mile 4.

I knew at this point the PR wasn’t happening and I just wanted to keep it strong enough to not allow things to fall apart. A GBTC runner was right with me at Mile 4 and I stayed around him, passing a few runners over the last mile. With about a quarter mile to go, I passed the #2 female. I hadn’t planning on trying for a big kick, but didn’t want to be that random guy who tries really hard to outkick a top female and ruins their moment, so I made a hard move here. I ended up in a kicking battle with the GBTC runner, who just beat me to the line (although I beat him on chip time anyways). 5:13 final mile.

66th place- 26:38.

Thoughts

I was initially disappointed, after such a well executed race at Kerri I thought another PR was realistic, and I fell a bit short. I just didn’t feel great and didn’t have the extra gears late in the race to get me there. I was 16 seconds off, so I would needed more than a strong finish, but also a better Mile 2. Prior to this race, I had PR’d in every distance attempted this year which is a nice thing to say but this ended that. I also finished 66th overall and 7th for Notch- among, if not outright my worse USATF-NE and Notch finishes. It’s not a super meaningful stat given that this race was extremely deep and Notch had a fantastic roster, but it doesn’t feel very good to be so far back either. In 2023, I only ran 2 seconds faster but got 3rd for Notch (who placed the same in the team scoring) and placed 18 places higher.

Overall upon reflection, this was a solid early season race. 26:38 is a totally solid time for my fitness, and I would have been quite pleased with that had I not run a PR at Kerri. It just feels slightly disappointing as I probably could have been a bit better. Execution was solid too- only downside was maybe overcooking the 0.5-1 mile then slipping up a bit mile 2. After that I kept the foot on the gas, but just didn’t have sub-5:10s in me. Overall, a decent but forgettable race.

Run 4 Kerri

August 3, 2025- 9AM

South Kingstown, RI

 

Run 4 Kerri

 

After Laugavegur, I took a week off then had a really short turnaround to my first race for Run 4 Kerri. This was a much tighter constraint than I’d normally like- part of the reason the Boston block went so well right away was having 3 weeks of base building without workouts. I’d basically have none, having to prep for Kerri immediately. With Laugavegur mid-July, I couldn’t run Kerri and Bobby Doyle the following week with proper training. But I didn’t want to skip them for another year, especially Kerri which is one of my favorite local races.

Previous Results at Kerri (post-2015):

I’ve actually run this a lot before age 15, but will do the most recent results as those reflected more serious training/racing attempts:

2015- 22:42, 17th

2016- 21:10, 8th

2018- 21:04, 5th

2023- 21:31, 8th

I was in a similar position to 2023 going about it with limited training. I had slightly more prep time in 23’ and a hard Blessing of the Fleet 10M effort behind me then, but figured slight gains in fitness over time meant I should be able to replicate that level of fitness with slightly less time. So the goal was to run faster or about the same as 2023. I figured I’d shoot for an even 5:20 pace (21:20) and had a small window to fade if needed.

Coming into the race, in 2022 and 2023 I had used the final Westerly fun run as a hard tune up. I had run 16:43 in 2022 and then 16:16 in 2023. I thought I should be able to run in the 16:40s-16:50s range this time around. It didn’t go well whatsoever, as I could only manage a 17:16. This started putting some doubt in my mind for Kerri- I still felt 21:30 was possible, but it’d require a well paced effort. I also felt there was now the possibility of laying a goose egg and running over 22 minutes, which limited prep time or not, would not be a good start to the season.

The Race

While not perfect conditions, it was 69 degrees and not particularly humid, which is pretty good for this race. People go out quite fast in a 4 mile race, and I was quickly in 15th to 20th place. The first mile with a slight downhill is usually fairly relaxed/easy- I didn’t struggle, but didn’t feel amazing either. I ended up slightly ahead of schedule and hitting the mile in 5:15, the same as 2023. I ran the first mile side by side with someone, but he fell back a little shortly after and it was up to me to pick up the stragglers. I think I was around 15th place at the mile as this was a pretty deep year.

Shortly after turning onto Moonstone Beach my pace started to dip a little and I had to increase the effort a bit to stay on target. While I didn’t feel awful, this felt concerningly hard at this stage of the race- things usually are relaxed through 2 miles. Saw Chris Garvin on Moonstone. Turned onto Cards Pond and I was expecting things to feel or slow dramatically. I had the advantage this year of having a bunch of guys who went out a bit too fast ahead to chase. By keeping things steady, I was slowly making up ground which was a mental boost. Hit the 2 mile mark with a 5:17 split, still very strong.

Mile 1.3

In past disappointing races here, Mile 3 is really make or break. Cards Pond is long, hot and sunny then turning into the neighborhoods introduces tight turns and the one hill of the race. You can’t just keep things on cruise control- it takes a significant ramping up of the effort here to stay on pace. In 2023, I cruised through 2 miles then started feeling sluggish and really let things slip with a 5:28 Mile 3. I knew this was where I needed to focus if I wanted to run faster than 23’.

It helped significantly that Cards Pond felt warm rather than oppressively hot. And soon enough I got to the neighborhoods section and saw Matt Bouthilette just ahead of me as I slowly gained on him. I kept things solid without quite hammering, and was able to catch him and go past on the hill. This hill has crushed my momentum in past years, but this time around I didn’t feel terrible. My pace took a small hit, but I was able to slowly get it back. In 2023, I remember really trying to back on pace to no avail. Passing the 3 mile marker at 15:50 with a 5:20 3rd split meant I only needed a 5:40 final mile to match my 2023 time. I was pretty sure I’d be good for at least a 5:20, but thought a sub-5:10 was a little much. I was probably expecting 21:10s at this point. I had a strong kick in 23’ and likely wouldn’t be able to touch that. I caught a younger runner coming out of the neighborhoods. I had made a really big move here in 2023 and held it to the line. I made what felt more like a small pickup, accelerated a bit on the downhill, then hammered the final stretch to go past Sam Alexander. Surprisingly, a 9th place finish and 1 second PR for 21:03 with GPS getting the final mile at 5:07. Full results.

Mile 3.6

Thoughts

Very happy with this early result- with such limited prep time and the fun run tuneup not going great, anything close to 21:30 would be solid here. I executed this one nearly perfectly, fixed my mistakes from 2023, and ran a very efficient race to just get a PR. I think it’s likely my absolute best possible effort was a 20:55-21:00 here and I got really close to that.

Interestingly, today’s field was quite deep for recent years. 21:04 got 5th in 2018, 1 second faster was barely top 10 this year. Likewise, I ran 28 seconds faster than 2 years ago and placed worse. I really like this race- it has the local race vibe while still being very competitive. But not at an overwhelming level like Bobby Doyle where I’m often just one guy in a sea of runners.

Glad to get it right today, and a good sign for races this fall if I can stay healthy and get training right. Definitely hoping to get back to Kerri in the next few years, hopefully with more time to train and try to get back to the top 5.