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| Triangle Expressway Trot 5K Course - Even I couldn't get lost on this one! |
First Place Female Overall, for the first time EVER!
Ok well that really sums up the Triangle Expressway Trot 5K but guess I’ll write a little bit more about it since it was a good event. I can’t recall if I saw this race online first or if someone mentioned it and I looked it up, but from the first time I heard about it I was interested. Sounded fun, running on the stretch of highway before it opens, a one shot deal because they wouldn’t be shutting down the road next year. And it wasn’t part of the Second Empire Series so I could just go and not think about place or point, but secretly I was also hoping that it wouldn’t draw a big group of fast runners either so I’d have a shot at placing overall. Plus I figured it was likely to be pretty flat. While not a scenic course it would be different. But then I realized the start of this race at 2pm was only 1.5 hrs from the start of Owen’s Wake PTA 5K at 3:30. Hmmmm, could I make it??? I sat on the fence for a long time, in fact until the day of essentially. Even the day before I considered just skipping it. But in the end I figured hey I need to run anyway so a quick run down the expressway and I’ll jump in the car. Keith said he’d bring Owen and Grace to the Wakemed Soccer Park for the start of the Wake PTA 5K, so as long as I got there for the start to run with Owen I’d be ok. No problemo!
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| Cool race logo |
I drove to the race starting point in Morrisville, which wasn’t to hard to find, and quickly registered. I saw Louise there and Brad, but didn’t recognize most of the other runners. I assumed it was because Morrisville draws a different crowd, but I later found out many of the attendees were families of those who helped construct the road, so not your standard running folks. I filled out my form and handed it to the volunteers. I asked about a tech shirt but all had been spoken for so I just took the standard cotton one. This will be important later but at the time I didn’t think too much of it…a guy, who had parked right near me as well, was registering at the exact same time. When the volunteers were organizing the forms and handing us our bibs and chips I heard the one with my form say 483 but my bib said 482 so I said to her, “did you say 483?” and she looked at a form she had and said “no that was his” referring to the guy registering at the same time as me. So I said “oh” and just let it go. I also don’t recall having looked at the chip they gave me to see if it even had a number on it, muchless whether the number matched my bib…ALSO an important part of this race story.
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| Me in the gray tank and black Zensah socks. On the left is one of the NC State Wolfpack mascots. |
I put on my bib and chip and ran back to the car to drop off my t-shirt. I drank some more water and then decided to warm up a bit, as well as of course hit the port a potties, which I usually have to do many times before a race starts unfortunately. As the start time drew near I headed to line up. Strangest thing ever, no one, except the Wolfpack mascots (yep, the boy and girl wolves, don’t know their names) was actually trying to get ON the starting line. Everyone else held back, just wandering around. Usually in the 5K’s I’ve been doing, everyone is usually pushed up on the line. So this was a sign that the competition maybe wasn’t so fierce. The Wolfpack mascots were being silly and mugging for the cameras so that was entertaining. And a few guys who didn’t look like runners (not that we should ever judge that because hey, you never know how fast someone is by looking at them, that is for sure!) were up near the start by now. One asked me how fast I was going to run, and I said hopefully under 20. He looked pretty surprised, so maybe I also don't look like a runner, who knows! It was almost time to start and still no one clammering to get up front.
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| Getting a good head start |
As the race started, I took off pretty fast, on the newly paved road that headed down hill. Quickly it was obvious that there were very few sub 20 runners in this even, including the men. A few guys got out in front quickly and then I was running along side a few other guys. Some of them dropped back significantly after about ½ mile. I think these were the non-runner guys who were affiliated with building the road. We were going at around 6mm pace, a pace they’d usually sprint at and so they kept up at first but guess they didn’t consider that they couldn’t keep that pace for the entire 5K race. After about 1 mile, the front runners were pretty set, including me. I knew I ran the first mile too fast but I couldn’t stop myself, it felt just too easy on the new roadway and it was down hill. I knew I’d likely pay later but didn’t care much this time.
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| Another shot of the race start |
The course is an out and back, turning around where the onramp to 40 is placed. But it’s not a straight shot, it actually twists and turns a bit, so you can’t see the turnaround from too far out. In fact I got a tip from Neville Wood on the starting line to be sure to run the shortest way and not to hug the curves too much because the course is measured on the trajectory. Those in the local running community all know Neaville, even if they don’t know they do. If you look on the bottom of nearly every course map around here, you’ll see they were measured by Neaville. I’ve seem him at many races but never had an opportunity to speak with him. But given the hesitancy of the field today to get right up on the starting line, Neaville was right up there next to me so we talked about the course a little. He’s in his 60s and runs many of the races. In going to a lot of the 5Ks this year I am really getting familiar with the who’s who of racing, particularly in the 50 and up categories as they are for sure the most consistent group. Pretty much the same dedicated fun group of runners come out to all the races and I see them getting their awards race after race. I think that will be some of us someday doing the same. I know I’ll see Pauline, Pam, Kim, Laura, etc out there, with their colorful running shoes, racing tanks and probably even booty shorts (ok maybe just Laura, LOL), when they are in their 50s, 60s, and onward. Hahaha!
But back to the course…so as we reached the turnaround is when I started to feel like this was getting tough. I knew however that I was the first female from the start and in fact never really saw any women out there in my peripheral view once the gun went off. I never really looked back or thought about if any were close. I just assumed not as there weren’t really many men ahead of me either. The bad, and good, thing about out and backs like this is you can see exactly who is ahead of and behind you and by how far. But I was slowing down a bit and just wanted to focus on maintaining a pace to keep me under 20 minutes, so I still wasn’t as focused on who was behind me. I did notice the next woman but she seemed far enough behind that unless there was a drastic change in my pace, or hers, that I’d be able to hold the number 1 spot. Around mile 2 or 2 ¼ I definitely was feeling drained and it was a struggle to maintain pace up the hills. I knew they’d come back to haunt me. There was a guy a few seconds ahead of me for most of the second half of the race so I just focused on my pace and on keeping him in sight. I did the second mile in around 6:27 or so, a big change from mile 1, but still pretty good and enough to keep me under 20. I was struggling by 2 ½ miles and did the annoying whining/grunting out loud that I sometimes resort to that must be frustrating to other runners if they hear it but I can’t really help it sometimes. Sorry fellow runners! Anyway, this guy heard me a few times I guess and shouted back a few words of encouragement which was very nice. I am always thankful when another runner does that, it means a lot.
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| Me and number 95 (Shan) who provided me some encouraging words to get to the finish, thanks! |
As soon as I could see the finish I felt better, knowing that I could certainly get there and do it in under 20 minutes, so I was pretty happy. Still it was a struggle to the end and felt like it was all up hill, but as I got closer I saw someone pulling something across the finish line, and I was thinking “what the heck are they doing?” but then it dawned on me that they were holding out the finishers tape (or whatever its called) because I was the first female. COOL! (Wish I had a pic of that!) Also it turned out this was a new PR, 19:43. Not the most consistently paced race but a PR none the less.
I had asked Louise before the race started if she was sticking around and if she could pick up any award for me if I placed, since I’d have to leave right after I finished. But I never thought it would be first place. Arrrgh, figures the ONE time I have to leave and that’s the race I come in first. But I knew being there for Owen’s race was more important and besides it was coming in first that was cool, the award for it is just an extra plus. I went over to the announcers booth and told them I had come in first but unfortunately couldn’t stay but my friend Louise was going to be there for awards. Too bad I didn’t go to the timing booth instead.
I decided to hang out for a little bit longer to see Louise finish. I happened to be at the finish line and was going to try to say thanks to the guy who was in front of me who shouted the encouraging words, but realized I had no idea what he looked like. It was at that point I saw Neaville coming to the finish but he seemed to be falling, actually it was a surreal slow motion situation and he was nearly falling into the volunteer who was in front of me removing chips from shoes. Me and another women kind of caught his arms a bit as he fell and the volunteer nearly but thankfully didn’t get knocked all the way over. He had skinned his knee a bit but he seemed ok. It took what seemed like forever to get a paramedic over there. In the meantime Louise finished and I quickly mentioned my first place finish. Also around that time the girl who had come in second came over and we chatted for just a moment about her being new in the area and what running groups I ran with. I mentioned RTR and the IOS Wine Run. By then it was pushing 2:30 and I knew I was going to turn into a pumpkin if I didn’t leave.
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| Wake PTA 5K Course |
I ran back to the car, and I didn’t even really change except for my shirt since I was out of time, and headed to race #2. I got there in time and chatted with Tom and his family and also some of the Oak Grove group who had a big turn out at the race. As we lined up, I felt tired but was glad we’d be running this 5K slowly. The start was in a big open field which I am not usually fond of. Owen took off with his friend Andrew quickly. They were doing very well. But about ½ mile in, Owen had to go to the bathroom. It was kind of downhill (not literally) from there because Owen really had to go and kept saying so but was embarrassed to just go by a tree so we had to find a spot off the beaten path to go, around ¾ of a mile into the race. He finally went and he was lucky he didn’t get stuck because there were a bunch of thorny bushes in the spot we chose! Once we got back onto the course, Owen was pretty bummed that he had lost so much ground. I tried to cheer him up but he was pretty grouchy about it. He did sprint a few times here and there to gain some ground but then would feel discouraged again and walked.
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| Goofing around before the start |
The race course was actually a very nice one. Rolling hills, but none too tough. Of course I guess I’d feel different if I had actually been racing it. It seemed like we were out there a long time and Owen was fairly pouty for most of it and as we neared the 3 mile mark, he said his foot was really hurting so we were hobbling to the finish. My friend Tom finished 3rd overall, in under 19 minutes, which was awesome. If you take out the stop for the bathroom Owen ran it in around 45 minutes so comparable to the Run with the Canes 5K. But he was much more cheerful at that race. Oh well, they can’t all be good ones, but he finished and completed the distance for his school goal of doing a marathon. I guess I was more excited and proud than he was.
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| More silly poses |
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| Very proud of Owen for finishing this challenging course |
Later that evening I was online waiting for the Triangle Expressway Trot results to be posted. When they finally were I couldn’t believe my eyes….I was not listed as first! The girl who was second was listed as first and I was second, with a time that was a minute or more slower than my actual time. I was freaking out….how could this happen!!!??? I tried to figure it out but before I did I immediately emailed the race director to let him know of the error and to ask for it to be fixed. I had heard that this happens more often than you’d think but never was the victim of it. And it just figures that the one time would be when I come in FIRST and CAN’T stay to get the award. Arrgggh!
After I sent the email the scene of me registering at the same time as Mr. 483 all came back to me. Of course! The registration volunteers actually must have mixed up the paperwork afterall. And not only that but they must have given me his chip and him mine. That would explain why he was listed as having finished in 19:43, the exact time I actually finished in. I was pretty sure he was not in front of me because there were only a few guys up there and he was pretty tall so I would have noticed. So I emailed the race director again after realizing this. Just as I was emailing him he also emailed me to mention that the forms he had showed me and this other guy as both being bib 483. That was clearly not the case, but since I wasn’t there for some reason they assumed the other guy was correctly timed with chip 483 but in reality I must have been wearing chip 483. What a mess.
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| Number 483 running along side a guy who ran in just under 21 minutes |
Ultimately they updated the race results later the next day, which I was glad to see. I actually even checked them a few times after to be sure they didn’t revert back to the incorrect times…silly I know. I have to say I know it may be dumb but I didn’t sleep much that night. It was really upsetting to see and I felt strange for having to explain myself to justify my first place finish. It just didn’t seem right and certainly not the way I envisioned finishing first to go. Later that evening, before the results had been upated, I was looking to see if there were any pictures or articles online about the race. There were a few short news articles but they focused more on the opening of the expressway and didn’t even mention the men’s winner much less the women’s. I was actually thankful for that because I am sure I would have been really upset if someone else was mentioned in the newspaper! It also turns out there were a few photos on News And Observer. None of me crossing the finisher tape (did I dream that???) but an interesting set of pics showing me and the “encouraging words” guy in one photo, and you can look up his time to see that he was right around the time I ran, so in the 19:30s. And the very next photo is Mr. 483 running side by side with a guy, who when you look up his number, had a time of just under 21 minutes. So photo proof that our chips were switched! As for Mr. 483, this wasn’t really his fault but I find that kind of funny that in the pharmaceutical industry 483 is a BAD number, it’s the number of the form that the FDA uses to write up deficiencies they find. So getting a 483 is bad…as it was for me this day!
In the end while the results did get updated, the awards did not. So I guess I’ll never know if the award for first was different than for age group. This race only gave 1st overall and 1st in each 10 year age category. Louise brought me my 1st AG medal to the next race. It was nice to at least get something. But I can’t help but wonder how no one else who was there getting an award noticed that there was something wrong with the results. Mr. 483 should have known he did not run a 19:43 5K but perhaps he didn't look at the times or didn't stay either, I don't know. The girl who came in second knew I was first, however for sure it was possible that she thought there was something that disqualified me or that I ran unofficially or something. There were several other runners that didn’t get awards that day due to this mishap and they probably don’t even know it. Since 483 was credited with my time, he took 1st AG but in reality some other guy was first. And since I was first overall but was given the 1st AG award instead, the woman who should have really been 1st AG for 40-49 didn’t get an award.
Moral of the story…don’t run a race you can’t stick around for. J But still I am glad I ran it because it was a good race, I got to see some friends there, and I eventually at least on the books got to say I came in first and ran a PR as an extra bonus! Also unless they do shut down the expressway in the future, I am a guaranteed course record holder. How cool is that!?
