race report: mini 10k

i was looking forward to this race as i thought i had a shot at a PR, but as it turns out, it wasn't meant to be. but i had a good time and enjoyed meeting up with my VCTC teammates post-race, so all is well.

did pretty much my usual pre-race routine. saw this lady painting her nails on the shuttle train. random.

arrived at central park with what should've been plenty of time to get settled before the gun. but i apparently forgot how much slower/longer the bathroom lines are for all-women's races. for the first time ever, i missed the start while waiting in line for the bathroom. but, it couldn't really be helped, i knew i couldn't do a 10k needing to pee the whole time, and with chip timing, a late start doesn't count against you whereas stopping mid-race does. so i opted to stay in line and take care of things before beginning. i made friends with two ladies behind me who were doing the race on a lark (their husbands signed them up for it apparently).

i headed toward the start and was able to jump in without having to go all the way to the back of the pack, but still much farther back than i would've been had i gotten to my corral on time. it was crazy crowded, and runners were behaving quite poorly, walking in the middle of the course, jogging slowly three abreast, texting & futzing with their ipods, holding up phones to take pictures. really bad. so at this point, all hopes of a PR had evaporated and i decided to just chill out and treat this as a regular run. despite that, it was really frustrating trying to run an even pace in the crowded conditions with people to whom "race" and "pace" are at best abstract concepts. because of this, i'm not sure i will/would do the mini again.

my official time was 54:23 for a pace of 8:46. not earth shattering. we got a pink carnation, a medal and a popsicle, in addition to the usual post-race goodies. :)

my time in this race last year was 54:22, and i bonked pretty hard in that race, so that was disappointing. but so it goes! incidentally, my garmin put my distance for the race at 6.35mi, an indication of how much extra distance i ran thanks to weaving through traffic. my splits were actually pretty decent, so i am pleased with that. and i'm proud of myself for not sulking about the less-than-ideal conditions the whole time and letting it ruin the whole run. and i enjoyed sporting my new singlet & having people to chat with post-race.