Luke - 6.5

MLK Jr. I Have A Dream 5km, 16:35 (1st place)

Warmed up about two miles, and before heading to the start, tried to make sense of the course map.  It looked like a fairly simple rectangular shape, but there were some question marks.  For one, there was a 10k and a 15k in addition to the 5k, and the map made it look like we all started together in the park, went about ten feet, then hit a street, where the 5kers took a hard right and everyone else took a hard left.  Also the course looked like it did 2 laps around a track, but I couldn't tell if it was for the 10k only or for everyone.  So right before the start, they moved the big START archway out to the street, which meant we wouldn't have to turn at the very start, but it also meant that the 5kers would have to start directly facing everyone else if they wanted us to have the same start line.  Instead they had us line up about 25m from the start, without a start line at all (just sorta spread across the street randomly).  There were chips in our race numbers but we wouldn't be crossing a mat at the start.

There were a couple guys that looked like they might be somewhat serious but I'd have been surprised if they'd really challenged me.  At the gun I went to the lead and maybe 4 people were right behind me in the first straightaway.  There was a police motorcycle leading the way, so I figured I wouldn't have to worry about getting lost...but then about two minutes into the race he stopped and directed us onto the sidewalk (not all the roads were closed so a lot of it we were supposed to run on sidewalks).  I started looking at street signs to hopefully see the road we were supposed to turn on, but the map was pretty ambiguous so I wasn't even sure which street that would be.  I was just about across one street when everyone was like, "Is this where we turn?"  There was a volunteer sitting on the curb eating her breakfast and I realized we were indeed supposed to turn there, so I led our group onto that road and yelled back to the volunteer, "Maybe stand up and tell people to turn here? Thanks!"  A block or two later a more-alert volunteer directed us onto the high school track which was right up against the road.  There were cones set up in between lanes 4 and 5 that did a pretty good job of showing us to stay in lanes 5-8.  As I was finishing up a lap, there was a volunteer just standing there staring at me, and I put my arms out as I approached, trying to get him to point me in the right direction.  When I was right at him I realized we were to do a 180 and go around the track in the opposite direction in lanes 1-4.  (After the race I found out they had some people do one lap, some people do two, some people do zero, and some people none of the above.)  We exited the track at the same place we'd entered and continued on down the street.  There weren't any markings or volunteers, but I was pretty sure I knew where the next turn was.  At one point, though, we had to take a right, go ~50m, and take a left, and in a couple other places the road was not exactly straight, so I was on and off the sidewalks the whole time, and all over the street.  Finally at the next real turn there was a lane of road blocked off for us, and there were cones the whole way so I knew I was on the right track.  I had put maybe 100m between myself and the next group of two runners at that point, and when I made the turn I picked it up with less hesitation.  There was one more turn (and this road, again, had a lane blocked off with cones) and I looked back as I went around the corner to make sure I had enough of a lead.  I stayed strong the rest of the way, and maybe had a slight kick at the end.  I think the next couple guys came in at somewhere near 17:20.
I hung out at the finish, where a band was playing, and the lead singer was kinda talking to the crowd.  I asked someone if there were awards and they said it would be a while, and to go grab a beer at the beer tent.  I did so, and a little while later the singer guy said "Can I get the winners to the stage," so I headed over there.  There was no follow-up so I stood around awkwardly for a while, and then a few minutes later he again said "Can I get the winners to the stage," and I just walked over to the other side of the stage and stood there awkwardly, and then a few minutes later someone who I think was the RD came over and told me the awards wouldn't be until 8:15, which was another half hour, and she wasn't sure why the guy kept asking for winners to come to the stage.  I hung out in the park as the guy kept playing music and asking for winners to come to the stage.  I talked with the winners of the 10k and the 15k, who were a lot faster than me (the 15k winner is a 2:12 marathoner) as 8:15 came and went.  We talked about how terribly-managed the race was, but apparently it was even worse last year.  This year the 15k was 9.85 miles instead of 9.3, but last year there were pretty much no markings anywhere and everyone just sort of ran around for a while and came back to the finish.  So the singer-guy started doing the raffle, and anyone who has ever been at a race with a raffle before knows that 90% of people leave before the raffle, so you have to call out 5 numbers before you get to someone who is still there.  This guy had never been at a race with a raffle before, so he called out the number, waited, called it out again, waited some more, and kept calling it out and telling us what the prize was, over and over for about five minutes before he finally gave up and went to another number.  This happened with every raffle prize, so it took forever.  At one point I went over to the beer tent and grabbed another beer, and carried it out of the beer tent, which you're not supposed to do but it's not like anyone in charge was doing anything.  Finally at about 9:00 they did the 5k awards, and they called me up onto the stage and gave me a medal, and asked me what I thought of the course (I lied) and what I was thinking about when I was out there ("Running fast").  If I'd known they were going to hand me the mic I would have prepared a speech.  Anyway they also told me I'd be getting my weight in beer for the win, so even though everything was pretty ridiculous it was so worth it.  After I got off the stage the RD lady got my name and phone number and told me she'd call within the week to get me my certificate for the beer.  I shall let you know if/when that happens (she also said to call the number on the race website if I didn't hear from her after a few days, so I will get my beer).  I stuck around and talked to one of the fast guys for a few minutes longer before running back to where I was staying.  Right before I left I talked to the 15k winner, who was still waiting for his award, since after the 5k awards they went back to the raffle.