A day at the lake - Inaugural Lake Union 10K - Race Report

Race: Lake Union 10K (inaugural)
Location: Seattle, Lake Union
Terrain: Mixed sidewalk, road, bridges
Biggest Challenge: bottlenecks
Time: 00:57:19
Pace: 9min 14sec mile
Ranking:
- Overall - 313/689
- Gender - too difficult to bother figuring out
- Male age 35-39 - 44/61
Date: 8/23/09

I have got to pay more attention to my surroundings when I run. First there was the bus incident in which I almost re-enacted a scene from Final Destination, then I missed the "Cell phones are messages from the devil" house during the 10K. I'm going to have to run back around the lake just to find it so that I can see it for myself.

I've been looking forward to the Lake Union 10K since I first heard about it in June. I even put registration day in my calendar so I wouldn't forget. This is the first year for this particular race, and they limited it to 750 racers. They actually didn't fill all the spots, only 689 racers participated.

The packet pick-up was at this little fitness place on 8th over by the lake on Saturday. I have this impression of the area it was in that is probably completely wrong, but I can't shake it. I feel like it was this seedy urban area that is in the process of being reclaimed. I'll bet what's causing the impression is related to the beat up van with a possible vagrant camped inside about a block away from the store and the Holiday Inn with what may or may not have been moaning sounds coming from one of the rooms. Or maybe it was the line of empty parking spaces with broken glass next to each of them. It looked like someone walked down a line of cars and smashed out a window in each. Remember, kids, never leave anything in your car that you don’t want stolen.

Anyway, back from the tangent. Packet pick-up was nice. It was strangely organized in that I effectively had to check in twice, once with a person who just had a list of people who had registered, and once with the person who actually had my bib. Then we got our "goody" bags, which contained a whole lot of nothing: some coupons to the various race sponsors and a brochure about the Seattle Marathon. Lisa got a lanyard from the Holiday Inn in her bag, but I kind of think that was a mistake. We got our t-shirts with a very nice, if effeminate, orange sunburst design on the front. I'm not going to complain about it looking a little girly though; it's a wicking shirt, which means it's going to get a lot of use. Side note: I can tell that it's a newer shirt than any of my other ones because it's still so white. I didn't realize that my other white wicking race shirts had gotten dingey. The one thing, maybe the most important thing, they didn't give us was the timing chip. I've seen some reviews of the race (already!) on Active.com that complained about this a bit, and I think the complaints have some merit. What's the point of early pick-up if I'm still going to have to stand in line tomorrow to get my timing chip? I'm responsible enough to know not to lose it over night, thanks.

Sunday morning came bright and early. We got up at 6am to get ready even though the race didn't start until 7:30. I think we both realized that we needed a little time to fuel up (and wake up) before going. I'm building up the mileage so I think I could handle a 5K on an empty stomach, but I couldn't pull off a 6 miler with nothing but last night's dinner to get me through it. Maybe some day. I'm not going to claim that I had the best breakfast in the world, but looking back I don't think it was all that bad. I had a banana, a single serve box of Frosted Flakes (they're GRRRRRREAT!) and two strips of bacon, because bacon is one of the two perfect complements to any other food (the other one is chocolate).

At 6:45 we decided it was time to get up and go. The timing chips and starting line were about a mile away from our apartment, and even walking briskly it would take us 15-20 minutes to get to there. Then we were expecting to wait in line a bit to get our timing chips, but that part didn't happen. We stood in a line for about 2 minutes before someone asked if we were just waiting for timing chips and directed us to a table where there was no line. So… yay easy stuff! That still left us with 25-30 minutes of waiting before the race started, so we found a place to squat and watch all the people. I don't remember anyone standing out. There were some brightly colored shoes, but no one wore costumes like people have at most of the other races around here. I noticed the people with the strollers though, strollers that were specifically prohibited on the website. Dogs were ok, but strollers weren't. I'm not sure I follow the logic on allowing dogs on leashes but not pushing strollers, but those were the rules and they should be followed (unless I decide they’re stupid and choose to break them of course). I think dogs and their leashes are the more hazardous, but it wasn't my call. I loved it when one of the race organizers was doing a general announcement of stuff and specifically addressed the people who brought strollers and how it said "NO!" on the website. The other interesting event before the start was the truck that had to get out of the parking lot and thus through all of the racers lined up at the starting line. They were very nice about it, but they had places to go and people to see so they were getting out. Plus, as a person on two feet you don't argue with a 1-2 ton truck. You might dodge better, but they're faster and heavier with better endurance. They’ll get you in the end.

At 7:30 (plus or minus a few minutes) the horn blew and we all... got bottlenecked at the timing mat! If there's one thing that I would complain about the race it was the general organization of it. The starting line was on a sidewalk that's maybe twice the width of the regular sidewalk. Let's call it five feet wide. The timing mat was sized to fit that width. There were 689 runners all of whom thought that they were the fastest thing since Speedy Gonzalez trying to get over the mat at the same time. There was a bit of a slow moving crowd to get over the mat. After that there were a few other places along the first half of the route where a little better planning up front would have eliminated some bottlenecks. Still, if that's the only thing to complain about (that and the timing chip thing) then they can definitely consider the race a success. Actually, there is one other thing to complain about, but it was at the end of the race and I will address it in its proper place.

Having been running on the west side of Lake Union for a while now, I knew basically what to expect and where to expect it. If I had been paying attention to them, my milestones wouldn't have been thrown off by much because we started right around where I would have counted my first mile anyway. But there were so many other people around that I didn't need to look at any man-made structures.

The first mile is always a sorting out mile. Everyone is finding their natural place in the running order and equilibrium is being established. Slower or more social runners get left behind, faster runners sprint ahead, and those of us in the middle of the pack try to find our groove. By time we got to the first mile marker (all of the mile markers were obvious, which was a nice change of pace) we had spread out and everyone was able to run their race. It was then that we hit the Fremont bridge, which could have been a disaster but wasn't. They didn't block off the road, so all we had to work with was the pedestrian lane over the bridge. If that had happened nearer to the start it would have gotten ugly quick, but since we'd all spread out a bit I was able to get over the bridge with only a little slowing down. We ran down 34th past the Troll but not close enough to actually see him. Or her. I don't know, the troll could be a girl. It looks decidedly masculine to me though. Anyway, we passed the troll and over to the Burk-Gillman trail. Side note: There’s a statue of Lenin in Fremont somewhere. I think if I had turned left instead of right on 34th I would have found it. I’m going back to look for that thing soon too. I’m collecting quite the list of local attractions to see, aren’t I? I need to carry a camera sometime.

I thought we had some nice police support throughout the race. They did a great job of keeping us from being run over by impatient or unobservant drivers at the various intersections. I had a brief laugh with a couple of them as I was running past because they were trying to get a car to get through the intersection before I got there but the driver wasn't paying any attention. Then, just when I got into the intersection, he decided to go. Too late, dude, I'm already running here. Johhny and Janey Law had my back and kept me from getting squished “just like grape.“

Nothing much happened for another mile or so. There was another potential bottleneck going over another bridge, but we were even more spread out by that point. I didn't even have to slow down. After that we were running in some residential neighborhood. This is the general area where the evil cell phone guy lives, and after seeing pics of his place after the race I don't know how I missed it. It should have been blindingly obvious. There were some nice townhomes over there too, which could have been interesting if I was in the market for a new home.

Just after mile 4 I rounded a corner and actually said "you've got to be freaking kidding me" about the 45 degree incline staring at me. Ugh. How rude. Fortunately, it was short.

After a while I usually discover that I'm running with the same pack of people, although we're not talking or anything, for a long distance. Am I the only one that names them? There was a larger gentleman, about 5'9" but easily 250 pounds, chugging along. I named him Hot Dog; not because he was showing off, but because he had those ripples at the back of his neck that looks like a pack of hot dogs. Then there were the Mean Girls, a trio of young-uns being led by the speedster Daphne. They passed me from out of nowhere and inspired me to try to keep up for a while. And there was Skort, an Asian woman with a skort that passed me then fell behind and passed me again repeatedly. There was another Asian woman that I thought was Skort, but who I eventually named Other. She also passed me and got passed by me a couple of times.

I was back in familiar territory now, running a part of a route that I've been running for a couple of months, so there weren't any surprises. I'll skip ahead to the part where I saw the 6 mile sign. At that point there were only .2 miles left to go, and I wanted to finish strong and fast, so I sped up a lot. I passed many people, including Hot Dog, Skort and Other. The Mean Girls were long gone. There were a couple of other women I passed that didn't like being passed so close to the end, so with less than .1 miles to go when I passed them, they sped up and beat me over the finish by a second. I wasn't trying to compete with them, but it did cause a flash of irritation.

There was a great opportunity for improvement at the finish line. Two feet after the timing mat there was a hard right roped off to get to the chip deposit and the water. I didn't even notice the water. There were some stools there where presumably some of the volunteers were supposed to be to help remove the chips, but none were there. Bending over to take off the timing chip after a six mile run is a nice way to court head injuries from people fainting and landing on their head. I was in the first half of runners to cross (yay me!) but it was already too crowded to bother with trying to hunt down some of the post-race snacks. I will say that although I didn't partake of any, they looked pretty good. There were oranges, bananas and peanut butter and jelly on a slice of bread. That's a bit more than I see at most races. I know there was a granola vendor out there too, so someone was getting some cups of granola and yogurt. I waited for Lisa at the finish line and we just took off back to home. I had a decent breakfast planned out for us that would be better than the free snacks just because I wouldn't have to wait in line for it.

The rest of the day was spent in recovery. We got up early, so there was a wonderful Sunday afternoon nap waiting. I tried not to move any more than I had to, but that's just normal weekend behavior.

Next up, the Super Jock & Jill Half Marathon on Labor Day. I have a friend that keeps telling me I need to run a half before I run a full. I don't know if I agree with her, it's not like the full will be my first organized race, but I want to run a half anyway. This one just happens to be close enough that I don't have to rent a hotel room to enjoy. So I'll drive over to Woodinville, WA and run 13.1 miles. Bonus, it starts and ends at a brewery, so I can carbo-load and get some liquid painkiller all in the same place. Second bonus, one of my 2009 goals was a half marathon. I can mark that one off earlier than I expected.

Pace Chart
Mile 1 – 9:23
Mile 2 – 9:14
Mile 3 – 9:05
Mile 4 – 9:10
Mile 5 – 9:24
Mile 6 – 9:02
Remainder (.2 miles) – 2:05