Run the Gates 5 Miler

Having a small race in your neighborhood is a nice thing.

There is no need to wake up extra early. No need to drive into the city. No need to find parking and then pay an arm and a leg to park there. No need to fight crowds to stand in a corral only to inch forward for half an hour while you wait to cross the starting line.

Instead, I get to wake up at a normal time. Go about my normal morning routine. And then jog the mile to the starting area, pick up my bib, and jog another mile or so for a good warmup.

Yesterday was my second time doing the Run the Gates 5 Miler. A very nice small town race that winds its way around the very roads I run on a daily basis.I like this run so much that I think it will be a yearly thing for me now.

Last year, despite being a middle of the pack runner, I basically tripped into third place for my age group. That is another benefit of a small race. Fewer runners means a better chance that I am closer to the front of the middle of the pack.

This year I am in better shape than I was last year at this time. I figured I could probably get another age group award if the fast people stayed home again. But I didn’t want to focus on my finish time like that and instead decided to run by feel, and see what happens.

I started at the very back of the pack. I mean the very back of the pack. There looked to be about 100 people and the only person that started behind me was a lady running with her dog. I usually start toward the back to control my pace at the start, but today I wanted to see how many people I could pass.

I know that seems a little self-centered, but sometimes you just gotta run for yourself.

Right at the start there are two hills. A small one and then a slightly larger one. I had already planned to take these hills easy and make up for it later in the race. I did that just fine and felt comfortable going up the hills.

I immediately noticed something about the other runners.

None of them were running tangents. The road curves and winds quite a bit on this route, and everyone was following the curves. Maybe this had something to do with the roads not being completely closed to traffic, but this is a quiet neighborhood with extremely light traffic, and there were volunteers blocking some of the intersections.

So I took advantage of this.

The crowd thinned pretty good on these first uphills and I went straight through them. This was the first time I was consciously paying attention to the tangents and planning my line in advance. It helps that I run this route quite often, but even on my easy runs I stick to running along the curb, no matter where it takes me.

Now I was really paying attention to the tangents. After looping through Snowball Gate we cross through the park (another big up hill here) and turn into Forsythia Gate before making a quick turn into Red Rose Gate.

More opportunity to cut through the tangents. I started seeing how efficient this was when I began passing people that were basically running the same pace as me. I was going faster only because I was running a shorter distance than them.

Three miles into the race and I still had not checked my watch.

Back into Forsythia Gate and I have about a mile and a half of pretty much flat road. I ease into a faster pace and keep an eye on a few runners in the distance. I’m closing the gap, but I’m doubtful of catching any of them before the finish line.

The final left turn gives me an opportunity to glance behind me. The closest threat is far enough back that they are no longer a threat.

The last half mile is a steep up hill and then, almost immediately, a steep downhill to the finish line.

I passed one person on the uphill and then gunned it on the downhill to pass one more runner.

I stopped my watch at 41:59 which almost lined up with the clock. Official chip time ended up being 41:48.

That is two minutes faster than last year.

So now my thought process has me thinking that I may get another age group award. If 43 and some change was good enough for third last year then certainly two minutes faster should get me third this year.

Maybe.

Well, not this year it wasn’t fast enough.

I finished 5th out of 10 in the 35-39 age group.

I would have needed to break 39 minutes to get third and that is not happening this year.

I also finished 26 out of 58 males. So right in the middle of the pack for both my age group and men overall.

My overall finish is a little more fun to look at. I crossed the finish line 33 out of 107.

Since I started the race with only one person behind me that means I passed 73 people during the course of the race.

In the grand scheme of things that means nothing at all, but it is fun to think about and a good little way to create some competition for myself.

Plus it keeps me motivated to become faster.