Etowah River Run 5k
Etowah River Run 5k
I had a great time this Saturday at the Etowah River Run 5k at Cherokee High School. It’s a well-known fact that the course is downhill and flat, so it’s a pretty popular event. It also falls right into the conditioning period for high school cross country, so it draws a good crowd of teenage runners. This was my first year running it, but it was one of the races I’ve been looking forward to this year. My buddy, Jason, who ran Sawnee Mountain with me last week was running as well.
My plan was to try to hang with Jason. Didn’t work out too well, but I still ended up with a good time. Jason ran a 19-something (with a shoe untied the whole no less) and there was no way I could keep up with that. I was with him through the first mile at 6:34, but he said something along the lines of “let’s go” and he went. I didn’t. My next mile was slower at 6:43 as we cruised the Boling Park parking lot. The last mile was on the flat trail at Boling Park and I could only manage a 7:18. I wish those splits were reversed so I could say I finished strong, but I was struggling at the end.
I ended up running a 21:36 to finish 5th in my age group and 11 seconds off my PR. Not too bad for a HOT and humid summer morning in Georgia.
My good friend, Tim, also ran the race, but, unfortunately, I never saw him. We finished less than a minute apart (he ran 22:09), but just never crossed paths. Nate also showed up and put down a great time of 23:55. The race was well organized and had plenty of fluids and food afterward.
Best part of the day had to be seeing Jason’s son absolutely dominate the 1K fun run. 9 years old and the kid can fly. He won easily and ran up front the entire race. Really cool to watch and cheer him and his sister on.
