Stand Up for Animals Virtual 5K Race

Westerly, RI
Thursday, May 7, 2020

My first ever virtual race.  To be quite honest, I've been rather ambivalent and even a tad skeptical of virtual races.  How does these work?  Are they even legit?  Not sure I would ever have done one in "normal" times, but since COVID-19 grinded races to a halt in early March, they're the only game in town (or even in the whole nation).  Couple that with a corporate e-mail from HR promoting this event and asking us to consider giving back to the community, and my tune is changing.  Finally, I got a personal chat message from a colleague about it.  Alright, alright, I'm in already!

Signed up back on April 23, and sent in my $25, which I was very happy to do, as it benefits Stand Up for Animals here in Westerly.  So now what?  Well, you pick the 5K course, and any date/time/location between May 7 and May 10, run it, time it with an app or GPS watch, and send in proof and a picture.  So far, so good.

"Race" day:  This was a family event, as I had three partners in crime:

1. The pacer:  Matthew
2. The photographer:  Jana
3. The race partner:  Brady (I signed up for the "with pet" option)

Planned out my route, largely modeled after a time trial run Jonny Eckel had done a few weeks back.  As Jonny pointed out, it's flat (fast) and if there is any breeze at all there, it's typically a tailwind.

Here's Jonny's recent route.  As 3.1 miles is pretty much the entire length of Atlantic Avenue,
I modified only slightly to pull the start back on to nearby Maplewood Avenue so I could finish
without running up on the bridge.

Departed the house at lunch time with Matthew and Brady.  Tried to give Jana approximate times to meet us at the Town Beach and finish at Weekapaug Breachway.  The 1.7 mile run would be a perfect distance for a warm-up, plus give time for Brady to get out a poop out of the way and not have to stop mid-race for a bio break.  (Yes, we cleaned up and disposed of properly.)

Race start and Mile 1:  Stopped and re-grouped at corner of Maplewood and Dogwood.  The stated and mutually agreed upon goal is to run 5:50 miles.  Weirdest race start ever.  There is of course no gun, no marked starting line, no race officials, and no spectators.  I simply count down, "On Your Mark, Set, Go", and we're off ...

For some reason I blast out of the "starting gate" like a rookie.  My Strava post later shows I ran the first 1/10 mile between 4:50 and 5:20.  What gives?  I could try to blame it on not having a similar competitor that I would usually hunker down with, but clearly I own this blunder.  Fortunately, Matthew is more savvy to this error than me, and urges me to slow down.

We settle back closer to the intended 5:50 pace.  I rely on Matthew's pacing and resist the urge (mostly) to keep looking at my watch, since I've set the pace to show as average pace for each mile, and I know that's not reliable now due to my errant burst at the start.  As we come up on the sometimes busy intersection of Atlantic and Winnapaug, I have this unfounded fear of having to slow for cross-traffic, as I recall a few years back when I was pushing a Strava bike segment and got yelled at by a cop for barely stopping there, and only because he yelled at me.  There is no one there today!  We finish Mile 1 in a salvaged 5:46.

Mile 2:  Almost always my slowest mile in a 5K.  While today will be no exception, I am able to keep a fairly consistent pace through here, again with thanks to Matthew.  At about Mile 1.5, we see Jana at the Westerly Town Beach, with the only downside being that when Brady hears and sees her as we go by, I feel a hard pull backwards as Brady is trying to be nice and thinks it would be a good idea to drag the two of us back to see her and say hi.  After recovering, getting Brady marching in a forward direction again, and placing my arm back in my shoulder socket where it belongs, we continue along.  I'm happy to see a Mile 2 split of 5:52.

Two of us ran around the puddle,
while as you can see above only one of us smartly ran the tangents.
Something about the shortest distance between two points?  Or just an affinity for water?
(All pics courtesy of Jana)

Halfway done!

Am I leaning forward?  Brady's form looks better than mine.

Mile 3:  One mile to go, but I'm panting loudly now.  Matthew has gone a good five yards ahead
of me, and yells that I better catch up with him if I still want to keep to 5:50 average pace.  I want to yell something negative back to him, but of course he's being helpful and encouraging, and I can't speak coherently anymore anyways.  So I push harder to get closer, even if not even with him.

And then it happens:  Brady's leash gets tangled up and wrapped around his front legs.  I have to slow way down to free his legs.  It probably only costs me a few seconds, but then it happens a second time.  It probably is my fault with my form and attention failing.

Just about to finish up ...

... sprinting to finish (while Matthew jogs).

3rd mile split 5:52.

Final results:  18:10.  5:50 pace

Stopped at 3.11 on my watch,
as shown on Garmin Connect

So why does it truncate to 3.10 when uploaded to Strava?
Yes, a tad petty, but more of a curiosity.  

At any rate, I am thrilled to have success:  Target goal 5:50, actual pace 5:50.  Check!

With today's race partner at race finish (Weekapaug Breachway)
It was a fun effort, a family event, I hit my goal, and the proceeds benefited a local animal shelter.
That's a successful effort in my book!