The Running Obstetrician

NEW HAVEN ROAD RACE 5K 2014

September 1, 2014, NEW HAVEN, CT.

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     This year's running of the 37th New Haven Road Race was held on a warm and humid Labor Day morning. Most of the runners already had a good sweat going before the race even began! As you can see in this WTNH New 8 coverage of the race, there were well over 3000 runners in the 5K, and a good time was had by all.

     I actually made my way down to New Haven a little late, and made it to the New Haven Green just in time to catch the kids run finishing up. I managed to pick up my bib number and drop off my shirt back in the car with enough time to get in a warm up run and some stretching. I ran into one of my co-workers from the hospital, who was also feeling the heat. We both were looking forward to a good run though.

     So this year they decided to "fix" the insanity that is the start of the race. I ran last year's race and did find the start a little crowded - a lot of us were hanging out on the sidewalk waiting to jump into the street just to get started. The plan was to have the women start on one street, the men another, and then meet up at the 0.5 mile marker. This actually made sense to me when I read it in the e-mail, and on paper it was a great plan.

     What the race planners didn't realize was that the men were running right up Temple Street smack into the gate of the race finish. Now those who have run in a few of these road races with a few thousand of your competitors will recall that unless you are at the front of the pack, once the start gun goes off, you are mostly walking and then jogging for a little bit before you can find some room to start running. This was the case here, except that just as you were about to start the faster pace, you came upon the huge bottleneck of the race finish, which slowed us all down to a walk again. All in all, we spent about one to two minutes just getting started, but after that it was smooth sailing.

     The rest of the race was a breeze. We met up with the women at the 0.5 mile marker (who knows what shenanigans they were up against for the start), and there was plenty of room on the street for both parties to run comfortably. Now, I love this race, because: 1) it's totally flat, 2) it's a straightforward out-and-back, and 3) there are great bands and lots of fans along the whole race course. My overall time of 26:44 is nothing to brag about, but once I got going, I felt like I had a pretty good pace right up until the finish.

     The after party is a really good time as well. There are tons of tents, lots of stuff for the kids to do, and a rocking cover band. Each bib number comes with two tickets for beers (who doesn't want a beer at 9:45AM?!?). But what the race is famous for is a freshly baked loaf of garlic ciabatta bread from Chabaso Bakery, right in downtown New Haven. Mmmmm, tasty!

     It'll be interesting to see what the race organizers come up with for the race start next year. Hopefully this site and a few more comments will give them some good feedback. It's certainly a great way to spend Labor Day morning, and a nice way to wrap up the summer. Time to get ready for the fall races!

CMM - The Running Obstetrician, September 2014