Test Run

38:12

Now I know how fast I can run the Freihofer's, under conditions of extreme heat, no water and utter confusion!

Tonight was the GHI 5K Corporate Challenge downtown at the Empire State Plaza, and my company fielded a 21 member team. The course is roughly the same as the Freihofer's, so I signed up to run, thinking it would be a good test for the Big Day. I've been getting excited about this race all week, and it certainly didn't disappoint, just not in the ways I expected!

First things first - it's a REALLY hot day today in Albany! It's 9pm, and the temp is still at 81 degrees. I'm going to hazard a guess that at race time, we were still in the high 80's. There was a stiff breeze, so that helped a lot, and about 60% of the course was shaded, so that also mitigated the heat a bit.

4:30pm rolled around. I shut down my computer. Race singlet and skort: donned. Wrist stopwatch: strapped on. Double pair of socks and sneaks: shod. Hair: scraped back off my forehead. iPhone: set to airplane mode.

I made my way down to the Plaza, toward what I thought was the pre-arranged rendezvous for our team. Strange - there seemed to be a line of massage tables where Steve (our team captain) told us to meet. Okay ~shrug~.

I got a massage. And waited.

When 5:45pm rolled around and I still didn't see Steve, I got a little panicky. Steve had my race number. They won't let me run without a race bib. Finally, after some frantic paging, I got to the correct rendezvous, and everything was set. I lined up according to my anticipated race time, and waited for the race to begin.

BANG! We're off! I passed by the grandstand where Mayor Jennings was standing, reaching down to high five the runners streaming by. I screamed "JERRY!! GIVE ME SOME SUGAR!" in my loudest, opera diva voice, and wouldn't you know it, our perma-tanned Mayor fist bumped me and yelled back "go go GO!"

That was the highlight of the race. It was all downhill from there.

Perhaps I was spoiled by how efficiently and professionally last year's Freihofer's was run, and maybe the fact that this was by far the largest crowd (7700 people!) I've ever run with have colored my opinion, but MAN! Not a well organized race. Not. at. all.

There were no distance markers (that I could see), other than the 1km placard at the entrance to Washington Park. That was accompanied by a time marker, but those were the last official waypoints I saw for the rest of the race, save the finish line. Maybe they were off the to the side of the course, low to the ground, but how are you supposed to see that when you are racing by in a rugby scrum of people? Lift them up high, race peeps!

Worst of all - THERE WAS NO WATER AT THE FIRST WATER CHECK. I was amazed. I was running about a 12 minute mile, and sure, there were lots of runners ahead of me, but there were TONS of people behind me. To run out of water before more than half of your runners has gone by is not cool. And there were no volunteers there either! None! They had abandoned ship! Runners were pawing through boxes of water, looking for full containers! It was like feeding time at the gulag.

There was a second water check that was better staffed about a mile before the finish, but by then, my throat had turned into the Sahara.

Those are the negatives of the race. There were positives. I wanted to get the negatives out the way so that I could finish this post on a high note!

I've already told you about my brush with Rich Corinthian Leather fame (well, his face does look like the seat of a Buick, doesn't it?). I also ran into a friend I haven't seen since grad school! She was on our team, and I had no idea she worked at my company until now. It was so wonderful catching up with her!

It was also wonderful to be in such a supportive atmosphere, with so many people cheering you on! The course passes through the intersection of Lark St. and Madison Ave, and there are two popular bars across the street from each other, the Lionheart and the Lark Tavern. Lots of the patrons had come out onto the sidewalk en masse, and offered vociferous support, beer pints in hand. It was hilarious!

All in all - it was a good night. The heat didn't affect me as much as I thought it would. I shaved 5 minutes off my 5K time from last year's Freihofer. And I know now (after the fact, unfortunately) to bring something for the chafing.

What? TMI?

Thanks for reading! 8 more days till the BIG DAY!! Let's see if I can get my time down to 37 minutes!