We all got to the race with plenty of time to spare, so we grabbed some water, went to the bathroom and did a warm-up run and stretch. When we finished with all of that I looked up on Francis Street and a bunch of runners (numbers 3000 and up) were already lined up, so I figured I would make my way over before it would be too crowded to get in.
That was around 10:40am. Now, the race didn't start till 11:15, so I was standing in the blistering sun for about a half an hour before the race started. I was sweating bullets and was worried I was going to get dehydrated BEFORE the run. I found some more water and sipped while I waited. I even crouched down at one point behind the other runners so I could get some shade. That probably looked pretty weird but I was trying to conserve my energy/water as long as possible. I even ran into one of the pharmacists I used to work with while I was an intern at South County Hospital. So it was nice to have someone to talk to while I waited.
The race finally started, and I had to walk about 3-4 minutes until I reached the start line. I was feeling fine during the entire race, but was bobbing and weaving through the masses of crowds, hopping up and down from sidewalks. It was impossible for me to break away from the pack because there were just so many people, so I ended up getting boxed in a bunch of times and had to actually stop dead in my tracks, especially near the water stations, because people are dumb. I was getting really pissed off during my run because I just could not get a steady pace going, even though I was pushing it hard.
I tried getting water, but I think the volunteers (mostly tweenage girls dressed in bee costumes...wtf???) were not well coordinated. They couldn't pour the water fast enough for the runners, so they were empty by the time I got there, and would have to wait for more water to be poured, time I didn't want to waste.
I ended up finishing with a time of 33 minutes and change. I'm pretty frustrated with that time, but I tried as best as I could, and I guess thats all that matters. I guess I'm frustrated because I had a lot of energy at the end of the race, that I could have used during the run, but couldn't get an opportunity to.
Knapp has a great idea for the next CVS 5K though. We are going sign up with a faster time that we can run, about three minutes faster than our goal, so we can at least get in front of the slow pack for next time and not have to expend so much energy bobbing and weaving.
Overall, I don't think this experience was a good for me. I'm just looking forward to the next 5K (hopefully a smaller one) so I can get my sub-30 time. Congrats to Kev for getting his PR!
You go, Glen Co Co!
EDIT: Found out my official time was 33:24, this is 4 seconds LONGER than my first 5K, the Harpoon 5K we did back in May. And in that 5K I STOPPED TO WALK THREE TIMES. This is embarrassing, but it couldn't be helped. :(
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