(illegal) city of the lakes 25k
i considered running the city of the lakes 25k late last week, only to find they had reached full capacity and were no longer accepting entrants!
the course circled around 2 of the lakes i run on most often so i decided i would mosey on down to the starting line and assess the situation this morning. i "snuck" into the field of registered runners toward the end of the pack at the start.
i had no bib. i had no number. the race was not chip-timed (as far as i could tell, staring at everybody's feet very nervously), so i had no chip either. i looked around sheepishly as the crowd of excited, legal runners gathered behind the starting line in a tight pack, waiting for the signal to go.
this is minnesota, so i figured the odds of someone saying anything would be extremely low. indeed, nobody said anything to me at all.
things stolen at the race:
* 6 - 8 cups of water
* 2 cups of powerade
* 1 banana
i planned on not taking anything at all, but in the end i got kind of thirsty. i felt the most guilty when the volunteers would cheer me on as i took a cup of water out of their hand at the water stations. "good job runner!!!", they'd shout. oops. oh it was just terrible, just terrible.
shame on me!
i might send them a check this week anyway. not that it makes it any better, but eh, i might.
right before the finishing 'chute', i darted out through a small 2-ft opening. not before closing strong though!
things i did not steal:
-a finishers "stein" (mug)
-a cookie
turning to the race itself, i think i ran it strong. my unofficial time was 2:13:40, or 8:36 average pace. i ran the first mile in 9:40 (crowded), and the last 14.5 around 8:30 average pace.
i felt strong out there, mostly. i ran negative splits for sure. i passed a lot of people on the second half of the race. i would like to thank my coach, pete pfitzinger! ha ha.
you can see here that after the halfway point, i almost ran every single subsequent mile faster than the previous. i feel pretty good about that. my calves were pretty sore at the end of the race. i was so bummed that i had to run home after putting in a hard effort for 2+ hours. i limped home ~2.25 miles with an average pace of about 11:20. my calves did not return to normal for several hours. my nike+ said i ran 15.05; assuming the course was measured accurately, my nike+ is off by about 3% which isn't too bad.
about 1,200 people registered. 972 people legally ran the race, plus at least one illegal. hopefully i won't do that again.
the course circled around 2 of the lakes i run on most often so i decided i would mosey on down to the starting line and assess the situation this morning. i "snuck" into the field of registered runners toward the end of the pack at the start.
i had no bib. i had no number. the race was not chip-timed (as far as i could tell, staring at everybody's feet very nervously), so i had no chip either. i looked around sheepishly as the crowd of excited, legal runners gathered behind the starting line in a tight pack, waiting for the signal to go.
this is minnesota, so i figured the odds of someone saying anything would be extremely low. indeed, nobody said anything to me at all.
things stolen at the race:
* 6 - 8 cups of water
* 2 cups of powerade
* 1 banana
i planned on not taking anything at all, but in the end i got kind of thirsty. i felt the most guilty when the volunteers would cheer me on as i took a cup of water out of their hand at the water stations. "good job runner!!!", they'd shout. oops. oh it was just terrible, just terrible.
shame on me!
i might send them a check this week anyway. not that it makes it any better, but eh, i might.
right before the finishing 'chute', i darted out through a small 2-ft opening. not before closing strong though!
things i did not steal:
-a finishers "stein" (mug)
-a cookie
turning to the race itself, i think i ran it strong. my unofficial time was 2:13:40, or 8:36 average pace. i ran the first mile in 9:40 (crowded), and the last 14.5 around 8:30 average pace.
i felt strong out there, mostly. i ran negative splits for sure. i passed a lot of people on the second half of the race. i would like to thank my coach, pete pfitzinger! ha ha.
you can see here that after the halfway point, i almost ran every single subsequent mile faster than the previous. i feel pretty good about that. my calves were pretty sore at the end of the race. i was so bummed that i had to run home after putting in a hard effort for 2+ hours. i limped home ~2.25 miles with an average pace of about 11:20. my calves did not return to normal for several hours. my nike+ said i ran 15.05; assuming the course was measured accurately, my nike+ is off by about 3% which isn't too bad.
about 1,200 people registered. 972 people legally ran the race, plus at least one illegal. hopefully i won't do that again.
posted by brent at
7:07 PM
4 Comments:
Wow! I had no idea you were such an outlaw. But then you redeem yourself by not stealing a finisher's mug.
By
M@rla, at 5:53 AM
sending in a check sounds like a nice idea, but then you'd be "on the record" as having run as a bandit. i suggest sending cash, or maybe a check without an explanation.
By
Danny, at 7:17 AM
Just consider yourself a stand in for someone who didn't show. There's always plenty of no-shows, so one of them actually got their money's worth through a surrogate runner!
By
Rae, at 5:52 AM
When I lived in San Francisco I rode my bike down to the Marina Green to watch the beginning of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. It's a qualifier for the Ironman; hardcore, to the core. After watching most of the swimmers, I hopped on my bike to head over to the first transition area, just to check out all the action. Unfortunately, the only route out of the marina was ON THE COURSE. So, as I rode along, people were cheering me and telling me to go for it and how great I was. It was such a horrifying experience. Horrifying. I got off the official course as soon as possible, but not before I was scarred for life!
By
Mia Goddess, at 5:02 PM
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