2010 CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge

It finally came and went! My first race of 2010! And my first time running the 3.5 mile CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge. At 4:45 I went and changed into my running clothes and then packed up my things and headed out to my car to drop them off. I found some of my team members and walked up to the meeting spot with them! They were really nice. I thought it was interesting that I really didn’t know anyone on my team and I was one of the youngest members! I found out a couple of ladies on my team had just ran a 200 mile relay a few days ago, or something crazy like that! WOW.

Our meeting time was 5:30 on the museum steps. There were THOUSANDS of people participating in the race. It was definitely the biggest race I’ve ever ran in. There were over 8,000 people running! It was insane!! There were over 500 teams!

I waited with my team a while and then my mom joined me! She came to support me since I was feeling a bit down about having nobody waiting at the end for me (not counting my team). Official race start was at 6:25 and I was feeling a bit jittery. I was really ready to start running.

At about 6:15 we were called down to the starting line and I lined up at the 9:00 or faster spot. People were everywhere and it was SO crowded. I was getting pretty antsy. At 6:25 on the dot the horn went off and all of the fast runners in the front took off up the Madison Ave hill. I didn’t get to start running for a couple minutes since there were so many people ahead of me. But I started my Garmin as soon as I started running! Running up that hill was a breeze, but it was just annoying with walkers in front of me. I’m glad the hill was first and not at the end. 🙂

I really enjoyed this course, but one thing I would have changed would have been to add more water stations! I think there were only two throughout the race and one at the end. I could have used more water since it was really hot out. I was definitely feeling the heat. I was kind of fighting the urge to walk which was unusual for me, but I think it was only because of the heat. It was probably 85 degrees. I was feeling pretty good after the second water stop, and it was only about a mile and a half left after that. By the last .25 mile, I was running about a 7:30ish pace according to my Garmin, and it was downhill, so that was a plus. 🙂 I probably could have pushed harder at the end but I was afraid of passing out because of the heat!

I came in at the finish line at exactly 34: 30, but my Garmin said 33:30. I was told to go with the Garmin’s time. 🙂 I was pretty satisfied with my time. I was pretty tired, and I got stuck at the very end of the course with no way out and it really got to me. It happened to me during the Freihofer’s last year…I started to feel panicky because I couldn’t get out of the crowd quick enough. Not a nice feeling! I guess I just don’t like being crammed in a small space with thousands of sweaty strangers. Eek.

Eventually I got out and met up with my mom and I got my refreshment tote! I chugged a bottle of water and ate some peanut butter crackers. It was so hot!

I’m really glad I signed up for this race! I orginally wasn’t going to, since I was already signed up for a 5K on the 23rd, but I figured, why the heck not? It was pretty fun, but I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had a running partner, or at least some friends on my team. At least now I know who the runners are at my work, and I will know them for when I run next year. 🙂

I knew I had to eat something when I got home, even though I wasn’t that hungry. (Running makes me lose my appetite sometimes.) I made a quick egg-in-a-mug on an English muffin with laughing cow light cheese. I love making these because they are so quick and easy!

I also had a couple scoops of Edie’s 1/2 the fat light chocolate fudge ice cream for dessert. Yum. I’m feeling pretty good now. I just have to be re-energized by Sunday to run another 5K, the SPAC Rock & Run! 🙂

Here are my Garmin stats:

• Total miles: 3.56
• Time: 33 minutes and 30 seconds
• Average pace: 9:24/mile
• Average speed: 6.4 mph
• Maximum speed: 16.3 mph (is this for real?)
• Calories Burned: 429

Well, that’s it for my first ever blog race re-cap. Hope you enjoyed it! 🙂