Ok, so I’m really late with this post. I wasn’t planning on turning this into a running blog, so I was thinking I should limit the running posts and not report on all the races I’m doing. I really wanted to make more technical and programming-related posts, but I’m spending much more of my free time on running-related things these days.
Also, when deciding which races I want to do, I find race reports helpful, so hopefully, when these events roll around next year, someone out there will find my reports helpful.
Anyway, this event was held on April 10, 2011. The start and finish were at Wantagh High School. I was very curious about the route because it was advertised as having only 4 turns. I could think of several ways you could do a 5K with a start and finish at the high school, but with only 4 turns?
We started north on Daffodil Lane and the first turn is a right on Jerusalem Ave. The second turn is a right on Wantagh Ave. We ran all the way down to the train station where the third turn hooked us back up north. The final turn was a left on Beltagh, taking us back to the High School.
This race was on par with the other local events I’ve done. It was well-organized, plenty of food and water were provided and I was impressed with how Wantagh Ave was closed that whole stretch. For me, this race is automatic for next year, but I’m biased because this race had something special in store for me.
I wasn’t feeling 100% when I woke up that morning and very briefly flirted with the idea of skipping it. I ended up getting there a little late and arrived just in time to line up and start. Luckily, I had picked up my racing bib and chip the day before.
The hard winter had upset my running schedule for months and just as the cold and snow began to subside, I injured my left Achilles tendon. Soon after it got better, I caught a bad cold. By the beginning of April, I was back on my regular schedule, but I noticed my times were off from December, when I had put up some nice personal records.
As a result, my confidence was not very high; I ran a conservative race and I didn’t think much of my 23:32.7 result.
I hung around for the awards and raffle, totally unprepared for what was about to happen…
When they announced my age group, they called off the name of the first place finisher, then for second place, they called my name!
I’ve never come close to the top three at any of these events and I didn’t look closely enough at the results posted after to race to realize I was second in my age group. I walked up and got my medal in a complete state of surprise and shock.
I’ll readily admit my age group was a bit soft that day, but I have put a hell of a lot of work into running the past two years, so getting some hardware to show for it was really awesome.
I’ve done a couple of more races since then, which I will post about soon.
