Mermaid Run East Bay 5/07/11
Today we experimented with how well Mermaids can run at Quarry Lakes in Fremont, CA. This is the same park that I did Western Pacific 5k with the family at. It is a very flat course gravel course that runs along the water. Me and my mom did the 10k today while Darci and Salma (grandma's neighbor) did the mini mermaid run which was 1.5miles.
The festivities kicked off Friday night at Sports Basement, where we picked up our stuff.
this is mine and Darci's goodies. I bought her a tank top from the $5 clearance bin, the mini mermaid didn't come with a shirt.
Mom and I love our new tech shirts (they even have hoods!)
the 10k was supposed to start at 8:30am but we didn't actually get going until 8:50am, more time for pre-race socialization!
here's the breakdown of my milage according to my phone app. the route was 6.52miles according to my gps, I forgot to turn it off right after the race so I had wandered for a couple minutes with it still running.
mile 1 - 11:11 when I saw the mile 1 marker I was shocked I couldn't believe I'd done a mile already, but then I slowed down so the next markers didn't come as fast.
mile 2 - 13.53 it was weird to pass the 5k turn around and keep going. There was a water cooler here but not much of an aid station
mile 3 - 14.35 an aid station with electrolyte drink and water and then later on the turnaround yippie!
mile 4 - 14:06 hit the same aid station again after having turned around
mile 5 - 14:12 at probably about 5.5miles there was an aid station with gu and water
mile 6 - 14:22 very glad to see this mile marker! just a short trot after this sign!
I did the course in 1:29:27 just under my goal of 1.5 hours, so I'm happy and I did walk 95% of the course. my first official 10k timed race.
I was overall #295/335 and #47/51 in my age group.
all in all no bathrooms on course that I saw, nice mile markers every mile, no course ribbons but lots of orange cones at every possible wrong turn plus there were lots of runners so it was pretty impossible to get lost, and 4 places to get water on the 10k.
the course for the 10k
Darci and Salma were anxious for their race to get started, my mom who did the course in 1:12 (go mom!) made it back before they took off.
Darci started strong but then pitered out. She did the 1.5mile in about 32minutes, they didn't have timing chips so this is grandpa's approximation.
I finished the 10k while the girls were out on their run, and was waiting at the finish to cheer my daughter along.
Darci coming across the finish line with another mini mermaid.
yes this photo is alarming. There was a long line for the post race food, and Riley is not great at waiting. He wandered off to a group of kids sitting in the grass, and I could see him from the line so I wasn't worried. But then a police officer came over and started talking to him, so I figured I should intervene lest my 4 year old got a squad ride. Apparently a woman thought he was lost and got the officer, but the officer said when he asked Riley if he knew where his mom was he pointed to the line, and I was already halfway to them. So apparently the gal that reported my son didn't bother to ask him and just assumed he was lost. But everything is ok even if my son had his first brush with the law.
the kids loved their chocolate chip pancakes!
after the kids were happy with food I wandered over to the other booths, and there was a massage booth and an injury recovery booth. I had this weird pain on the lower inside of my left knee that kinda came and went during the race, and was fairly persistent after the race was over. Apparently that's where most of your thigh muscles attach to bone, and the gal worked on it for a bit and that helped tremendously. I've never gone to the post race massage booths but that was nice! Even if I feel silly going to massage after a very slow pace race.
my finishers necklace (and my 13.1 mile good luck charm for training for my first half!) the back of the necklace says "finish strong"
a very enjoyable race day, even though I did end up with my first set of blisters. I've done 9 miles before and never gotten a blister, race day or training hikes/runs. But today right on the ball of my foot next to my big toe on each foot I got a big blister, owch. Guess it's a good thing I didn't sign up for that 5k I'd been thinking about for tomorrow.
a friend gave me this post race recovery bath recipe:
3 pints hydrogen peroxide
½ c. baking soda
½ c. sea salt
mix in essential oils
1 TBSP. ground ginger
I threw some stuff in the tub (forgot the baking soda and didn't do that much peroxide) and took a nice long soak, that helped a lot!
The festivities kicked off Friday night at Sports Basement, where we picked up our stuff.
this is mine and Darci's goodies. I bought her a tank top from the $5 clearance bin, the mini mermaid didn't come with a shirt.
Mom and I love our new tech shirts (they even have hoods!)
the 10k was supposed to start at 8:30am but we didn't actually get going until 8:50am, more time for pre-race socialization!
here's the breakdown of my milage according to my phone app. the route was 6.52miles according to my gps, I forgot to turn it off right after the race so I had wandered for a couple minutes with it still running.
mile 1 - 11:11 when I saw the mile 1 marker I was shocked I couldn't believe I'd done a mile already, but then I slowed down so the next markers didn't come as fast.
mile 2 - 13.53 it was weird to pass the 5k turn around and keep going. There was a water cooler here but not much of an aid station
mile 3 - 14.35 an aid station with electrolyte drink and water and then later on the turnaround yippie!
mile 4 - 14:06 hit the same aid station again after having turned around
mile 5 - 14:12 at probably about 5.5miles there was an aid station with gu and water
mile 6 - 14:22 very glad to see this mile marker! just a short trot after this sign!
I did the course in 1:29:27 just under my goal of 1.5 hours, so I'm happy and I did walk 95% of the course. my first official 10k timed race.
I was overall #295/335 and #47/51 in my age group.
all in all no bathrooms on course that I saw, nice mile markers every mile, no course ribbons but lots of orange cones at every possible wrong turn plus there were lots of runners so it was pretty impossible to get lost, and 4 places to get water on the 10k.
the course for the 10k
Darci and Salma were anxious for their race to get started, my mom who did the course in 1:12 (go mom!) made it back before they took off.
Darci started strong but then pitered out. She did the 1.5mile in about 32minutes, they didn't have timing chips so this is grandpa's approximation.
I finished the 10k while the girls were out on their run, and was waiting at the finish to cheer my daughter along.
Darci coming across the finish line with another mini mermaid.
yes this photo is alarming. There was a long line for the post race food, and Riley is not great at waiting. He wandered off to a group of kids sitting in the grass, and I could see him from the line so I wasn't worried. But then a police officer came over and started talking to him, so I figured I should intervene lest my 4 year old got a squad ride. Apparently a woman thought he was lost and got the officer, but the officer said when he asked Riley if he knew where his mom was he pointed to the line, and I was already halfway to them. So apparently the gal that reported my son didn't bother to ask him and just assumed he was lost. But everything is ok even if my son had his first brush with the law.
the kids loved their chocolate chip pancakes!
after the kids were happy with food I wandered over to the other booths, and there was a massage booth and an injury recovery booth. I had this weird pain on the lower inside of my left knee that kinda came and went during the race, and was fairly persistent after the race was over. Apparently that's where most of your thigh muscles attach to bone, and the gal worked on it for a bit and that helped tremendously. I've never gone to the post race massage booths but that was nice! Even if I feel silly going to massage after a very slow pace race.
my finishers necklace (and my 13.1 mile good luck charm for training for my first half!) the back of the necklace says "finish strong"
a very enjoyable race day, even though I did end up with my first set of blisters. I've done 9 miles before and never gotten a blister, race day or training hikes/runs. But today right on the ball of my foot next to my big toe on each foot I got a big blister, owch. Guess it's a good thing I didn't sign up for that 5k I'd been thinking about for tomorrow.
a friend gave me this post race recovery bath recipe:
3 pints hydrogen peroxide
½ c. baking soda
½ c. sea salt
mix in essential oils
1 TBSP. ground ginger
I threw some stuff in the tub (forgot the baking soda and didn't do that much peroxide) and took a nice long soak, that helped a lot!