One week ago I ran the second annual "Inner Harbor 5k" in downtown Syracuse, to benefit some charity I never heard of before. Whatever... I pick them for the dates (preferring Sunday morning events) and proximity to my house. Well, it's evident when I drive downtown that they don't have a good handle on this thing. They identified the area where the race is but not where to park, and when I arrive 45 minutes before the race starts (and 15 minutes before the race-day registration and packet pick-up ends), a smarmy cop tells me that I'm running late and reluctantly lets me park near the race start. Whatever, officer. Get out of my grill.
The packet pick up is a mess - they've mis-allocated the dispensing of free shirts, and all that are left are XL sizes. It's a nice shirt, too, a tech shirt, of which I only have one other. Right when I get there they start dipping into the shirts that they were SUPPOSED to give out the day prior at pre-race packet pickup, except they weren't ready at that point either. I luck into a size L, a little long for me but wearable (and nice).
Then, they have signs pointing to the start area, except they point in two different directions. Sloppy. I run into the two guys I spoke to at the Beaver Lake 5k two weeks prior, both age 51 (according to their bibs) and including the guy who caught me and passed me at the finish line at that race. It's nice to have someone to gab with pre-race as the wife and kids are home in their pajamas.
Weather is great, sunny, a little warm but not stifling. And we're off!
Running through the streets of downtown Syracuse, I notice that some of the streets are in need of patchwork and there are some small to medium sized potholes. I manage to avoid injury (I found out later that two runners fell and hurt themselves in potholes) and the crowd thins out. I'm running at a good pace, mostly shade in the first mile, and the one graybeard who I was talking to I pass at about the quarter mile mark. My calf still is tight but it's not really affecting my stride or speed. It's just there.
No markers at either the first or second mile. So I have no clue where my pace is. The first half of the race is mostly on shaded streets and it's cool and comfortable. Then, about 12-13 minutes in, that ends and it's all sunshine. It feels good but I am heating up. A single water stop at about the 15 minute mark, and it's not particularly cool water. Blecch.
Finally, at mile 3 they have a sign and I see from my watch that I'm about 22:45 in. Which is solid, I'm just off my personal race best of 23:39 from Reston, VA on July 4th. I find a little juice and start to kick, and it's a straight shot from the 3 mile sign to the finish. Then I hear footsteps, and I know it's the same guy who caught me at Beaver Lake. He's going to pass me again, the bastard! I try and kick but he's gaining on me, and catches me.
I tell him, fairly winded, "Oh, you're going to do this to me again!" He smiles and eases up just a bit and we cross at identical times, 23:40. We finished 41st and 42nd out of 225 runners, and I finished 7th out of 26 men in the 30-39 age bracket. One second off of my personal best race time and I'm happy with it. I say farewell to my two new race friends (the other guy finished around 26:15 or so) and head home.
I was very happy with my showing, the course was nice and I would run it again. They had so many issues that the race organizer sent an email out the following Monday apologizing for all that went wrong, most of which pertained to the kids' fun run at 8:30. They've got 12 months to fix it for next year.
Next race is this upcoming Saturday, the annual 5k Arc race. Last year close to 600 people ran it, I do enjoy a big crowd like that.Congrats on your long run MF! Good for you.
I never wrote my race report for 5k #6.
So this was the second annual "Inner Harbor 5k" in downtown Syracuse, to benefit some charity I never heard of before. Whatever... I pick them for the dates (preferring Sunday morning events) and proximity to my house. Well, it's evident when I drive downtown that they don't have a good handle on this thing. They identified the area where the race is but not where to park, and when I arrive 45 minutes before the race starts (and 15 minutes before the race-day registration and packet pick-up ends), a smarmy cop tells me that I'm running late and reluctantly lets me park near the race start. Whatever, officer. Get out of my grill.
The packet pick up is a mess - they've mis-allocated the dispensing of free shirts, and all that are left are XL sizes. It's a nice shirt, too, a tech shirt, of which I only have one other. Right when I get there they start dipping into the shirts that they were SUPPOSED to give out the day prior at pre-race packet pickup, except they weren't ready at that point either. I luck into a size L, a little long for me but wearable (and nice).
Then, they have signs pointing to the start area, except they point in two different directions. Sloppy. I run into the two guys I spoke to at the Beaver Lake 5k two weeks prior, both age 51 (according to their bibs) and including the guy who caught me and passed me at the finish line at that race. It's nice to have someone to gab with pre-race as Fwife and Fkids are home in their pajamas.
Weather is great, sunny, a little warm but not stifling. And we're off!
Running through the streets of downtown Syracuse, I notice that some of the streets are in need of patchwork and there are some small to medium sized potholes. I manage to avoid injury and the crowd thins out. I'm running at a good pace, mostly shade in the first mile, and the one graybeard who I was talking to I pass at about the quarter mile mark. My calf still is tight but it's not really affecting my stride or speed. It's just there.
No markers at either the first or second mile. So I have no clue where my pace is. The first half of the race is mostly on shaded streets and it's cool and comfortable. Then, about 12-13 minutes in, that ends and it's all sunshine. It feels good but I am heating up. A single water stop at about the 15 minute mark, and it's not particularly cool water. Blecch.
Finally, at mile 3 they have a sign and I see from my watch that I'm about 22:40 in. Which is solid, I'm just off my personal race best of 23:39 from Reston, VA on July 4th. I find a little juice and start to kick, and it's a straight shot from the 3 mile sign to the finish. Then I hear footsteps, and I know it's the same guy who caught me at Beaver Lake. He's going to pass me again, the bastard! I try and kick but he's gaining on me, and catches me.
I tell him, fairly winded, "Oh, you're going to do this to me again!" He smiles and eases up just a bit and we cross at identical times, 23:40. We finished 41st and 42nd out of 225 runners, and I finished 7th out of 26 men in the 30-39 age bracket. One second off of my personal best race time and I'm happy with it. I say farewell to my two new race friends (the other guy finished around 26:15 or so) and head home.
I was very happy with my showing, the course was nice and I would run it again. They had so many issues that the race organizer sent an email out the following Monday apologizing for all that went wrong, most of which pertained to the kids' fun run at 8:30. They've got 12 months to fix it for next year.
Next race is this upcoming Saturday, the annual 5k Arc race. Last year close to 600 people ran it, I do enjoy a big crowd like that.
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