P&LE Express

Shane created this event as a 'low key' race with our local friends and some not-so-local runners. Thanks to the Greater Pittsburgh Road Runners and Miles of Smiles Timing Service he was able to put together a relatively inexpensive event with a few perks. There were 4 & 10 mile options, run concurrently, with a water stop at mile 2 and 8. We bought cookies, chips, and some candy on our grocery trip and added these to the finish table. Shane also ordered awards for the top 2 men and women in each race. The cost was $1 for GPRR members and $3 for non-members.

The alarms sounded at 4:30am and Shane and I were up to prepare for the event. He was picking up our timing volunteer while I set up the water stop. It was interesting to have to drive on the trail I run every day. I was surprised to see a single cyclist at 5:30 in the morning with his headlamp on. I put on my own headlamp and assembled the table, water dispenser, and cups. Then I set out a cooler full of popsicles in case it was hot. Two more volunteers would be arriving around start time to man the water stop. We couldn't have done it without them!

After the water stop was complete I returned to the start line two miles down the trail and assembled the table there. We had a bin full of ice and bottled water as well as food. Bib numbers were assigned in the order of arrival and I began to worry when there were only two runners at 6:45. I decided to take a quick warm up walk down the trail and when I returned I realized my worries were unfounded. There was a large group of several of our friends and a few new faces gathered around the table while more figures were materializing around the bend in the trail. All together we had 33 runners between both races.

Waiting to start

 

At 7:00 Shane gave a little speech telling everyone to come to our September race and where to turn around. With a simple, "3, 2, 1, Go" we were off. I stayed at the back of the pack with our friend, Scott, and we settled into an easy pace. I didn't wear my Garmin because I didn't want to push too hard on my first double digit run post-hundred. We passed a few people and were passed a couple times before everyone settled into their pace.

 

Scott and I finishing

 

The miles flew by and pretty soon we were at the turn around. On the way back a few more people passed us as they picked up the pace but Scott and I continued with our easy run. The miles went by even faster on our return trip and soon enough we could see the clock. I made a joke about sprinting it in and Scott took me seriously. He picked up his pace and I followed suit, just beating him to the line by 1 second! My official time was 1:36:56.

 

I found out Shane won the 4 mile in 31:17. Our friend, Jen, won for the women in 35:08. Our friend, Emery, won the 10 mile in 1:02:38 and newcomer (to our races), Danika, won for the women in 1:06:43. All total there were 10 4-mile finishers and 23 10-mile finishers. It was quite the turn out for our little race!

 

Afterwards it was just a matter of reversing my setup and cleaning up everything. It was made a little more challenging by the fact that it was a beautiful day and the trail was packed with cyclists and runners. The only snafu was that the fully charged timing clock began to inexplicably dim after about an hour until the numbers were unreadable. Shane didn't know the plug in my Jeep had to be turned on by a button and couldn't understand why the display wouldn't brighten back up. Once I finished and turned the plug on the clock righted itself and all was okay again. And we all got a good laugh out of Shane's frustration with my vehicle! Overall I think it all went pretty smoothly!