Sunday, July 8, 2012

Moraga 4th of July Run


I LOVE the Moraga 4th of July Run. We have participated for several years now and it's always so much fun. This year we were tasked with a tough decision as both kids were invited to be in the Orinda parade; Kylie with her school and Sydney with her swim team. We left the decision up to Sydney and she decided to ride in the parade since she had never been in one before. This left me slightly sad as I really wanted to run and needed to run. We worked out the numbers and figured out if I ran the 2 mile course I would have enough time to run, finish and meet the family at the BART station for staging of the parade.

On Wednesday morning, I snuck out of the house before anyone was awake and headed to Moraga. I watched the kids races and began to stretch. Right before the line-up I spotted my friend Stephanie who had come out to cheer me on. It wasn't until she pointed out that there were no chips, that I realized we wouldn't be chip timed this year. Last year was the first time we were chip timed for this race and the website said it would be chipped time, but no chips. Oh well, I had my Garmin and just really wanted a course PR.

I lined up close to the front because I was going to start my watch at the horn not when I crossed the start. Then we were off and holy smokes these people were running fast! Right, it's hosted by the HS Track team. I kept trying to slow down, looked at my watch and saw I running an 8 minute mile, I kept trying to slow down, still running an 8 minute mile. Let lots of people pass me and finally settled into a somewhere in the 9's minute mile. I ran without music because I didn't want to bring anything and I was after all only running 2 miles! I felt good was enjoying myself and was hoping to hold the pace after I hit the 1 mile mark. My pace was slower than the first mile but that's because I started off too fast so I tried not to worry about it since I knew I was on track for a course PR. My best time was 20:01 in 2009, of course it wasn't chip timed that year and I'm pretty sure I ran it slower than that based on my watch time, but that was the time I wanted to beat. As we rounded onto School Street I was hurting but was picking up my pace and passed 4 or 5 guys on my way to the finish. I had my sites on a woman who had passed me early on and I wasn't sure if I had enough time to catch her. I was prepping to start my sprint and then I looked ahead and mentally said "What the hell???" There was a line, right at the finish line, they were yelling 2 milers, stay to your right, stay in line! I had to run to the left just to cross the chalk line and then get back in line. As I got back in line I looked at the race clock which said 19:10, oh yeah, stop my watch which said 19:39 by the time I stopped it. Meanwhile, I'm about to puke because I had to stop abruptly and wasn't allowed to walk or cool off but just stand in a line that was not moving! Meanwhile, Stephanie's waiting at the end of the dysfunction laughing at the chaos. They finally write my number down and I think that's it, I can go. Oh no, stay in line we are collecting your tear off portion of your bib. Really? I doubt this how they run their track and field events.

While I had a great run and a great time. I am a little bummed that I have no idea what my actual race time was. Official results were posted on Saturday and while I'm not listed in overall results, they show my age group results as being 19:54. I know that's not accurate and I know there is no way to get an accurate time without a chip. Normally I would have no problem relying on my Garmin time, but I know I stopped that late in all of the confusion at the finish line.

My best guess is that my race time was somewhere between 19:10 and 19:39. Anyone of the three times is a course PR, 19:10 would be a 2 mile PR overall. I'm trying not to worry too much since it was after all a "Fun Run". But I do like having accurate numbers to run against next time. Oh well.

I made it just in time to walk with the girl's in the parade and they had a blast. Kylie rode her tricycle the entire way (about a mile) and Sydney rode her scooter the entire way as well. That combined with staying up late for fireworks and our kids were DONE!

Hope everyone had an awesome 4th of July!

1 comment:

  1. Congrats on the undetermined PR! I've done a lot of little races that don't chip time, just write down your # as you cross and take the tab off your bib. It's cute but kinda annoying when you want a real time!

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