This was my third race ever. First being the 8k Mackinaw Bridge race in 2008 and the 5k Run for the Hills in Forest Hills in 2008.
My race didn't start until 9:30 am, but still, I am an early bird, and got up about 6:30, anxiously awaiting Keith to pick me up at 8am so we can head over to Gas Light Village in East Grand Rapids. The previous days leading to the race had been quite nice, about 50 degrees. But no, I wake up to a balmy 35 degrees with a light snow on the ground! Now, I have to rethink my outfit. I decided to go with green pants (well, greenish brown) and I wore the long sleeve Irish Jig race shirt that I received from picking up my registration the night before. I still wanted to wear a pink shirt over my clothes so I could hopefully stick out for Keith when he takes pictures. I also wore gloves, a pink hat and a black zipped up sweatshirt, over my pink shirt, because it was just too damn cold!!! Here is my ensemble:
I also was scrambling to find safety pins to pin my race number 3259 on me. All other races I have been in has given me the safety pins, I am not the type of person to have safety pins lying around. But, I remembered I was given a first aid gift from one of my vendors at work, so inside I found 2 pins, 3 would have been ideal, but 2 worked.
I also had to put my disposable D-Tag race trip on my shoe, I always get nervous that I will do it wrong, but I seemed to get it right. This a new technology in the past few years where you don't have to turn your chip in, you just throw it away after. Just a lot less hassle. Here is what it looks like:
Keith arrived at 8am and we were off. I made sure I grabbed a water and skipped breakfast because I hate to eat before working out, although if I was doing something longer for an hour, I would have some fruit and a little peanut butter to keep me going.
We had a bit of a hard time finding parking at first, but parked in the parking ramp in the middle of Gas Light Village. It such a cute area, very upscale neighborhood with trendy shops and restaurants, and of course the beautiful Reeds Lake.
It seemed to take forever for my race to start. We walked down to race festivities at about 8:40am and waited on the side for the men to start, their race was at 9:00am. It was so cold, but jumping up and down to the music they were playing over the speakers helped a bit. Seeing racers in shorts did not help! I debated jumping in to join the men because it was so cold and I didn't want to wait any longer, but, I decided to race with the women. It finally hit 9 am, and the men were off!!!
After the men's start we had some time to warm up and went into the D&W Foods Grocery store to get some heat. We weren't the only ones with that idea, tons of racers were hanging out in the store, I am sure the manager was pleased because no one really bought anything.
Ok, time to get ready for the women's' race. We didn't start until 9:45a or so. Keith snapped a pic of me and I wasn't ready for it. I gave him my telephoto lens (70-300mm) because I wasn't sure where he would be standing in relative to my running. He only had to use it at 70mm, so we could have gotten away with my standard lens of 18-55mm. Oh well, we learn.
I was off an running! I made sure to start my stop watch as soon as I crossed over the timer.
When everyone starts at once, its hard to maneuver between slower runners. They didn't line people up by pace at all, I finally passed the slow runners and got into a groove on a sidewalk. Most people were in the street, but there were a few of us running on the sidewalk, I at first thought, will I be disqualified if I am running on the sidewalk? But others were doing it. It was nice. Three songs went by on my iPod playlist (Love Story remix by Taylor Swift, Walk Away remix by Kelly Clarkston and Lose Yourself by Eminem) I was already at mile 1, and there were tons of people cheering on. It motivated me even more! All of a sudden I saw Keith in the crowd and he even ready and snapped a picture! Cool! I was grooving on to mile 2 with my new favorite download, Sandstorm, an 8 minute song! I could feel myself get a little tired around mile 2 and after plus there was a bit of a hill on Hall St, I think I start out too fast sometimes and tucker out, but I never quit running, that is my rule. But when I felt like it was 2.5 mile, I started picking out people that I thought were my age group and tried to pass them, a little game I play. And then I see the East Grand Rapids Higschool and a big crowd. I am so tired at this point, I see the 3 mile marker and think to myself, I still have .2 miles afterwards (but then I forgot it was only .1). ha! I stared sprinting to the finish line as soon as I saw it, and saw Keith again really quick. He took a picture really quick, its a little blurry, but I attribute that to my fast speed, ha right!
My race results time was 30:37. Not bad, I accomplished my goal of under 31:00. I plan to run in under 30 for the Fifth Third River Bank Run on May 8.
We later found out that mile 1 picture didn't take, but no big deal, I just appreciate Keith waking up early and standing out in the cold for a couple hours to cheer me on and take a couple pics. Here are some other pictures from the race, including a man in the 70-85 year old age group that had a finish time of 27 minutes! Impressive! This old man can beat me!
Also the goodies that I received post race, long sleeve shirt not shown, not bad for $22 registration fee?
