The Grim Reaper Strikes Again!

Or, “Monster Dash 5K Race Report.”

Or, “More Dancing in the Grim Reaper Outfit.”

As usual, I had a relatively crappy meal last night for supper:

Ham pizza! Yum!

This morning, the weather was cool and breezy. It got COOLER and WINDIER as we were waiting for the race to start. Dang. Here’s a view before the race looking out over Lake Harriett (which we were about to run around):

The sun started to break through, and I noticed how majestic the flag looked while waving above the stench of port-o-john row:

I watched the start of the half marathon, which went out about an hour before we started the 5K:

Before the half marathon start


Just after the start

I had some time before the 5K. So I ran back to my car and cranked up the heater. I warmed up for 10 minutes, and then ran back to the race site. People started to gather near the starting line. I asked someone to snap a photo of me:

I know black socks with shorts are a faux pas,
but they kind of go with my outfit, so leave me alone.

NOBODY ASKED WHAT I WAS, but I was ready to answer “Steve Reap-fontaine” like Dave suggested in my last post. Everyone loved my outfit! I even freaked out a few dogs.

Anyway, we all got lined up. Here’s everyone ready to start the 5K:

And here’s 4 boys who lined up in front of me:

I wished those 4 boys luck, but I knew I’d be jumping around them pretty quickly. I wasn’t annoyed that they lined up in the front; I would have LOVED to have started a race right at the line when I was that age!

Race Goals: I didn’t know how fast I’d be able to run in that outfit, so I didn’t put any pressure on myself. I wanted to start off slower, and pick it up throughout: I’ve been running all of my tempo runs like that, and it has always lead to a strong, fast finish.

And we’re off! I took off pretty easy. I spent the first half-mile in 5th place (better than I thought!). There were 2 guys WAY out there that I wasn’t going to catch. I didn’t expect to place first as there are usually a couple of REALLY speedy guys that show up to this race. I caught one runner, and now I was in 4th.

Mile 1: 6:09. Good. That was where it needed to be. That was 35 seconds slower than the first mile in my last race where I went out way to hard. I was catching the 3rd place runner: a woman. She had a great stride! I caught up and said “Nice pace” as I slowly passed her. She said “Thanks,” and then noticed she was being passed by the Grim Reaper. “Ohhh... oohhhh... ha ha!” She didn’t know what to think!

Then I turned on my camera. Yes, my camera. I ran this race with the sickle in one hand, and a camera and my car keys in the other. I figured I’d take a photo of myself around mile 1 while running. Here I am, hard at work in 3rd place:

Somewhere after the “mile 2” marker (which I missed), the 10 milers and the half marathoners joined up with us 5Kers. It went from a wide open run with 2 guys WAY in front of me, to a tighter race where I was running faster than everyone in front of me. So I turned on my camera and snapped another photo of the more crowded race course:

I flew by the longer distance runners, and I got many laughs regarding my outfit. I pumped my sickle in the air a number of times as a “thank you.” (In the final half mile, someone shouted “Nice job Steve!” I couldn’t see well - who were you?) I came around the final few turns, and booked it to the line.

I was pretty sure that I finished 3rd, and my finish time was 18:38, which was my fastest of 3 runs that I’ve done on that course (and 4th fastest 5K ever). That finish time means that I had a negative split: 6:09 first mile, 5:55 average over the last 2.1 miles.

About 2 minutes after crossing the line, I took off my head gear and snapped a sweaty photo:

After the finish, I ran back to my car to get more clothes. I also grabbed my CD player, and I cheered on the other runners. Yes, here’s more of me dancing in the grim reaper outfit. It’s 2 minutes of goodness. Turn up the volume.

(Note the “sexy nipple rub” at 0:35.
And I LOVE the runners that join in at 0:56.)

Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf95F1DAk8w

Again, everyone loved the outfit (and the dancing). And the runners REALLY liked it when I did the Hokey Pokey in that outfit. That was a HIT! The part in the song about sticking your “backside” in and out was the best - I totally stuck my ass towards 2 women running by at that part of the song, and then I “shook it all about.” They laughed and laughed. Which was mean. I didn’t laugh at their asses. Jerks.

Then I ran to finish to cheer on the finishers of the longer races. I ran into Kaeti who had just finished her FIRST HALF MARATHON!!! Congrats Kaeti!

Speaking of blogger friends, I ran into Jenny, her hubby, and her kids before the race. They were all doing the 5K (I saw Jenny and one of her kids finishing the race). I also bumped into Amy and some of her friends. I also talked with Tom and Danielle who ran the last 5K with me - they both did the half marathon.

I looked at the posted results at the Lake Harriett Bandshell, and it had me in 2nd overall! Maybe I caught one of those 2 guys in the mess of all the other runners in the last mile. I still don’t know. I stuck around for the awards, but they had some problems with the 5K results, so they told us to check the website for the winners.

I’ll post the official results and some fun official photos as soon as they are up! Thanks for reading!