So yesterday was the Resolution Run 5K Trip & Dip at Magnuson Park. The run & the "polar bear" dip were just dandy, what was not so dandy was the registration/sign in portion...
My wife and I arrived at the park with only a little time to spare (about 20 minutes or so), this wouldn't have been a problem if Club NorthWest had a better sign in system. After a few minutes of waiting in line I was told my bib # must have been 'taken by some one else' and that I'd need to go to the "Day of Race" registration area. I registered online back on 12/13 to ensure I wouldn't have to deal with this, but there I was, at the end of a much longer line waiting and seeing red.... thankfully my (much smarter and more logical) wife was there to state what now seems obvious, she said 'You'd think they'd at least do what they could to get you to the front of the line' or something there abouts. It took me about 3 seconds to realize she was dead on, I had her hold my place in the line (just in case) I stormed over to the same woman who had informed me my number was gone and essentially demanded that she go talk to some one and get this squared away. A little himing and hawing later and I was finally getting some help.
By the time I finally received my (new) number and timing chip I had about 2 minutes prior to the start of the race - no time for a rest room break, no time to enjoy the area, just barely time enough to dig my way into the starting area and find my pacing spot.
Of course, once the race actually started this all disappeared... I was running, and for the first time in quite a while, I was running fast (by my standards, anyway).
After the typical (foot) traffic jam at the start of any race the herd started to thin out with the fast doing what they do best and the rest falling behind. I had picked my spot fairly well when lining up at the start, just in front of the 7 minute mile marker, so as I ran few people passed me and I only passed a few people. When we hit the first mile marker I heard the time keeper announce "6:36" 'Good!' I thought, I hadn't lost too much of my speed despite having trained more for endurance the last 3 to 4 months.
Mile 1 went by fast, mile 2 was the more scenic portion, running closer to the shores of Lake Washington. When I hit the 2 mile marker my time was announced as 13:31, good enough for 94 out of 100 points on an Army PT test... this is what I was thinking about, how this time compared to my old Army run times, had this been the 2 mile PT test run I would have been disappointed as this would have been below my average all those years ago. In retrospect, it occurs to me that in the Army I would run all out for 2 miles and then be done, but in a 5K I still had 1.1 miles to go... I think I could still hang with 21 year old me :-)
At the end of mile 3 was the 'Dip' portion of the "Trip & Dip", down a boat ramp, into Lake Washington, and you must fully submerge yourself. I was shocked, when I hit the water, to find that it at least felt pretty warm (turns out it was 44 degrees, about the same as the air temp.) I sloshed through as best as possible (harder than it looks/sounds) and sprinted the final leg passing 4 runners on my way.
My final time was 21:36, this seems okay to me, I figure the course was a wee bit longer than 5K (for us Trip & Dippers anyways) and there was a bit of a log jam in the water anyway. Even with those 2 factors had this been a standard 5K I still would have been running below a 7 minute mile, so that's cool...
Once I got home I wrote Club NorthWest a little email expressing my displeasure with the signing in issue, I stated that, though it's not their fault that there are dishonest people out there willing to steal bib #'s, it is their responsibility to at least try and make it difficult for these people. I see it as their problem simply because they had a large display stating the names and bib #'s of all those who had preregistered thus making it very easy for any early arrival to claim to be Mr. or Mrs. so-and-so, bib # X... there was no ID check, no reference to birth date or confirmation #, nothing... I'm still waiting on on response to this email... I'll update once I receive an answer...
(And finally) Here's a picture I found on the Club NorthWest web page... that's me... # 1306, you know, the one with no head... sadly that's the only pic I can find with me in it so far..... it is kinda funny though....
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