Last weekend I ran the Run the Parkway 20 mile race in Sacramento as a training run for CIM. I ran it with a friend and it went really well. It's a great run along the American River Parkway. The course is pretty much the same race I did last April (American River Parkway Half Marathon) but with almost 7 more miles added on. You can check out the recap for that race here.
Due to working on Saturday I was unable to pick up my bib and shirt from Fleet Feet Sacramento the day before the race, however my friend Elizabeth was nice enough to pick it up for me. Thanks Elizabeth! There is also race day pickup but I didn't want to get to the park earlier and wait in a line.
Sunday morning, I woke up around 5:15am and was out the door around 6am. The 20 mile race start time was at 7:00am and the drive to William B. Pond Recreation area, where the race started was less then 30 minutes. There was some traffic getting into the park, due to parking but it moved slowly and I had no trouble parking thanks to the volunteers pointing me in the right direction and where to park. I was in the porta potty line around 6:45am and it was a pretty long line but it moved quick enough.
I was able to meet up with my friend Elizabeth with a little time to spare before the national anthem was sung.
Then we were off. The race started right on time and it was a bit congested at the start. It was nice that there were pacers for those that needed it. My plan was to follow Coach Dawn's training schedule for the day, which was to keep it comfortable/easy. It's always nice not having to stress about running a race. I'm so glad that Elizabeth was on board with this plan too.
The weather was perfect, maybe a little cool at the start but wearing a long sleeve was just about right. I probably would have been fine with a short sleeve since I warmed up pretty fast.
The course is pretty along the parkway. We did a great job of keeping it at a comfortable pace.
We did have to make one stop at the porta potty during the run due to my friend having some GI issues. I didn't mind because it was a beautiful day and we were running a comfortable pace.
You can see how pretty the course is here.
I actually brought my GoPro along on the course and I had fun taking some videos during the run. Elizabeth even took a few and here's a shot of me on the run. :) Scroll to the end to see the video compilation I made.
I really like that this run is an official training run for CIM. It is so nice to have lots of company for a 20 mile training run!
One thing I did not like about the run was passing the finish line. There is a half marathon option for this race, so we pass by the finish and have to keep on going for about 3.5 miles before turning around back to the finish. The below pic is the turnaround which is a nice little uphill to get back on track to the finish.
At this point my legs are feeling a bit tired just from all the miles but it seems like Elizabeth has some energy. At mile 19 we ended up kicking up our pace. It was so nice to see the mile 19 sign, as we've only got 1 more mile to go.
I kick the pace and actually feel really good, like my legs needed to wake up. I ended up running that last mile in 8:25! My garmin time and splits are below. I stopped my watch when my friend took the potty break but you can see the official time as well which was 3:13:34. Not bad for 20 miles!
There was water and other snacks at the finish. There was even pizza! That was a first seeing pizza at a local race so I had to get a slice. :)
Me and Elizabeth with our medals.
Closeup of the medal.
Overall, it was a great training run and well organized race. The only thing missing was pictures. There was a photographer but they did not take a lot of pics and it was not easy to search for pictures. However, I do understand if they were trying to save on money as all proceeds of the race go directly to the American River Parkway so that is a good thing. It's a beautiful park and needs the money to keep it maintained. I do recommend this run because it's a nice course and really great to run 20 miles with others especially if you are training for the California International Marathon! Below is the video recap from my GoPro.
Happy running!
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