This was a 4 mile race in Stratford, CT on Valentine’s day. Something fun to do while the wife and I are in town visiting our parents. The plan was to show up to the race early, pick up my number, relax for a bit, have a last minute snack, hit the men’s room, warm up a bit, and start the race. Things don’t always go quite according to plan though.
No problem arriving early and picking up my number, long sleeve white T-shirt, and “goody bag”. The “goodies” consisted solely of a sample Bic razor with a 14-month ago expired coupon included. Not quite a bumper crop of running related samples and offers.
Of course, I forgot to bring something to snack on, and there was no food being offered before the race, only a few jugs of water. But we did get a nice parking spot with a view of the Housatonic river across the park. Very nice way to relax with the wife on Valentine’s day, at least until the dog decided to toss her cookies in the back seat. Okay, relaxation time over.
It’s becoming a common theme that there aren’t enough rest rooms available at a race to serve all the runners that want to go in the 30 minutes before the start. In this case, that meant you got to try and use the urinal while men waiting impatiently in line stared at you. No pressure here. Just Brad Pitt’s voice in my head. If you’ve ever seen “Fight Club”, he had a line in the men’s room along the lines of “don’t watch me, I can’t go when I’m being looked at”. Same deal here.
Okay, warm up went as planned. Mom was able to make it in time for the start, so I’ve got my own little cheering section. Everybody starts gathering at the starting line, and some woman is calling out instructions in a not loud enough megaphone. And we’re off, slowly. Very slowly. Is this the run or the fitness walk? Oh wait, we’re just walking to the actual starting line, and here I was thinking I was passing half the crowd. Now we really are off.
The course starts off slightly downhill, then goes steeply downhill for a very short bit before turning onto Whippoorwill lane, which twists, turns, and goes up and down along a golf course. At the end of that road is the one mile mark. “Hi Tek” racing advertised times at each mile. While true, I’m not sure a guy standing on the corner reading a stop watch aloud counts as high tech. At mile marker 2 there was another guy with a stopwatch and the additional duty of handing out water.
Anyhow, mile two is generally uphill, and mile 3 is generally down hill. The course appears to have been chosen to maximum the number of hilly sections of road that could be used. And mile four included Chapel Hill Road. This is a seriously steep section of road. I looked up the topographical information online (see picture), and if I’m reading it correctly, you go up 80 feet in a little over 500 feet of road at the steepest point. In total, you climb about 130 feet in about a half mile.
My old junior high school is at the top of the hill. It's that club shaped building on the map. Yes, it has a very wacky floor plan, with pie-shaped rooms and curved corridors. Many of the worst days of my life were spent there. Prior to the race I imagined I’d have all sorts of bad memories as I ran by, and realize how much better my life is today. In reality, all that was going through my head as I went by was a massive craving for chocolate and oxygen. Really wish I had remembered an energy snack before the race.
And from there it was all downhill to the finish line. My time was 41:10, which was on the fast end of the 40-45 minute range I had predicted. Of course, I was hoping to beat my public prediction, but it wasn’t meant to be that day.
At the end of the race, there was food to be had, including some minestrone soup. Yum! So in the end it was a small, fun race. Not a high water mark of technology and logistical planning, but nothing to really complain about either.
Of the 247 people who finished, I was number 205. Gotta work on my speed!
No problem arriving early and picking up my number, long sleeve white T-shirt, and “goody bag”. The “goodies” consisted solely of a sample Bic razor with a 14-month ago expired coupon included. Not quite a bumper crop of running related samples and offers.
Of course, I forgot to bring something to snack on, and there was no food being offered before the race, only a few jugs of water. But we did get a nice parking spot with a view of the Housatonic river across the park. Very nice way to relax with the wife on Valentine’s day, at least until the dog decided to toss her cookies in the back seat. Okay, relaxation time over.
It’s becoming a common theme that there aren’t enough rest rooms available at a race to serve all the runners that want to go in the 30 minutes before the start. In this case, that meant you got to try and use the urinal while men waiting impatiently in line stared at you. No pressure here. Just Brad Pitt’s voice in my head. If you’ve ever seen “Fight Club”, he had a line in the men’s room along the lines of “don’t watch me, I can’t go when I’m being looked at”. Same deal here.
Okay, warm up went as planned. Mom was able to make it in time for the start, so I’ve got my own little cheering section. Everybody starts gathering at the starting line, and some woman is calling out instructions in a not loud enough megaphone. And we’re off, slowly. Very slowly. Is this the run or the fitness walk? Oh wait, we’re just walking to the actual starting line, and here I was thinking I was passing half the crowd. Now we really are off.
The course starts off slightly downhill, then goes steeply downhill for a very short bit before turning onto Whippoorwill lane, which twists, turns, and goes up and down along a golf course. At the end of that road is the one mile mark. “Hi Tek” racing advertised times at each mile. While true, I’m not sure a guy standing on the corner reading a stop watch aloud counts as high tech. At mile marker 2 there was another guy with a stopwatch and the additional duty of handing out water.
Anyhow, mile two is generally uphill, and mile 3 is generally down hill. The course appears to have been chosen to maximum the number of hilly sections of road that could be used. And mile four included Chapel Hill Road. This is a seriously steep section of road. I looked up the topographical information online (see picture), and if I’m reading it correctly, you go up 80 feet in a little over 500 feet of road at the steepest point. In total, you climb about 130 feet in about a half mile.
My old junior high school is at the top of the hill. It's that club shaped building on the map. Yes, it has a very wacky floor plan, with pie-shaped rooms and curved corridors. Many of the worst days of my life were spent there. Prior to the race I imagined I’d have all sorts of bad memories as I ran by, and realize how much better my life is today. In reality, all that was going through my head as I went by was a massive craving for chocolate and oxygen. Really wish I had remembered an energy snack before the race.
And from there it was all downhill to the finish line. My time was 41:10, which was on the fast end of the 40-45 minute range I had predicted. Of course, I was hoping to beat my public prediction, but it wasn’t meant to be that day.
At the end of the race, there was food to be had, including some minestrone soup. Yum! So in the end it was a small, fun race. Not a high water mark of technology and logistical planning, but nothing to really complain about either.
Of the 247 people who finished, I was number 205. Gotta work on my speed!
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