Just a Short Run

About 30 minutes or so outside of Pittsburgh is Allison Park where, for 26 years now, the Sean T.  Smith Memorial "Just a Short Run" race is held. This morning was my second time pacing 2 hours for the half marathon (and the commensurate times for the 5k and 8.1 mile races-within-a-race). It was COLD at the start -- not quite 30 degrees for the overnight low.

With the change-up of parking, I had about a 1-mile walk to get to race day packet pick-up. No issue with the walk, but the frigid temps certainly did me (nor anyone else) any favors. :-) But soon enough, I got inside, got and donned my bib to my pacer singlet, and made a quick pit stop before waiting for the pacer with the signs to show up and grab mine for the morning. (No, the singlet wasn't my only shirt for the day. It was actually my third layer. I had one of my MCM mock turtlenecks and then MCM 1/4 zip on underneath.) I shook up my hand warmers to get the chemical reaction going and left them exposed to the air (as I had recently been advised) to hopefully get them to be warmer and last longer than normally.

After we got our respective pacer signs, a few of us made our way to the Boathouse (just across the road), which is a little closer to the start line and where bag check is done. One or two of the other pacers are hoping to make it off of the waitlist to pace for MCM in October -- I was fortunate enough to make the team straight off (given my history running the race and pacing it, I was pretty confident I'd make it on). After one more pit stop (you can never have too many in the lead-up to a race, so long as you're out in time for race start), I donned my gloves with hand warmers, made sure I had everything else I needed, put by bag down, and headed outside for the pre-race announcements, before heading up to the start line (about half a mile further up the road).

While I was standing around, unsurprisingly, my hand warmers were essentially dead. What was supposed to last 8 hours (and has never lasted even a full hour for me) lasted a good... 15 minutes. WTF? I definitely need to get recommendations for product that actually WORKS.

Standing in the cold, a few of us marveled at a couple of the totally insane people who were standing around in singlets and short shorts, seemingly nice and toasty, making us feel all the colder for it. And several of us commenting on our respective hands always being cold -- all of us having Reynaud's Syndrome. (While it *seems* like it's mostly a runner thing, that's likely just anecdotal. I don't think there's actually any causation nor correlation.)

Finally, we were off!

Try as I might, after we were about 1/2 mile into the race when people were spread out enough, I never really got a good sense of who was actually attempting to run with me in my group. There's an evil hill after that point that takes you to about .9 miles before a sharp turn and a VERY STEEP downhill. I let the people around me know that I would be flying down the hill (it's too difficult to take that slowly for me) but that I would drastically slow down at the bottom of the hill to even out the pace. Since I never had a good sense for who was in the group beforehand, and they didn't make themselves known before or after, I couldn't be too sure about whether they wound up catching up to me while I was taking it very easy on that next flat section.

And by the time we were nearing the 5k mark, I had few people around me. I dutifully yelled out to anyone in earshot that the 5k runners needed to stay to the right (to go through the finish arch), and the rest of us stay left, to do our lap(s) around the lake.

5k goal was 28:22 and I nailed it exactly.

By the time we made it to the bottom of the lake, I only had one person solidly with me (with another shortly behind me, I think).

But within the next couple of miles, it seemed like I unfortunately lost them. For the remainder of the race, I was running solo. :-(

First 5-mile lap finished, with a goal of 1:14:07, I was a little faster than desired (at 1:13:50), but still within an acceptable window. Even with no one else running in the group anymore, as a pacer, I'm supposed to be effectively a moving clock. Even people not with me can get a sense of how they are doing based on my passing them or (better yet) them passing me.

Finally, the second (and, for me, last) lap around the lake. The goal? 1:59:30 (30 seconds under the posted 2-hour goal).

The actuality? 1:59:25. Pretty darn "close to the pin" (as we like to call it in this pace team) and completely acceptable. Really happy that I was able to stay as close to my pace band for each mile as I was. I'll be able to keep re-using my actual splits from one year's race for the subsequent year's race, so long as I keep returning.

Why the discrepancy in the time, you ask? The time I wrote about is "chip time" (how long it took from the moment I crossed the start to when I crossed the finish). The time on the certificate is "gun time" (the time from the moment they started timing to the moment I crossed the finish -- apparently it was 20 seconds into the race before I crossed the start line).

This is a solid, though very small-field, event. Given the layout of the course, they only need to have a total of 4 water stations (3 of them are on the 5-mile loop). They are well-staffed so that you don't have to stop to pick up your cup, and the trash bins are far enough past them that most of the cups make their way in to the bins rather than only on the ground. And they do have pretty good premiums -- either a pair of shorts or a shirt (runner's choice during registration). Sure, it's unfortunate that no one is out on the course cheering on the runners (save for the volunteers at the water stations, and whoever is at the intermediate/finish line), but that's expected with a race that has: 153 in the 5k, 197 in the 8.1 miler, 160 in the half, and 131 in the 30k (which, itself, starts slightly earlier and a half mile away going up a different hill to merge with our course). I'm certainly willing to trek back out again for it.

Afterwards, on my way back home, I met up with my godson (who is a student at Pitt) for lunch. Talk about a series of snafus, though. After I arrived and we started walking over to the restaurant I had picked out, it turns out we were too late for the first place -- we arrived about 20 minutes before closing (since they are breakfast and lunch only, and it was nearly 2pm by that time) and they had already run out of a long list of items, apparently. (sigh -- I was hoping to get breakfast for lunch; that was not going to be possible now.) 

Where next? I asked if he was ok with Primanti Bros. (just the next block over) and he said he was about to suggest it. Great -- off we go. 45 minute wait for food. We figure out if there is somewhere else to go, rather than waiting that long to get food. 

OK, we land on another place just down the block. He heard that it was going to be closing soon (as in out of business), and the website was confusing (talking about how it "closed in May 2026" -- ummm... past tense for a future date? Hmm...), so we gave it a shot. Open the door, walk inside, and all of the lights are off, all of the chairs are upside down on top of the tables and bar, and there are a couple of loaves of bread on the side (with some sort of catering order, maybe?). Looks like they're closed already, despite the door being unlocked. Batting 1.000 here!

One more place -- Melt'd. An unsurprising choice for my godson, given the cheese-centric nature of the menu. It's open! It has a table available. Sold! My cheesesteak was quite good. While it might not have been what I wanted when I first got into Pittsburgh, I was quite content with the final choice. And we had a good, long conversation.

On the walk back to his building (where I had managed to snag the last parking spot without any hassle -- shockingly) we passed by Dippy the Dinosaur and a triceratops. Both cute in their own respective ways.

Somehow the drive back home was MUCH faster than the same portion of the drive coming out in the first place. Odd. See y'all again in about 5 weeks when I return to pace the 4:30 group for the Pittsburgh Marathon! (My first time doing so.) Now to get some better hill training under my belt to get accustomed to what I'm in for!