Runners On Parade 5K Race Report

The Runners on Parade 5K is, locally, one of the largest 5K races each year. I have run the race for the past three years, as long as I have lived in this city. The race simultaneously represents triumph and tragedy for me.

Triumph in that the 2009 and 2010 races resulted in PRs at the 5K distance (techincally, 2010 was not a PR for running 5 kilometers, but it was a PR for a race that ended after 5 kilometers). Triumph in that the 2009 race packet included a sleek fitting (read: too tight) racing singlet, pictured above.

Tragedy in that the race organizers cannot, even in this year of 2010, figure out how to effectively operate the chip timing system so that runners obtain a true chip time. Tragedy in that the 2009 race saw the Badrunner standing in a porta-john line five minutes before the race start, only to have the starting cannon fire and the race begin, again, FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE RACE START with no notice or announcement from the organizers. This would not be a huge deal in a race with proper chip timing, as any particular person's race "net" time would not begin until he or she crossed the starting line. However, on this particular day, the race organizers could not figure out how to begin the race timing correctly, so everyone registered only "gun" times. For Badrunner, standing in the aforementioned porta-john line at the start of the race, this resulted in approximately 35 extra seconds added to his final race time. Not awesome.

2010 found the Badrunner ready for the bumbling idiots that are the race organizers - standing as close as possible to the starting line (no timing mat present, mind you) at 7:50am, a full ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time. This year's race started only about 2 minutes early, but with as little warning as 2009 - no announcements, no "Welcome Runners," just a gun shot and a surge down the road.

But, that is what we line up for, isn't it? The race itself, logistical and organizational nightmares aside, is run on a pretty fast course in downtown Fort Wayne. The course doubles back on itself several times, giving the runners a chance to cheer each other on at multple points on the course. The original plan for me was to try to break the 20:00 mark. Of course, I signed up for this race three days prior, and had been focusing on the early stages of fall marathon training, which for me is more mileage than speed. Still, sometimes it pays to go ugly early, and I think I may have even held a sufficient pace for much of the first mile. However, after passing the first timing clock and clicking the Lap button on my Garmin, I realized that I likely would not break twenty minutes that day.

First mile 6:38

About halfway through the second mile, the course made a quick right onto a quarter mile stretch that was, at least in my memory, completely uphill and directly into the sun. Not a good section of the race for me.

Second mile 6:56

I tried to pull it together for the final mile to possibly pull out a PR, which sort of happened - it was a PR for a 5K race, but not the fastest that I had ever run 5K during a race.

Third mile 6:30 (and last 0.1 at 0:54), with a finish time of 20:58

Overall a pretty good race, but in the end it was just a good beginning to a great day at the Three Rivers Festival with my daughters.

And, my first ever (but hopefully only the first of many)experience with the "Donut Burger."

I don't know how you can't love that...

Up to Speed

I am not the person who needs a blog, in any way. A 36 year old corporate tax lawyer with two kids and one on the way, a lovely wife, and "big plastic house in an Indiana cornfield" as my wife puts it, I have enough going on.

Still, for some reason crazy shit happens and I guess I feel the desire to talk about it. Sure, I'll tell the same story twenty times to twenty people over the course of the day, but inevitably the last few people to hear the story get the best, most refined version. So, I thought, I could just write something every now and then and simply tell those same twenty people "Hey, I am not talking today, see www.ftwbadrunner.blogspot.com."

So, as indicated by the title of the page, I run. I run what I think is a fair amount, what my wife thinks is an excessive amount. Often I run at lunch with a group of guys at work, but lately (because of the aforementioned baby on the way and all the havoc she currently wreaks on our lives) I have been opting to run at night, after my two post-gestational daughters have gone to bed.

I set out on one of these nighttime runs just a day or two ago. My house being the constant trainwreck that it has been lately, I didn’t start my run until about 10pm. From my house, a simple out and back down Wheelock Road to Stellhorn Road (some of you know those roads) gets me about 6.3 miles, so I chose that route.

Shortly after I hit the turnaround, and on a particularly dark stretch of Wheelock Road, I noticed a car pass me and almost immediately start to slow down. When it got to about 50 yards ahead of me, it stopped in the road. I thought this was odd, but just kept running, of course in the direction of the car. When I got close to the car, a guy leaned out the window and the following conversation ensued:

Man in Car: Hey Hey!

Badrunner: Uh, hello?

Man in Car: Where are you headed?

Badrunner: (confused/annoyed) I’m out on a run, just running this way.

Man in Car: What kind of miles are you doing?

Badrunner: (annoyed/slightly disturbed) About 6 miles tonight.

Man in Car: Wow. That takes dedication to stick to it. Good for you.

Badrunner: (fairly disturbed/ready to punch the suspected rapist in the face) Right.

Man in Car: Well, have a good night, and be safe.

Badrunner: Well, as long as you don’t rape and kill me down the road …

I am not sure what it was about my outfit (running shorts, headlamp, two flashing red lights for visibility) that said "cruising for dudes," but anyway... Needless to say, the rest of my run was pretty nerve wracking. One slight silver lining, the incident turned my relatively easy run into a tempo run since I was trying to simply get home as quickly as possible.

Anyway, that is the ridiculousness that is my life these days. I hope you'll keep reading.