Upload / Capture
I hade a great time today at the National Interstate 8K. With the warm temperatures and extreme humidity I made the decision to dial it down, not worry about speed, and just run at a comfortable pace enjoying the experience. I started out a little faster than I would have liked but eventually settled down into a slower pace. I was very surprised to watch a runner in front of me cut every corner of the course each time there was a turn. He would cross the street out of the designated course road lanes and make his way up on the sidewalk at each turn. At one turn there was no sidewalk but he still managed to cut the corner. This was very disappointing to watch such an accomplished runner cut the course. The the final water stop I passed him so I have no knowledge to if he continued to cut the course after that. I can say that several runners reported his bib number to race officials. I was told that they would disqualify him if he was in contention to receive an age group award. It turns out that he was in my age group but did not earn an award so they let his time stand, I finished with a time of 39:28 placing 7th out of 45 in my age division.
The course was well marked with volunteers and traffic patrols blocking streets everywhere. There were two fluid stations on the course. The last fluid station was at the 2.9 mile mark of the course. Being how hot and humid it was I would have liked for them to have one more fluid station around mile 4. Thanks to the good pre race communication I knew there would not be a fluid station in the late miles of the course so I chose to do something I typically don’t do in a race which was to carry my own fluids. I filled my SPI Belt H2O Companion with electrolytes. THE H2O Companion holds 6 ounces of fluid so it was a perfect size and really helped me stay hydrated in the last couple of miles of the race. The post race festival was a lot of fun until it rained. Participants received nice t-shirts and finisher medals as well as two drink tickets and 1 food item ticket.
It was great to see so many Team-ER members, North Water Brewing Run Club members, and other running friends there.
Thank you to Akron Marathon for putting on another amazing event and to all of the volunteers who gave their time to support the race.
If you run this race be aware that there are only two fluid stations both in the first 3 miles of the race. The communication and race instructions were very good so I knew the location of the fluid stations prior to heading to the race. For this race I carried a 6 once bottle of electrolytes specifically for the last few miles. Being as humid as it was the strategy worked really well for me. I typically don't carry fluids during a race. In the future I would like to see the race offer an additional fluid station around the 4th mile.
Login to your account to leave a comment.
We Want to Give it to You!
