May 2nd, 2010 - Race - Westford, MA - 3.1

Day 122 - My race day began in the bathroom of Library Park in Woburn at the Kick in for Kids 4.2 miler.

I was on the flip-side of the timing for this race as I was working with Bay State to time the 1st annual race. Turnout was impressive with 200+ finishers, considering the temps were rising steadily throughout the morning (about 85 degrees when the race started at 11AM). Sprummer is definitely here.

The Shamrocks really know how to put on a race party with plenty of FREE beer and a nice grill that kept on cooking throughout the race and beyond. My only regret was that I couldn't enjoy any of the beer to due to my race later that afternoon in Westford.

The only place available to the timers to do data entry was in the nearby ballpark's bathroom facilities. It was actually not that bad as I was able to stay cool throughout the race. The only negative was that the bathroom was working on a sensor, so every time I stopped typing, the sensor would turn off the lights and the noisy fan. On and off. On and off. On and off. For about an hour.

The Woburn race wrapped up at 1PM, so that gave me about an hour to stop by the apt in Lowell, pick up the family, and head up to Westford for my turn at racing in 90+ temps for the first time this year.

I got to Westford Center and found "parking" at about 2PM. I sprinted down to registration in my flipflops and came across a warmed-up Jim St. Pierre wearing the GLRR green. Very nice to see! Registration had closed by the time I got into the school, but managed to squeeze one last entry out of the entry-Nazi. I was tempted to circle the 10K race, instead of 5K, when I filled out the form. I quickly snapped back to reality and chose the 5K.

I pulled a Clark Kent in the school's bathroom and got on my GLRR racing gear in about 30 seconds. I was already dripping in sweat by this point, and the race was about 2 minutes away! I took my chances and threw my gear bag under a bush outside the school and dashed to the start....for nothing.

There was about a 10 minute delay when I got there, so I said my hellos to the Kenyans, Jim, Matt S, Scott G, and Glenn. Glenn was out there with his crew of GLRR volunteers to help put on the race. Apparently, there was more to Glenn's day of volunteering (falling off the trailer?!), but I'll let him share that if his ego feels up to it.

The race itself was uneventful other than the heat. I didn't expect to break 18 again today, given the heat and the difficulty of the course, so I was happy with my time of 18:37 (new PR for 5K in 90+ temps) and 4th place overall finish (1st in Age Group).

Some notable moments from the race:

- Ben N. dropping out at mile 1 with an injury (moving me into 4th). Jim was telling me that he went out like a bat out of hell.

- Myself starting out in about 10th place and catching the "younger" runners who went out way too fast on such a hot day.

- Learning that Jim went to my alma mater before it was Lowell Catholic, and we had the same 8th grade math teacher who was also at the race, and quite the runner in his days!

- Being timed by the same people that I worked with two hours earlier in Woburn! That's a first.

- Regret over not signing up for the 10K as I had a good shot at coming in right behind Titus, and finishing in 2nd/3rd place overall for that race. I guess most of the runners decided to switch races when they realized hell was visiting earth for the day.

- Fuck. I forgot my race gear under the bush.

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