Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This has turned out to be a long post, detailing the donkey show that was the race I ran today. I'm documenting it for the sake of posterity. And for some reminders if I ever decide to organize a road race.
I just got back from turkey trotting, something that I barely managed to do this morning. I awoke at 8:22, after making the poor decision to turn off all my alarms. I woke up, looked at my watch, and decided that running a race today would probably not be in the cards. But, I had to get up to go to the bathroom. Somewhere along the way, I decided I should at least go for a run in the neighborhood. As I got dressed, I realized that this was a chip race, so I could be a few minutes late.
I was in the car at 8:35 and running the race by 9:02, while the mob was still crawling across the starting line. The first mile (oh wait, I never saw the first mile marker, the second time that has happened this fall--Hiccup #1) was slow. There were so many people and as the 5K runners came back on the turn-around, no one seemed to get the point that we should not be in their way. Hiccup #2. We got to the turn around and all the sudden, everyone slowed even more. I said outloud, "What's going on?" No answer. Then I found out. The 5K was turning around while the 10K was going straight. No notice, just a sign on the ground, blocked by all the people. Hiccup #3.
We ran on a beautiful multi-use path in San Jose, but at some point, the 10K turn-around came back on itself and we were all on the path, that was only four runners wide. We were hardly running. Hiccup #4. Then, I saw the 3 mile mark. My watch said 12 minutes for that mile. I was totally confused. I knew I had slowed at the bottle neck, but it didn't feel that slow, but what do I know. Hiccup #5. I hit mile 4 at 5:26. Hiccup #6. Okay, so it seems like the 3 mile mark was in the wrong spot. I wasn't going crazy, especially since my Nike SportBand almost always shows 9:07 on my easy runs. Trotting along, I got to 5 mile marker. 6:41 on my watch. Hiccup #7. So, far, this race is not exactly going as advertised. The Pacific USATF was running a 5K championship right after our race...I hope their mile markers were correct and that the 1 mile mark was visible.
Right after we hit the 5 mile marker, we turned the corner to see a stream of 5K walkers. As I am processing all of this visual information, I see that we are merging with them onto the path. The same path that fits 4 runners across. I don't mind walkers in races one bit, but in the last mile of a race, when I'm trying to push the pace, I would like to be able to run. So, another bottleneck. We were hardly running again, and the guy behind me was audibly upset. He kept asking the walkers to stay to the right (actually his tone was always friendly). Then, there was a point on the trail where there was a trailer (like a small truck trailer) that you had to go through. Most of the runners opted to go through the mud to the left of the trailer. More bottleneck. As we were running up a rise, next to the trailer, under a bridge, lots of people were warning us to watch our heads. We were at a standstill and people were yelling to keep moving. Then we all saw a woman on her back with a dozen people surrounding her. She must have hit her head. She looked completely out of it, but she was conscious. Hiccups #8 (trailer) and #9 (low bridge and walking again). Then were were back on the narrow path. But now, finishers were walking against us back to their cars, I assume. I was not happy about that, but was happy to see a bike medic going to help the woman who went down. We weren't on the congested path , but getting on the road wasn't too much better. There were walkers all over the place. Usually by the end of a race, things have opened up and you are with people of similar pace. But, this felt like the beginning of the race...dodging people left and right, people walking right in front of you, people stopping right in front of you. Finally, I saw the 6th mile marker. 11:44 on the watch. What do you have to do to get correct mile markers around here?
Coming down the home stretch, when I could finally see the finish line, there was more slowing down. Almost at the finish, I finally saw someone telling the 10K to stay right, 5K stay left. Information that would have been helpful a while ago.
I crossed the finish line just under 9 minute pace. I was happy about that, given all the hiccups. For some reason though, most of the people who had finished already, were just standing at the finish, making it frustrating to, again, have to dodge people left and right. Then, we saw a table with only the remains of packaged water bottles. There was no water left. Hiccup #10.
But, I did it. My first race back in the saddle. While I didn't race and had no plan to, it was nice to have something to do this Thanksgiving. I am whipping up some more bourbon sweet potatoes to take to my old supervisor's house for a small dinner. It was nice of her to include me, as I had no plans until a week ago. I look forward to a time in my life when I can be the person who makes sure to provide a seat for Thanksgiving for those who need one. A year ago, I was lucky to have a place to be and someone to spend the weekend with. This year, I'm only half as lucky and I'm very sad to be on the opposite side of the country as my family. I think this will probably have to be one of the last Thanksgivings without them.
I hope all of you are surrounded by great people today and that your turkey trot was better organized than mine.
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