Kenosha Firecracker 10K

Almost two months after the race took place, it's time to tell everyone about the run in Kenosha on July 1, 2007. Here's a map of the (planned) course:

You might want to click on the picture so it opens in a new window while you read the recap.

There was a higher-than-expected race day turnout, so the 10K started 5-10 minutes late. Once we were off and running, though, things seemed fine. I reached the first mile marker in 7:23. At point "A" on the map, the 10K runners go slightly further south than the 5K runners before turning back to the north. None of the 5K runners, who started after us, had reached this point yet, so there was no trouble at all figuring the right way to go.

As I headed back to the north, some of the lightning-fast 5K runners passed me by. I clocked mile 2 and 3 at 7:38 and 7:48, respectively, and I was still feeling pretty good.

Then, things got interesting. At point "B", 5K runners were supposed to turn left toward the finish, and 10K runners were supposed to turn right. What actually happened is that EVERYBODY turned right -- good for 10K runners like me, but bad for the 5K folks.

Things got even stranger at point "C". Course volunteers were turning participants around at this point, apparently to make up for sending 5K folks the wrong way at point "B". However, they were turning EVERYBODY around. So, 5K runners were now back on track (sort of), but 10K runners would get to the finish way too soon.

Somewhere between points "C" and "B", another race official was shouting that 10K runners needed to head further north. Now feeling very flustered, I turned around again, passing a few runners as I reached point "C" again, and this time I went further east and was back on course. I reached the 4-mile mark 9:54 after the 3-mile mark, which means I lost a couple of minutes in the confusion. Oh, well, at least I was on the correct course.

As I continued north, I put a bit of distance between myself and other 10K runners. I soon realized that there was no one in front of me. All of the faster runners had gone toward the finish prematurely, and I was leading the pack of runners on the right path. As I reached the rest stop at point "D", I asked, "Has anyone been by here yet?" A volunteer handed me a cup of water and said, "Nope, you're the first!" This gave me a bit of a rush, and I kept up the pace, clocking miles 5 and 6 at 7:31 and 7:36.

I managed to hold off all of the other runners in my "group", and I crossed the line with a chip time of 49:22 -- a new PR despite the lost time between points "B" and "C".

Let's take a look at the unofficial results -- as you can see, the first 47 runners went all the way to the finish after turning around at point "C", and their mile paces are (of course) unrealistic -- 3:41 for a mile would be world record.

So, what about the official results? Some might argue that I won the race, having been the first to complete the entire 10K course. As it turns out, the only thing I got was this letter from the Kenosha YMCA, basically stating that there were no official results, and that everybody gets a medal. I wasn't overly satisfied with this. I was hoping they'd give out two sets of awards -- one for the "short" 10K and one for the "long" 10K.

Anyway, I'll probably run it again next year because it's one of the few Kenosha races available throughout the year. Hopefully, things will go much more smoothly in 2008.