Steelers Gatorade 5K Recap

I wrote this post in September, soon after the 5K but wanted to wait to post pictures.  Oops.  I just proved what a procrastinator I am.  And I have two more 5K races to recap from December.  So here's the first one and I'll follow up with the other two in the next few days.

Before the race

After taking a 6 week hiatus because of a toe injury (grumble, grumble) I signed up for the Steelers Gatorade 5K.

This was my 3rd race at the North Shore, and my biggest by far.  They had over 3000 registered runners.  I ran it with my friend Mandy, and Dave came to cheer us on and take pictures.  That didn't work out so well at the end though.

The race started by the river, and they started in waves because the river trail is kind of narrow and there were a LOT of runners.  (I know there are bigger races but this was the biggest I've been in yet so it seemed ridiculous to me.)

I wasn't really happy with the waves.  I hadn't run much- maybe once or twice, in the weeks before the race.  I knew I used to run around a 30:00ish pace but I had no idea how I would do at this one.  So I wanted to line up right around 30-32 or so to try to push.  Well, the waves were something like: "under 18:00", "18:00 to 22:00", "22:00 to 26:00", "26:00 to 30:00", and then "30:00 and up" with walkers in that group supposedly at the back.  But it was all clumped together.  So we lined up with the 26-30 group even though I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep up.

And at the beginning, whoever the announcer was, he was pretty mean/rude.  I don't remember now what he said exactly but he was kind of yelling at people.  I understand it's a big group but that's not the only way to get people to listen!

So Mandy and I took off.  And wow, it was nice for us.  We didn't have to try to weave around anybody.  And the funny thing is, we weren't even off track on pace for that group in the first mile or so.  We ran the first mile in about 9:34 according to my watch.  I actually was thinking maybe we could beat 30 minutes or at least be right around that.  (I wonder if other racers were annoyed with having to go around us but we were in the right time frame and I wasn't aware of people really pushing around us, even though it was crowded, so I think we were ok.)

I should have tried to take the first mile more slowly, though, because I tanked.  I think it was right before the 2 mile mark, I told her I really needed to walk.  So we walked for a very short time there.  I also don't remember what our time was at the two mile mark.  At this point we were on the street, which was wider, and people were passing us a lot more.  I thought a short walk would keep me going, but after starting up running again, I had to walk again.  For a block or two.  I was really bummed about that. 

The race ended in Heinz Field, on the warning track.  They actually were also showing the finish on the jumbotron, which is pretty cool.  Mandy and I picked it up as we entered the field, and ended up passing people as we came in.  The one problem with that was the only way I could pass was next to the wall and Dave wasn't able to get any good pictures of either of us.  Mandy had more energy so she beat me in.

I finished with a time of 32:44.  Not my slowest time, but this was a flat course and my slowest time was a course with the entire 3rd mile in a hill.  I should be happy because I'm at least back to running, but I can't help it- I always want to do better and it was hard to see my time slow down by about 3 minutes.  I know Mandy could have run the whole thing if I wasn't there, but it was also nice to run the race with someone.