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.