I woke up this morning and the Flint area had a light dusting of snow, so I decided to leave for the Kalamazoo area a little erlier than originally planned. It turned out that once I got on the expressway, I had clear sailing and got out to Kalamazoo an hour early. I guess it is better to be early than late. I drove around Kalamazoo a little and then went to Spring Valley Park for the race.
The One One Run , which is in its 27th year, was named the John Daley Memorial after the death of John Daley. The goal of the race is to get the local Kalamazoo community active by running or walking on January 1st. It is difficult to guess, but I would estimate there to be 250-300 people participating. The announcer at the start explained that John was a key contributor in the Kalamazoo running community and was responsible for some of the area's largest races. After that, came a strange event. The announcer asked that we have a moment of silence for all of those that have passed away in the last year. When the crowd quieted down, we could hear the music that was playing softly while he spoke. A Michael Jackson song was playing. I am not sure if it was a coincidence or planned, but it was definitely strange.
On to the race report. The race was actually a fun run that was timed, but we did not have individual chips or D-Tags. Since I am doing a 10K tomorrow in Reece and guessing that everybody would be running it as a fun run, I was going to take this relatively easy. That being said, I still wanted to see how I could do at this new distance. You had the option of running one loop around the park for 2.2 miles or two loops for 4.4 miles. I decided to run the two loops and I am glad I did. To give me a comparison of the other runners, I started a couple rows back at the start and just kept count of the people that were in front of me, who I passed, and who passed me. I stayed between the top 10 to 15 for the first mile. The course was pretty rolling with one significant uphill on the back side of the park. The runners ahead of me were spreading out quite a bit, but I tried to keep the runner ahead of me within sight for someone to chase. It was easy to follow him, because he was wearing a Brooks Nightlife jacket. When we hit the large uphill for the second time, we started passing the walkers who were on their first loop. It was fun to watch the Brooks Nightlife runner duck and dart through the walkers. I like to find those little distractions while I am running.
As I started the last mile of the 4.4 mile course, I heard the runner behind me closing in. The majority of the course was on pavement wide enough for a couple cars, but the last bit was a paved walking path that was half as wide. This made passing the walkers difficult and made it easy for him to catch me. The other guy (high school runner) passed me with about 0.2 miles and I could not keep up with him. I ended up finishing 13th and was pretty happy with my run. I finished with a time of 30:52 at an average of 7:01/mile. Not too bad for not taking it relatively easy.
The high school runner and I talked quick after the race and he said it was fun following me through the walkers and I agreed that it made for a fun experience. I don't think I would like the 2 loop race for a real competitive run. But for a fun run to start the year, it was perfect.
Kalamazoo county is done. Now off to Reese in Tuscola County tomorrow for a 10K. I hope we have similar weather at this race as we had in Kalamazoo today.
The One One Run , which is in its 27th year, was named the John Daley Memorial after the death of John Daley. The goal of the race is to get the local Kalamazoo community active by running or walking on January 1st. It is difficult to guess, but I would estimate there to be 250-300 people participating. The announcer at the start explained that John was a key contributor in the Kalamazoo running community and was responsible for some of the area's largest races. After that, came a strange event. The announcer asked that we have a moment of silence for all of those that have passed away in the last year. When the crowd quieted down, we could hear the music that was playing softly while he spoke. A Michael Jackson song was playing. I am not sure if it was a coincidence or planned, but it was definitely strange.
On to the race report. The race was actually a fun run that was timed, but we did not have individual chips or D-Tags. Since I am doing a 10K tomorrow in Reece and guessing that everybody would be running it as a fun run, I was going to take this relatively easy. That being said, I still wanted to see how I could do at this new distance. You had the option of running one loop around the park for 2.2 miles or two loops for 4.4 miles. I decided to run the two loops and I am glad I did. To give me a comparison of the other runners, I started a couple rows back at the start and just kept count of the people that were in front of me, who I passed, and who passed me. I stayed between the top 10 to 15 for the first mile. The course was pretty rolling with one significant uphill on the back side of the park. The runners ahead of me were spreading out quite a bit, but I tried to keep the runner ahead of me within sight for someone to chase. It was easy to follow him, because he was wearing a Brooks Nightlife jacket. When we hit the large uphill for the second time, we started passing the walkers who were on their first loop. It was fun to watch the Brooks Nightlife runner duck and dart through the walkers. I like to find those little distractions while I am running.
As I started the last mile of the 4.4 mile course, I heard the runner behind me closing in. The majority of the course was on pavement wide enough for a couple cars, but the last bit was a paved walking path that was half as wide. This made passing the walkers difficult and made it easy for him to catch me. The other guy (high school runner) passed me with about 0.2 miles and I could not keep up with him. I ended up finishing 13th and was pretty happy with my run. I finished with a time of 30:52 at an average of 7:01/mile. Not too bad for not taking it relatively easy.
The high school runner and I talked quick after the race and he said it was fun following me through the walkers and I agreed that it made for a fun experience. I don't think I would like the 2 loop race for a real competitive run. But for a fun run to start the year, it was perfect.
Kalamazoo county is done. Now off to Reese in Tuscola County tomorrow for a 10K. I hope we have similar weather at this race as we had in Kalamazoo today.
Cool race, Kyle! I like the idea of running in all of the counties. What a cool project for 2010.
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Steph
Thanks Steph. It will be fun. It has been a blast looking at all the different races across the state.
ReplyDeleteKyle