It breaks my heart to tell you this, but I was supposed to be in Denver this weekend for the RnR Denver Half. Alas I am not. It’s a long story but suffice it to say, flights to NYC for the marathon in 2 weeks were more $$$ than anticipated and the fallout was no RnRDEN. Boo.
Just because I’m not racing there doesn’t mean I’m not racing. I love me some Halloween so I found a fun, local consolation race that didn’t conflict with NYCM.
According to local lore, the Pumpkin Chase is “an iconic, elite race on the beautiful North Shore.” Sounds good, right? Minus the elite part, cuz I am far from that. The North Shore is rife with great running clubs and with the “elite” warning, I had no designs on winning anything. Honestly I was merely looking for some speed to make up for last week’s missed 12x400m.
I anticipated a cold (30s) start but woke to 50 degrees. After a full costume change (who am I kidding there was no costume) to something lighter, I headed to Lake Bluff and found great parking with an hour to spare.
I love that this race is put on by a middle school. But the flipside is there are gobs of kids. Don’t get me wrong I love when kids run. But gosh they weave and come to sudden stops.
I’m ashamed to say I did not warm up. Just…..um didn’t. I lined up nowhere near the front in a forest of tall men and we were off to a chaotic start. Kids, walkers, double jog strollers in front, pretty much anything goes. I felt great, except the car keys (no gear check) in my back skirt pocket were tugging it down. Geez. The rain started in the first mile. The course was gorgeous. Trees in peak autumn color and no shortage of mansions to drool over. We wound down to Lake Michigan where a stiff wind from the North slapped us in the face. So many fast, young runners swallowed me up. A lady of a certain age with muffin top peeking out from her singlet cruised by. What’s worse: a bare muffin top or a full-moon rising? I yanked up my skirt for the billionth time and chugged along, sub-8 which is not shabby for me these days. A gazelle in a red-hot half zip pulled in front of me so I drafted. No way was I going to beat her long, effortless (seeming) strides. Muffin-top slowly pulled away. Dang. Just about the halfway point we began a long ascent. Just my luck, this uphill was going to last the rest of the race. The rain fell harder and I dug in, miraculously pulling ahead of red-hot gazelle who was never seen again, while muffin-top drifted further away. You just never know.
We turned the corner and I spied the finish line about 400m ahead and fought up the final god-forsaken incline. Puke was rising, skirt was falling and I watched the clock tick over to 26:00 just as I hit the finish. Nooooo! I’d really wanted to break 26. Alas Garmin said 26:02 for 3.13.
Here’s where the plot thickens. I finished 4th in my AG, which is just fine. I’m not suggesting I deserved better than 4th. BUT the finish time they posted is my gun time, rather than chip time. I know gun time is used for elite and overall placement, but I’ve never seen it used for age group. Had I known they were using gun time, I certainly could have lined up further forward.
Final words. Pros: Fun race, scenic course at a pretty time of year. If we go by Garmin time, this is my fastest 5k (by 5 seconds) since 2011. Best of all, my weird knee was pain-free. Even on the hills. I was delighted to see a bag of my favorite Chicago Mix (caramel/cheese) popcorn in the goodie bag. What I thought was a mini Body Glide turned out to be a mini men’s Speed Stick deoderant….um ok….
Cons: Giant men’s tech shirts. They were out of smaller sizes when I picked up my packet, despite registering 3 weeks ago. I know I need another race shirt like a new hole in the head, but still. The uphill in the final 1.5 miles may be to blame, but I did not pace this race as well as I should have. Live and learn.
Have you seen gun time used for non-elite age group placement when there is chip timing?
Well, here’s what I think:
1- your time is darn amazing & who the heck goes by gun time?
2- Amazing that you did this yesterday in the mess of weather.
3- Uphill for the last 1.5, ummm, that should never be in Illinois!
4- You’re a winner!
Enjoy your victory. Impressive!
I am glad you made the best of it & there were the pros – 🙂 Congrats on the time!!! Congrats on the no knee pain!!!
I’ve not been racing long enough to know a lot of things but it seems odd that they would do that when the chip timing was available. Your right about never knowing about the people. I stopped using people that I felt that I should be outrunning. It’s never accurate. It’s like trying to guess someones age. Sorry you didn’t get to go to RNRDEN. Usually tickets to Colorado are cheap from the MidWest but I think with all the issues at O’Hare right now they are jacking up the prices (instead of the other way around).
Nice speedy race! I hate when people that look out of shape pass me but it happens all the time 🙂
Seems to depend on how big the race is here. You must be accustomed to larger races where they always have a start mat. They don’t always have one here, so gun time is used rather than an adjusted chip time based on when one crosses the start mat.
Muffin top is way better than a full moon rising – in my book at least.
Don’t you hate it when a muffin top runs past you?! (I might have a muffin top but these days I’m keeping it covered so it’s more of a secret:)
Great job on your best time in 3 years – awesome. We are like a good wine!!!
When I ran that Florida Halfathon last March, they used gun time too. That was the first time I had ever been in a race that did that, and I just wondered, what was the point of having a chip? Since I only compete against myself, I didn’t quite understand why they used gun time, and I didn’t like it!
Congrats on the speedy finish. Thankfully muffin top didn’t distract you too much!
Sounds like a fun race, but I think it is lame that they did not use your chip time! UGH. Hope NYC is lots of fun in a couple weeks! :)-Ashley
I had some wonky knee stuff this summer and come to find out it was something my chiropractor could fix! I was blaming it on my IT band so I ran very limited miles very slowly, massaged and yoga’d for like 2.5 months and the fix was one chiro visit away the whole time!
I live in the boon docks and primarily run 5k-10 milers which rarely include any chip timing at all. One race I was in a few years ago didn’t even have real race numbers, they were laminated construction paper race numbers. 🙂
What? If they’re going to use gun time, then way go to the trouble of having chips? Dumb. Sorry about the placement…but hot damn – you’re getting wicked fast!!
Funny, RnR Denver clearly has you running on Sunday. Hmmmm….
Miss you!! xo
Bummer you had to miss out on Denver! This sounds like a fun local race though! And nice time, speedy! I am surprised by the chip/gun time thing. I would NOT be expecting that!
I have to say though, I was surprised by the muffin-top identifier. 🙁 I would hate to be identified by something seemingly “unflattering” by my body and surprised to hear a running coach use that phrase. Even though it was probably really noticeable, lol.
I’m sorry I offended you Kim.
I’ve had more than 1 race use gun time and find that to be very frustrating, too. I was quite confused at first, but I now know it’s almost all races I run back home. Nice job on your time!