Furry Fury - Furry 5K Race Report

Race: Furry 5K
Location: Seward Park, Seattle
Terrain: Asphalt, generic road
Biggest Challenge: Hill at mile 2
Time: 00:28:31.5
Pace: 9min 11sec mile
Ranking:
- Overall - 193
- Gender - 105
- Male age 30-39 - 33
Date: 6/7/09

I love it when races start at a reasonable time. Seven, eight, or nine o'clock is entirely too early to start off running for someone that isn't a morning person. I can do it, but I'd prefer not to. The Furry started at ten o'clock.

Given how much Seattle-ites love their dogs, it's not unusual to find a few four legged friends at any run. Some of the races don't allow dogs, but in general dogs are just as welcome as people. Today's run though was all about the pups. The race was to benefit the Help The Animals Fund and the Seattle Animal Shelter. All that translates to lots of dogs; cats were discriminated against, but they probably wouldn't have been willing to run anyway.

I was pretty close to the front for the start, which means that there were a lot of people with the potential to pass. A whole lot of them ended up doing just that. The first mile was good. I think I did it in just under 10 minutes. The route was beautiful. We had Lake Washington on the left and some trees and other forestry on the right. I was a little concerned by the "poison oak" sign about half a mile in, but I wasn't planning on running into the woods, so I got over it quick.

I love how the dogs had different running personalities, which didn't necessarily match their person's. There were some dogs that were obviously out for a jog, some that looked like they were planning to sprint the whole way, and some that were obviously running their humans. Additional fun came from bathroom using dogs. I saw one poor runner that was jerked to a stop because his dog stopped in the middle of the path for a potty break.

Just after the first mile marker we got the "OMFG! Who the hell put this ridiculous freaking hill in the middle of the course?!" hill. That was a real challenge. It was about a 40 degree incline (+/- 5 degrees) and went on FOREVER. I ran up the whole thing, but it was a significant slowing factor. I wonder how long it was. Everyone slowed down, and there were a lot of people who walked it for a bit. Completely reasonable considering the ridiculous incline and ridiculous length. After the hill was a slight decline and some meandering and then the water station. This was my only stop/walk area. I don't run and drink at the same time. It's a good way for me to choke.

I must have missed the second mile marker. I'm told that it was there, but I never saw it. I had an idea of when I was supposed to have passed it, but since I didn't see it I didn't really know when to start pushing my pace. My goal was to make this my fastest 5k to date, which shouldn't be too hard since the rest of them have been 30+ minutes. I suppose I could have started running faster after 20 minutes of running, but I didn't, so there's no use getting upset about it. I saw my favorite dog of the race during the last mile; a whippet, I think, that looked like he could have run all day. Other than that, there's not much to say about the third mile. Once I saw the finish line ahead and the Mile 3 marker, I picked up the pace for the last tenth of a mile. I want to make sure I finish strong on every race. I don't know if that will help me anywhere, but I like the idea.

The official finish time and (unofficial) average pace is still to be determined, but according to my watch I did it in about 28 minutes. That's in line with my normal running pace and something that I think I can sustain for a long run, at least after I get some practice with really long runs.

**UPDATE** Times, ranking, pace updated.