Notes
54°F + 42°F = 96
I left at 8am and was downtown by 8:15. I normally park in the Witherspoon parking garage for downtown races. The traffic to the garage was stop and go. When I finally got to the garage around 8:35, cars were backing out of the garage. There was a security guard standing in the road doing nothing. Cars were pulling into the garage before realizing they could not enter. I made a U-turn with other cars and head toward the Galt House. The traffic was backed up down River Road for the Galt House. I got in the right lane and by-passed all the traffic to park at the museum lot at 7th and River Road. It was now 8:35 and I was a mile from the start. I ran to the start at 9-minute pace, which was a great warm-up.
I got to the start at 8:45. Phew, 15 minutes to spare. The start line was already packed. There were plenty of runners at the start line that had no business being there. They started the race right on time. I took off at 6:30 pace and had to dodge people left and right. At one point I was behind a young kid (about 8-9 years old) who practically stopped in front of me to look for his dad who had let his kids take off at 6:20 pace. It thinned out pretty quickly, though.
I was feeling good at 6:40 pace for the first 3/4 mile. As soon as I hit incline Second Street bridge I started to breathe heavy. I didn't feel very fresh. Cramps. I mentally pushed myself while dropping my arms a bit to relax.
The 1-mile point (which wasn't marked or timed) was about the apex of the bridge. It was then downhill for about a half-mile. At the halfway point, we had to make a sharp U-turn in the middle of the street. I HATE routes like that. I lost all momentum and was facing an uphill climb on the bridge. I knew I had to push hard to get back to pace and work the incline, knowing the last mile was all downhill.
At the 2-mile point (again not marked) was running next to huge numbers of walkers. They were so numerous that they has spilled into 3 of the 4 lanes of the road. For the last half-mile, they were cover the entire street leaving just a few feet for the runners. Then I had to cross over through the walkers to turn left toward the finish. It was not a good route for such a huge crowd.
I felt like I struggled the entire race. I was please with a 22-minute finish, even though it was well shy of my PR. I feel like I have hit a plateau in my running. But I still love it and have fun training and running a race each month.
This race fit perfectly with my schedule. I probably would not have run it had my kids not stayed the night at my parents for a Veggies Tales performance. I'm undecided if I would run it again next year. I am leaning toward No.