<p>It was a great day for a race: low 70s, overcast, a mild wind (8
mph). There were 5328 that finished though I heard that the
registration numbers were moderately higher. The fastest times were
surreal. The slowest times were in the 80+ minute area. There were a
few registered entrants at two years of age.</p>
<p>I drove there with my son - I asked him if he wanted to run the race
and eventually convinced him to do so. He’s never run more than two
miles in his life but he regularly runs one to two miles with a loaded
backpack. We got there about 90 minutes before the start, parked and
walked to Veterans Park where we were supposed to meet our corporate
team. We ran into one coworker and had to wait another forty minutes
for the rest of the team to arrive. They cut it closer than they
usually do. There was a Beatles Concert a few blocks away so there
were two major events in the same area and the traffic got backed up
on Exit 5 off the highway. Parking was probably difficult too with two
simultaneous events. I think that my son was surprised to see so many
people.</p>
<p>They had free drinks (water, yogurt drinks, fruit) out before the race
and a ton of portable toilets which we made use of.</p>
<p>The system that they had for sorting people out was a yellow, green,
white approach. Yellow bibs (the things on your shirt with your
number) meant that you are a competitive runner which means that you
can do better than seven minutes per mile. Green is recreational
runner which means that you can do better than nine minutes a
mile. Everyone else is a walker so my bib was white. What I later
learned (from a coworker that was a walker/runner and had a green bib)
is that if you are going to run at all, you better choose green. What
happened is that we were behind a wall of walkers. I realized this
when I saw that most of them were wearing the race shirt. I heard that
most runners do not wear the race shirt in the race (your wear your
tech stuff I guess). So we spent about five to six minutes zig-zagging
across the road trying to get around the walkers. I suspect that this
cost us a minute or so. No big deal, just remember to sign up for green
the next time and start around the back of the green group.</p>
<p>My pace was around the median time of my regular runs, a little under
11 minutes per mile. My son beat me by a comfortable margin. He was
pretty happy with his performance as he wasn’t expecting to complete
the run.</p>
<p>One thing that really amazed me was the level of corporate
sponsorship. There were 101 corporate teams there. There were lots of
canopies set up with corporate banners and tables where people handed
out race shirts with corporate logos on the back. It was interesting
to read the backs of these t-shirts at the start of the race. Perhaps
companies are encouraging their employees in fitness endeavors - there
are lots of benefits in this.</p>
<p>Our corporate team did quite well, especially given how small our
corporate presence is in the state.</p>
<p>Finally, there was one guy on our team that was 300 pounds twenty
years ago. He ran about a 7.5-minute pace. You can tell that he’s lost
a lot of weight has his face has the vertical lines of skin that’s
shrunk a lot. That’s two outstanding achievements: losing over a
hundred pounds and then running at that pace given his age.</p>
<p>They had givaways after the race: coffee mugs, ice cream, fruit,
Poland Springs water, soft drinks, powerade, orange juice and I
probably missed some other stuff. The rest of the team went to their
usual bar for drinks and chats.</p>
<p>I took my son home, had a piece of lasagna and went to the YMCA to
play an hour of tennis. I was rather drenched, hungry, exhausted and
had a cramp after about an hour so we quite. I had some more lasagna,
half a piece of day-old pizza and a couple of cups of water.</p>
<p>Quite the fun day.</p>
<p>I have another half-an-hour of work to do tonight and will probably be
back to running tomorrow unless there’s some pain somewhere in the morning.
There shouldn’t be but you never know at my age.</p>
I just can’t do ANY other bread…that’s my trigger point! I can’t stop at 2 slices…
Bread is like a bag of candy or chocolate to me. I have no control! I admit I am a breadaholic! On the other hand I don’t eat cake, cookies, yogurt, red meat or oatmeal. Just can’t do it! And I might be the only person in America who has NEVER had a Coke or Pepsi! And I haven’t had a carbonated beverage of any type for over 25 years.</p>