Heart Center of the Rockies 10K
Loveland, CO
A chaotic, freezing-ass, cluster fuck would perfectly describe the start of this poorly thought-out benefit race. The
race started in the middle of a November snowstorm that was obviously a freak act of nature. The weather is unpredictable and that’s understandable. What didn’t make sense is why the race organizers decided to run all three races (the 10k, 4k, and half marathon) all together, on the same course, and starting on a sandy beach. Come on, this isn’t California! I ran the entire race with little rocks from the beach stuck in my racing flats. They could have just as easily started the race from the parking lot. What’s more, there wasn’t a gun to start the race and the only way I could tell the race had even started was the forward movement of the enormous mass of people.
Oddly enough, about a mile into the race the snow let up and the wind died down. The rest of the race would have been great had I been able to tell where the course went. Usually if I’m not familiar with the course, I can just follow the runners ahead of me…bad mistake. At one point halfway through the race, I was following the guys ahead of me. As it turns o
ut, we were supposed to stick to the road and take the trail on the way back. We ended up cutting back through this field which cost me some time.
Overall I finished with a time of 39:50 something. The results should be posted sometime within the next couple of days. I was happy with that considering I’m out of shape, didn’t have time to warm-up or stretch before the race, and the entire course set-up was confusing. Despite my finish and everything else that happened, I actually had a pretty good time. I drove down with some people from the ski team and that totally lifted the mood. Plus, I’m still running on an adrenaline high from watching The Tangerine Dream last night!
A chaotic, freezing-ass, cluster fuck would perfectly describe the start of this poorly thought-out benefit race. The
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race started in the middle of a November snowstorm that was obviously a freak act of nature. The weather is unpredictable and that’s understandable. What didn’t make sense is why the race organizers decided to run all three races (the 10k, 4k, and half marathon) all together, on the same course, and starting on a sandy beach. Come on, this isn’t California! I ran the entire race with little rocks from the beach stuck in my racing flats. They could have just as easily started the race from the parking lot. What’s more, there wasn’t a gun to start the race and the only way I could tell the race had even started was the forward movement of the enormous mass of people.Oddly enough, about a mile into the race the snow let up and the wind died down. The rest of the race would have been great had I been able to tell where the course went. Usually if I’m not familiar with the course, I can just follow the runners ahead of me…bad mistake. At one point halfway through the race, I was following the guys ahead of me. As it turns o
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ut, we were supposed to stick to the road and take the trail on the way back. We ended up cutting back through this field which cost me some time.Overall I finished with a time of 39:50 something. The results should be posted sometime within the next couple of days. I was happy with that considering I’m out of shape, didn’t have time to warm-up or stretch before the race, and the entire course set-up was confusing. Despite my finish and everything else that happened, I actually had a pretty good time. I drove down with some people from the ski team and that totally lifted the mood. Plus, I’m still running on an adrenaline high from watching The Tangerine Dream last night!
posted by Chris Sanders at 17:22
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