2011 Special Olympics Beaver Stadium 5k Run

My first official 5k was yesterday, 2011 Special Olympics Beaver Stadium 5k run. I have got to say, I HAD A BLAST! It was cold and windy but we had about 1600 runners (up from about 500+ last year).

Here are my unofficial stats:

The official times haven't been posted on the site yet so I'll have to check back and see what the damage was.

It was an interesting start to the race. I don't remember what it's called right now but all runners were packed on the road together when we started. Starting out was pretty slow. Found myself weaving through people trying to find an open space. This went on till about mile 1, which I still don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing yet. I found myself running faster than I wanted to at times so I could get to an open spot in the crowd.

The course overall was a nice one to run, only two hills for the whole thing.

Here are some first race observations:

Pack more clothes incase you were optimistic about the weather forecast
Even the runners that don't have headphones on are not looking as they cut you off
Most runners with headphones had them turned down enough to hear what was going on around them
Try to watch yourself as you run for open space in the crowd so you don't "over do it"
Run "your" race, not the teenager that finished in 15 minutes
Running hills before the race helped, at least I think so
Your adrenaline can get the better of you, good and bad :)
Hydrate, fuel and sleep, guess those go without saying
No timer chip, it was built into the bib!
Komodo Sports were awesome!

I'm sure there were other observations but those are the ones that come to mind right now.

The course took you from one end of the Penn State campus to the other and back again. The finish line was the 50 yard line of Beaver Stadium.

Funny thing about running and photos, you don't always get your good side :) So a little while ago the web site Daily Mile asked for your worst race face photo. I'm sure I'll have some nice ones to talk about for this one. The photographer was sitting on the ground 50 yards from the finish. I'm sure I have a distressed look on my face. Here's a distant shot of what I can look forward to.