Mt. Olivet Cemetery 5k Race Report

I want you to know I had this whole post almost done and ready to post Tuesday, but I accidentally deleted it, with no chance of recovery. So if you heard a primal scream Tuesday afternoon in the vicinity of the Midwest, that was me.

Sunday was Jamie’s “Summer” 5K. We had planned to do the Run for Art in Wyandotte again, but it turns out they didn’t have it this year. 🙁  He was bummed, but he agreed to find another one, and the Mount Olivet Cemetery run seemed like a good choice. It was the first 10K I’d ever done, back in 2012, so at least I knew how to get there and what the course would look like.

The race is run at the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, so it would take us about 40 minutes to get there. We got up about 6 AM, and Jamie had his usual pre-race breakfast of an English muffin with peanut butter. I decided to just have a banana, because I don’t like to eat early anyway, plus I wanted to save room for the pancake breakfast. 😉

We made our way up I 75 and down I 94 in Detroit, getting off at Van Dyke Avenue. I used to live in Detroit, back in the late 90s and early 2000s, and I’m still amazed at some of the things that I used to see every day on my way home. As we drove up Van Dyke, I was astonished to see just how bad it had gotten, and even Jamie commented on the amazing number of dilapidated buildings. It was clear that Van Dyke had once been a pretty thriving commerce area, but now it was nothing but shells of empty, graffiti-covered ruins. It was very sad, and Jamie asked me if I thought that Detroit would ever change. I told him that I felt that parts of it would, as evidenced by the amount of work going on downtown right now, but that some of the outlying areas will probably stay this way for a long time, before they are eventually razed, perhaps to make way for new buildings, or perhaps to remain empty lots.

Things looked a little less scary as we got closer to McNichols Avenue, where the cemetery was, and the cemetery itself was downright beautiful. As a history major, I have a special place in my heart for cemeteries, because you can find so much history there. After we arrived, I left Jamie in the car to go get our race packets and take a few pictures.

Once I picked up the shirts, I was less than delighted to discover the color, while Jamie was thrilled beyond measure, since it’s one of his favorite colors. It matched his shoes and everything.

I heard someone refer to it as “highlighter yellow,” and I think that fits perfectly. 😉

When I got to the car, I started to put on my hydration belt so Jamie would have water on demand for his run, but it was really warm and muggy, and I asked Jamie if it would be OK for me to leave it behind, since it was only a 5K, and they would have water stations.  He said that was fine. We did a couple of prerace pictures, and then got to the starting line.

At first, we lined up about two thirds of the way back, which is how I usually do it, because I just feel that I’m a pretty slow runner. Then I remembered the Corktown race, and how frustrated I was with all the walkers who ended up farther ahead than I think they should’ve been, and I decided to move us up a little bit. So, we started out about a third of the way back, which really wasn’t too bad, considering what a small race it was. So small, in fact, that they didn’t have chip timing. Instead, they used what’s called “bib tag timing,” which means that they take a tag off of your bib after you finish, and somehow or other they use that to determine your finish time. I don’t feel that’s very accurate, but I suppose they know better than I do. :p

As we waited for the start, I asked Jamie what his plan was, so that I would know how fast we were going. He was noncommittal, so I looked up his prior race times to give him an idea of his abilities. His last run, the Cork town race, was pretty slow, partly due to all the people. He ran that one at about an 11:29 pace. Compare that to his best 5K, two years ago at the Wyandotte run, when he ran a 9:50.  He’s gained some weight since then, so I figured we should probably just try for a sub-11, and he said that probably would work. But he wouldn’t actually commit to it…

There was no fanfare when we started, just a starting gun (an airhorn) and we were off! I was glad we started farther up in the pack, because we didn’t have to pass so many people at the beginning. Jamie started out strong, and although I was a bit concerned about it,  I figured he’d slow down pretty quickly.

We passed the first water station within about .3 mile, which surprised me, until Jamie pointed out that it was more for the returning 10K runners, who would be a lot further along by that time.  We continued on at a pretty fast clip, and I was surprised to see that we were at a 9:40ish pace when we got to about two thirds of a mile. At that point, he told me that we should slow down, and I was fine with that. To be honest, I was pretty tired that morning, for reasons I’ll explain another time, and I wasn’t really enthusiastic about running too fast. 😉

We continued around the cemetery, not saying much of anything. We actually passed several people, and I was surprised to see Jamie get a little frustrated and sprint past other runners as we went along. Gosh, I don’t know where he gets that from. 😉

When we hit the 1st mile, I was stunned to see that we came in at a 10:05! That’s really fast for him these days. He didn’t seem to want to slow down, so I just kept my mouth shut, figuring I’d let him run his own race and do my best to keep up. It was a little harder than I expected, though! We passed a few more people, and then all of a sudden, we hit the 1.5 mile mark and he stopped to walk.  No warning or anything, ha ha!   I should’ve guessed though, because he always likes to stop at the halfway point for a rest.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have any water to give him, and I felt pretty bad. He said he was fine though, and we walked for maybe 60 seconds before we started up again. And then, wouldn’t you know it, right up ahead was the water station.  :/ I asked him if he wanted to take some water, and he said yes, that we would walk for 15 seconds to drink it and then start up again. Only, when we got to the water station, he just grabbed a cup, downed it a sip, and then tossed it to the side and kept running! I was left to choke down a couple of gulps and try to catch up with him. When I did finally catch up, I joked, “What happened to my 15-second break?” He didn’t answer, and it was at that point that I figured out he was serious about this race.

We ran around a few more curves, and then I pulled my phone out to sneak a picture. As soon as I did, he quietly said, “I saw that.” So I said to heck with it and took a few more.

Then I took a picture of the cemetery in front of us.

As we came around to about the 2.75 mile mark, Jamie made a grunting noise, and said that his knee was hurting. I asked him if he wanted to stop or slow down, and he said no, so we kept going. Soon we were making the last turn, and there was the finish line up ahead.

I was surprised to see it so soon, and I said, “There it is!” And Jamie immediately replied, “And there I go!!” and took off!  He was really booking, and although it was a bit challenging for me, by that time I had warmed up enough that I was able to get close to him. He crossed about a second ahead of me, and we went through the chute, gave our bib tags to the lady, grabbed our ice cold water (yay!), and then we immediately flopped onto the ground right past the finish line.

As Jamie planted himself in the grass, he looked at his watch and exclaimed, “10:02!!” I said, “Really?” and he immediately showed me his watch.

Holy crap! He ran a 10:02! After a couple of seconds, he caught his breath enough to joke, “So much for sub-11.” 🙂 He had a huge smile on his face, and I could tell he was really proud of himself, despite the fact that he was also exhausted. We sat there drinking our water for a few minutes, and he happily recounted pretty much the entire race for me from his perspective. 🙂 He told me how hard it was, but how much he wanted to have a good race, and I told him several times how proud I was of him. The volunteers who are giving out the water were nearby, and I saw them looking over at us and smiling. I could tell they were thrilled to witness such a happy moment for him.

About a minute after we crossed, we saw another young man about his age finish. When Jamie saw him, I could see a lightbulb go off in his head, as he realized that there might be a chance that he might actually place in his age group. We only sat for another minute or so before he asked if we could get up and go under the tent where they were having breakfast. I was all excited about pancakes, so I didn’t need any convincing. 😉

Once we got to the tent, I chuckled to myself as I watch Jamie looking around, trying to determine if there were any other kids there his age who might’ve finished before him. I figured we mist have had a pretty good finish, because there wasn’t even a line for the pancakes! I don’t think I’ve ever been to a post-race meal where I didn’t have to wait. It was kind of nice.:)

We grabbed fruit and pancakes, and Jamie got some sausage (I did not), and then we sat down underneath the tent to enjoy our breakfast while it started to rain lightly.

Funny story about that sausage:  when we first sat down, and Jamie was trying to maneuver his fruit, pancakes, and sausage, I tried to help him, and ended up putting his piece of sausage on the ground. :/ I told him to go ahead and start eating and I would get him another one, even though by that time the line had gotten longer and I had to wait. After waiting in line for a while (and talking to a nice guy from Minnesota!), when I got to the sausage station, I could tell the guy recognized me as having been there before. I explained to him that I had accidentally dropped my son’s piece of sausage, and asked if I could have another one. And then I joked, “Maybe I should ask for two, just in case.”

He went ahead and gave me two, and then I took them back to Jamie…and promptly dropped another one on the ground! Jamie just looked at me like, “Seriously?” to which I replied, “At least I got you two!”  Clearly, I’m not to be trusted with sausage. 😉

Jamie was finished fairly quickly, and he said he was ready to leave at any time, but I reminded him that he might actually win an award, so we should probably stick around. While we were waiting, we saw a local news crew interviewing one of the race organizers.

I need to go check their website to see if I made it on camera, because they did a few panning shots of the group under the tent, and Jamie and I were pretty much front and center for them. I bet I look awesome, all sweaty and no make up. 🙂

About 9:20, we looked over toward the breakfast line, and I realized that they had posted results on the wall behind it. Jamie and I walked over, and guess what?

That’s right, Jamie actually took first place in his age group! I know that it shows only one other participant in that age group, but there are actually a total of three. That sheet was put up fairly early, and the third runner didn’t cross until later, and they didn’t update the sheet. As for his time, because it wasn’t a chip time, they show him finishing at 31:18.  However, it took us a good ten seconds to cross the starting line, and since both mine and Jamie’s watches registered exactly 3.10 miles when we stopped our watches–I’m going with our official “Garmin” time of 31:08 and 31:09! 😉 And speaking of my time…

Guess who took third place in her age group?? I was shocked!! Clearly, Jamie’s great effort paid off for me as well. So then of course, we had to stick around for the awards.

They had an official photographer of sorts, and I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to find the pictures somewhere online later. Jamie was really happy and proud of himself, and I was pretty proud of him, too. And of course, because I’m a sucker for my kids, I took him out for his post-race Starbucks treat.

Yes, I even let him get a biscotti. 😉 But after that effort, he more than deserved it.

We went home and I let him rest for the rest of the day, until hockey practice at 8:30. (On a Sunday night…WTF!?)   He was quite proud of himself, and I could he was feeling really accomplished for the rest of the day. We checked over his splits when we got home, they were quite impressive:

Considering that he walked a good 60 seconds of that run, that is quite an accomplishment!  He’s already talking about doing the Scrumpy Skedaddle 10k this fall, but I haven’t committed to it yet.  Besides being kind of a logistical challenge (it’s near Flint), it’s also on my birthday, and I’m not sure I want to run a 10k on my birthday. 😉  I suppose it would ensure that I had plenty of points for cake. 🙂 And I will admit that we did enjoy that run, and the boys love the mugs and glasses they got as rewards. We shall see!

For now, we are basking in the glow of the great 5K finish!

Thanks for reading!