Today I ran my first 10K race. 
It was the Richard S. Caliguiri Great Race.
I met up with Rob Carr at the ambulance behind the starting line. My wife took a picture of us. As soon as that roll of film gets developed, I'll post my Run Shadyside and Great Race pics.
Rob and I ran the first mile together. He was worried about his knee and I was worried about setting too fast a pace, so we took it slow. As it turned out, we took it slower than either of us really wanted (about 13 minutes as I recall). After the first mile, I split off from Rob and picked up my pace. Having looked at Rob's chip time, it seems I didn't out-pace him by much. I finished in 1:04:55 according to my watch (1:06:13, officially ) and he finished in 1:09:41. I probably put about a minute's distance between us when I left him and just held on to it, accumulating another minute of separation with each mile. Had I known Rob was going to be so close behind me, I'd have stayed with him so we could push and support each other. Oh well.
Anyhow, I didn't finish in under an hour like I wanted to, but I'm not too disappointed. I'm mostly glad I finished. That was the first time I ran 10K without stopping. During training, I always stopped at about 5K, got water and walked around a bit before running the remaining 5K. I have something to shoot for next year.
I learned some things at this race (Learning make me happy).
1. I need new sneakers. I've put too many miles on the ones I have.
2. The bananas and other goodies at the end of the race run out fast. I should ask my wife to bring energy food for me next time.
3. A heck of a lot of people show up for this race. Have a meeting place in mind for after the race or I'll be wandering around aimlessly for while.
Rob made a few comments in his post that I'd like to respond to.
"Heat, though, was a problem….I was extremely hot. I wasn't so hot that I was dumping ice down my shorts, but this race was too humid and warm for me."
Amen to that. I wish the weather had stayed cool like it was at the start.
"I didn't see any caterpillars, or much in the way of costumes at all this year. Usually I'm with the some ROTC guys with a flag for part of the run, but I didn't see them, either."
That was disappointing. I'd have loved to have seen people being silly and having fun like that.
"Just before the 4 mile mark, there's the unofficial 'water' station that handed out beer. "
What was up with that?! Who the heck wants booze during a race?!
"At Eat-n-Park's water station, there were some cheerleaders, which was fun."
To those who cheered, I offer a hearty thank you. You were much appreciated. I only wish there had been more of you, especially during miles 5 and 6.
"Someone was sick at a bit past the 4 mile mark, but for once there were enough people that there was no need to stop. I have about a 50% chance of someone getting injured and stopping when I run the Great Race. Usually, it's right before the two-mile mark where the crowd pinches down as it makes the turn off Forbes by CMU onto Morewood. People run into each other at the turn and someone falls, winding up with significant road rash (abrasions with little bits of asphalt and rock imbedded in the skin - not fun!). Come to think of it, the 'just past the 4 mile mark' is a popular spot, too."
At both locations water is distributed. The asphalt is wet and the street is littered with plastic cups, which on wet road can be as slippery as banana peels.
"Well, I survived. There was no way I'd be happy with the time unless it was sub-40 minutes. I've never gone sub-40, so that wasn't likely to happen. Still and all, it was a great workout. There were people behind me, and I was running in a crowd, so I didn't get the worst time of the day."
Let's shoot for that sub-40 time next year, friend.
Funky Dung
Comments 10
1. The "beer stop" is by a Pittsburgh contingent of Hash House runners. I've availed myself of a small amount in times past. Given that I really don't like beer, (Guiness excepted), it was more of a "I did it because I could" type thing. It's one of the few remnants of those "fun" things that used to happen in the race. It's an echo of the Chunder Run from Australia. You probably don't want to know about that.
2. Maybe we need to do something ourselves. I should have. I could have had a great excuse for my time.
3. The first injury location is before the water station on Morewood. The second is after the water station on Fifth and before the one on the Blvd. of the Allies. Both are clear of water and cups. The first really is because of the squeeze. The second seems to be because of the uphill. I think people break at the uphill.
4. Next year! Of course, if you're up for the Youngstown Peace Race, you can easily break your 1 hr. there. The race is more downhill, less crowded, and tends to be cooler.
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 2:01 am ¶RE: #4
When is it?
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 2:42 am ¶you forgot to mention that i beat you
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 3:04 pm ¶I didn't look your time up until after I wrote and published the entry. Also, since I ran the first mile so slowly, I wasn't going to sweat a seven second defecit.
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 4:16 pm ¶Congrats Eric!! Very well done. It was a fun race although much warmer than it usually is. I like to be cold at the beginning of the race and let the running warm me up.
Curious note… your website is blocked at work as "Intolerance/Hate Speech or Violence"!!?? I've never seen that on any other website. Their attempts to filter the web end up with some very random classifications.
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 5:22 pm ¶Perhaps the mention of gays triggered the filter.
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 6:25 pm ¶Do you by any chance know what filtering software your company uses?
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 6:26 pm ¶Peace Race:
Oct. 23, 2005 10:15 am in Youngstown, OH.
I would switch to the race you mentioned, but I already signed up for this one. In years past, back when Phar-Mor was around, this was the International Peace Race, had the absolute best goodie bag, and it was a premiere race with runners from all over the world.
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 6:49 pm ¶Congrats to Rob, Funky, and especially Edey for beating 'em both!! 10k is a long ways to go, Funky, when you just ran your first 5k a little while ago. Good job!
I spent last Sat running my 4th VA 10-miler (5th 10 mile race ever) and having a catastrophically bad time at doing it. You can read my results here. I was hoping for at least (most actually) 83:00, and ran ~82:11 last year in the same race… BUT that was before I decided to play softball at a work picnic last Thurs (for the first time in about 5 years). After pitching about 150 pitches and taking about 30 swings of the bat, I'd managed to beat up my back, glutes, and hamstrings something awful. I was more sore before the race than I usually am afterward. The result about 87:40
Cheers!
+0
Posted 26 Sep 2005 at 10:48 pm ¶Congrads, Funky!
+0
Posted 27 Sep 2005 at 2:58 am ¶Trackbacks & Pingbacks 3
Post a Comment