As Promised: 5/3 Riverbank Run Race Report

The 5/3 Riverbank Run is a tradition here in Grand Rapids. 2010 was the 33rd running of the race, and the race serves as the US Track & Field 25k Road Race National Championship which means there's a good chance of catching a glimpse of recognizable elite athletes. Every year we've been in Michigan I've been asked: are you running Riverbank? by anyone that knows I'm a runner.

In the past I've run the 5k and the 10k they hold in conjunction with the 25k but until this year I'd shied away from the big boy.

With the half marathon at Bayshore being my goal race this spring (Memorial Day weekend) I thought the 25k (which by the way for the metric challenged equals 15.5 miles, 2.4 miles longer than a HM) would give me a great chance to run a bunch of goal pace miles to gauge my fitness level and do it with a bunch of people and support along the course. Plus registration was only $30. That's right, $30, and that was up until about a week before the race. Bargain.

Race day started out perfect. Weather was cool, some rain in the forecast - which held off, and the only thing not working in our favor was the wind. 20-30 mph predicted, not ideal for running in.

We did have a nice moment of hilarity on the walk to the start line. The race course starts and finishes in downtown Grand Rapids, so the city's finest were out directing traffic and closing off roads. We pass an intersection with two, that's right two police vehicles blocking the street and two police officers standing there...as we're walking across the street a young woman swerves and zooms past the officers, goes under a bridge and stops at a red light to make a left turn (her left turn would have put her right on the 5k course). One of the police officers throws his hands up, looks at all of us crossing the street with a "you've got to be kidding me" look and proceeds to walk up to her car and knock on the window. No idea what was said to her, but the fact the police officer was pissed and she was on her cell phone it probably wasn't causal pleasantries.

The goal for the race was to run the first 2.4 miles easy, around 10:30-10:45 pace as a warm-up and then hit the lap button on my garmin and "race" the last 13.1 miles in an attempt to see how long I could hold my goal pace of 9:30/mile.

First miles went by with out incident - except for a bathroom break due to cold diuresis - and as we hit the 2.4 mile mark I wished T good luck (she was also running the 25k and trying to execute the same type of plan I was), hit the lap button and took off.

It was a pretty good feeling passing folks, because that's pretty much what I did for the next two hours. I walked a few water stops, but for the most part I held a pace between 9:30 and 9:45 until I hit 3.1 miles to go when I tried to push a bit. I had to take a walk break right about 1 mile to go, hit the lap button as I crossed the sign telling us 1 mile to go and took off for the finish running a 8:45 pace for that mile.

Chip time: 2:34:29

Using my garmin (which auto paused when I stopped to pee and retie my shoe) times and taking out the first 2.4 miles it worked out that I ran a 2:06:21 HM. Not great but not shabby either.

I was very pleased how the day went. Loved the course - a significant portion of the course is also used for the GR Marathon in the fall, just in reverse - and can definitely say I'll be running this race again.