Harmony 5k (12.31.11)

I ran the Harmony 5k with 2 friends on New Year's Eve.  The official results are posted (and they were tricky to find).  The age group results are always interesting to look at.

Overall Female OVERALL Winners

    Place    Name                    City              Age   Overall       Time      Pace
       1    Callie Bradley          Oak Creek  CO       28       16     19:10.80    6:11/M
       2    Lauren McKinney         Cranberry Twp  PA   19       24     19:44.40    6:22/M
       3    Katie Lutz              Cranberry Twp.  PA  14       27     19:52.90    6:25/M

Female 25 to 29

    Place    Name                    City              Age   Overall       Time      Pace
       1    VIRGINIA BURGER         PITTSBURGH  PA      27       66     22:10.00    7:09/M
       2    Kelly Irving            Woodbourne  NY      29       79     22:29.30    7:15/M
       3    Lauren J. Bradford      Pittsburgh  PA      29      106     23:24.50    7:33/M
       4    Leigh Anne Shubert      Cranberry Twp.  PA  25      142     24:59.60    8:04/M
       5    Sara Brunazzi           Boston  PA          27      146     25:05.50    8:05/M
       6    CRYSTAL HUFFMAN                             27      181     26:04.10    8:25/M
       7    Colleen McCloskey       Valencia  PA        28      183     26:09.90    8:26/M
       8    Robyn Stewart           Evans  City  PA     28      213     27:15.70    8:47/M

I think the top 4 in each age group got a medal.

My garmin said the race was less than a 5k. My time was also better than I thought.  

There were a few stressful things. I got stuck in the back at the start and it was 15 seconds before I got to cross the start area. It was another .25 or so before I could get around anyway. The first .05 or .1 were even just walking.  I couldn't get through.   There was a clock about a half mile into the race and they had a fire going to keep the volunteers warm but I didn't like smelling that smoke.  With about .5 mi left in the race a van pulled onto the course from a side road right in front of me and I couldn't speed up enough and I had to smell the lovely exhaust. The finish line was about 15 yards after turning a bend so I was expecting it.  Parking was also a mess.

Even with all those stressful things it was good because I had friends there to talk to before or after.

The awards and door prices took entirely too long though. Mainly the door prizes.

Callie getting her medal

They announced all the male winners and then all the female ones. They should have done the female overall winners prior to doing every single age group for all of the men. Also I don't think they should have read all the times for every winner either. It just all took too long. Plus it was just a guy shouting all this versus someone with a microphone or something.


I saw Callie prior to the turnaround point but I did not see Jen after it.  She saw Callie too and didn't see me. We were both spending time looking for each other. Perhaps that search made the time go quicker.  With a little more than a mile left I started picking people in front of me to chase down and pass. I passed everyone I sought out to pass. Some I took longer to pass than others but still I got them. 
Right near the end Callie was there cheering me on. Then after I finished, I joined her and we waited and cheered on Jen. Callie and I went for a cooldown run after this.  We ran a little over a mile. 

The course was a little hilly. When I was running it like a training run (during the first half) I got annoyed.  Then I realized I had to quit thinking like that and races can be hilly and then it didn't bother me.  The 2nd half of the race felt like it was more downhill than uphill too.