Race Report: St. Patrick's Day Dash

Whoo Hoo!!! First race!!! 3.58 miles in 33:03 (33:02.44 actually, but that's anal even for me. :)) Works out to a 9:14 pace! (I've been at 10 or slower the last few weeks, so...whoooo!).

And now for what is an overly long and excessively detailed race report.

Packet Pickup
Obviously, I've never done this before. Got there a bit too early and hung around with some other overachievers. They finally opened the doors into the conference room they were set up in about 5 minutes early. Big room, with the waves divvied up on each wall, with multiple lists of names and bib numbers for each wave so we didn't bottleneck there. I am bib number 3985. They provided stickies and pens so we could write down our bib numbers then go get our envelopes, and then our shirts. I couldn't remember what shirt size I had ordered so I snagged a Large instead of my previous XL requirement, Yay, Me!

Having the envelope and shirt next to me as I drove home brought on a mild case of butterflies. :)

Envelope had the bib, made out of Tyvek, which explains how they hold up in the rain. :) It also had the chip and a zip tie to attach it to your shoe. I was surprised how big the chip was. I expected something the size of my thumb or so.


Night Before
A few minutes to get everything together, including some new DriFit skivvies (TMI, I know, but highly recommended. :)) Tried out the chip and the new Nike foot pocket for keys, id, and parking money. The pocket worked pretty well. I was worried it would come off, but it worked fine the whole race, and it meant I didn't have things bouncing around in my pockets while I was running. Decided that with a mid 40s and 30% of rain forecast I'd wear my SS DriFit and my new horribly bright running jacket and gloves and haul a hat along.
Got to bed around 10:15 despite having to spend 4 hours at the emergency vet with one of our cats (she's OK, and will be even better after she sees our vet to get some things sewn back together), and slept really well, surprisingly. I ate a full calorie load for the day for the first time in a few weeks too. It was a short run and I probably didn't need to worry about it, but better safe than sorry.

On the Way
Alarm went off at 6:00. I laid there and did the thing I do every time the alarm goes off the morning of an 'event', "What in the name of heck am I doing getting up early?" and then got up, dealt with the dog, had some OJ, took a shower and shaved, dressed, and got on the road by 6:50. Stopped for gas and was really on the road by 7:00. Holy crap, am I really doing this?

On the drive down I ate a pair of granola bars (the two in a package) and had about half a bottle of water. This turned my intestinal tract on. I was really glad the rout we had to leave the Quest Field parking garage was right by an indoor bathroom. As an aside, I really hate driving downtown, despise it might not be too string. I'm a good suburban boy who learned to drive in Nebraska. This city crap is for the birds. I was so glad I grabbed $5 in quarters (I was only going to grab $3) because with that and the $5 in my shoe pocket I was able to pay for parking. Friggin' city...

Walked out of the parking garage, and right there were the shuttle buses to the start in front of me and the finish line to my right. The buses were right in front of me, but the line to load then was a block long (at 7:30). Apparently it got longer, Val said when she showed up to get a good spot to see me come in, it was closer to 3. I'm really glad I decided to run it as a timed, competitive event and go in the first, Green, wave. It started at 9, and I only had to wait for 35 minutes or so.

Pre Race
The school buses (god it's been a long time since I rode one of those) got us up to the Key Arena and we dismounted and I wandered over to the start lines. The had water, gear drops and porta sans, so I made a visit. Walked in circles for 30 minutes. There were a lot of groups and families, it seemed odd to be a singleton. I wasn't really able to strike up a conversation with but one or two people, and that toward the end as things started getting crowded. One of the things that did start up a conversation was the announcers warning any one slower than 5 to 6 minute miles to get 10 yards back from the start, or they would be asked to move. WE just laughed since we were standing in the back 3/4 of the wave's corral. (I probably should have started a bit further forward, but it all worked out. ) I was probably glowering, since I was a little nervous. I actually did the 'runner' thing and ran a block or two to warm up. I did it too early, but it's a start. :)

I though I saw Eat Drink Run Woman, but I wasn't sure, and wan't feeling random enough to go harass a complete stranger. If her husband had a green hat with orange 'sideburns', I was the guy slightly uphill with the red baseball hat. :)

About 5 till 9 I rolled up my jacket since it had finally warmed up a bit ( apparently it was about 38 or so, not cold for some of you, but I think I heard the wind chill and humidity took it down to 34 or so) and tied it around my waist. Then we had a pair of false starts, apparently since then couldn't get the the last buses off the course. As we were waiting one of the announcers quoted 15500 people registered for the race. Finally at about 9:10 the air horn went off and we started moving.

Race
Map for the course.

We started soooo sloooww. Which was probably good since it let me warm up rather nicely. :) I remember the announcer saying "It's 2 minutes since the horn and the Green wave still hasn't finished getting through the gates". I was about 30 seconds away at that point.

When we passed under the Aurora overpass (4 lanes or more wide) everyone started hooting and hollering. It was really loud, and very cool. It reminded me as I ran of what I had read about the tunnel in Boston. I did a small amount of moving around and passing people trying to get better position, but I tried to keep it to a minimum

We did this 2 block u-turn that didn't make any sense to me until I just looked at the map in detail, it was to get us into the Battery Street Tunnel. Which interestingly was pretty quiet, there were some people making noise, but most people were just running. The start of the tunnel is just after a mile. The tunnel is apparently about .6 miles long. It sure seemed long. It was nice and out of the wind and warm at the beginning, but by the end it was hot and humid, and when we broke free into the fresh air on the Alaskan Way Viaduct it was amazing. I did a lot more passing in the tunnel. Mainly because a lot more people started walking. I don;t know what the etiquette is for that, but it seemed a bit squirrely. But... there were a hell of a lot of people, and not a lot of places to go.

The Viaduct has great views, but to be honest I was so intent on just running and not hitting people I didn't 'stop and smell the roses' but a few times. Really neat place to run, and and amazing view when I did look up. I ended up picking 'Pink Shoes' and her partner as my pace people and stuck with them. They seemed to be running at a pace a little harder than mine, but one that wasn't going to leave me puking. I followed them all the way to the finish, and thanked them for the pace.

The last quarter mile or so after you turn in front of Qwest Field was some work, but Val and Kaitlyn were there, and she got a shot of me running off. Since she wasn't able to see me coming. She says that me being one of thousands of other runners, and the fact I came in 3 minutes earlier than my slowest predicted time, made it hard for her to notice me. I called her name and she got this shot of me with both feet off the ground. I guess that means I really am a runner. :)


Val got this shot before I came by that really shows how many people were out there running today (look above the people at the offramp of the Viaduct):


Crossed the line at 35 and change, watch time of 33:03. We'll see what the stats look like when they post them tomorrow.

Post Race

Hooked up with Val and Kaitlyn shortly after getting the chip clipped off my shoe. That was the only thing about the race that seemed a bit flaky. The chip clippers were down on the ground, clipping chips, apparently randomly scattered. It would have been nice to have them have a balloon or something marking their location.

We wandered through the swag tents and then bailed for home.

I'm feeling really good, so I don't think I pushed too hard, which is good.

I've tortured you long enough. If you're still with me, thanks for reading.