Guerrilla racing

Last night I ran in the State Park Summer Run Series 5k at Bethpage State Park. I went straight to the park from work. By the time I arrived I was informed that they were no longer taking day of race registrations. What the hell? I drive here, want to pay to run and am being told that I can not.

I play by the rules for the most part, but I am not going to sit in the bleachers or on the grass while other people run and wait for the parking lot to open back up so I can leave. So I do what any self respecting quasi anarchist would do. I run the damn race guerrilla style. You don't want to take my money and give me a number? Fine. I will run your race without a number and keep my fifteen bucks.

I decide that I am going to push myself and line up just a bit ahead of the ten minute milers at the starting line. I was worried that my lack of number and shoe tag would be easily noticed, but it seems like there were quite a few folks in the field running sans number.

The horn goes off and the herd starts to move towards the line. The field was so tight that it probably took me about a minute to get from where I was lined up to the actual starting line. In order to control this problem the race organizers limit the number of entries. However inconsiderate people like me show up and run anyway, clogging the field. Sorry.

There were so many people that it was like running in a rush hour A train. It was bad enough on the road for the first half mile, but once we all had to file onto the bike paths it got to the point where you could hardly breath.

I hit mile one in 10:28. Slower than I wanted to be but with such a dense field I think everyone not in the leaders pack was having the same issue. After the first mile the course gets back out onto the road and the field starts to break up. The next portion of the course is gradual uphill. My pace drops a bit and I hit the second mile at 21:30. Most of mile three is rolling hills over the golf cart path on the golf course. Some steep downhills are a lifesaver and helped me to build up some momentum to go up the next hill. As we round the polo fields and head toward the finish chute I pull off to the side and finish the race next to the finish line. Since there is a limit to how inconsiderate I am I decided not to cross the line and be screw up any official results.

I finished in 31:40. My goal for last night was to break 30:00. With the dense field of runners and the series of rolling hills leading up to mile three I am not surprised that I did not make it to the line as fast as I wanted.

Status:

14.75 miles into my goal of running 50 miles by August 17.

Upcoming races:

8/1 - Sayville Summerfest 4 Miler 9am