1st age award race report.

Bricks · Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 7:26 am

So, my girlfriend and I decided to do a race, post marathon and post recovery for fun to get back into the running scene. We wanted to do a race that would be nice and relaxed and that we could enjoy after a stressful season of training for and running Chicago. We chose the Trick or Treat Trot 10K in the park where we meet our training group every Saturday for long runs. Needless to say this was a very family oriented event with kids races of varying lengths, a 5K and 10K option and of course a healthy dose of Halloween Costumes. It was a gorgeous fall day. About 700 people did the 10K, but about 1100 did the 5K. The starting line was a jumbled crowded mess like I've never seen and I started midway back, behind, as I would learn, behind even a large number of walkers. I bobbed and weaved for the first mile till i got a bit in the clear and was able to get into a rhythm. It was the first time since the marathon that i tried to go quick. I was pleased to find my legs responding quite well. Early on, while I was bobbing and weaving my heart rate and breathing were a bit quicker than I'd like, but that went away some in the middle miles. I was about 1:20 behind the clock, so in a race like this i was plucking people off by the dozens as I made my way through the park. I felt good, but didn't want to over-do it. The course doubled back on itself a lot so I could see my girlfriend and other friends, as well as the leaders. It was a double loop for the 10K so things really thinned out after the split. I continued to pass people at a regular rate and really was having fun. I never did get passed the entire race, which was quite a feeling. I kept expecting some competitive people to see me go past then go with me or pass me back, but no one ever did. With a mile left it got crowded again as i started lapping 5k-ers. The finish was almost as crowded a mess as the start. I hit my watch and was pleased to see a 41:55. I didn't set a goal, but breaking 42 was nice. I actually to date didn't have a 10K PR. It doesn't seem to be a popular distance here. Apparently they had a problem with the timing chip computer system, something about loosing the original entrant database. They finally posted the results this morning. I was ecstatic to find i finished 3rd out of 44 in my division (28th overall) and would get some kind of age award, though i don't know what. I was one of the worst kids on my cross country team in high school so i never so much as smelled hardware, so this is my first award of any kind in any race in my life. I couldn't be happier that it came in the extremely prestigious Trick or Treat Trot ;), but seriously, I'll take it. I know it wasn't a big race or even a very competitive one, but I've never done that so I'm pretty happy regardless. I'm also happy to find the bounce coming back to my step from the post marathon dead legs and am looking forward to training this winter...