Run to Win

Photo by Joe ShlabotnikSome people find it intimidating to register for a road race, especially if it is their first one. There really is no need to be nervous. I recommend registering for a road race as soon as you think that you could possibly finish it (or even earlier!), especially if you are just starting a new workout program and have not been keeping in the best shape for the last few years.

Here are 5 reasons to register now:

1

Setting a goal 5k, and actually registering for it as soon as you can, is a great way to motivate yourself. It will keep you out there meeting your real goals regarding your health while giving you something tangible to work towards.

2

You will not want to waste your registration fee, after all, so you are more likely to see the race through than if you decide on a race but wait until race day to actually register.
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Ima asked me the following question in a comment on my article about running workouts:

Good morning,

I came across your website this morning and am interested in asking your advice. I have been out of running for a couple of years due to injury and am looking to get back into it. My goal is to go sub 16 minutes for a 5k, hopefully this fall. Do you think this is realistic and what would your training advice be? My last 5k was about a year ago with no training I ran just over 19 minutes.

Thanks!

I can not say off hand whether Ima is likely to run a sub 16 5k this Autumn, since I do not really have enough information and have never met Ima. As such, I will approach this in very general terms and extrapolate whether I think that I could do it under similar circumstances.
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I would like to share one of my favorite racing tips this morning. By utilizing this tip, you will be running with courtesy against your fellow racers, you will be less likely to hurt or be hurt by somebody trying to pass you, and you will gain a small competitive advantage. What amazes me is that you do not see very many people employ this strategy. All you need to do is use turn signals when you are rounding a corner during a race or group run.

While this does not apply to running on a track, most of my road racing and cross country races involve making at least a few turns. I prefer to take a slightly wider angle on the turn so that I can keep up my momentum. The problem with that is that my competitors may try to cut me off and run to the inside on the turn. Not only do I not want them jumping in front of me, but it becomes very easy to clip one another’s heels or to run right into each other. Every once in a while you will come across somebody who does not even know there is a turn there and will keep going straight while you make the turn in front of them, resulting in a collision. It does not happen very often, but especially on a spread out course it is not unheard of.
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You have prepared for your race, you have arrived on the starting line, and now the gun is about to go off. You have prepared yourself to start the race, and now you have to make sure that you have prepared yourself to finish.

Here are the considerations you need to pay attention to during your race:
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I have less than one month until the New York City marathon. I have already started to plan my trip, though. Rather than thinking of visiting people while I am halfway through Connecticut on my drive down, I have actually started to call people up first to see if they would be available. I have also called a friend about a racing singlet that he is getting created for RIT alumni; I am hoping to be able to race in it since I will be pacing another RIT alum through his first marathon.

New York should be interesting. The goal is to pace my friend through a three hour marathon. His body should be able to stand up to that pretty easily. He has been training hard, and a single marathon should be easy for somebody who ran a relay from the Pacific to the Atlantic. My other friend that is providing the racing singlet wrote a book about that run called Coast to Coast.
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I do not hold with banditing races and I never have. A bandit in a race is any person that runs the course and makes use of the race support but has not paid for the right to be there. Jon over at the complete running network wrote about how he no longer holds with banditing a race:

When they were these mysterious, unseen runners, it never made a difference. But now, seeing their faces, and them running between the real racers, it made me mad. [...] They didn’t pay their money like I did, and now they are spoiling my race. [...] It’s theft, plain and simple.

Actually, to my mind, banditing a race is not plain and simple.
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The Eliot Festival Day 5k was this morning in Eliot, Maine. The field was not quite as deep this year, but still saw a record setting winning time of 14:16. Pat Tarpy of Providence (formerly of Yarmouth) beat the field by almost a minute. Casey Moulton and Ethan Hemphill came through in 15:12 and 15:18 to round out the top 3. Rehima Kedir and Reba Naser of Ethiopa won the women’s race, coming in right behind me in the low-mid 16:40s. Kristen Barry was third in 17:14.

There was no team award this year, but Dirigo would have won it had there been one. Everybody that came down on both the men’s and women’s side went home with cash or hardware. Josh Zolla missed breaking 16 minutes by 6 seconds. Bill Mariski and Tom Ryan were the first masters runners in 16:19 and 16:20. I was a short ways behind them in 16:38, failing to catch PR Racing’s TJ Hesler.
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The second of three races in the Craig’s Cup series was this Wednesday evening, September 20^th. Dirigo swept the board with the top four positions. Mike Payson, Josh Zolla, and Pete Bottomley repeated their 1-2-3 performance from the first race on August 30^th. Mike Payson dropped his time by 2 seconds to finish in 17:12, while Josh Zolla and Pete Bottomley ran 5 and 9 seconds faster in 17:50 and 17:52. Peter Hall came in fourth with a time of 19:17.

Emma Barclay beat Susan Weimer by 18 seconds to win the women’s race in 22:30.

(Photos | Race 1 Results | Race 2 Results)