Yellow Ribbon 5k (Run for the Troops)

For some reason never published this one but putting it up now, belatedly.

Did this one on Saturday, November 2. Wanted to do a local 5k to get an idea what my training paces should be for the next marathon cycle. There were literally 5-6 races going on locally at the same time. This one offered proximity, reasonable start time, and a cause that did not make me want to throw up.

The Yellow Ribbon Foundation was started by Keith Maupin, who is the father of Matt Maupin, a local soldier who was killed in Iraq. The foundation puts together care packages to send to the troops, and also has a scholarship fund. The race has taken place for several years but has changed locations. This was the first year at Otto Armleder Park.

I have done some training runs through the park as part of my long runs at Lunken Airport, so I thought it would be fun to do a race there. It's just a couple of miles from home and there's plenty of parking. The price was right to and the tee shirt was included (although it is kind of hideous, pink camo with a red white and blue logo so I don't think I will be wearing it in public).

I forgot to bring my phone so I didn't get any pictures. Well, anyway, the race started and finished near the parking lot and the little shelter area. I have found that I can add about four miles onto my Lunken run by adding in the park, but the park loop itself is probably less than two miles around (part of my run is an out-and-back) so during the race we did have to double back on our path a bit. But they had a volunteer at every turn so it was not confusing.

It is a very flat course on the paved trail. Not terribly exciting but racing provides its own excitement, yes?

I looked around before the start for my potential competition. There was a formal presentation of the colors and a girl sang The Star-Spangled Banner. Did a decent job of it. Better than at Prairie Fire. A man who was somehow associated with the race or the foundation or one of the sponsors (unclear which) thanked us for coming and blah, blah, blah. Then we all walked down to the start line.

They were using chip timing, and I noticed that the people who lined up in the front started right on the mat. Had never noticed that before. Guess I have not been at such a small race that used chip timing. Anyway, I was a few rows behind them. There were three women on the start line. One sort of youngish (40 years old and would go on to win the race on the woman's side), one older (I had spotted her when she parked next to me, a skinny, grizzled vet) and one who appeared to be about 35 (she was actually 61!) with long blonde hair pulled into a pony tail, wearing black bun huggers and a sports bra.

Oh well, I was just going to give it my best shot.

So here was the funny thing, we started the race, and I almost immediately caught up to blondie. And I passed her, even while I was slowing down to remove my tyvek jacket and tie it around my waist. So that was surprising.  I knew that there were not many women ahead of me. Passed a few guys along the way as well.

I was thinking that anything in the 27s would be okay and it might even me in the 28s considering the horrible shape I am in. First mile: 8:13. Far better than expected. Second mile: 8:32, more like what I expected. Third mile: 8:16. Then I had a watch malfunction but it took me almost a minute supposedly for the last .1 so I wonder if the 3rd mile marker was off. Anyway, final time was 25:57, with which I was quite pleased.

Hung around because I thought I had a good shot at an age group award and it seemed like they were getting them out pretty quick. They had some good food, too, better than the usual. There were some tasty pastries with some weird name that I didn't recognize. And Starbucks coffee.

So, the got to the awards and I did happen to win my age group, or so they said. I swear I heard them call my name and I went up and collected my medal. Then they took a big group picture. The guy in charge said that they had gotten pics of all of us running and they would put them on the web site maybe even later in the day (but I'm still looking for those. It would help if I knew what web site he was talking about! But I've checked the race site, the race director's site, the foundation's site, and a few of the sponsors and haven't seen anything).

Anyway, later in the day I got a look at the final results, and I didn't win my age group after all. There was another woman who finished far ahead of me. In fact, she was second overall in the race. So I don't know why they called my name, except maybe she hadn't turned her chip in yet or there was some confusion over the results. I know that they did have our ages wrong on our bib numbers, but they were only off by one year so I don't think that was the problem but who really knows. Anyway, feel like a fraud and an impostor and a little weird for accepting the medal. Gosh, would have felt even worse though if I had waited all that time and they didn't give it to me. Yeah, next couple of races I am not staying for the awards. I would rather win and not know until later than be there and not win.

They also had door prizes but I didn't get one of those.

I was 2 of 2 in the age group, 6 of 49 women (in reality, probably only the 6 of us were even trying) and 19 of 85 runners overall.