Big House Big Heart Race Report

There is no Sunday Long Run for this week, as Sunday was the day for Big House Big Heart, a 5K race in Ann Arbor. This race is special in that its finish line is the 50 yard line at Michigan Stadium, home of the University of Michigan football team. The race benefits The University of Michigan Program for Neurology Research & Discovery and C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Women’s Hospital.

This race was my third race ever; my first two races, the Martian Half Marathon in April, and the Flirt with Dirt 5K in June, were both fairly disappointing to me in that they each had a big problem associated with them. This time, I really wanted to run a race that went smooth from start to finish, without blisters the size of the Grand Canyon, or running an extra 1/2 mile on top of the scheduled distance. As it turns out, I was able to do just that.

Because of the extra distance I had gone on my previous 5K race, my PR for that distance was officially 41:45. If I hadn’t done the extra distance, my time would have probably been around 36:XX I would guess, but of course I can’t be sure. My second goal, besides having a problem free race, was to set a new PR. I didn’t figure I would have much trouble with that goal, since lately I’ve routinely been averaging under 10:00 miles on my 4 mile distance training runs. As it turns out, I was able to do that as well.

Ann Arbor is, I would imagine, a fairly typical college town; the campus is of course the focus of the town, with its buildings interspersed among the fraternity and sorority houses, local businesses and other private residences. Big House Big Heart takes you on a 5 kilometer tour around a portion of the campus, past a few of the fraternity houses, over a few rolling hills and past some of the other University sporting complexes while starting and ending at the football stadium. The streets are narrow two lane residential streets; trying to squeeze about 4,000 runners, walkers, stroller pushers, wheelchair and scooter riders onto these streets is kind of like trying to squeeze a 300 lb offensive lineman into a kayak; you’re gonna have some overflow and not much room to move.

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, in the mid 70’s by the 1:00 pm start, and not a cloud in the sky. As L and I, along with our friends D and M, whom I’ve mentioned before as being the part of the reason I started this whole running thing in the first place, approached the starting line about 15 minutes before the start, I could tell it was going to be crowded. L, who had only decided to do the race 3 days before and was going to do her best run/walk, as she isn’t a runner, headed toward the back of the pack, as the 3 of us headed closer to the front. We could see that there were plenty of families doing the race, as well as other wheeled vehicles. Both M and I were trying for PR’s on this race; D, who had just run 20 miles as a part of his marathon training the day before, was questioning whether or not he was even going to do the race until well after he arrived at the race site. Because of the crowd, and the number of what appeared to be slower racers toward the front, M and I headed a bit farther ahead in the group than we probably would have otherwise. It turned out to be a good decision, as the crowd never really thinned out along the whole route of the race.

With a rousing trumpet rendition of the Victors, followed by the National Anthem (only in A2 can the Victors trump the National Anthem), the crowd was off. About 4 steps later, we all came to a dead stop. Then we were off again… this time for real!

I wanted to be very sure to run my own race, and not get caught up pacing or following anybody, so I wore my iPod to help me into my own little world; or at least as much as I could be while I was bobbing and weaving through the crowd. Because of that, I really don’t recall too many specifics about the race. I do know that at one point during the first half mile, I did cut off one lady pretty good; in my defense though, she was a slow moving walker who had placed herself at the front of the pack at the start. She deserved to be cut off. About 1/2 a mile into the race was the first of the uphills, a 50 or so foot rise over the course of one block, then it was around the corner and straight back down. The rest of the course was fairly flat, with some slight rolling up and downs. I hit the mile 1 marker at about 10:15 gun time; I didn’t check my watch to get my chip time at that point. Shortly after mile 1 there was the first of two aid stations, but I stuck to the middle of the road and ran right on through. A portion of the route near mile 1 ran along the same road, but opposite direction of the course near mile 2. As I ran this stretch, I watched for L approaching me. I saw her, and although she didn’t look too happy to see me, she was holding her own at a fast walking pace. A few short blocks later I had hit the mile 2 marker, at a gun time of 18:38. I knew that I was a couple minutes at least ahead of gun time, so I figured I was near 16:30 or so for my chip time. The course took a left and headed back toward the stadium at that point; just down the way was the second aid station, so I headed for the last cups of water, and took enough to wet my mouth and poured the rest over my head. I had originally thought I’d have been happy with anything under 30:00, but at this point I was feeling pretty strong, and thought maybe I’d have an off chance at 25:00 if I didn’t fall off too much during the last mile.

After another left, we could see the entrance to the tunnel just ahead of us. It turned out to be just a tease though, as the course took us right by the entrance, then another 1/2 mile loop or so beyond it. At this point I saw M, who I knew was trying to break 24:00. Seeing her just ahead of me this late in the race, knowing the time she was trying to beat gave me an extra boost. The problem was that the course had become even more congested and maneuvering around people became even more difficult. Around the last loop and up to the tunnel we came. That was the only point during the race when I felt winded, but I pushed on. As we came up the slight uphill into the tunnel I could hear a recording of the University of Michigan marching band playing a rendition of the Victors, and the uphill entrance to the tunnel quickly became the downhill that was the tunnel. I had no room to move at this point, so I had no choice but to stick with the crowd. As I came out of the tunnel and made the left along the visitor sideline I saw D standing at the sideline against the course markers, his race already complete. Around the corner of the endzone, making a right up the middle of the field I found my only piece of daylight and I took it. I had an all out sprint to the finish, realizing that I had more in the tank than I probably should have at that point. After I crossed the line I stopped my watch, which read 27:31. As the official times were posted, I saw my chip time was officially a 27:30.0. Nothing like a nice round number.

I finished 100 out of 207 in my Age Group, and 751 out of 1705 males. My overall placement was 1057 out of 3612, putting me just into the top third overall. My other two races I had been last in my age group, so I was quite happy to be in the top half. In all I’m very happy with my effort, and with my nearly 14 minute improvement in my PR. I know this is going to be the only time I’ll ever see that much improvement in my 5K PR, and I’m ok with that.

I was also very proud of L, who finished with a time of 42:12. She even said she might do one of these again some day

~ by fatboyrunning on September 29, 2008.