A run most fun

Today was so busy that I haven't had a chance to post. Part of this is due to our summer outing, a picnic in Central Park that tied me up a good part of the day. The picnic itself was nice but the best part was being "race director" for our division's Fun Run/Walk.

Race director implies it was a race and I was very clear that it was strictly non-competitive (although I ended up breaking my own rule by starting out at a virtual sprint). We had a large field of participants at our starting point at the south end of the Mall in Central Park. Our course was 1.5 miles around most of the park's lower loop.

Our starter organized us well and I had the walkers leave five minutes before the runners to help everyone finish a little more closely together. With the call of the start we were off with three of us pulling out ahead. I took off very fast but AG caught up with me quickly. The rumor was that AG and I would battle for the finish and though we did end up leading the pack most of the way we were challenged by a colleague, MK, who came up fast from behind. MK stayed with us for the rest of the run and at the one mile mark the volunteer at the water/timing station announced that our split time was in the high 7:00's.

We brought it in at close to an 8:00 pace overall and the three leads finished together so there was no winner. In truth AG and MK could have finished ahead of me but they were courteous and didn't leave me behind at the end. My ego thanked them. We had some good showings with a few non-runner's who ran and finished impressively. Afterward we joined the larger group at the picnic where we handed out finisher medallions and trophies to people for "best form", best outfit, etc.

It was a great experience putting this together and the participants seemed to enjoy it a lot. Perhaps the Emerging Runner 5K isn't such a bad idea after all.