(I’m a member of the Running Fools board over on The Motley Fool, and when I started running again they were the ones I went to to talk about it. I’ve made it a point to do race reports after my events … and I’m going to be posting those throwback reports here to get us up-to-date. This was a random 4K, in Kingston, NY. This report was written in July, 2013.)
So, I’m ramping up mileage in preparation for the R&R Half on Labor Day, and the calendar I’m using says that this was a good week to target a race, probably a 5K. No close race was appealing, so I decided to go with the 4K that I found that was a little over an hour drive away. Since pretty much every one of my training runs anymore is longer than this distance, my stated goal was to go out entirely too fast and see if I could hold it.
Bit of a disorganized registration table, but they got us signed up (all 60 or so of us) and eventually herded out to the start. The first 3/4 mile was straight uphill, and then we went straight back down … and then another loop of that, and then a flat out and back along the Hudson River for the rest. My goal had two parts, and the first was easy – I went out entirely too fast. A couple of times on that first hill I thought “oh, boy – this is going to suck at the end.” And the second part wasn’t so bad – overall, I held out. My pace in the last half mile degraded more than I would have liked, but my overall pace for this one was significantly faster than pretty much anything I’ve done yet – so … yay!
Notes:
1. First race I’ve run that wasn’t chip timed. In fact, we didn’t even get bibs. And when they handed me a number at the end of the finisher’s chute, I didn’t know what to do with it. I HATE feeling like an idiot, but the people helped and my time got logged.
2. The swag bag was just a t-shirt, coupon, and three raffle tickets. Pretty bare bones. I usually don’t stick around after races for raffles, but the table was full of stuff and since the field was pretty small I thought the odds warranted enjoying my post-race doughnut a little more slowly. They fired it up, and wouldn’t you know the first number called was one of mine. So my swag bag was a t-shirt, coupon, two losing raffle tickets, and a brand new Yahtzee! board game. Plus, you know, self-esteem and a PR and stuff. Which reminds me:
3. Weird distance = automatic PR! Yay!
4. I didn’t write up a race report for the trail 10K I did in June. One word report: Brutal.
5. This is 5 months in a row running a race, with races scheduled for the next 3. Exactly zero people are looking over their shoulder.
6. Next up: Florida (New York) Family Fun Fest 10K
A Constant State of Hunger 