Archive for April 6th, 2008

It was a lot of fun, though I froze my tush off thanks to a chilly rain that never quite stopped and for which I was underdressed. Turnout was small due to the rain, only 16 of us in all.

I met Matt and another fellow forumite Harry while waiting for the start. Matt had a freakout when he realized he didn’t have his Garmin, which he swore was with him in the car, so here’s hoping he found it eventually. Harry managed to lose his girlfriend on his way to the race and she never did appear, so here’s hoping he found her eventually, too.

I warmed up with 1.5 miles and a few strides, and then it was time to line up. We stood single file by respective goal times and at every 10-second mark, another runner was told to “Go!”.

It was tough. Near the beginning I started to gain on the guy in front of me but then psyched myself out thinking I was running too hard and now, looking at my Garmin data in SportsTracks, it appears so. The first 1/4 mile was about 35 seconds faster than goal pace, I slowed down too much in the second quarter and picked it up in the 3rd and 4th, but not enough to make my goal.

So I missed it, but I won’t flog myself over it since it wasn’t a race, per se and it was my first time at this distance. I gave it my best, anyway.

Afterwards, the organizer, Kev Gruenfeld, who did a fantastic job of creating the event and putting it all together, found us a covered spot for awards. Turns out there were more awards than runners, so we each got to pick one! I got a snappy little red Brooks running hat, Matt got a $30 gift certificate to Philly Runners and Harry chose a t-shirt. Considering the entry fee was only $5, can’t beat the value!

The other highlight was meeting Edwin Roberts, Bronze Medalist in the 1964 Olympics (he was the one telling us to “Go!”). He brought one of his medals, too. I can now say that I’ve actually touched an Olympic medal. Very cool.

And that’s about it. I took an extra day off this week, plus I missed my long run so I wanted to go out for an easy 9. On the other hand, I feel the beginnings of a cold coming on, so maybe I’ll just stay in. Decisions, decisions…