Nike+ Human Race 10K @USC. 09.24.09 12:01am
so. sore.seriously, i am grandma stats.
my finish time was:
01:11:40
that is faster than my anticipated time 01:15:00. YAY! i know it isn't faster by much, but it is still faster.
i am very conflicted in how i feel about this race.
Pros:
-very fun race to run
-nice course (except for the "ladies of the night" that came out of a run down motel to cheer on the runners)
-amazing race shirt!
-"medal" (aka custom dogtag) for finishers.
-tons of on course entertainment (live bands, D.J.s, projectors of short films onto freeway overpasses...)
-cheering sections throughout the well lit course.
Cons:
-extremely overcrowded! i was still stuck in "the pack" (firmly) at mile two!!! that is ridiculous for a 10k.
-mile markers were almost absent. only mile 1 and mile 5 stood identified. luckily, i remembered my garmin- this was a huge issue for a large amount of the runners.
-only 2 water stations. again, luckily, i had my fuel belt hand held bottle of h2o with me... others were dying of thirst between miles 1 and the next aid station at mile 4.
Overview:
i was surprised how slow the first part of the race went. i was pissed at how narrow a passage way had been carved out of Los Angeles's city streets to make way for way too many people.
i got stepped on, kicked, pushed, sweated on, and tripped. fun!
it took almost 2.3 miles to break from the pack and find my pace- hello!? that is 1/3 of the race! frustrating.
i got sweat-slammed by some guy who was running backwards in order to tease his girlfriend for "being so slow". (what a jerk!)
at the 5K turn-around (there were both 5&10, i did the 10), i felt like i was just starting to feel warmed up. i felt good about that, i knew that my pacing was right on!
i tried to keep a 10:00 pace the whole race, and had intentions of running close to all of it. i alloted for a 5 minute walk (active recovery) break at the 3 mile marker. i ended up waiting until almost mile 4.
big mistake.
at mile 5, i was dying. my legs felt like they weighed 500lbs. each. i kept a chant going in my head right through to the finish "left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot..."! i knew i could finish, i would not accept not finishing.
i took a 3 minute walk break at about mile 5.5 and then ran at a slower pace all the way to the finish.
well, slower until i could actually see the finishing area.
it was very dramatic, in a positive way. the street was so lit up that it was almost blinding (or maybe i was just about to pass out!) so you were running into this bright, white light. the only thing you could make besides the obvious light/darkness were the cameras clicking away at the finishers.
it did inspire me to run faster.
it did make me feel like i had just won the olympics.
maybe it is cheesy, but i do believe that when performing a strenuous physical activity like that- having a couple hundred people cheering you on at the finish telling you how great you did and that you made it lifts the morale.
the overall experience was good, but i do not think i will be attending this race ever again.
it was fun once, but twice is definitely going to be overkill.
off to ice my knees!
kate
okay, here is the issue: i don't know if i like the bangs or not. what do you think?!
we're moving!
)... 
plus, i get to meet 
!!!