Chapter 2 page 258 - TR 89 Race Recap

Today was the 5Kilt Race . . .

The BEST part of the race was that "C" and I finished the 3.14 miles in 40:27 which according to DM is 12:52 min/mile . . . that's REALLY FAST for me. It's worth noting that just 2 weeks ago we did a 5 K and our time was 43:59 (which was a crappy time for us and the course was VERY hilly - but still, we were nearly 4 minutes faster today - woot woot!)

Let's start with other good things about the race . . .

-the tech shirts were pretty neat (see pix below)

-we met up with Holly from Rustbeltrunner and her Hubz (sorry Holly, the photo I took of just you didn't turn out)
-"C's" daughter "K" joined us. Her fiance "T" was suppose to as well, but he was busy investing in his future (we were thinking 'bout you "T" and wishing you all the luck . . . of the Irish!)

- "C" and I wore matching shirts and we all 3 had green beads. You can click on the photo above to zoom into the shirt design, but yeah, that's a monkey wearing a kilt (cute, huh?)

-I painted my nails a very St. Pattys' day shade of green (ignore the ugly hands - they were FREEZING!!!)
-There was a leprechaun (sorry for the impromptu pix) and a bagpiper (sorry for the blurry pix)
-I enjoyed the course - it was pretty flat, across a scenic bridge, only a few turns . . . definitely FAR better than other downtown race courses I've done

-there was beer and food after the race (this will be discussed further under the not so good aspects of the race)
-After the race, we watched the Firefighters "Green the River" which is normally poop brown
-the sun was shining brightly (I heard last year was a complete rainfest - sigh!)

Now, onto the less delightful aspects of the race . . .

-There was a lot of uncertainty (where to check in, where the race ended, how to get your food/drink post race, what time the food was available, what time the river greening was,etc.)

-There were no bibs - but the packet directions said "attach bibs. ..." so there was a lot of confusion about whether we were suppose to have them or not (is not having bibs a new trend? This is the 2nd race in a row without bibs - just curious)

-THE WIND!!!!!!!!!!!! 15-25 mph with 35 mph gusts!!!!!!!! The first mile was directly into the wind, the second was pretty much into the wind (there was only 1/4 mile or so with the wind at our back - that was awesome)

-The water station was undermanned and off the street . . . not convenient at all so we skipped it

-The race cost $25 which included 5 tickets (never really found out how much a ticket got you, but "C" & "K" did get a can of soda for a ticket - no idea how much the stew "cost" but it wasn't worth waiting in line with 300 other people in an extremely chaotic and crowded tent. I think I would prefer to pay $15 or $20 and then pay for my own food and drinks

-The pre-race announcements were not remotely audible - I'm pretty sure that some of the info was important like . . . the main road was NOT closed so we were to stay to the right (totally didn't get that memo until a car whizzed by me) - who knows what else was said (maybe they explained the tickets and food, but no one in the back heard a single syllable)

-Where is the finish line?????? Sweet golly, we turned the corner and broke out into a sprint thinking it was near the starting line (and when I say near - I mean within 5 feet of, all runners define "near" very differently - you know that some of you define "near" as 1 mile or so). The finish line wasn't marked and no race volunteer said a word until we were literally at the END.OF.THE.ROAD . . "Oh turn right down the sidewalk" - it was still a little bit down there . . .I had kicked it into high gear way back when we turned onto the final street . . . ugggg - very little left in my tank!