On Saturday, I ran my first pseudo-race. It was a certified* 1/6 marathon course of 4.4 miles.
The first HRCA Wildcat Mountain 1/2 Marathon was held on Saturday. The HRRC running group had 6 members who were planning to race; the rest of us non-racers met near the course start and ran a portion of the course before turning back to cheer our fellow clubmates on during the race.
In true Colorado fashion, the weather was iffy. (The race had 235 racers, but as of late afternoon on Thursday, just 42 people had registered for the race--guess no one was too motivated to lose $50 on the race fee if it ended up being snowy weather.) It was kind of chilly and damp and we had a bit of snow Friday night. The course was mostly cross-country style dirt and grass trail through the backcountry around Highlands Ranch. But, miraculously, it wasn't nearly as muddy as I figured it would be.
Us non-racers ran out a couple of miles and decided to come back along the course, passing the racers as they started the first 2 miles. It was kind of fun to be going the wrong direction on the course, and I could see the wheels turning in each racers head as we passed, "Why are they running the wrong way on the course? Why are they smiling? Who are these strange runners on the course, clearly not racing but out here in this marginal-ass, chilly, damp weather nonetheless? Did they do the whole course already? Is is that easy? Are they that good?" (While I can only wish I was indeed THAT good, we actually DID have a running star in our midst, a real pro runner: one Cassie Slade. Athlink HER ass, she is GOOD.)
We got to cheer on our running group mates, which was cool. And we got back to the start in time to chat a bit (heck, I even had time to go inside the Rec center and do a core workout) and still see the winners finish. Even though it was cold, it was a good time. The HRRC runners had a good showing, with one of our own winning the race (yay Kyle!).
*It's important to remember that the certifying body may have permanent peanut butter M&M-induced brain damage and be slightly lacking in exact math skillz--yeah I know 4.4 is more than 1/6, but it is close enough and I don't really care that much about precision anyway.
LOL. Sounds like you had fun even though you weren't racing; I'm sure the looks on the runner's faces were priceless!
ReplyDeleteIt was one hell of a day to race in good ole Colorado! Glad we only got 6 inches this time and not 18!
LMAO! Great "race" recap! :)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun day. Way to represent!
ReplyDeleteWay to get a workout in and still cheer on other runners! Good times.
ReplyDeleteI am going to assume you set out to run 1/6th of a marathon and over-achieved.
ReplyDeleteI toyed with the idea of doing this half, for training, but backed out about an hour before; I thought if I slipped and twisted an ankle on that lovely snow we had, I was out for Tucson. I'm glad one of us did it :). Way to go!!
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