Saturday, May 13, 2006
Race Report: Chevy's Cinco de Mayo 5K
This race ended up being more of a learning experience than a honest to goodness race. The first thing that we learned was how to deal with a baby on race day. As much as we like cloth diapers, I think Oliver will have to wear disposables next time. I had to change a wet diaper with just a few minutes to go before the race started. Once he was changed, however, he was a happy camper.
The first time that my wife and I ran this race, Fleet Feet helped with the self-seeding process by placing pace cards on the side of the road every twenty yards or so. So if you were planning on running a 6:00/mile pace, you moved up to the start. If you weren't, you didn't, but found a pace group more geared towards runners of your ability. There are going to be people that overestimate their own ability, but you will find far fewer of them than when you just let everyone line up in the corral willy nilly. So, every time I come to a race where they haven't posted pace signs, I am disappointed.
They didn't do that so the start was really rough. It was my first time running a race with a stroller. Some of my difficulties may have been my fault because I didn't go far enough up in the corral to start with. Either way I spent a good chunk of the first mile saying "Excuse me" and accelerating into small spaces. Even with that I think I came through the first mile in 8:30 (I forgot my watch and heart rate monitor [lesson 3]). There weren't any volunteers calling out splits at the mile markers.
The feature of the next mile was an out and back that had the faster people coming back as the slower people came in. The turnaround was marked by a painted arrow on the ground. It was manned by a couple of volunteers but not something as obvious as a group of cones in a semi-circular shape. Oliver and I made the hair pin turn with just a little excitement. We missed waving hi to Mommy on our way out.
The last stretch had a couple of small rises but nothing significant. Oliver and I passed a number of other runners before breaking the tape in 24:43. However, the bib had a chip on it, so I have an accurate start to finish time. After we finished, I took off my number and trotted back down the finish cheering on the other runners and looking for my wife. We ran into her with about 400m to do and ran with her for a bit.
After the race we went over to the refreshment area and gorged ourselves on the good food. The Chevy's 5K easily has the best after race food in the city. It's good, good for you, and present in copius amounts. We'd finally had our fill and headed home without either of us partaking of the free drinks, again! I think I've gotten one only once. I have to admit that I was surprised to not run into any of the hashers at the race. Then again they could have been there and we just missed each other.
Results
The first time that my wife and I ran this race, Fleet Feet helped with the self-seeding process by placing pace cards on the side of the road every twenty yards or so. So if you were planning on running a 6:00/mile pace, you moved up to the start. If you weren't, you didn't, but found a pace group more geared towards runners of your ability. There are going to be people that overestimate their own ability, but you will find far fewer of them than when you just let everyone line up in the corral willy nilly. So, every time I come to a race where they haven't posted pace signs, I am disappointed.
They didn't do that so the start was really rough. It was my first time running a race with a stroller. Some of my difficulties may have been my fault because I didn't go far enough up in the corral to start with. Either way I spent a good chunk of the first mile saying "Excuse me" and accelerating into small spaces. Even with that I think I came through the first mile in 8:30 (I forgot my watch and heart rate monitor [lesson 3]). There weren't any volunteers calling out splits at the mile markers.
The feature of the next mile was an out and back that had the faster people coming back as the slower people came in. The turnaround was marked by a painted arrow on the ground. It was manned by a couple of volunteers but not something as obvious as a group of cones in a semi-circular shape. Oliver and I made the hair pin turn with just a little excitement. We missed waving hi to Mommy on our way out.
The last stretch had a couple of small rises but nothing significant. Oliver and I passed a number of other runners before breaking the tape in 24:43. However, the bib had a chip on it, so I have an accurate start to finish time. After we finished, I took off my number and trotted back down the finish cheering on the other runners and looking for my wife. We ran into her with about 400m to do and ran with her for a bit.
After the race we went over to the refreshment area and gorged ourselves on the good food. The Chevy's 5K easily has the best after race food in the city. It's good, good for you, and present in copius amounts. We'd finally had our fill and headed home without either of us partaking of the free drinks, again! I think I've gotten one only once. I have to admit that I was surprised to not run into any of the hashers at the race. Then again they could have been there and we just missed each other.
Results
# posted by mypetrock : 11:59 AM
