Let's just say that last year the company seemed to be lacking team spirit and it was kind of a mess. It seemed like (and probably was the case) that we were the only company that didn't have matching shirts, or meeting spots or team photos.
End of story.
This year was entirely different. I really wanted a good group to go this year...matching shirts and all. It was kind of difficult getting people to sign up since the race is around $40, and not many people run at all. In fact, I'd have to say that most people are quite adverse to running.
I managed to gather a team of 20 people by the end (lured them in with exclusive t-shirts, muahahaha!). I would have been able to get more but I had accidentally capped off the group at 20 (we had to estimate how many would participate). The race was a sellout this year, and they wouldn't allow any additions to the team.
I also took the time to design the t-shirt this year. It was a lot of fun, and the founders of the company sponsored the event and printed the shirts for us all. I WAS THRILLED. :) Storm8 is aweeesome!The race is 3.5 miles, which is kind of a strange distance. There are walkers and runners of all paces. The top runners finish in around 17 minutes which comes out to under a 5 minute mile.
The course is pretty flat with one minor hill that is over before you know it. It loops from the parking lot A by the baseball stadium, down through the dogpatch/potrero hill, and winds back up past the other side of the stadium and back down to the finish.
I started further back than I had anticipated because it took so long to get to the race (traffic was crazy!). This year they had staggered starts - three different corrals. I was supposed to be in the first corral but ended up being in the 2nd. That was a big mistake because the entire first mile of the race was me trying to elbow my way past the slower runners.
I don't know about you, but I have a hard time aggressively pushing past other runners. I mostly softly tap them on the shoulder and whisper a polite "excuse me". If they don't hear or feel me, then I just kind of wait until they move or until I get the nerve to be a little louder. I need to get over that.
There were two water stations that I remember. I didn't stop for either. By the last mile I felt like I was going to die. I had spent all my energy trying to catch up to a co-worker, and once I passed him I lost the will to continue on.
It was also mentally taxing to go PAST the finish line in the opposite direction. I just wanted it to be over!
Anyway, I finished in 27:05 which is 15 seconds slower than my time last year. It was a 7:45 min mile, but my strava said it was 7:30 since I ran an extra 2 tenths of a mile with all the weaving back and forth. It's fine with me though because I wasn't thinking my legs would even function by now.
The finish line was filled with lots of water (regular water and propel water) as well as bananas and other bars and fruits.
I got my t-shirt at the end, which was unisex. They will always be too big for me. However it was a nice shirt.
We then waited for the rest of the stormies to come through the finish line. Everyone seemed to hit their goals that they had set for themselves, and we were all one big happy family at the finish. We even had a group of cheerleaders for us! That was awesome, and the big sign that my co-worker made for us was a huge help in finding everyone in the ginormous crowd. There was almost 11,000 runners so it was really loud and crowded.
Will I be back again? I certainly hope so. :)
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