|
|
mike55760
Member
|
|
|
Joined: 01 Jun 2002
Posts: 41
Location: Minnesota
|
| Back to top
|
|
 Posted: 09/24/05 - 19:13 Post subject:
It was a pretty good race. The race director said that this was the 16th running of it, but that it was probably the last running. In the old days they got over 700 entries. This year they had only 280. They seemed to think that a race the following weekend was draining their entries (Chicago half?), and that the effort vs turnout was no longer worth it.
There was nothing going on Saturday. If you went to the info place mentioned (community center) there was a lady their who knew some details. Basically show up tomorrow at a middle school a few blocks behind the community center. There was no sign up or packet pick up that day.
Sunday morning they had everything ready. There was a couple of tables set up outside the school. They had fluid (water, gatorade?) for the taking and another table selling stuff (socks, hats, etc.). The pick up was in the gym, there was a separate table for the clydesdales with scales for weigh in.
The announcements and instructions were reasonably clear. We started on a nearby city street, ran about 1.5 miles on that, then hit the towpath. In the old days it was the path for mules/horses to pull barges along the canal. Today it is a flat, pretty much straight, crushed limestone (?) non-motorized trail. I saw bikers & joggers on it during the race, but it was wide enought that there was no problem. Decent amount of shade for the first 3 miles, too.
I thought I had a chance for sub 2:05, 8:00 pace or a little quicker. I ran a half last year at just under 7:50, and I'm sure that I could have put in 2.4 more miles to reach 25k at faster than 8:00. I averaged 7:50 mid for the first 5 miles, but the heat started to get to me and my hips started to hurt a little. Held onto 8:25's for the next 5 miles, but then my Left calf and Right knee started bothering me in ways they hadn't before. I fell of to about 8:50 for the next 3 miles before kicking a little to the finish.
Crossed the line in 2:10:15, 8:22 pace. About 5 minutes behind my goal, but considering that this was not a goal race and it got close to 70 degrees for the last half of the race I was satisfied (I struggle in anything over 60 degrees). One reason that I didn't kick like I normally do is that this was the national championship for USACFRF and I didn't want to risk a blow up and allow someone to catch me. Also by cruising to the end, if anybody did catch me I would have a couple of gears left to try and break away.
CARA (Chicago Area Runners Assoc.) has put up the results, but they list only 208 finishers, not the 280 that the RD said. And I am not listed among the finishers. Maybe they only list CARA members. I'm waiting for PSRR (Prairie State Road Runners) to put the results on there site. If I am still not listed I'm going to have to start making phone calls. The RD did mention that the computer had crashed.
They gave out trophies 1st to overall & masters & seniors, 3 deep by 5 year age increments. And 3 deep by clydesdale/Filly class. That is a lot of trophies. The clydesdale listings weren't sorted properly, so they just went down the list, called up people by fastest finishing times, asked them their age and weight class, and handed them the appropriate trophy. When my name came up, 1st place in Masters "D" (weight 226+, age 40+) hadn't been claimed yet so I got it. Woohoo, I'm a national champion.  The foot tall trophy sure beats another medal.
It was a really nice race. Good, fast course, and well organized. These people knew what they were doing. The only hitches are the wait for results, and it is a 10 hour drive for me to get there.
I am thinking of writing them a letter encouraging them to keep it going and maybe try a few changes. Move it one week ahead so it is not so close to the big race, and adding a 12k or 15k event (10ks are so coommon) and touting it as a final tune up for the other big race, and changing the age award to every 10 years instead of 5 to keep the cost the same. The aid stations are already adequate to handle 2 races on the same course.
|
