Notes
Without a doubt, hands down, this was the most fun I've ever had at a race. The atmosphere was beyond incredible. The race is basically the kickoff for Kingsport's FunFest which is a big festival this week. So pretty much this race is the focal point of the entire area for this one evening. The course is pretty much a figure 8, with it starting on the road outside the local high school's stadium, then making a figure 8, and finishing up inside the stadium. (A weird side note, the high school - Dobbyns Bennett - is definitely one I've heard of through band, so that's kind of cool). Finishing inside the stadium was by far the coolest way to finish a race I've ever seen. The stands weren't actually all that full, mostly because everyone was crowding all over the field and stuff. The late night atmosphere was also pretty much just amazing, with the race starting at 9:58, and having candles light a lot of the race.
There were well over 3000 people in the race, so the start was super crowded and congested, but oh well. I didn't really try to get myself too near the front because there was really no reason, I wouldn't be going at a pace like the guys up front anyways. They actually have pacers that hold up signs for their pace, starting at 7:00, and going up every 30 seconds until like a 10 minute pace. I ended up starting right next to the lady holding the 8:30 pace sign, but I knew I wouldn't be going that slow.
Anyways, the start was just like I said, super congested. I tried to find as many gaps as I could to kind of shoot through to keep moving forwards. The first mile must have been somewhere in the first neighborhood we went through, but since it was pretty dark with just the candles providing light, I didn't see any markers or spray paint on the road. Somewhere in the neighborhood, probably near the first mile I caught up to the guy holding the 7:30 pace sign. It had spread out a least a little bit by then, but he had a pretty decent group gathering up around him. Came out of the neighborhood and went up a hill to start turning around to head back towards the high school. It was pretty flat ground for a while as we were working the outer part of the loop, and it was just as we turned back onto Fort Henry to get back to the high school that there was a big race clock showing the time. I'm thinking it was probably at the 2 mile marker because the clock was somewhere in the 14's, and I was a little bit ahead of the 7:30 pace guy by then.
It was a nice gradual decline back down to the stadium, where there was maybe a mile total before we hit the next hill. Just before the start of the hill I saw the first kenyans making their way back towards the stadium for the finish. They're so darn fast, but it was pretty neat to see them. This one really wasn't all that steep to start out, it was just long. Towards the end it got a little steeper, but it still wasn't really that bad. Definitely the road I've been running on the past few weeks, with it's nonstop hills has helped, because those are actually probably steeper than anything in this race. It was on this hill that the guy with the 7:30 sign actually passed me, but as he was going by he was talking to somebody saying that he was a little bit ahead.
Made the turn for the outer part of the second loop of the figure 8, and it was pretty much flat here too. This was another segment that was candle lit, and it was pretty cool. Lots of people were out on their lawns cheering people on, or spraying us with hoses, which was nice. It wasn't really all that hot out since it was pretty late, but there was still some humidity. Going up that last hill, and then on this outer part of the loop, I definitely could tell that my pace was starting to slow down a bit. Not too drastically, but this was the first time when I was actually getting passed by a couple of people, which kind of made me mad. Up until then, I had really only been overtaking people, not very many people had actually passed me.
The last turn got us headed back towards the high school, and this was another segment that was just a nice long gradual downhill. Maybe 1 or 2 people passed me here, but I definitely picked up a little bit, with help from the decline obviously. We made the turn back on to Fort Henry towards the high school, and it was kind of neat seeing all of the people just working their way up the hill to start the back loop. At this point I was trying to find my "target" for my kick at the end of the race. I usually like to find someone a little bit ahead of me that I can aim to pass during my kick. Unfortunately, there wasn't anybody that was what I felt like the right distance, so I decided I'd just kick without picking someone. This one kid that had passed me right towards the end of the hill was probably 10 feet in front, and so I decided to start to pick it up by passing him. I kept that faster pace up until the turn that led to the slight hill into the stadium, and that's where I started my actual kick.
I had come a lot closer to the people in front of me when I picked it up the first time, and once I kicked, man I probably passed like 20 people. I probably passed like 10 people on the little hill into the stadium, and by the time I actually turned into the stadium and made it on to the field I was seriously going crazy fast. I obviously had plenty left in the tank, because I was seriously killing it One the final stretch on the field I probably passed another 10 people, and when I say passed, I mean ZOOMED by. It was super sweet to end the race with all the people cheering at you as you finished.
I'm honestly pretty happy with this race. Especially with the end. I've always had a pretty decent kick, but man this felt like the kick of all kicks. I felt like I was running in a 100m sprint, that's how fast it was. Passing those people felt really good, just because of how fast I was zooming by them. Overall, I'm not happy with my fitness level right now, but I'm happy with my effort in this race. Obviously I should be running a hell of a lot faster than a 7:30 pace in a race, but it is what it is. I mean heck, I've had regular runs at a sub 7 pace in the past, so to think that in a race all I could manage is a 7:30 is kind of irritating, but oh well.