Almost 30 minutes. Almost.
This race might just be the funnest race i’ve ever done. First off, when you sign in, they give you bells to tie to your shoes. The bells jingle as you walk or run, so when the huge mob of runners/walker (over 1000 people) was hurling themselves down Hillsborough Street, the jingling was the background music to it all. I loved it.
The second thing that made it fun was all the different costumes people were wearing. I was running with the Ohio State Alumni (no, i’m not an alum, but Lance is and we’re fairly active in their activities during football season), and we were all wearing red OSU stuff. My own outfit included a Buckeyes shirt under a red OSU sweatshirt, and red-and-white plaid pajama bottoms. There were a ton of people with reindeer antlers and santa hats, and there were even a few Santa’s in the crowd.
Thirdly, it is an out and back course, so you can look for your friends and yell at them. Or just observe all the crazy costumes along the way. There were a ton of kids running in this event – a lot more than i’ve seen at other races. And everyone was in great spirits – it was a great atmosphere.
Oh and fourthly, the race didn’t start until 10:30 am, which is perfect in my opinion. Those 7 am races are kind of tough on me.
When i arrived at the race site, i jogged from the car to registration area, jogged back to the car to put my long-sleeved shirt away (cotton unfortunately), then jogged back to the main area to look for the other OSU peeps. I figure i jogged a mile or so in an attempt to warm up – temperatures were in the high 30s. Found the team, got our picture taken, and with 5 minutes to spare we headed to the start.
Mile 1: Starting at St Mary’s school, we went up a small hill and turned right onto Hillsobough Street. In the thick of the mob, the start was perhaps a little slow, but it was uphill, too. The first mile had a lot of uphill in it, but i was happy about that because of course that meant the last mile would be mostly downhill. Despite my warmup, i was still feeling a bit cold and maybe a little sluggish. My goal for myself was to break 31 minutes, but as i saw 10:26 at the first mile marker, right at the NC State Bell Tower, i knew i’d have to pick up the pace to make it.
Mile 2: I was finally warm, and took off my sweatshirt and wrapped it around my waist. My keys were in the pocket (no zipper), so the whole race after this point i was constantly reaching down to make sure my keys were still there. This mile was mostly flat, some rolling hills, but nothing that seemed too difficult. We saw the lead runners and everyone around me cheered them on. I was happy to see the turnaround, and was in a decent stride and feeling better. Finished this mile in 9:30.
Mile 3.1: I have no idea what got into me here, but i was feeling great. As i said, mostly downhill, and i took advantage of it. I pushed this whole mile. My watch was telling me my pace was in the 8′s. Huh? How am i doing this? With .5 to go, we hit the roundabout near the IHOP and there was a decent uphill section, but i didn’t slow down much. At the top, with .3 left, i just started sprinting. My watch beeped at this point – LOW BATTERY – and it stalled until i hit a button, so i could no longer trust the time to be exact. Still running all-out, i didn’t have enough left for an extra boost at the end, but i didn’t let up until crossing the finish.
I slowed and walked the short distance to the volunteers who were removing timing chips from shoes, and i remembered, a little late, to stop my watch. The time said 30:05. Really? I think i was maybe 5 seconds late stopping the watch, but i also had 5 or so seconds unaccounted for when my watched stalled with the low battery warning. So i’m guessing i was just over 30 minutes! I’ll update the final time when they post them online.
Whatever the details, that’s definitely a PR for me, and i’m psyched! 30 minutes is surely coming soon, if i can figure out how to properly warm up so that first mile isn’t so slow. Hell, i might even have 28 minutes in me this coming year. I just have to work hard and be consistent with training.
Tags: running
