Summary

Saturday I ran the State Fair 5 4.44k in 24:08. 1^st AG.

Background

I registered for this race and then almost instantly had second thoughts. I live about 15 minutes from the fairgrounds. During the “9 best days of summer”, I avoid the area because traffic is an absolute mess. You are not allowed to make left turns anywhere near the fairgrounds. And if you want to go to any shopping area, you have to convince the parking attendants that you are going shopping and not trying to park for free.

This was a first year event and the RM company is a newer one in the area. There were about 65 participants, which was surprising, given the few races that weekend, I would have expected more. There were definitely some hiccups. Parking was free for those doing the race. The volunteers for the fair weren’t quite sure where to send people, although fortunately I got there a guy had driven up in a golf cart & knew where I needed to go, so I got a golf cart escort to the race parking. The race was also short. The original map the RM company posted included a lap around the horse racing track, that didn’t happen. I wonder if the fair folks were worried about the humans messing up the track for the horses?

Because I was concerned about parking & traffic being a mess, for once I had time to warm up. I did a mile on the course, basically doing an out and back on the back stretch of the fairgrounds.

Mile 1 8:35

The race started under the grandstand, which my Garmin did not appreciate. I could not get a signal. So while the course was most definitely short, I have no clue just how much because of the lack of signal. I lined up a row or two back. The start was the usual pain in the butt type stuff, mostly pairs of people running side by side, but multiple pairs sort of staggered across so you couldn’t easily get around them. I just was patient, knowing that it would probably spread out once the incline stared. The race directions were rather amusing, make a right at the cows, then follow the cotton candy and funnel cake stands to the parking lot. It was a cool (for August) morning, so the Cow Palace was not as fragrant as it can be. Apparently 8am is cow washing time at the fair. Back to the race, once we turned at the cows, the course started a hill that didn’t end til we got out to the parking lot. It wasn’t bad, probably about 40 feet of gain over ½ mile or so.  After getting to the top of the hill, it was a gradual downhill, then a turn at horse barns.

Mile 2 8:52

The beginning o f this mile was the least scenic/most annoying part of the course. There was an out-and-back where you ran to one of the entry gates and then back. There was a light stream of traffic, although they were trying to stagger the cars in so runners had the right of way. Once past that, it was back past the grandstand for another lap. Way too soon, there was a mile marker for mile 2. I glanced at my watch, 1.5 miles. Um, ok. I did pass a few people on the incline at the back of the fairgrounds this lap.

Mile 3 8:49 pace

This is where it got strange. I was definitely hurting when I got to the top of the hill on lap 2. There were 2 other women close to me at that point. When we came around to the parking out-and-back, I started getting a side stitch. Ugh, again. I kept glancing at my watch, doing a mental count down. At that point, I think it was 2.5 miles, which wasn’t making sense to me. The grandstand was right there in front of me. This couldn’t be the end of the race.  Did I miss some instructions? Was I going to be making some sort of turn or doing another out and back under the grandstand? The two women had gotten slightly ahead of me at that point because I was trying to keep the cramp at bay, and I saw that nope, this was it. Um, ok. I didn’t really have a kick, mainly because I just wasn’t sure what the heck was going on and had this fear of sprinting and then discovering I still had more to run. By my count, I had figured I was the 6^th woman. This RM company uses Racemine, which is awesome because results are available almost immediately via cell phone. So after running a cool down mile, I checked, and yep, I was 6^th.

Final thoughts

I was reasonably happy with this race. This was by far the most even splits I’ve run since March.  I think some of that was due to a more favorable course and decent weather. I also think that I need to lay off the almond butter on my pre-race bagel, I’m starting to think that’s not helping with the cramping.

ETA: race bling, it's on a red ribbon, this was from the RM company's page

So what mile distance is 4.44k? Did you actually race 3 miles at least?

I settled on a banana for my prerace meal for a 5 or 10k, both of which typically include a 3 mile warmup. There are days however when I can only get half of the stupid thing down.

4.44k equals 2.76 miles. May have been a little more, GPS did not work while under the grandstand where we started and ended.

Banana for breakfast. Nope. I'd be burping it up all race.