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 Run
Comments: Vikings. Elves. Kilts. Santas. Reindeer. Tutus. Jugglers (OK, just one juggler, dressed up as Santa and juggling 3 Ravens footballs the entire race). Practically you name it, someone was dressed as it. It was a very slow start because of the narrow roads through the park trying to accommodate 3000+ people. It was impossible to go at a consistent pace because of walkers and dodging people who were going at different speeds than myself. It was neccessary to jump over the curb and run on the lumpy grass to pass people, then jump back down into the 'street'. I did this more times than I could possibly count, each time praying I wouldn't fall or twist an ankle. And fall people did. I saw 3 wipeouts from people passing by jumping the curb onto the grass. I attempted to keep an average of my desired pace, but it was tough when there was +/- 3min/mile difference between how fast I was running at a given time. It felt like I was running forever, so I took a glance at the elapsed distance on my watch: 1.95 miles! I guess I was so caught up in passing and trying to keep pace that I missed the first mile marker and my watch vibrating. I kept playing leap frog with the Viking guy, dressed in a horned hat and faux furs, and eventually passed him for good. Finally around mile 3 the crowd thinned out enough that I could run a consistent pace, how nice! I found 2 guys to pace behind as we worked our way through the park toward the lake. Partway around the lake I abandoned them to pick up the pace a little. I was hoping to try to get a 10 min/mile average. The path narrowed partway around the lake, making things a little congested and dicey again. Thankfully at the end of the race, things opened up again to the finish, and most people were giving it their all to the line, as did I. What would you do differently?: Hmm, not sure there was much I could do differently because of the congestion.  Post race
Warm down: Grabbed a water, then walked through the tent to get some food goodies. They had a wide variety of cookies as well as fruit (bananas, apples, oranges), plus hot coffee and cocoa. Somehow I didn't realize they had soup and missed out on that. :( Met up with my friends and we headed back to the cars, then we hit REI and a diner for food. What limited your ability to perform faster: The crowds. Event comments: Great swag! I was excited because this is the first year I was able to do the race since learning about it 3 years ago. I've always had a conflict with my hockey schedule, but not this year, and this year they brought back major swag to commemorate the 15th running of the race, a Brooks jacket embroidered with the race name and the logo of the year. Not that I was in contention, but they have a unique award system, too. One award for the fastest male and fastest female per age. Also, this may have been a 5 mile PR. It's been since the late 90s since I ran a 5 mile race, and the previous times I could find for the distance were 55:xx and 54:xx. Since those were the days before chip timing (for smaller races) and internet-posted results (I think there may be some stone tablets around somewhere with the results carved into them, LOL), I have no way of knowing for sure other than what I wrote on the back of the old race bibs I kept. Profile Album Last updated: 2014-09-08 12:00 AM
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United States
30F / -1C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1698/3062
Age Group = 40-49
Age Group Rank = 155/324
Got up at stoopid o'clock (otherwise known as 4 am) to meet at 5 with some of the tri club gang to carpool to MD. We had 2 cars, a 'boy car' and a 'girl car', each with 4 people. Ate something I can't remember for breakfast at home, then ate a granola bar later, then some Stinger chews before the race. Drank iced tea. Stopped at S-bucks for a rest stop and coffee (for some, not me, I'm a tea gal).
We got to the race area and parked along a city street (houses along both sides), then walked to pick up our bibs/swag. I picked up my jacket last weekend because I wanted to make sure it fit and would be able to exchange it if need be, so I only needed to pick up my bib on race day. There was an older couple dressed in Celtic garb escorting 2 huge Irish Wolfhounds around the expo. I got to pet them and get my picture with them (the dogs, not the older couple, ha!). After getting our things, we headed back to the car to stay warm because it was quite chilly, still in the mid to high 20s.
It was JB's car, who is a police lieutenant, so she was in the driver's seat. I was sitting in the passenger seat, and the other 2 girls in the backseat. She changed in to an elf costume (hat, skirt, cool leggings, etc) and we had the car running to have heat. JB's head was down. I noticed a vehicle out of the corner of my eye, and saw a truck stopped next to our car with the male occupant looking at us. I made a 'we're staying here' gesture in case he was looking for us to leave and take our spot. JB looked up. He put his window down. She put her window down. He proceeds to launch a tirade: "Are you runners?" (yes) "Well thanks to you, I can't park in front of my house. [something something] I live here, a**hole! Go back to Delaware!" then angrily drives off. We all look at each other, then start laughing about the Delaware comment, then about calling a cop (who was dressed as an elf) an a**hole. I'm guessing because of JB's D.A.R.E. plate he thought it was a DE specialty plate, IDK. We watched to make sure he wasn't coming back, and he found a spot that was actually closer to his house than where we were, albeit on the other side of the street. "Go back to Delaware, a**hole!" became the joke of the day!
Around 8 we headed toward the start to hit the porta-johns one last time and get ready to race!
Did some light stretching/bouncing around to get warm/stay warm. I'd say it was maybe 30* by now, so still not too warm. The race director has a cool tradition of having a little pomp and circumstance with a bagpipe player and the wolfhounds in a mini parade with the runners who have run the event every year. They march down the center of the street, parting the sea of other racers like Moses, to stage at the starting line.