Monster Dash 5K9 Recap: 10/31/2009

On Halloween day, I ran the Monster Dash 5K9 event with my whippet Pont. You can read about my only other 5K9 race in my blog here. This race was part of the Team Ortho series of events, my fifth in that series for 2009.

This year, the t-shirts were ultra-cool. They ran small so I'm glad they allowed people to purchase additional on race-day. I passed my 'medium' to the Well Kept Wife™ and we picked up shirts for the Boy and for the future quilt...as well as a large for me.

This race day saw four events: a Half Marathon, a 10-miler, a 5K, and the doggie 5K9. And thus comes my only bitch: If you are going to have chip-time for the longer events...have chip time for ALL events.

The 5K & 5K9 did not have any recorded times for finishers. No one was grabbing the tag off the race number at the end. So, it was basically a non-race/non-event. Should have been advertised as a fun run....because that truly was what it ended up being.

In addition, the 5K9 event was clearly published and announced numerous times during the morning as starting 5-minutes after the 5K start. So, why were there people with dogs starting with the 5K runners? Those of us with dogs, who actually listened, were left at the line wondering, "should we go..should we wait...where's the starter, etc." It was very confusing.

So, in the end...Pont and I just started running. And it was wall-to-wall people as we caught the 5K runners who had started earlier. So Pont and I were jumping from side to side, running on grass, curbs...whatever..to find room to run.

OK, enough venting. Pont and I did have a super time. He did waaaayyyyyy better than I had hoped. We ended up running 21:14 (6:54/mi pace) which was very good for him. At one point we were cruising along at 5:43 pace per the trusty Garmin. Pont stayed right in there for the first two miles....barking at some dogs to get out of his way!!.....and only started to drag in the last mile. The video tells some of the story.



Once again, I was able to connect with my NDSU freshmen roomie Bill Poganski both prior to and after the event. Bill was running the non-doggie 5K. I've seen more of Bill this year than any other since I graduated...oh...a short 25-years ago. It's just great to reconnect with old chums again.

Note - click on the thumbnails for larger photo view

Bill (sporting this year's shirt) & Brian before the race.

Brian & Pont await the start of the 5K9.

Glynis, The Boy®, Pont & Brian post race.

Does this officially bring a close to my 2009 racing season? I think so. I'm tired. The Achilles is still an issue. And we're heading into the Insane Season of holidays. It might be time for a short break then begin planning for 2010.

Time to go give Pont and nice treat..and then the electric blanket to warm up in with sister Glynis.