St. Petersburg White Nights 10K
This past Sunday I ran a 10K in St. Petersburg during the St. Petersburg White Nights festival. It was a sort of strange experience, and my first 10K, but definitely worth it.
I went in on Saturday to register for the half marathon, which was (and still is) advertised on the Russian version of the race website, but the women said that there were only 10 and 42K option. I was hoping to use this as a last long run before my first marathon next weekend, so that was sort of disappointing. There were literally two booths at the race expo, and it felt NOTHING like expos I've been to here.
The race started at 10AM in front of the winter palace near the Hermitage , and it was stunning. Unfortunately there were no corrals (not even for the elites, as far as I can tell...), and the 10K and marathon was all mixed together. The 10K took us through St Petersburg along the river and across quite a few bridges. The racers were mostly nice, but it was so bizarre running past pedestrians and drivers who literally were pretending we didnt' exist. That would have killed me if I were around mile 19 of the marathon. Hopefully Finns are friendlier than that!
It was also strange that it seemed to be about a 80/20 male/female split, although it's not all that strange given the general take on gender here. I recently told my Russian teacher I was going to run a marathon this weekend, and she said I shouldn't, because it would hurt my uterus and I wouldn't be able to have babies.
I had forgotten my sports bra, water bottle, and watch, so it was far from an ideal race, but I ended up coming in in something like 59:30. I had not eaten, walked 21 miles the day before, and slept 3 hours in a hostel the night before, so I feel like i had 58:00 in me. pretty exciting! It was especially exciting given the generally more relaxed approach to running taken here. Although there aren't people who complete marathons in 9 hours just to complete them, I routinely run past young, fit-looking 25 year old men with my 10 minute miles, and finished ahead of quite a few of them this weekend.
Afterward I met up with the little sister of Russian-American friends of mine, and we walked along a canal where the marathoners were finishing mile 19 and 20 screaming encouragement and clapping. There was literally no one clapping, and the runners looked very thankful to have us there. The marathoners were also directed in miles 21-24 to run alongisde the largest street in St Petersburg without blockades or race organizors' guidance. Poor guys!
I went in on Saturday to register for the half marathon, which was (and still is) advertised on the Russian version of the race website, but the women said that there were only 10 and 42K option. I was hoping to use this as a last long run before my first marathon next weekend, so that was sort of disappointing. There were literally two booths at the race expo, and it felt NOTHING like expos I've been to here.
The race started at 10AM in front of the winter palace near the Hermitage , and it was stunning. Unfortunately there were no corrals (not even for the elites, as far as I can tell...), and the 10K and marathon was all mixed together. The 10K took us through St Petersburg along the river and across quite a few bridges. The racers were mostly nice, but it was so bizarre running past pedestrians and drivers who literally were pretending we didnt' exist. That would have killed me if I were around mile 19 of the marathon. Hopefully Finns are friendlier than that!
It was also strange that it seemed to be about a 80/20 male/female split, although it's not all that strange given the general take on gender here. I recently told my Russian teacher I was going to run a marathon this weekend, and she said I shouldn't, because it would hurt my uterus and I wouldn't be able to have babies.
I had forgotten my sports bra, water bottle, and watch, so it was far from an ideal race, but I ended up coming in in something like 59:30. I had not eaten, walked 21 miles the day before, and slept 3 hours in a hostel the night before, so I feel like i had 58:00 in me. pretty exciting! It was especially exciting given the generally more relaxed approach to running taken here. Although there aren't people who complete marathons in 9 hours just to complete them, I routinely run past young, fit-looking 25 year old men with my 10 minute miles, and finished ahead of quite a few of them this weekend.
Afterward I met up with the little sister of Russian-American friends of mine, and we walked along a canal where the marathoners were finishing mile 19 and 20 screaming encouragement and clapping. There was literally no one clapping, and the runners looked very thankful to have us there. The marathoners were also directed in miles 21-24 to run alongisde the largest street in St Petersburg without blockades or race organizors' guidance. Poor guys!