Oh, and I got a bike trainer - one of only a few thanksgiving weekend shopping deals I totally jumped on. So I plan to be much, much better at keeping up with bike fitness. After all, 112 miles is a long ride.
But a quick answer to the "did you get that sub-60 10k??" question that you may be (or probably are not) asking....nope. I could be a little bummed....and ok, I AM, but....I was still not 100% healthy due to the stupid cold and the stupid knee (although I trace the knee back to my inadvertant GOTR 5k sprinting, so it's totally worth it). And the bigger issue is that there were close to 14,000 people doing this race. FOURTEEN FREAKING THOUSAND. And according to my estimates, over half of them had no clue how to line up or what the big-ass pace signs meant prior to the race. I burned out nearly all of my energy in the first three miles zig-zagging around people walking all over the road.
No, really. I seriously think less than 10 people actually passed me, and I was passing people like crazy. When I wasn't kicking their heels and nearly slamming into their backs and looking wildly around for an opening in the crowd.
It's not just me. I have a couple of friends who ran the thing at a 6-7 minute pace and THEY were dodging walkers. WHAT. THE. EFF.
Anyway, the spirit of the race is fun, and IF I run it again, it will not at all be with a goal in mind. I ended up spending much of the race in a huge state of frustration.
But today, I found the official race pics and I just had to laugh. Running for a time goal in these conditions? Really? Just look - here I am at the finish line. Err, the white headband girl behind the guy in the maroon shirt kind of in the middle crossing the finish line, if you can even find me.
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| Yeah, I have no clue how I was able to look myself up and get this result, either! |
Yeah, I was super annoyed at the finish line. Those people right in front of me were WALKING and totally ruined my finish line kick. And pay no mind to the time at the top - it took me over 13 minutes just to cross the starting line. My official time was 1:02:20 - still a PR. And according to my garmin, a sub-10 pace per mile....I just added on an extra tenth of a mile dodging and weaving. Yeeha!
I guess that was pretty much my race recap (minus one detail: the line of walkers 5 across, less than half a mile in, at whom I had to yell "SOMEBODY 'SCUSE ME!!!" and they all looked at me like I lost my mind). Soon to come: the recap of those two weeks of not a lot of exercise, and an update on my current training (hint: I'm not being too hard on myself during the holidays, although it's still way more than sitting on the couch, for sure.)
Hope ya'll had a fantastic holiday. Next 10k will be my sub-60 for sure!
Thank you for reaffirming my decision to skip this run. People having no clue how to line up or to walk to the right frustrate me beyond words. Last time I did Race for the Cure, I was going around people so much that both of my ankles were sore & swollen afterward - and I'm not even that fast. You would think the race organizers would spend at least one of the pre-race-pump-you-up emails they send out, on racing etiquette. And maybe have a separate walk start time 10-15 minutes after the run start. Might not eliminate all of the problem, but could get rid of a lot of it.
ReplyDeleteThat may have something to do with my hateful knee, ya know? I hadn't thought of that but it's not like I do any zigzagging and side-stepping on my normal runs....ever. :)
ReplyDeleteI doubt an email would work. They specifically said "no dogs" on the website and there were people running with dogs. Sure, why not add to the chaos??? People who are clueless enough to line up with anything other than the "WALKERS" sign when they're walking are not going to pay attention to a racing etiquette email.
I do love the idea of a separate walk start, and once I figure out who to email a suggestion to, I'll do it. I still think the race would be plagued by (a) people who line up at a pace sign WAY faster than they actually run, or (b) people who think they're not a walker 'cuz they run the first quarter mile, but it would definitely help.