Sunday, May 3, 2009

Run for the Zoo 5K Race Report

I had originally planned to do the 10K targetting a PR, but backed off to doing the 5K for fun. For me, this was a good decision. This is a huge event and really not a good one to test yourself at because of the crowd. But I'll get more into that later...

We arrived at 7:45 for our 8:30 start time. We thought that would be early enough, but apparently not. By then it was already difficult to find a place to park. We eventually found a parking space a good mile away. No worries, still plenty of time before the scheduled start.

The temp was 48deg when I left the house so I was wearing shorts, a short sleeve shirt, and a long sleeve shirt over it. Walking in, I realized that it was warming up and I didn't need the long sleeve shirt. The car was too far away to put it back, so I tied it around my waist.

They ask folks to line up by estimated pace. If people would actually do this, I think it would be a more pleasant experience for everyone. Instead, people seem to ignore the pace markers and just try to get in as close to the front as they can. Grrrrr.

No Garmin today, just my sport watch. I hit start when the gun went off, hit the split button when we crossed the start mat, at each mile marker, as I crossed the finish mat, and eventually hit stop when I was off to the side.

It took 40 seconds from gun time to cross the start mat. Even then, the crowd wasn't moving much faster than a slow jog. I spent the entire first mile looking for holes to get through. Generally, I had luck getting through on the inside near the sidewalk, but I still found myself wasting energy darting left and right and trying to get through. Very frustrating.

It was a little better for mile 2. I stayed to the inside and occasionally went up on the sidewalk to get around the crowd. After the 2 mile marker, I found space. By then I think I had worn myself out with all the darting around trying to get through the crowd. When I saw the finish line, I kicked it up a notch and started passing folks. I am pleased with myself for being able to finish strong.

I'm not sure what the official time will be. If it was gun timed, it will be close to 30:45. However, my watch says start line to finish line took 30:06. I would have liked a finish under 30mins, but I'm not too disappointed. I put in good effort, had some fun despite the crowds, and went into it uninjured. That equals success in my book. :-)

[updated - official results are in and they have me at 30:02. I missed my target of sub 30 by just a few seconds. That's closer than I expected, and I'm okay with it!! Additional stats include 387 of 1037 women and 35 of 113 F40-44.]

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks!

27 comments:

  1. WOOHOO!!!

    You did awesomely!!! SO PROUD OF YOU MY RUNNING BUDDY!!!!

    WOOHOO!!

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  2. Great job Lisa!! Definitely a solid performance given the circumstances. Can't be disappointed in that :-)

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  3. Yay you! Sounds like you had a fun race - even with all the darting around. I'd love to have that finish time. :D

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  4. Great job, Lisa ! I hate when races are super crowded and you can't get around people and run your race :(

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  5. Awesome!!! It definitely sounds like a successful race to me!

    Nice job with everything in April, too.

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  6. Awesome race Lisa! Congrats, you did great!

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  7. Great job --you will crack that big 30.

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  8. Great job! You got an awesome time, considering the crowd. I hate when you have to spend the first mile trying not to trip over people...

    MCM Mama

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  9. nice job on the race, and good time...hope you enjoyed yourself, despite the crowd...

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  10. Nice job and most importantly, you enjoyed it!

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  11. Surely you would have broken 30 min if the crowds were not an issue. I totally agree that a good effort, fun and injury-free = success!!

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  12. I think, just doing it for "fun", that's pretty awesome. That sub-30 is going to fall sooner rather than later...

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  13. People who line up too close to the front are my biggest pet peeve EVER. Ugh.

    Congratulations on a great race! If it hadn't been for all the weaving, you would have been under 30 for sure. And you came so close! Nice placement too.

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  14. Yay for a good race - and for being able to push through at the end even though you had to weave the whole time!

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  15. Great job, and glad you had fun. We have a Run for the Zoo race in Detroit the same weekend!

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  16. Great job with the race! With all of the dodging people, you ran a sub-30 minute pace for sure.

    After more than 100 races, I've gotten to the point that I really enjoy the smaller attended races much more than the huge ones.

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  17. Nice run! :) So glad you were feeling good. Those crowded races can be crazy. If you can run 30:02 in a crowd, you can easily go sub-30 in a less crowded race! You're there, woman! :)

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  18. Great great job!!! Those two seconds were definitely from having to bob & weave throughout the course. I hate having to do that.

    CONGRATS :)

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  19. A solid 5k! Congratulations (and it sounds like you had fun also!)

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  20. 30:02?! AWESOME! It is kinda like my 5:00:23 marathon, but I was soo ecstatic about that and I hope you are about 30:02!! I would be!!

    Ok, lots of exclamation points. Even for me. Need to tone down the coffee. Sorry.

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  21. Nice race, nice time. It's tiring to do all that sideways running the first 2 miles.

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