Mon 2 Oct 2006
On Saturday, September 30, 2006, I ran in my second race. I had run in a race on July 4th, and I found out about this race, and decided to go for it.
C-U On The Trails was billed as a fun race/walk on Robeson Meadows trails to familiarize people with the Champaign Urbana trails system. It was a 5k run/walk to start at 9am with refreshments and drinks provided.
Over the past few weeks, exercise has been tricky. With work going the way it has, I just haven’t had as much to exercise as I would like. So, I didn’t know for sure how the race would go. For the July 4th race, I had a time of about 24:35 (official time just over 25, since there was queue at the finish line). I have been running a lot since then, though, so I was thinking that if I could get a time down near 23, I would be very happy. But, the July 4th race was a road race. This one was on trails. That could mean bad things for times, so I figured my time might be back up around 25 again.
Anyway, I got to the checkin point a bit after 8am. I got checked in, paid my $5, and picked up my t-shirt. It’s a pretty nice shirt. White, long sleeved, with writing on the back. I can see myself wearing it.
After that, I wanted to get in a warmup. So, I started off walking for 3/10ths of a mile or so, and then started jogging. Then, I just kind of stretched out. At some point in here, I determined that the “fun” in “fun race/walk” means that nothing is timed. There aren’t any numbers that you wear, and no official timing. Luckily, I had my GPS watch that gave me accurate timings. There were probably a hundred or so people that were milling around at this point. As it got closer to 9, we were directed onto one of the sidewalks behind the building. The word ‘Start’ had been spray painted onto the sidewalk, and everyone lined up behind that. Runners in the front; walkers behind that. I was probably 20 feet behind the start line. The guy directing us told the basic route, and noted that there were staff at each turning point to guide us in the right direction. Then, we were off! I had about 20 people in front of me. As I cross the start line, I pressed ’start’ on my GPS and started jogging along. There was a bit of a traffice jam for the first 1/10th of a mile or so. People just weren’t moving very fast. I managed to break out of that pack, though, and I was off.
We headed out west toward Duncan road, and ran along the road for a little while and then headed back into the Robeson park area. About this point (not very far in!) I noticed I was breathing a bit heavier than I normally do. But, I was feeling ok, and I kept it up. We kept heading east/northeast until we got to Scottsdale drive. At this point, I could see the leaders head south on Scottsdale, and I was in 6th place. I don’t know exactly how far behind I was, but I know that 5 guys were ahead of me at this point. One guy wasn’t too far ahead of me, though. As I headed south on Scottsdale and then turned onto Southmoor, another guy passed me. I was in 7th place. As I was making my way back to Scottsdale, I looked at the GPS for the first time. I figured I was a bit over 2 miles in. The GPS showed 1.52 miles. Hmm.. Perhaps I shouldn’t have looked at it.
When we got back onto Scottsdale, another guy passed me. I was in 8th place. As I turned west off of Scottsdale, I could see lakes in front of me, and I knew that I was coming into the last part. (The start point was next to one of the lakes). I had been following this one guy for quite a while, and I was getting closer and closer to him. After turning north and crossing Valley Brook Dr, I passed him. I was getting tired at this point, but I was back into 7th place! I made it up to Prairie Meadow drive, over to Duncan and started heading south again. And.. he passed me back. I was back into 8th place. A few more minutes of winding down the sidewalks, and I was back to the starting/finishing point. I crossed the line in 8th place overall and pressed ‘Stop’ on my GPS.
I was pleased with 8th place (I might have been in 1st in my age range.. Who knows?!). Then, I looked at my GPS.
The GPS had done a fine job of tracking the trail. It showed 3.03 miles, where a 5k should be closer to 3.107 miles, but this is within the error range, I’d reckon. Most importantly, though, it had an accurate time, regardless of the distance involved. The time.. (last race was 25.. I was hoping for 23…) was 21 minutes and 23 seconds! I couldn’t believe it. I knew that I had felt more tired during the race, but I didn’t think that I had pushed myself that much. But, I was very pleased.
I went and laid down on the grass for a little while (after getting a bottle of water) and then went and got an apple. Subsequently, I also grabbed an orange and a banana. I had eaten breakfast a couple of hours before the race and I guess I was starting to get a bit hungry.
More people rolled across the finish line, and they handed out a few door prizes.. and I won a prize! I won a gift certificate to the Mettler center for a free cooking class. I haven’t yet investigated what they have to offer, but I’ll definitely take advantage of it.
The race was a nice race. It did a good job of highlighting the trails in that area of town. The lakes really are quite pretty, and I can see myself going back over there to look around in the future. It’s a nice place to run, so I guess they accomplished their goal of introducing me to those trails. Mettler center had bags of goodies for us to take with us as we left. I haven’t yet had the time to go through the bag thoroughly, but I know that there was a digital pedometer and a pencil in there. So, the swag from this race was much nicer than what I got at the July 4th race (I didn’t even get a t-shirt there!).
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