scarsdale fall foliage 5k: race report

without a doubt, the 2009 scarsdale fall foliage 5k this weekend was my favorite race of the year! any race that i can run with my daughter immediately becomes my favorite race, until supplanted by the next race i can run with her :D but this one was extra special because, despite the lousy weather, katie finished in 26:44 - a pr by 2 minutes! i had hoped that katie would pen this race report. but, with the last week of regular season field hockey games to play and plenty of garden variety homework to do, it's easier for me to write one up!

if it veers off in the overly "proud" dad direction, apologies in advance (a more traditional race report is on deck for the kurt steiner xc 5k i ran that morning)! on the tail end of a lousy string of cold, wet, rainy days - the weather wasn't too bad considering what it could have been. even so, katie periodically gave me "weather updates" leading up to our walk to the historical society. for a girl who spent hours playing field hockey games in the rain - i was amused at how worried she was over the prospect of running in a light drizzle!

the race starts and finishes just over a quarter mile from our house. as we walked up boulevard to check-in, the 2.5k walk had just started. the light drizzle didn't diminish the enthusiasm of the walkers. at the check-in katie met up with some of her friends, annalise, dj, and marcus - to name just a few. and despite the weather-induced low turnout, there were plenty of familiar faces: susan, tom, mark, joe, and lee all ran. pat took pictures of us lined up at the start, and then cheered us on from the boulevard/nelson intersection.

katie was overdressed for the race - in long pants and a jacket. no amount of cajoling would get her to part with the jacket (until, ironically, after the race). she's run this course in the past - and each time was around 30 minutes (plus or minus a minute). the initial half mile downhill on boulevard is retraced back up on neighboring sprague. the course then winds through a series of rolling streets in the edgewood neighborhood, to finish in the ihm school parking lot.

here are her splits:

8:23
8:33 16:56
8:58 25:54
0:50 26:44

8:37 pace

in the third mile, katie grumbled about the pace and picked up a nasty little side stitch. but aside from those distractions (and some extra weight from the wet clothes), she kept moving forward and finished strong! katie took second in the 14 and under age group (right behind her friend, annalise)! needless to add - i was overjoyed by her performance! now if i can only get her to switch from field hockey/lacrosse to track/cross country :D

check out the great race photos!