Ribbon Run 5k Race Report

This will be the 1st of two race reports for this past weekend. I hope to get the other one written and published shortly after this one.
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The Ribbon Run 5k was a new race to me. This was only the second year of it’s existence and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was being sponsored by the Breakthrough Corporation which is trying to establish a facility and resources for Adults with autism, so this was a natural race for me to support.

This is what it looked like on race morning:

Yeah, wet weather. It wasn’t cold rain, but it wasn’t warm either. If you were running, you were fine, if you were standing around, you weren’t. Since I was already preregistered, I was going to run regardless. I was actually thinking that this race would be a better performance than last week’s Spring Sprint 5k since the course was billed as “relatively flat”.

The race itself wasn’t all that exciting. It appeared that there were few people because of the weather and we all waited at the theatre until race start.

We started the race under somewhat misting conditions. A large cell had just past and so we were getting the residuals of that. The gun goes off and I am running. Nice thing about a lean race is that there is no traffic… the worst thing is that you don’t know who to pace with. Now the first part was pretty cool because it was flat and a small race, you saw the leaders right in front of you. That was cool.

Not 0.25 mile into the race and my left shoelace came undone. I already tied them in a double knot, but the water must have made them “heavier” and thus the motion caused them to come apart (i.e. Vectors). So, I stop and tied my shoe, giving up about 5 spaces. I’m not too worried, it’s early in the race. Not 0.1 mile further, my RIGHT shoelace comes undone. Okay, now I am getting upset.

Anddddd, roughly at the 0.5 mile marker, my left shoelace comes undone… again. I’ve stopped now THREE times. I made the decision that were my shoes unravel again, I would take them off and run barefoot. I finished with my shoes on my feet.

Mile 1: 7:59

The course was pretty flat and run in an new neighborhood and then a well-established neighborhood. Had the weather been better, it would have been a little prettier.

Mile 2: 7:26

Apparently, the 7:26 mile had taken a toll on my legs as they started to feel heavy. It felt like I couldn’t run faster. I ended up pacing behind a lady that I knew that was around a 7:45ish pace based on what I knew. I stuck with her until the very end. I could tell that I was getting a little recharge and would use this at the end.

As I turned on the final approach, I saw a guy well ahead of me. I thought there was a remote chance that I could catch him and so I took off. I ended finishing up right behind him. I would have needed about another 50ft or so to actually pass him

Mile 3.1 8:40 (My unofficial time 24:05)

I figured that with the low turn out that I would maybe place in my Age group. Nope. The prizes were cool… they were handmade wooden trophies in the shape of the puzzle piece (the universal symbol of Autism). The Overall age group prizes were metal robots made out of various hardware parts by a kid with autism. They were VERY cool!

So, I was pretty bummed on both parts: Not having a great time and not placing. My goal time for this race was a 23:30 and so the unfraying laces were a hindrance to my goal. It would have been nice to place in my Age Group, but the 35-39 age group is so FREAKIN’ FAST, I’m not sure if I will break into the Top 3 anytime soon.

Official Results are not posted yet

This race was the first of two races this weekend. The second, the Trideltathon, was being held in less than 24 hours after the finish of this race.

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