Another race in the books! Today was the Detroit Turkey Trot. I entered the 10K race, there was also a 5K and a mile run.
The day started off pretty good, meaning we all got up and in the car right on time for the drive into Detroit. Very little traffic at 6:30 am on all the expressways so had smooth sailing. gyümölcsös nyer?gépes játékok That is until we got to the final off ramp to Cobo Arena Parking…. It seems when 10,000 people all try to get into the same parking garage inside of maybe an hour, it just doesn’t work so well. Finally we were down to 15 minutes to race start. I am SO glad I went the day before to pick up my bib and chip!! nyer?gépes játék letöltése ingyen Really!
I was in the wrong lane to get to most of the garages, but my two copilots noticed a small sign for public parking at the GM Renaissance Center – on the right – three lanes over… so, around the u-turn, back the other side of the median, another u-turn (I never saw that sign that said “No U-Turn here”, honest.) Into the correct lane, into the garage, up a couple of floors, grab the backpack with gear, down to the street, and we all hustled over to the start line. Getting there with about 4 minutes to spare! I stripped off the warm ups and jacket, added the ear warmers and jumped into line. tippmix sportfogadás szelvény
Whew.
I wrote in the last post about the new technology used, the disposable RFID chip on a strip. It seemed to work out pretty well… I did see one of them laying in the road where the owner must have fastened the adhesive strip down BEFORE they put it through the laces. Gonna be sorry at the end when there is no time for them.
There was a record crowd of 10,000 people (according to the announcer.)
Just to get the bad part out of the way… it was not a chip timed start, only the finish.
There was a record crowd of 10,000 people (according to the announcer.) With everyone starting at the same time, I was back a ways in the pack, and did not cross the start line until 4:54 into the race. Since that counts on the race time, it was going to be a stretch to make the official time a new PR.
UPDATE 11/30/2008:
Attn: Active.Com
I just wrote the following email to the Active.Com web site contact regarding the chip timed start issues. Will see what happens.
================= Start of eMail Sent ==================
UPDATE 11/30/2008:
Greetings,
I am writing to ask about getting my time for the Detroit Turkey Trot 10K adjusted.
It seems that my chip did not get recorded at the start of the race, and included the time from the gun to when I actually was able to cross the timing mat.
My bib number was 4683, and the time posted was 01:01:38.
My stop watch time was 00:58:02.
As confirmation I have a picture of me crossing the start line at 8:04:54
https://www.kasdorf.name/wordpress/2008/detroit-turkey-trot-10k-2008/#more-384
The difference is not the entire 4:54, since I believe a video I have also shows the race gun did not sound until about 8:01:22 (approximately, you may know the actual start time showing on the clock.)
The difference of the two is about 3:33, which when subtracted from the finish time of 1:01:38, gives a time of 58:25, much closer to my stop watch time of 58:02.
Also, if other nearby runners were recorded I have pictures showing I cross the start line next to runners with the bib numbers: 6230, 1612, 5719 and 3546
Bottom line is can my time be adjusted to reflect the true elapsed time of 58:02 (or 58:25, or if available the actual start time of the runners listed above.) so the “historical” records kept on your web site are more in line with the actual time.
Thanks for the assistance, and looking forward to a reply,
George Kasdorf
===================End of eMail sent ======================
The race went well, fairly flat and in most places wide enough. But where the parade was going to be it necked down in a few places, and a few random cars were on the street. Sort of exciting at times when you are following someone and suddenly they dodge to the right and you are suddenly presented with the grill of a car.
Otherwise it was a good race. Even with the late start I got an “official” PR, and if I go by the Garmin time, or even the start/finish time with the offset removed I did a 58:29 time, four minutes off my previous best.
By the numbers:
a) 10 Kilometers = 6.2 miles.
b) ran at a 9:13 per mile pace, 0:58:02 total time.
c) finished 3199 out of 5830 overall, so finished in the top 55% of all runners.
d) finished 81 out of 182 in my age group, for a top 44% finish.
e) finished 2001 out of 3121 of all males = 64%
f) The average temperature during the race = 22.1 degrees!
g) My photographers got some great photos (click!)
h) had a great time, which was the real race goal!
Now, “Show me the turkey”!!!
Until the final cold-runny nose is wiped,
George