Pace Report: Chocoholic Frolic

It was a beautiful day for a pacing in downtown St. Paul. It was clear and the sky was bright the way it only is in November, when the cloudiest month gives way to sun. I don't know the scientific phenomenon that gives the sky an almost white color on these bright days, but I do know that my pin-prick pupils couldn't get any smaller while driving east, dangerously squinting to make out pedestrians going to the farmers market, trying to stay calm as I directed Laura to the start of the Chocoholic Frolic 10k.

It was a brisk morning, and the breeze through the downtown buildings made it even colder. Laura wanted to park closer to the finish line, though that meant being almost a mile from the start. After finding the pacer table and getting my number, I found out that there was no bag drop.

Since the weather was so cold, Laura had decided to wait in the car. I called her, and asked her to come ASAP so I could take the things back to the car. Unfortunately, I was a little crabby at the amount of time it took her to walk to the start line from her car, parked 0.83 miles away across the Wabasha Bridge in a strip mall parking lot.

After being crabby with Laura, I stuffed my things in my bag and asked my co-pacer, Ryan, to meet me at the start. There was no way I was going to be able to carry a ten-pound bag of Laura's and my stuff to the car and make it there 30 minutes before the start.

Karma quickly struck me for me crabbiness with my wife when I jumped off a ledge, putting my palm in dog poop. I tried not to think about it as I walked and jogged the 0.83 miles to the car, but as soon as I put the bag in, careful not to touch anything with my right hand, I went into a restaurant called Joseph's and washed my hands.

Lining up before the race

 The pacing itself wasn't nearly as memorable. My knee was taped up and still giving me some problems, and there really wasn't much of a group with us. The course was fun and had a lot of hills at the beginning as is crossed out of downtown Saint Paul over the Mississippi River, then flattened out through Harriet Island Park and along the river on Water St.

I think they call this a "selfie"

Ryan passing some 5k walkers

Ryan and I did a lot of chatting and cheering, and a lot of joking around about pacing a 10k. I brought my iPod along to snap some pictures, and at the end I took a video of the finish, so I could show how "spot on" I was with a screen capture.

Finish line shot from my ipod

I don't know what's up with the official results, as I am not listed and my co-pacer's time does not appear to be accurate. Oh well, we had a good time eating all the chocolate. I don't think this race was meant to be super-competitive.

After congratulating some runners and running into the race director and thanking him, I met up with Laura and ate a little chocolate and apologized for being crabby before the race.

Getting ready to replace all those calories we burned with chocolate

I could have gorged on more chocolate, but I had a birthday run to finish, which I will write about approximately whenever I feel like it.

Happy Running!