On Sunday, June 6th I participated in a local 5k running event referred to as the Oak Knoll Otter Run 5k Family Fun Run, in Menlo Park, CA. It was a multi-stage event where anyone could enter, from whole families looking to have fun to serious runners looking to support the Oak Knoll PTA sponsored school fund raiser.
Friday morning I headed out to the school and signed up, getting my numbered bib and t-shirt for the event. The first snafu for the event took place when I realized that after I returned to work, no one asked me for any money! We were all so busy with different focuses that no money exchanged hands! I remedied the situation by returning to the registration center at the school and giving them my money. They seemed impressed I did this.
If you can call it a snafu, I’d like to toss in there that this small, local “fun” event did not have chip timing. It was going to be manual, by the eye, scoring where volunteers would be at the finish line scribbling down times and bib numbers. (I thought). Non-chip timing can be traumatic for the serious runner, but I’ll explain later. I had a little concern, but not a lot. Sunday was part of my long-run training… so whether I get a timed result or not, I was still getting my long run in.
The day of the event, I walked the few miles there, competed, then ran a few more miles afterward on my way home. This netted me my mileage for the day. All in all, it was fun on Sunday.
Bruce's first 5k - Santa Clarita Marathon
Just prior to the race, my wife and I sidled up to the start line. If there was no chip timing, I wanted to cross the start-line as soon as possible because when they yell go, they start their timers. If you’re way back in the start pack, it could be almost a minute or more before crossing the start line. Being at the line, my time would be closer to accurate. I also had my wrist mounted GPS Garmin Unit. I was ready in case they didn’t get something right, I had my own tracking system in-place. I was kind of half expecting something to not go right, considering, like I noted earlier, they had people at the finish line taking down the bib numbers of people as they crossed the line.
The route was 1.5K long. Families could bow out after 1 lap while the 5K runners would continue on for a 2nd lap of the run. During the event households were out cheering us on and had sprinklers and hoses running so runners could cool themselves off if needed. 1/2 way around my 2nd lap, I probably looked a bit lagging and a volunteer yelled at me to keep it up and just go. I yelled back “This is my go!!!” I was also passing by the volunteers and through my funny breathing noises, thanked them for their time to help with the event.
About 2/3 around lap 2, I came across a pre-teen that wasn’t having any more fun. She really didn’t want to finish the race, despite her dad’s prodding. I slowed down enough, tossed out some encouragement and said listen, tonight, you will look back on this and be happy you did finish it by running it out. I then took off on my lumbering 11-minute mile pace. About a minute later she went flying by me and I was thinking, WTH!? I said finish, not kick my ass!!! Dad was a few moments behind her and thanked me for the inspirational help. (That was my good deed for the day, and as we all know, no good deed goes unpunished!)
I crossed the 5K finish line setting a PR of 34:05 for that distance. I was pretty jazzed. I’ve barely took up running in July of 2009 and I’ve come a long way from then. I was also jazzed because about 1 block back, I was wondering what lack of sanity prompted me to do this and did not feel like I was actually doing that well… for me! But cool. I passed through the finish line and was funneled down to a couple of folks tearing off the bottom of people’s bibs. Huh? My wife has done a number of marathons and the bib bottoms are useless and pulled off before any event. But here at the 2010 Oak Knoll Otter Run, they were looking for them. When my wife asked about this, they said not to worry about and put a replacement tab in the pile of bib numbers they were collecting.
The after festivities were great and the feeling of the community coming together to do something fun and support the local school was pretty neat. Not to mention you found out just how many of your neighbors are runners!
My Neighbors Are Seriously Competitive
So you’d think that a neighborly 5K would be fun, but dang, we had some serious runners in the group! The top lady finished in 20:48 and the top guy, in an amazing 17:35. There were 68 of the 382 runners that finished under 25 minutes. The median 5K finish time for the ladies was 33:55 and for the guys, 28:44. I suck… but also know that in time, I’ll be getting closer to world record times. (I said closer… even if it’s by a few seconds!)
So I have a bit of work to do to be competitive. Sigh. As soon as I resolve this damn tendinitis in my knee, I can give it a bit more and try to get faster!
So my wife and I awaited the results for the Otter Run to get posted to Active.com the next day so we can see how we ranked.
Odd How The Last Emotion About an event Can Impact an Entire Event
The next day (Monday, June 7th) we found the results for the event and it was neat to see how many people were in the event. But 2 people were missing from the results that Amy and I knew of! Those two would be us! I’m guessing that though we ran a great race… well, OK, she ran a great race, we needed the bottom tear-offs but no one told us that at any stage of the sign up process. We would have loved to have had our personal 5k PR’s put out there, but it’s not looking too promising in getting them on record. That’s a shame.
It’s now Thursday and yes, we’ve contacted both the race coordinator and Active.com early on. The race coordinator has done her best and I’m thinking it’s on Active.com’s plate that things are being dropped, though on Thursday, Active.com’s reply is that they need to receive the update from the race coordinator.
Despite having such a great time at the event, all I can think of right now is how frustrated we both are because our enthusiasm for small local events is getting dashed quite handily.
The lesson here? Try not to assume anything. When there’s no timing chip involved in the record keeping, ask more copious questions if things like this matter.
Any Help Out There? I’d like to suggest that if anyone reading this may have any connections to a timing chip company, could you see about helping out and donating some services or product? This is a great event that takes place in a fantastic neighborhood at a great school. It would be worthy of your focus. IMHO.
PS: In the header image, the question mark is located over a red cap… that’s m’wife, bolting away at subsonic speeds!
Image via InMenlo.
on Amazon: Wrist Worn GPS Units for Runners and Outdoor Activities
There’s some neat Running Gear / Equipment on Amazon
