I ran 5,275 meters today with over 1000 other people. I finished in 21:58—that’s 20:29 for a 5K. Why such a strange distance? The organizers, three aid organizations (United Way, Life Line, and Reach for Change), thought they would run 1/8 of a marathon.
It was the first time this trip that I’ve visited Oktyaberskaya metro station, and Gorky Park. This area was my first home in Moscow because I spent 4 months studying at the Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1992. There was a lot of loud music, a couple of guys warming up people with exercises, water bottles and apples packed in plastic. I’ve never been in a race with so many people around me from the beginning to the end.
Lately when I’ve been doing my bi-daily runs, I’ve started to do 1-minute sprints in the middle of the runs. I did the same thing here. The thing is that the ‘sprints’ weren’t much faster than the other running because I/we were always pushing it. So the sprints were simply a little bit faster. But the little bit may have been enough to influence the minds of some of the other runners.
I often start out slow—I had to start out slow this time because even after 7 minutes, there was still quite a crowd near me. I start out slow and then speed up. This gives me a sense of accomplishment because I am nearly always passing someone. I tried to imagine the people I would pass while I am sprinting. Even though I may not be running super fast, I am running significantly faster than those around me, so it feels to me, and probably to them, like I am really smoking them. When I finished the one-minute sprints, I slowed down, but I didn’t get the sense that I was passed by many. If I try this strategy again, I will have to be more aware.
The ending came up unexpectedly. We went out a mile or so along the Moscow River, and then turned around. Then we weaved our way through the park a bit. I had just finished my second one-minute sprint when I looked up to see the Старт/Финиш line only about 300 yards ahead of me. I gave it all I had and whizzed by an obnoxious dude who had brushed by my near the beginning.
Crowd warming up
You can see a cardboard mock up of the Soviet space shuttle in the background.
The Start/Finish Line
Before the race, packed in like sheep.
These two were taken about 7 minutes into the race.
There is one thing about this race that was quite troublesome. Walking away from the finish area, I looked felt my pockets and realized that I didn’t have my iPod. I listened on the way in but not during the race. After the race, in the men’s changing tent, I took my shorts off, let them dry a bit and put them back on. During that time, it must have fallen out. I went back there to look and to ask if anyone found it. I had taped my name and email address on the back, so I was going to wait for a week before thinking about replacing it. But, when I got home, I took the shorts off again and lo and behold, there it was! While the shorts were off, I had placed it inside the elastic of my underwear and it stuck there to the sweat so well, it hadn’t moved a bit. Ooo-rah!
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