Aviator Flight Fest 5k

I did this race on Saturday morning, October 1. After running so well in my last trail race a few weeks ago, I wanted to see what kind of 5k speed I have right now.

This is the first year for this race. There were actually quite a number of races going on last weekend in Cincinnati. Something like 8 or 9 5ks, plus a trail half-marathon up at Caesar's Creek. I would have gone for the trail race, but Tommy was going to be at an all day shooting match and I didn't want to leave the dogs home alone for that long.

I picked this race because they promised technical tops and pancakes afterwards. So it sounded like the best value of the morning 5k races. I might have done the Reggae Run in the park by my house on Saturday night, but that is such a tough course and my chances of making it into the top 50 women to win a coffee mug are not great. I did sign us up for the Reggae Run anyway so we would get race shirts and tickets to the party (which I did attend on my own but that is another story).

The race starts and finishes at Sycamore Junior High (whose team name is "The Aviators"), and follows a loop course over almost entirely residential streets. There is an aerial video of the course here. The only difference in what we ran was that we entered the track in a slightly different place, ran a little over a half lap, and then came up the middle of the field to the 50 yard line for the finish.

Left the house at 7:30 am for the 8:30 race. I'd never been to Sycamore Junior High before. Never had any reason to go there. It is a 1960s era structure in very good repair. Parked in the side lot of the school, and walked through the school to a back parking lot where they were having a fitness festival (to start after the race).

I was able to do my warmup on the track. Pretty nice facility for a junior high, I would say: Turf infield and tartan-type track. It was supposed to be sunny that morning according to the weather forecast from the night before, but instead it was overcast and drizzling. And cold! Temperature in the 40s. I was wearing capri-length tights and a long sleeved shirt, and I added a water-repellant pullover. Kept the pullover on for my warmup.

And here is where I made a crucial mistake. Usually, if I am wearing a jacket during a race, I still pin my race number inside on my shirt. Because I know eventually the jacket is coming off. For some reason, this time, I assume that I am really going to keep that pullover on. Which was ridiculous. In a 5k, where I was going to be really booking it? I seriously thought I was going to finish the race with that pullover on? But for some reason, on this day, I decided to pin my number on the outside of the pullover.

Lined up for pre-race announcements in the parking lot. This went on for awhile, because they wanted to thank every possible person who contributed anything to this first time event. Most runners were wearing the technical top, which was that garish yellow-green color that seems to be popular in race giveaways this year. But it was a pleasant community atmosphere, similar to the Clark 5k from a few weeks ago, although I was assuming there would be some more competitive runners among the young people at Sycamore. I was wrong about that.

We all walked out to the start on Cooper Rd. in front of the school. I lined up pretty close to the front. I didn't see anyone I recognized, and I wondered which of the 8 or 9 other races my regular age group competition had selected this time.

The course is a nice one. It is fairly flat with just some slight rolls along the way---can't even really classify them as hills, but just enough variation to keep the legs from getting fatigued. There were two aid stations, or maybe it was just one aid station that we passed by twice. There is a part of the course where we do retrace our steps.

My only real complaint about the actual race is that, just as in the Clark race, there were no mile markers. I don't understand what is up with this. I know a lot of people are now wearing Garmins or other tracking devices, but still it would be nice to know where the race director thinks the miles begin and end when I am really trying to figure out my pacing.

But it was not too big a deal because at least I had watched the video, and when we were running back towards the school I had a good idea how much race was left.

It was about halfway through the race that I decided to ditch the pullover. Now, what I should have done, if I had been thinking clearly, was simply to remove it and tie it across my waist. There was no real reason that my race number had to be pinned to my front for the entire duration of the race. It is not like there was a photographer out there taking pictures along the way and the only way to identify me would be by my race number.

But no, I decided that I should unpin the number and re-pin it to my shirt. I have done this before without breaking stride but it has been many years. Many years since I have been quite this stupid. So, I try to unpin and re-pin it while running and that doesn't go so well. No blood shed, but I end up having to stop and walk for a bit, during which time I am passed by several people that I had passed easily earlier in the race. I end up with the number pinned very awkwardly to my front, with just the top two pins, before I give up.

I tell myself that after this little rest, I can recover and run faster. I spend the rest of the race chasing down all those people who passed me during my mental lapse. I achieve this, but I still wonder what my time would have been if I had just run properly the entire way.

My finish time on my watch was 24:34, which was my fastest 5k in a number of years, so I was pretty pleased---although without having those mile markers along the way I do find myself wondering about the accuracy of the course. It felt more accurate than the Clark race did, however.

I walked around for a few minutes, drank some Gatorade, and had a pancake with butter and syrup. I figured out that if you roll them up, these post-race pancakes are easy to eat with one hand while standing up! I have learned from my last post-race pancake experience that it is good to get on the pancake line before the bulk of the field has finished the race!

So, two good things: ran a decent time and got to eat a pancake.

I heard them announce that the awards would not take place until 10 am, when the fitness festival was supposed to start. It was only about 9:20 then, so I decided not to stick around. I can understand that they had to wait until most people had finished, and that they wanted to encourage people to stay for the festival, but it was a cold and miserable morning and I needed to get home. Plus I knew they were only going one deep in each age group, so it didn't seem worth hanging around on the off chance that I had won.

So, that is my second complaint about the event: I wish they had started the awards at 9:30 or even 9:45. Then I might have hung around and even visited the fitness festival afterwards. Or, I wish they had posted results as we had finished. If I knew I had won an award, I would have hung around until 10 am to collect it.

When the results were posted online, I found out that I had won my age group after all (1 of 8 in the age group, 8 of 90 women, and 40 of 180 runners overall, not too shabby). They had my time as 24:22, which was 12 seconds faster than my watch. I know that is wrong but I'll take it! I'm pretty sure the placement is right.

Planning to run one more 5k this Saturday night to get one more take on what my current speed is at, before next weekend's marathon, and then starting all over again with some new goals.