Flood Damaged run

Oh boy, I feel like I'm making excuses again, and I probably am, but then again. As most everybody knows, there is a slight flood in this area. (www.flood2001.com) and I was told that the detour to this race was only about 10 miles.

Ok, I can handle that. I decided to leave about 30 minutes earlier than I would for this race. The detour seemed quite a bit more and I got to race only 10 minutes before starting time.

I grabbed $10 and did a slow jog down to pay for the race. Once I got there, I found out it was $15 and that I would get stuck with a shirt. They said they trusted me and gave me my shirt anyway. It was a nice shirt so I wanted to keep it.

Here is the problem. I was now running low on time, because of the detour around the flood, so I ran to my Van, which was about 2 blocks away, got $6 and put my shirt away. Then I noticed that everybody else was going down the street to a starting line another block away.

I ran back, handed a woman 3 twos and said keep the change, then I ran toward the starting line. Way too much extra running for a 5k.

After the race started, I thought I picked a fairly slow pace, and I felt confident I could hold it for a little while. I wasn't wearing my HRM or my racing flats and I crossed the mile marker at 6:35, which was pretty close to what I wanted. I wanted a 6:45.

But even before the 2 mile marker, I was dead. I mean my HRM would have probably displayed over 195 on the first mile, telling me to slow down. Since I wasn't wearing the racing flats I could easily feel my feet, and when that happens I die even quicker.

I still find it hard to believe that flats don't make a big difference in speed. I had them with me, but no time to put them on.

But, I don't feel too bad about the 6:35 first mile or the finish time, since I did end up in front of a few runners that have always beat me before.

Oh ya, there was one woman that looked pretty good at the start of the race. Did pretty good the first ½ mile, but I still managed to come in right in front of her, even with my walking breaks.

Splits: 1. 6:35.93 6:35.93 2. 7:32.26 14:08.19 3.1 8:27.01 22:35:20

Now for a strange part. I was raining like mad just minutes before the race. As we lined up, it was raining just a bit. Before I hit the 1 mile marker the rain quit completely. There was no rain at all until trophies were being passed out and then it was just a few drops here and there. It sure was nice for the rain to stop for the race. I was surprised how dry I stayed in a race that I thought I was going to get soaked in. I think the below 50 degrees helped keep the sweat away.

Thanks, Roger

Oh great...he's going to start the racing flats arguement again...*grins* Did you ever find out how far your detour actually was?

Sean Chester Vancouver Island, Canada

I just did a quick measurement with MapPoint and it said it was closer to 20 miles to go around the flood. 17 miles in one area and 3 in another. That is at least another 10 minutes spent driving when I could have used that time to avoid running around so much right before the race.

As for the racing flats, well as much as I'd like to believe there isn't that big a difference between my 11.5 ounce shoes and my 6.3 ounce shoes, racing flats do seem to make a big difference, especially after the first mile.

I think I'm going to pour dirty water over my Adidas Concertos, maybe even Mississippi River water. If they had been dirty already, I probably would have worn them in the rain today.

Thanks, Roger

*laughs* Or run throught he flood. Then you get some water resistance training out of it too.

Did they not know what they were talking about that they told you it was only a 10 mile detour?

I think my haircut I got today will do just as good a difference as wearing racing flats. *smiles*

Sean Chester Vancouver Island, Canada

Yuck.

I think the woman that told me that, just over exagerated a bit. Sort of like a salesperson would, since she was involved with that race. There was a shorter detour on the other side of the river, but it involved driving on some dirt/mud roads.

I knew I forgot something today. I forgot to get my haircut. I guess I'll have to try a once around the block after that and see how much I speed up.

BTW my best 3 best 5ks have been with flats. and I'm seriously thinking of doing my next ½ marathon in flats also.

Thanks, Roger

Well it could also be a psychological thing. (yeah, so I'm not ready to agree about the significance of the weight of a shoe...) If you believe their going to shave time off your races, then perhaps it's the mentality that's doing it. I know whenever I buy a new pair of shoes, no matter what they are, I always run faster at the beginning because I believe the shoes will make me run faster. If that's the case, then it'd be best to wear the flats, because you'll have a psychological edge, but I just don't know if I agree that the lighter shoe could take time off...(I'd go out and buy myself a pair to find out, but I just bought a pair of shoes a couple weeks ago, and don't think I'm quite ready to get myself another shoe yet. Perhaps if I do well in my track meet coming up, I'll treat myself to a pair of flats, and see if they make a difference. If I do however, I will only use them in races and training runs a week prior to the race. It'll save them from wear better, and, at the same time, make me work harder in my training runs than I'll need to in my race...

Sean Chester Vancouver Island, Canada

For me, it's not really the weight issue as much as a heel height issue. Trainers (even light trainers and some pseudo flats like the NB330s) all have significantly higher heels than flats.

If flats somehow weighed the same or even a tiny bit more than trainers, I would still wear them. They simply improve my form right away, with me even thinking much about it.

Well even if it was 'A psychological thing' man what a difference flats have made for me.

I've had quite a few races where I surprised myself, but all of them were with racing flats. Anymore, when someone tells me I've really improved, I have to tell them: 'Well, I cheating because I've been racing in flats.'

To me the difference is more than just a few seconds per mile, and I do feel like I'm cheating when racing against a runner that isn't wearing flats.

Thanks, Roger

oh...I didn't realize the heels were at a different height. I thought the weight was the only difference. If I break five minutes at my track meet in the 1500, maybe I'll treat myself to a pair as a reward.

Sean Chester Vancouver Island, CAnada

So what you're saying is I should race you quick before I get myself a pair of flats, because then I can accuse you of cheating? *smiles*

Sean Chester Vancouver Island, Canada

Hmmm. Ok, I'll qualify that a bit more.

I'd only feel like I was cheating against people that can't wear flats, not the ones that don't wear flats for some other reason.

I've gone back and forth between flats and no flats just to make sure I don't have any extra pains because of them.

So far the only thing I can say for sure is, indoor tracks (10th mile) at or above 1 mile race pace are the absolute worst on my feet.