Media 5 Miler
Raced the Media 5 miler yesterday. One of those races where I enjoyed the scene more than the racing.
This year the race, held in a small town-cum suburb about 45 minutes west of Philly, was put on by Delco Running Club up until this year, when, according to Delco, the Town of Media basically engineered a hostile takeover of the race organization (see here). Given this is a pretty big race and assuming that the Town doesn't have alot of experience in putting on a race, this leads to a high risk for screw ups.
Nonetheless, I went out, grabbing a ride with KJ and family. The setting looked small town American, with the start being on Main Street, shops and all festooned in red, white and blue. By the time we got there they ran out of race numbers (I had not preregistered) and was prepared to run as a bandit, but Jeff Crago, who heads up the Bryn Mawr Running Club, got me in officially and with just enough time to use the portajohn and get to the start.
At least I thought I was pressed for time. Hurry up and wait, as the race was delayed for 15 minutes to get the course marshals and police lined up. This gave me time to size up the competition. Along with KJ, there were Phillyrunners Scott, Jim, Ryan, Tim, Monika, Liz and probably one or two I'm forgetting. Ryan brought a cowbell and gave it to Jim's girlfriend under the condition she use it. At the start I talk a bit with Chris ? from Wissahickon Wanderers and Kevin M. from Valley Forge Striders. I also see John Carroll and with that kiss goodbye any hopes at being top masters. As usually happens with this race, the area racehorses were well represented.
The horn finally sounds and I try to go out slow. When the dust clears, however, I find myself about ten feet behind John Carroll and decide to stay behind him. Mile 1, with a nice sized downhill and uphill, goes by in 5:19 and I'm still with him. He is the first guy I've seen go through a water stop and actually speed up while grabbing a cup. Mile 2, also hilly, goes by in 5:30 and here Carroll puts the hammer down and I know better than to respond. Watching him run for those two miles was my favorite part of the race.
The race is two times around a 2.5 mile loop. This means that, while the crowd support automatically doubles, so do the number of hills. And this really wears on you. Splits tell the story from here on in: 2:42 for mile 3, 5:58 for what seemed like an endless mile4, and a wee kick at the end to nail the last mile in 5:39. 28:13 is the official time, good for 13th place and 2nd master.
Not worth an in depth post mortem. I never feel like I do very well here, as the course is hard, the weather is always warm, and I'm never in racing shape in June. I see last year that I ran this in 28:06. Just like last year, I had the feeling that I ran out of gas about a quarter mile too early. Just before the finish, the legs were willing but the lungs just couldn't put out. Just couldn't. Its a nice way to spend a Friday evening, but runningwise it is just an exhibition. To quote Chuck S - "a bad race is still a good workout".
Ever run a race where there was no water at the finish? Well, this was my first one. Walk about a mile down and they had free samples of Fuse, and for lack of anything else I got a cup of their green tea, which was undrinkable. A bit farther down they were giving out lemonade and punch in little cartons, but nary a drop of water anywhere. As the folks like Chad B. came in, stories mounted about how the finish line backed up as far as two tenths of a mile, so after about 40 or so nobody had a valid finishing time. Looks like some major boo boos here, we miss you Delco.
They did give out cool mugs as shwag and had local massage therapists out there who knew what they were doing (at least the one I got). And lastly, a shoutout to Monika for taking me home.
Wrap up with todays run, a hot one from Port Richmond to the Walt Whitman bridge and back with Kevin F. 51:42 going down and 47:16 coming back up (98:58 total). That was the hardest thing I did all day, as afterwards me and Kevin watched World Cup soccer all day, including a great upset by Ghana and a valiant tie by the US. Kevin freely spouted his considerable soccer knowledge and I soaked up as much of it as I could, and I'm having a great time following the matches this year. If Germany plays England, however, our friendship will be sorely tested.
This year the race, held in a small town-cum suburb about 45 minutes west of Philly, was put on by Delco Running Club up until this year, when, according to Delco, the Town of Media basically engineered a hostile takeover of the race organization (see here). Given this is a pretty big race and assuming that the Town doesn't have alot of experience in putting on a race, this leads to a high risk for screw ups.
Nonetheless, I went out, grabbing a ride with KJ and family. The setting looked small town American, with the start being on Main Street, shops and all festooned in red, white and blue. By the time we got there they ran out of race numbers (I had not preregistered) and was prepared to run as a bandit, but Jeff Crago, who heads up the Bryn Mawr Running Club, got me in officially and with just enough time to use the portajohn and get to the start.
At least I thought I was pressed for time. Hurry up and wait, as the race was delayed for 15 minutes to get the course marshals and police lined up. This gave me time to size up the competition. Along with KJ, there were Phillyrunners Scott, Jim, Ryan, Tim, Monika, Liz and probably one or two I'm forgetting. Ryan brought a cowbell and gave it to Jim's girlfriend under the condition she use it. At the start I talk a bit with Chris ? from Wissahickon Wanderers and Kevin M. from Valley Forge Striders. I also see John Carroll and with that kiss goodbye any hopes at being top masters. As usually happens with this race, the area racehorses were well represented.
The horn finally sounds and I try to go out slow. When the dust clears, however, I find myself about ten feet behind John Carroll and decide to stay behind him. Mile 1, with a nice sized downhill and uphill, goes by in 5:19 and I'm still with him. He is the first guy I've seen go through a water stop and actually speed up while grabbing a cup. Mile 2, also hilly, goes by in 5:30 and here Carroll puts the hammer down and I know better than to respond. Watching him run for those two miles was my favorite part of the race.
The race is two times around a 2.5 mile loop. This means that, while the crowd support automatically doubles, so do the number of hills. And this really wears on you. Splits tell the story from here on in: 2:42 for mile 3, 5:58 for what seemed like an endless mile4, and a wee kick at the end to nail the last mile in 5:39. 28:13 is the official time, good for 13th place and 2nd master.
Not worth an in depth post mortem. I never feel like I do very well here, as the course is hard, the weather is always warm, and I'm never in racing shape in June. I see last year that I ran this in 28:06. Just like last year, I had the feeling that I ran out of gas about a quarter mile too early. Just before the finish, the legs were willing but the lungs just couldn't put out. Just couldn't. Its a nice way to spend a Friday evening, but runningwise it is just an exhibition. To quote Chuck S - "a bad race is still a good workout".
Ever run a race where there was no water at the finish? Well, this was my first one. Walk about a mile down and they had free samples of Fuse, and for lack of anything else I got a cup of their green tea, which was undrinkable. A bit farther down they were giving out lemonade and punch in little cartons, but nary a drop of water anywhere. As the folks like Chad B. came in, stories mounted about how the finish line backed up as far as two tenths of a mile, so after about 40 or so nobody had a valid finishing time. Looks like some major boo boos here, we miss you Delco.
They did give out cool mugs as shwag and had local massage therapists out there who knew what they were doing (at least the one I got). And lastly, a shoutout to Monika for taking me home.
Wrap up with todays run, a hot one from Port Richmond to the Walt Whitman bridge and back with Kevin F. 51:42 going down and 47:16 coming back up (98:58 total). That was the hardest thing I did all day, as afterwards me and Kevin watched World Cup soccer all day, including a great upset by Ghana and a valiant tie by the US. Kevin freely spouted his considerable soccer knowledge and I soaked up as much of it as I could, and I'm having a great time following the matches this year. If Germany plays England, however, our friendship will be sorely tested.
posted by seebo | 10:54 PM
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