Cedar Point 5K Challenge 2012

If you know me and Joe even just a teeny-tiny bit, you know that we love amusement parks and theme parks.  We had discussed how cool it would be to run a race at Cedar Point.  Lo and behold, last year was the inaugural year of the Cedar Point 5K Challenge.  We got word of this year's race several months ago and registered immediately.  Yesterday (Father's Day) was race day.

On Saturday we drove out to Sandusky for packet pickup at Castaway Bay.  This packet was the packet of all packets.  Photo and details are on my Facebook page.  Afterwards we headed home and went to bed too late (after 11) for the early hour that we'd be rising (4:30ish).  I don't think I fell asleep until nearly 1:30AM, so I wasn't thrilled when the alarm went off.  We needed to get moving on that 1+ hour drive to Cedar Point, so there was no option to snooze.  For whatever reason, I volunteered to drive and once we got on the road, I realized that I should have been sleeping in the passenger seat.

Without incident of me falling asleep at the wheel, we arrived at Cedar Point to some light rain around 6:15.  We waited in the car for the rain to stop, and then closer to 6:30 we stepped out and into the nasty, warm, muggy air and played the waiting game.  The forecasted high in Sandusky was near 90 and at the time of the race, humidity was hovering around 90%.  The men's race was beginning at 7:00 and the women's at 7:30.  At packet pick-up, we heard that there were nearly 400 runners.  On race morning, that became "more than 350."  Race results show just short of 300.  We're thinking it's due to the number of runners and the tight space in some of the midways that men and women didn't run together--less congestion.

Just before the men's race, I wished Joe luck and gave him a firm but gentle go-get-em smack on the left butt cheek, watched him run into the park, and then waited some more.  As the female runners began straggling over to the starting line, I decided I'd try something new: a pre-race warm-up run.  I just did a few laps at a really easy pace around the back end of the parking lot.  About 7 minutes before my race started, I saw Joe approaching, blue Gatorade in hand.  He finished in 22:30!

At 7:30, I was off.  For the first two-tenths of a mile or so I struggled to reach a comfortable and safe pace; I started around 6:30, but finally got up to 7:30ish.  Once I got through all of the women who started the race too far in front, I was feeling good.  The route took us into the park at what is basically a service entrance between Disaster Transport and Space Spiral.  After that, I failed to really pay attention to my surroundings--rather than relishing in racing in one of my favorite amusement parks, I found myself focused on passing each runner I approached and contemplating whether or not I'd be able to pull off veering off-course to run through a sprinkler.

I mentioned that I got myself to a 7:30ish pace.  In front of Dodgem, I finished mile 1 in 7:38, which had me feeling good and certain that I'd PR.  Honestly, I didn't doubt for a second that I wouldn't PR, as my first and only other 5K was my first race ever, run in just over 28:00.  As I passed Millennium Force, I looked down at my Garmin and my pace was up around 7:50.  Crap.  I was really going to need to pick up the pace to get the 5-minute PR that I secretly wanted.  I just couldn't get my legs to move at the pace I needed.  I tried to think about what was holding me back: The thick, wet air?  The tight turn-around at Maverick?  These practically non-existent inclines?  No water in a 3-mile race?  Are you noticing that my excuses became more and more pansy-ish?

Mile 2 was at Camp Snoopy.  We ran through there, down the Dragster Midway, and turned left toward Windseeker.  In front of the Giant Wheel was a race volunteer, cheering us on and letting us know that there was only about a half-mile left; my Garmin confirmed that, showing 2.61.  At this point, it was obvious that I would get no chance to splash any water at my face, nor would I cross a sprinkler close enough to the course to not lose any time.  Nevertheless, I was feeling positive having passed a handful of people and not a single runner had passed me.

At about 2.8 miles, the rest of the race was a straight-away to the finish.  There was one young girl a bit ahead of me and one close behind.  The girl behind me kicked it into high gear around 2.9 and passed me, ending up a few yards ahead.  I passed Joe, cheering me on near the finish, and then high-tailed it, caught up to the girl who had just passed me, and finished one-tenth of a second behind the girl who had just been yards ahead of me.  My pace across the finish was 6:06, so I was feeling pretty beat once I hit the brakes.  I haven't run a lot of races (this was my 7th), but this was the first time that I thought I was going to dry-heave.  I kept composed on my way to the post-race refreshments, but didn't feel well enough to turn around and greet Joe just yet.

The results are in:

23:46.6 (PR!!!)

14/147 females

5/33 females 20-29
73/284 overall