Pittsburgh Great Race Recap

Sunday morning we joined 15,000 of our fellow Pittsburghers and ran for 6.2 miles through the hilly streets of this crazy town and it was...not great.  I’m not gonna lie, I was really excited about the Pittsburgh Great Race.  The weather has been wonderful lately, and everyone kept saying the course was easy and mainly downhill.  I’ve been running often and going to a step class at my gym a few times a week and my legs are feeling really strong lately.  D even agreed to run it with me.  I was convinced it was going to be awesome.

When I started checking the forecast a few days before, it predicted rain for the race on Sunday.  Not awesome.  Every time I checked, the forecast was the same:  rain.  I was not looking forward to the idea of running in the rain.  Sunday morning the weather was nice--cool and overcast but not raining.  I thought we were probably in the clear, and didn’t even bring a plastic bag to protect my iPhone because I was sure I wouldn’t need it (HA).  We only live about a mile from the start of the race, so instead of taking the shuttle we decided just to walk.  As we got to the start line, we saw that there was a huge traffic jam of people, all trying to get in their corral by way of this small, two-person-wide sidewalk.  Planning fail.  We finally made it into a spot and got ready to run.  I anticipated having to pass a lot of people once we started running because folks had not lined up according to ability, which is a big pet peeve of mine.  Soon enough we were off, and after passing a ton of people (some of whom were walking from the start-grrrr what were you doing in the 8-minute mile corral?!) we got into a good groove and really started to run.

And there were definitely hills.  Not horrible, huge, long hills, but hills.  That we had to go UP before we could go DOWN.  So to all the people who say the Great Race was “mostly downhill,” you should put more emphasis on the “mostly” next time you say that!  Also, for some random reason, my stomach was killing me for the first two miles or so of the race.  I was trying to push myself, but I was also concentrating on taking deep breaths through my nose and not throwing up, which was really fun.  I never have stomach issues when I run and have no idea what was going on.  It was very frustrating.

Then, around mile 3, right about when my stomach calmed down and I was feeling good, it started to rain.  Just a light drizzle at first, which was fine, but then it picked up and rained harder and harder and got colder.  The roads were really slippery and I almost ate it when I stepped on a wet manhole cover.  I also was seriously worried about my phone getting too wet, and eventually yanked off my armband and shoved the whole thing under my shirt in an effort to protect it.  Try running your very fastest in the rain on brick streets while awkwardly holding something under your shirt with one arm.  I don’t recommend it.  By the end of the race, near mile 5, I was so tired of getting rained on that I kicked it up and ran as hard as I could.  All I could think about was taking a nice warm shower and I just wanted it to be OVER so I could go home.

Which is probably how I ran the whole thing in a new PR of 50:01, with an average pace of 8:06/mile.  I was 117 out of 911 for my age group (25-29) and was at 60.07% for my age grade.  I don’t actually know what that means but D assures me it is a good thing.  He’s convinced I keep underestimating myself when it comes to this whole running thing and I’m starting to think that maybe he’s right.  I'm already looking forward to next year, and hope we have better weather, stomach cooperation, and planning skills on our side!

 Edited to add a picture:  I'm the one in all the burnt orange (Longhorns represent!)