« Nothin' Much to Write 'Bout | Main | If This is Incoherent, Blame My Mom! »
August 10, 2005
"Gimpy" Race
Tonight the owner of the local running store put on a special race to celebrate his business. It was not meant to be a huge race, it was meant to be the people who have supported his business having a low-key race and some fun. The idea of the race was that it would be a handicapped race. Not age/gender handicapped, but based on your previous performances. He took any race that you have run in the past two years and extrapolated a 5K from that. For some reason my seed time was 17:37 (much faster than my actual 5K PR) based on one of my half-marathons. I guess that I am one of those freaks who can run faster over a long distance.
So the premise of this race was that the slowest seed time went first and had an actual physical head start. The idea was that everyone would be making a mad dash for the finish at the same time. Everyone was supposed to finish close to the same time, in an ideal world. My seed time put me starting third to last, yikes! Given the fact that I have not run nearly that fast in a 5K in close to two years, that I have raced twice in the last seven days, and that I would rather do a workout tomorrow night, I decided to do this as a semi-push. My game plan was to shoot for just under 20:00.
I got there early and did a nice long warm-up. I didn't really know where to go since this was a track race. The school is on a rather busy, narrow road. Two of the guys tried to convince me that the road would be safe to warm-up on, but it most definitely was not-I had to avoid so many cars. I got back to the school and hung out with some of the other people, changed my shoes and got ready for the race. There was some confusion about starting times so things did not work quite as well as they were supposed to, but we learned for next year.
The track was a fast track. I wish that I had been racing on it. I went out a bit faster than I wanted, it was hot, and I was all alone. I ended up running 20:30 or so and finishing next to last (I think). Hey, it was all for fun. It was nice for people who don't normally get to win the big prizes at races to get a chance to win. I warmed down for 6 minutes (hence the extra long warm-up) and called it a night.
They are projecting our fifth heat wave of the summer starting tomorrow. The worst part about it is that it is the fifth time in six weeks that we will have an extended period of time above 90 degrees. I guess this means there is no relief in sight.
Posted by Blondie at August 10, 2005 08:47 PM
Comments
That sounds like a fun idea for a race and probably one of the only you'll ever finish second to last ;)
Posted by: Nanda at August 11, 2005 12:15 PM