Back in June when I moved to Columbia, I spent the first few days looking up races in or around town, and happened to stumble across this thing called the "Main Street Crit"... I kinda scratched my head and thought "This is crazytown... a Crit is a bike race, not a running race... ".. Come to find out, Columbia seems to be way ahead of the curve...
What I've come to like about Columbia is also what I've come to dislike about Columbia... It's a city... with tall buildings and a downtown and homeless people and crime and the whole shebang... Sure, there are tons of people who run in Columbia... all sorts of running too, road, trail, etc... And honestly, downtown would be an AWESOME place to run if it weren't for those pesky cars... For all of its shortcomings, Columbia really is a pretty cool place to live and train... You just gotta be willing to seek out those places and people who facilitate it!
When I came across the Main Street Crit, it definitely looked interesting, and from what people had told me about Columbia trying to revitalize Main Street, it seemed like something cool to get involved in... It was also appealing because the course was relatively flat, and in Columbia, that's as good as gold when it comes to running...
In typical fashion, I didn't register until the night before the race... I had been running well, and often, leading up to the race, and had even been growing a little more confident in my ability to run "fast" (of course, "fast" is a relative term when it comes to me)... I figured the Crit would be a way to kill a boring Saturday night, while laying down some miles for the weekend...
The race, for me, took place in about 3 parts: the run to the race, the race, then the run home... With the MSC, I finally became one of "those" guys... Ya'll know the type: the guy who runs to the race, runs the race, then runs home just to get in his miles for the day... In retrospect, this was a stupid decision that I'll probably do again in the future...
Decided to do an extended warmup of 30 mins, which included 2 laps on the course... I tried to dial it back a bit, but was feeling pretty damn good during my warmup... Cut into the Kids race and got crushed by some kids who clearly haven't discovered alcohol or sloth just yet... Did some pickups/striders to loosen up the legs one last time and headed to the start line...
Overall, there were about 150 runners (I think)... Here's how my race played out....
I lined up pretty close to the front, as I usually do, so that I could avoid getting caught behind slower runners... I never go hard out of the gate (I've learned that valuable lesson the hard way) and am ok to just let people pass me... The race director turns us loose and we're off, running at night in downtown Columbia...
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| Round and round we go... |
I wanted to play it safe on the first mile, as usual, but also wanted to push myself... So, I settled on trying to run 8:30's or better... Dug in, put my head down, and started to pound...
Given the unique format of this race, there really wasn't much interesting on the course... There were a couple of bands set up on corners that you could hear about 5 seconds of while passing them, one aid station on the back side of the course, and little fanfare other than actually on Main Street...
Round and round we go... I felt like I was running well during the first half, then all of a sudden, knew it was going to be a struggle to hold pace and finish... I was wearing my racing flats (Saucony Kinvaras) with no socks, and I could feel blisters starting on my right big toe area... totally my fault for not a) wearing different shoes or b) not wearing socks... Dumb...
I had foolishly not set my Garmin to chirp at me after every 1000m, which in hindsight, was my undoing... Before the race, I thought to myself, "Oh, I can keep track of my laps, that'll be easy"... Then, about 3 or 4 laps in, I lost count... and I couldn't do the conversions in my head of meters/km's to miles, so I just kept running and hoped for the best...
Came to a stop after running (what I thought) were my 8 laps... Looking at my Gamin, it said something like "3.63" miles or something like that, which I knew couldn't be right... I walked over to the timing table and asked a guy, "Hey man, I think I lost track of my laps, how far is it supposed to be?", to which he responded, "Um, we haven't posted results yet"...
"Yeah, I know you haven't, but I'm not sure how far the race is supposed to be... 3.63 miles doesn't sound right, how far is it supposed to be?" (I'm getting a little heated at this point)
All of a sudden, I hear someone chime in, "It's closer to 5 miles! Keep going!"
Hit start on the Garmin, and I'm off again, in practically a dead sprint to try to salvage my race...
I'm running with anger at the timing guy in my heart... and my legs know it...
Finally cross the finish line in (on my count) 36:11... not even sure what the official results say (I think 39 something, but I'm going on my count)...
This wasn't my best race... but it wasn't my worst either... I held it together pretty well considering how hard I was going...
I've got a lot of work to do in the off season when it comes to running... I need to improve my form so that overall, I am a more efficient runner
The Main Street Crit was a fun race, and I know I'll do it again next year (that is, if they have it)... I stuck around after my race to watch the elites run, which was a treat in itself... The winner went something crazy like 19:48... sick...
I know I'll never run 19:48 for an 8k, and probably will never run 19:48 for a 5k either... I'm not saying it's impossible, just probably improbable (for me)
These pictures remind me of just how far I have come since the Spring of 2009, when I decided to train for my first triathlon... And, I'm light years from where I was when I ran my first half marathon in February of 2010... My how time flies...
The Main Street Crit, while still running, was a much welcomed change in the mundane format of races that I've done this year...
There's still one last installment of the "Tis the Season" race reports... You're not gonna wanna miss this one...
Thanks for reading...
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