Read/Write/Run

Hi! My name is Ken. I'm going to periodically write about running, writing, and a number of other topics. Please feel free to read my posts and provide your comments. If you have a question about any topic, leave a message and I'll try to help you get the information you're looking for. Thanks for stopping by. I hope to see you again soon.



Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Manchester Thanksgiving Day Road Race-2012

WARNING: This post gets a little graphic and gross so read on at your own risk!

Well, this year's turkey day race turned into a bit of a bust for me. My training and conditioning was messed up by my fire crew assignment and Wiffle ball leg injury in September. Then at about 2:00 am on Tuesday morning, November 20th, I woke up with Montezuma's revenge from both ends. I'd venture to say that this experience was close to my colonoscopy  preparation purge and possibly broke my regurgitation record from back in college. I won't say the cause of the purging back in college. You can fill in the blanks yourself.

I almost bagged the race, but early Wednesday afternoon, I started to feel like a human again rather than a  spurting volcano. That evening I actually ate something. Can you believe it? Granted, I was still drinking stirred, not shaken ginger ale. So at 7:30 am on Thursday, November 24, I got up, put on my running clothes, ate a piece of bread, grabbed a bottle of water, and headed over to Main Street, Manchester at 8:50 am, to park and stretch before the 10:00 am race start.  If you leave early enough and you know where to go, you can usually find a real cherry spot to park near the start of the race. Keep in mind people, that this race gets about 15,000 runners and maybe twice that many spectators so this is big.

I parked in one of my favorite spots right behind a local bank right off of Main Street. Then I was treated to this drunk guy taking a pee just outside my front window. He didn't even notice me sitting in my car. Yes, I looked the other way. Several minutes later, I headed to the starting line to make sure I could get into the under 40 minutes carded area. If you show up a little late, it's almost impossible to get into the reserved starting areas with the mass of humanity trying to get to the regular starting area.

I reached the under 40 minutes area and handed my access pass to one of the security people at the gate at 9:40 am. They even had some policemen near the gates to try and keep the peace. After some stretching, I slowly moved up to the area closest to the temporary barrier. Before I knew it, the gun went off signaling the official start of the race. I felt okay, but nervous that my body might actually rebel against me for daring to run the race. It was too late to turn back now so off I went along with the other 14,999 runners and probably 3,000 unregistered runners. The number of unregistered people running was undoubtedly higher this year given that the race committee shut down registrations on Monday because the 15,000 mark had been reached.

I started conservatively at a pace that felt just under 8 minutes per mile. At the 1 mile mark, I confirmed that indeed I was running around a 7:50 pace, about 35 seconds per mile slower than last year. That was okay though because I didn't want to repeat my spurting volcano routine on the course. I passed the 2 mile mark at around 16:40. Not too bad considering that mile is almost all up hill. Miles 3 and 4 were similar in pace, as I settled into a semi-death march behind several Spandex-wearing ladies. Okay, I used these sights to help motivate me. Shoot me.  As I turned the corner onto Main Street, I tried to pick the pace up, given that the last half mile was mostly down hill. I finished at 37:29 minutes, approximately two minutes slower than last year. Well, at least I made it to the finish in one piece. Here's hoping that next year turns out better.

Did anyone else run a Turkey day race?

Ken