Victory For Voices 5K/10K Race Recap

Date:                     12/02/2012

Location:              Nockamixon State Park, Quakertown, PA

Distance:              5K or 10K

The Victory for Voices run was started in 2011 to raise money and awareness both Autism and Childhood Apraxia ofSpeech.

Goal:  Finish the full 10K race in less than 55 minutes (9:00 min/mile pace). 

Results

Time:                     51:49

Average Pace:       8:21 min/mile

Place:                     36th place overall (8th in Age Group)

Review

The course was a 5k loop around Nockamixon State Park.  It consisted of partial road course and partial paved trail course through the woods and next to the lake.  At the half way point runners could decide if they wanted to finish with a 5K or continue on for a second loop to make a 10K run.  The path portion of the course wound through a nice wooded area and then along the banks of Lake Nockamixon.  Although, the fog was so thick that you could barely see what is probably a very scenic state park.  

It started out as a cool foggy day.  Although, for the second of December, I suppose it could have been much colder.  It was a chilly and damp 38 degrees in the morning when I arrived.  There was a relatively small turnout (236 runners) and registration went smoothly. 

The race was originally scheduled a month earlier but had to be cancelled due to weather.  The race began with an almost 200 foot climb over the course of three quarters of a mile (or a 5% grade).  That’s 61 meters over 1.2K for those metrically inclined.  After the initial climb it was basically all downhill and flat for the rest of the course.  The hill was a little bit of a challenge for me on the second loop but I was able to get through it and keep moving. 

Overall, It was a nice run. It looks like it would be a very nice park to visit in better weather.  There is a triathlon there in next year that maybe I'll run. Independence Triathlon or Quakerman Triathlon

Lessons Learned

1. If you have a GPS watch, make sure your memory is not full before you start the race.  I was not able to record my data from the run because I no memory available before the race started. 

2. Verify before the race that all your equipment is working.  See number one.  I did not check my watch and didn't notice that I wasn't tracking any data until halfway through the race when I attempted to record my split time. 

3. Turn off audio queues.  I had my iPhone on my arm to record my pace I was using my Glympse APP to allow my wife to follow my race progress.  I also thought I would use Runkeeper to track my race.  The geek in me wanted to do a comparison between the tracking on Glympse, Runkeeper and my watch.  I accidentally left the Runkeeper audio queues on.  So after a mile I started getting time and pace announcements.  And since I wasn't wearing headphones, they were played out of the phone speaker.  That's annoying to both me and the other runners so I turned it off.