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5/3 River Bank Run - Run


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Grand Rapids, MI
United States
52F / 11C
Precipitation
Total Time = 23m 12s
Overall Rank = 347/3320
Age Group = Males 30-34
Age Group Rank = 40/172
Pre-race routine:

Up at 6am, downed a glass of orange juice, and drove downtown. Couldn't quite decide on what to wear, given that it was 52 and foggy, with showers predicted. Went with the tech shirt and shorts, hoping to dump the fleece on a spectator when the time was right.
Event warmup:

Walked around downtown taking in the sights, and the first traces of precip. Just kept moving as much as I could. Assembled and greeted everybody in my running group--and my special guest, rkizzle--under a TGI Friday's awning. (Smart choice, as it turned out, to pick a place with an awning.) Got the obligatory group photo, managed to get rid of the fleece, and started moving again.

Kept stretching and went into the nearby parking garage and jogged for about 10 minutes. Watched the 25K crowd take off, then went back into the dry garage and did one final lap before coming out to the course, walking to the start, and taking off. Over 3000 participants, so they stage you by mile split. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the signs for the splits, so I just sized folks up and picked a spot. I must have guessed well...didn't get boxed in too bad.
Run
  • 23m 12s
  • 3.1 miles
  • 07m 29s  min/mile
Comments:

Felt great, though the rain was falling fairly hard and the shoes got heavy pretty darn quick. You try to ignore the 'squish, squish, squish' in your shoes, but when it's already present when you pass the Mile 1 split, you can't deny you're waterlogged.

Did the first mile in just under 7:00 (Gulp!) That was my first clue to back 'er down a bit. But I was comfortable, so I didn't back down by much.

Second mile was more like 7:45 and I was feeling great. My IT band on my right knee kicked in a bit, but wasn't bothersome.

I felt I had more to give in the third mile, so I kept dialing it up just a hair, and it kept feeling good. Kept finding people in front of me to reel in. Love the finishing area, because it climbs a small hill which I gunned it on, and passed tons of folks. By the finsh line I was going full-tilt and loving it.

Went under the finish line KNOWING I had a PR, and being shocked about it. Didn't try for one, and with the rain, puddles and wet shoes, certainly wasn't the day to try for one.

Sure enough: Took an axe to that 5K PR. 23:12/7:28 pace, 45 seconds better than my March 5K. Never been that low, ever. Looking for sub-23s now...
What would you do differently?:

Not much, really.

Didn't have a big race plan only because of the unpredictable IT band. Just wanted to race with some folks. I could have put a hair more into Mile 2, but I'm not so concerned about it.

The ONE HUGE THING I should have done differently was arrange a meeting place with the keeper of my warm clothes. I ran around the finish for an hour in wet clothes shivering pretty seriously. Boo!! Otherwise, a great run.
Post race
Warm down:

Warm-down was lots of walking in an attempt to find warm clothes.

Then hung out at the finish line to watch our running group come home in the 25K run. We had about 60 folks out there between the 5K and the 25K. Way fun to pick them out at the finish line and cheer them home.

Event comments:

It's my hometown race...so I've got to give HUGE props. West Michigan's largest participant sporting event, and these folks KNOW how to pull it off in Grand fashion. Every year, it's great, it's friendly, the volunteers are great, the crowds are aweseome, the refreshments are good, blah, blah, blah....now if we could just get the weather to cooperate.

Come on over, check this one out.


Profile Album


Last updated: 2005-05-14 12:00 AM
Running
00:23:12 | 03.1 miles | 07m 29s  min/mile
Age Group: 40/172
Overall: 347/3320
Performance: Good
Course: Great course with several quick turns in the 2nd mile, and quite flat overall. A few small hills, which I love to sprint up. The race committee obviously added a few turns that weren't there last year. A bit of a surprise when you think you know where you're heading and suddenly there's a few extra 'jogs' in there you weren't expecting. Pretty narrow course too, but only because volunteers kept urging us to stay to one side of the road. More than once I snuck over--didn't cut any distance--just to keep from getting boxed in. Can't beat the finish, passing over the Grand River, past Van Andel Arena and left up the small hill I drive down often as the crowd grows to several deep on both sides. Lots of noise and excitement. Pretty sweet.
Keeping cool Good Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 3
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5

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2005-05-14 6:57 PM

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Regular
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Subject: 5/3 River Bank Run


2005-05-14 9:59 PM
in reply to: #157645

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Master
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Chicago
Subject: RE: 5/3 River Bank Run
Great race Matt. You rock! What a wonderful time you had. Way to bring it boy. You're kicking butt.
2005-05-15 9:54 AM
in reply to: #157645

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