That was a blast.
I arrived at the race site later than I would have liked because of what we intended to be a quick trip to a car dealership, but ended up with a sales manager who wasn't in quite a rush.
It was dark... but luckily there were skeletons to direct me to a parking spot. Picked out a pumpkin for being one of the first 100 registered, brought it back to the car, then inside to pick up my race kit.
Met up with my running group, who all gave me stern lectures and made sure I was ok to run and my friend Patricia, who qualified for Boston last week chose to volunteer! I've never been much for Halloween and dressing up (sorry if that makes me boring) -- seemed that about half the participants chose to dress up in costumes, so I didn't feel so bad not being the only one in running clothes.
The 10k group left at 8pm, and the 5k followed 5 minutes later.
With this being a trail run and with a lot of children, the beginning was about weaving through and finding a comfortable pace. I realized early on that this was not going to be an easy run.
The path was completely covered by leaves that had fallen from the trees already. The plus side of this is that it's softer than concrete, still taking it easy healing from stress fractures, this was nice. The major downfall? Leaves hide potholes, mud, tree roots, rocks, and other obstacles very well.
The trail was well marked, while everyone's reflective gear and head lamps helped lead the way fairly well, as long as you were close enough to a group of people. Oh, that and people screaming. LOL.
Between kids dangling out of trees, a werewolf coming out of the bushes, witches, a girl with a purse screaming running towards you at a dark part of the route it was pretty entertaining. Luckily my pace had me on the heels of another guy and girl running together, so they'd get spooked first, I was behind, giggling. My plan worked well. LOL
It was a difficult course to maneuver... a lot of people tripping all over the place because of tree roots, a huge mud pit, hence my not-so-white-anymore shoes, bridges. It would have been a challenge during daylight, more so at night.
I had my Garmin set to my 8&2 intervals. Didn't take my first walk break as my pace wasn't so fast anyway, and I was feeling good, but a few minutes later, met up with one of my running group, who was hurting, so I walked with her for about 3-4 minutes. She tripped in a
pothole, and rather than completing the 10k, she would just walk back to the finish, and urged me to continue. Took one more brief walk break, and walked up most of the killer steep hill right before the finish line. Being covered with leaves, I could see myself loosing my footing while trying to bound up, sliding down on my belly, taking out everyone behind me. I ran to the finish.
All things considering, I was ecstatic. I was finally participating in a race again -- during my time off with stress fractures, I missed 3 races.
There were 112 5k participants. I came in 37th overall, 6/20 for my age/gender group!!!!!!!! 22nd female. My time was 32:29. Not a PB, but I certainly didn't expect one from this run. **edit -- official results got sent out today, still 37th overall, but 125 5k participants (those that were registered for 10 and only did 5 i guess), I was 6th out of 26 for age/gender**
We ended up at one of the house of one of our running group for some drinks and snacks, and a lot of laughs.
Tonight, going out for dinner with friends, celebrating a birthday and an anniversary. Bringing bathing suits for their outdoor hot tub... :)
Good luck to Marci and Vava racing at Niagara this weekend. Hope the rain stops long enough for the race! If I were to ever do a marathon, Niagara International is the one I've always had my eye on (only marathon to start in one country and finish in another)... I love the uniqueness of this race, so I'm looking forward to race reports and insight! Also to Javamom!!! Good luck to anyone else racing who I may have missed... sorry.
9 comments:
Great report Mel! That sounds like SO MUCH FUN. Definitely have to keep it in mind for next year.
Congratulations on finally racing again - it must feel great! Awesome time, too.
Great job on coming in 37th!
Sounds like a fun race!
That sure sounded like a fun race! Thanks for sharing Mel!
Sounds like a fun run to do. Nice job.
Great job. Finishing 37th is fantastic. Congrats.
Oooooo that sounds like such a fantastic race. So fun!! You did most excellent chica! Very nice placing. WHoooo Hoooo!
Aww you did great, so happy to read that it went well. Thanks for the race report!
Nice job, sounds like a blast!
It's good to have a lighter side to running!
Yes, congrats on your first race back - and such a great time too! Some of these halloween races sound like so much fun - will have to add one to the calendar for next year. Happy running and welcome back (to running that is)! :o)
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