Race Report: Boston Athletic Association 10K

This past weekend I was in Boston visiting friends.  When I had been researching things to do in Boston before we left for our trip, I came across this race.  It was the inaugural B.A.A. 10K and runners would be sharing the field with elite runners like Geoffrey Mutai (he won in 27:19) and Kim Smith.  Even though I didn't really feel in race shape so soon after my marathon, I just had to register.  The B.A.A. was going to mail my race packet, but, since M. and I were leaving for vacation before they mailed my packet out, I called the B.A.A. and asked them to hold it so that I could pick it up the morning of the race.

After a day of adventures in Salem and an amazing meal cooked by a friend on Saturday, I woke up early Sunday morning.  It was humid but still pretty cool out-- not bad for running.  I ate a banana, drank some water, got dressed, and put my contacts in.  M. and I traveled down to the race start on the T.  Probably at least half of the people on our train were other 10k runners.  When we got to the race start, I found the information booth and picked up my packet without any difficulties.  I pinned on my bib, had M. snap a couple of pictures and then made my way toward the back of the pack of about 4,000 participants.  

Pre-race

The race started in the Back Bay on Charles St. between the Public Gardens and Boston Common.  We turned onto Beacon Street and then essentially ran an out and back along Commonwealth Ave through the campus of Boston University and Kenmore Square before lapping the Public Garden in the opposite direction and finishing near the start.  I had planned to stop and take photos here and there of the race course, but once I got to running that sort of slipped my mind.  I also don't have any photos of me finishing because M. missed it -- he had gone to a nearby Starbucks and had miscalculated the time.*

Elite Start

M. snapped a number of photos from the start and I'm actually in this one

While it took me a bit longer than I hoped to finish this 10K (1:05:40), it was good to be out there.  My feet were hurting a little bit, which was probably due the fact that I had walked around Salem the day before in a pair of beloved but worn out flats.  I did push myself to have a faster last quarter of a mile, and doing that made me realize that I should really be doing more speedwork and pushing myself to work through more discomfort than I have been lately.

The only weird incident during the race was that somewhere around mile 2, when we had briefly split off of Commonwealth Ave. and were running in a residential area, a guy tried to drive down the street we were running on.  Several runners gave him a piece of their mind and he started honking and was still trying to drive behind us.  A block or so up we ran by a police officer at a traffic barricade, and I saw another runner go up to the officer to tell him what had happened and the officer started heading in that direction.  I don't know what the end result was. I guess I had to encounter at least one stereotypical Masshole during my trip, and the award goes to the guy who tried to drive his car through a major road race.  

Stretching post-race at the Civil War Memorial in Boston Common

The B.A.A. knows how to organize a race.  The volunteers were the best I've seen at a race - enthusiastic and professional.  They had handing out water cups honed to a precise art.  It was great to be participating in such a well-organized event on a gorgeous course in a city with such a rich running culture!  

*Note: "miscalculated the time" is a euphemism for being in the washroom.