Year of Races

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.

• Official Results
• Garmin stats

nice tech shirt

Last Saturday I had my second Dirty Spokes Trail race.  We were in Cumming, GA at the Sawnee Mountain Nature Preserve.  I was immediately impressed with the new visitor’s center.  Everything still seems so fresh and new.  My buddy, Jason, and I got there a little late to take advantage of the small parking area so we were directed down the street to park in a cow pasture.  I dropped the TL into 4-wheel drive, splashed through a couple of pillow-sized cow patties and got us parked.

We walked over to the visitor’s center and got checked in.  The Dirty Spokes series of trail races are so well run.  As I mentioned, this was only my second one, but, once again, I was impressed.  We not only got a quality technical shirt again, but also got our timing ankle strap to ensure quick results after the race.

Jason and I jogged around for a mile to get warmed up and then took our spots at the start.  This being the last race in the series, there seemed to be a bit larger crowd than normal.  The race was supposed to be 3.5 miles.  The first 2+ up Sawnee Mountain and the remaining back down on a different trail.  I wasn’t necessarily excited about the uphill portion of the race.  I couldn’t keep my mind from flashing back to the Boling Park trail run and the steep inclines that had me walking and on the verge of puking.  However, I was excited to get going because Jason and I had been putting in the work on the road and the track lately and I felt stronger than before.

At the start, we did a lap around the small parking lot to get a bit of spacing before we headed into the woods.  The trail up the hill was double-wide so you could pass folks if necessary.  I felt strong early on and was steadily making my way up the hill.  After about a mile, Jason was long gone ahead of me, but another friend of mine, Freddie, was nearby.  We were struggling up the hills making decent time.  About 1.6 miles in, Freddie asked how much farther we had until the top.  Another guy nearby said we were getting close, but the worst was still ahead.  Great.  Thanks pal.  At about 1.9/2 miles, I couldn’t handle it anymore and stopped to walk a couple times.  It was so steep and my calves and thighs were burning.  I’m a wuss.  What can I say?  A bunch of the guys around me were walking too.  We would pass each other over and over as one guy would start walking and another would stop walking.  Freddie pulled ahead of me at this point, but I thought I could possibly catch him on the downhill.

At the top I was actually concerned I wouldn’t be able to run the downhill.  My calves were like jelly.  After a couple minutes though, they chilled out and I was able to start chugging down the mountain.  The problem was that the trail down was so steep that you actually were out of control in a couple of places.  Everyone was forced to go down about the same pace:  breakneck speed.  I passed a few people, but never could catch Freddie.  He ran a great race.  That P90X stuff must really be working!

I finished in 29:29 and the course measured 3.28 according to my Garmin.  I was kind of disappointed in the race.  I did better than Boling Park, but I hate the fact that I stopped to walk again.  Jason and I checked our times and I was surprised to see that I finished 3rd in my age group.  Sweet!  Jason finished in 26-something and 2nd in his age group.  We hung around and got our little Dirty Spokes medals.  The overall winner was in 21-something and was the same guy who won the Woodstock Freedom Run in 15-something.

3rd place 35-39 age group

I really enjoy the trail runs even though both of them have kicked my butt (I was sore until Wednesday evening probably).  I vow to run more of the races in the series next year and maybe even finish top-3 in the season ending overall point standings.  This year by just running two events (7th place & 3rd place), I finished 4th in the overall point standings.

• Official Results (don’t know why they have me at 30:00.  That’s not correct.  Everyone’s time was inflated in their results.)
• Garmin stats
• Photos of me (courtesy of Defiant Photography): #1, #2, #3

This Saturday I’ll be at Cherokee High School for the Etowah River Run.  A notoriously fast course, I’m hoping to really put down a good time.  We’ll see…

Peachtree Shirt

There are certain races I have mentally marked on my calendar as “premiere” events.  The Peachtree Road Race is definitely one of them.  I moved to Atlanta in 1979 when I was 5 years old.  I’ve lived here (with some years in Athens) for 31 years and I’ve never ran the world’s largest 10k.  Quite a shame really.  It was fantastic and I wish I could have been a part of it sooner.

My biggest concern going into the race wasn’t the course or the distance; it was getting to the starting line.  With 50,000+ runners, it’s no small task getting downtown Atlanta.  I woke up at 5 AM, had my coffee and was out the door by 5:40.  My plan was to take MARTA from North Springs down to Buckhead.  Initially, Alysia was going to go with me and hold my stuff, but I talked her out of it the night before.  I just didn’t want her walking from the Midtown MARTA station to Piedmont Park on her own at 6:30 in the morning.

I crowded onto the train along with a crowd of other eager runners and we started the ride into downtown.  We picked up more runners at each stop and all of us exited at Lenox Mall.  Emerging from the train tunnel, I couldn’t believe the spectacle that was the Peachtree Road Race.  The Lenox Mall parking lot was just full of people milling about.  One section of the lot was roped off and runners were actually running warm-up laps in a continuous loop.  There were probably 50+ just running around and around.  Hundreds of port-a-potties were available, so I hit one early on to get it out of the way.

I was in wave B because I didn’t get my sub-50 time in until after registration closed.  I was pretty bummed about this because I knew that it meant I’d have to pass a lot more folks than I should have to.  I decided to head over to the corral and wait until the start.  I immediately ran into Nate and we hung out in the back of the wave B group until it was time to start.  We had the national anthem and a cool flyover.  Helicopters hovered in the air above us and there was this sense of excitement that could be felt as we waited for the gun.

Wave B started about 5 minutes after the elites took off.  The first mile was TOUGH.  I side-stepped onto uneven sidewalks, lunged through tiny cracks in the moving human wall, jumped off curbs, sprinted, slowed and dodged my way to an 8:06 mile.  Nate and I were trying to stay together, but it was pretty tough.  We found that hugging the left side seemed to give us the best path, so that’s where we lived for the first mile.

Somewhere during the second mile we started to free up a bit.  With so many runners, you’re never really completely clear of people, but we did have some more breathing room and could get into a rhythm a bit.  Mile 2 is downhill, so it’s one of the easier miles and I was able to significantly speed up to the tune of 7:04.  I think this is where Nate and I got separated.  He ran fantastic though and set a new PR.

By the third mile, I was feeling great.  The temps that morning were in the high 60s to low 70s and it just felt fantastic out.  Mile 3 is downhill as well, and I knew I needed to make up more time from the first mile’s problems, so I jetted to a 6:58.

Miles 4, 5 & 6 are where the majority of folks struggle.  After a few downhill miles, the second half of the race is uphill.  The famed Cardiac Hill is here.  For whatever reason, I cruised up the hills.  I passed hundreds of runners going up the hills.  They didn’t bother me in the least and I gained more and more confidence as I climbed.  My splits were 7:33, 7:26 & 7:10.

As I rounded the turn to head to the finish, I knew I was on pace for a near-PR.  As I came into view of the race clock, I checked my watch and decided to finish as strong as possible.  I came in officially at 46:09 and subsequently set a new 10k PR!  I felt great and I’m really looking forward to running it again next year.  Next time I’ll be in Wave A and won’t suffer so much on that first mile.

I walked over to Piedmont Park to get the famous Peachtree Road Race shirt and was in awe at the number of people already standing around.  Lots of them were family and friends, but I can only imagine what that park would look like in another hour.  I finished in 1,808th place and the park already seemed crowded.  I didn’t stick around for long.  I started to walk back to the Midtown MARTA station.  I was surprised at how long the walk was.  I was thankful that Alysia hadn’t come with me because I would have worried about her making that walk alone.  She’ll be there next year though…running.

The experience of running the Peachtree was incredible.  I’ve never run a more relaxing, easy-going 10k.  Time just seemed to fly by.  There was so much to look at.  From costumed runners to sidewalk bands, the entertainment for the entire 10k is great.  I only wish I would have paid more attention to some of the more historic landmarks.  I have a tendency to not really notice my surroundings and just focus on the run.  Maybe next year I’ll pick up on more of the scenery and tradition.

• Official Results
• Garmin Stats
• Photos of me (You can see in the first photo that I’ve caught up to a lot of the wave A runners.  Next year…)

Tomorrow (July 8th) is my 10-year wedding anniversary.  Alysia and I will be heading to St. Simon’s Island for a weekend getaway, but, don’t worry, we’ve found a little 5k to run while we’re there…

Possum Trot 10k shirt

Last Saturday, I had a very busy day in front of me, starting with the 32nd Annual Possum Trot 10k in Roswell, GA.  I had circled this 10k on the calendar as a possible opportunity to better my 10k PR.  This was the same course used for the Chattahoochee Challenge 10k back in February.  That was my second 10k ever and I ran a 50:09.  It’s a flat course along the Chattahoochee River, so, with my improvements, I figured I could maybe get in a sub-46.

It’s weird how things turn out sometimes.  I ended up running a 48:48 which is a far cry from my 10k PR.  I’m not sure what was wrong that morning.  It was very humid, but it’s been humid out for weeks now, so my body should be used to it.  I started out the race slow on purpose so I wouldn’t kill myself early and not have enough to push with at the end.  I just couldn’t seem to ever get out of “slow” gear though. Each time I thought I was moving quicker and picking up speed, I’d take a look at my Garmin to find that I was still only running 7:45/mile.  Definitely not where I wanted to be for the race.

A couple of things could have led to the poor time.  The night before I went over to high school track to do some speedwork with a friend of mine.  I normally wouldn’t do this the night before a race, but it was the only time we could fit it in.  I think the track work left me a bit sore and stiff in the morning.

The other thing was that I had a tennis match immediately after the race.  It may have been just in the back of my mind the whole time enough to stress me out.  I had to leave as soon as the race was over to hustle back home to change for tennis.  Immediately following tennis, we left for the beach and a 6 hour drive.  So, 10k + tennis + 6 hr drive = a triathlon of sorts I guess.

• Official Results
• Some photos of me: 1, 2, 3 (I think I sweat more in this race than ever before)
• Reviews of the race
• Garmin Stats
• The race had timing chips with start & finish mats.  That’s always a bonus in my book.

My next 10k is the Peachtree which, for those not familiar, is the largest 10k in America.  I’ve lived in Atlanta for 31 years and never run it.  I’m looking forward to the event, but the logistics of getting to the starting line kind of stress me out.  Stay tuned for more on that.

Magnolia Run shirt

Well, I’m a bit behind on my posting.  I usually try and get my race recaps up the weekend of the race, but here it is Thursday and I still hadn’t written it.  Better late than never I suppose.

Last Saturday, I was down at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta running the Magnolia Run.  It was a 4 mile event and gave me a chance to better my 4 mile PR set last week at the Harris Jacobs Dream Run.  Temperatures were in the 80s and humidity was about 90%.  Luckily the course wasn’t too hilly.

I was surprised by the number of runners that showed up for the event.  In fact, I was happy to see they offered timing chips as well.  Bonus!  I love the races that use the timing chips because it usually leads to quicker results and awards ceremonies.

Once again, I took off too fast and ended up slowing down as the race went on.  First mile was pretty good at around a 6:50 or so.  Eventually the heat and humidity took its toll on me though.  I slowed down and my splits got progressively worse.  I ended up getting passed by a number of folks near the end, but still managed to improve on my 4 mile PR by 10 seconds.  I finished at 29:22 which was good for 6th in my age group and 39th overall.  (official results)

TrueSpeedPhoto was there taking pictures.  I’m here, here and here.  Clearly sucking wind.

This weekend I’m back at another 10k — the 32nd Annual Possum Trot.  It should be fast and flat.  Immediately after the race I’ve got an ALTA Mixed Doubles tennis match.  Immediately following tennis, we’re driving down to Seagrove, FL for the week.  I guess this is my version of a triathlon.  Hope my transition times are solid.

I still haven’t figured out what I’m doing on the weekend of 6/26. We’ll be travelling back from Florida on Saturday, so I may have to do a Sunday race.

Harris Jacobs Dream Run

I had my first 4-mile race this weekend at the Harris Jacobs Dream Run.  First time running the distance, so automatic PR right?  Gotta like that.  The race was headquartered at Zaban Park in Dunwoody, GA.  I was very impressed with the facility.  Nice, clean community center.  They had baseball fields, a gym, a pool and more.  Really nice place.

I got down there a bit early and got checked in.  I ran around a bit to loosen up and get prepared for the event.  I felt pretty good and had gotten some quality sleep the night before.  I really felt like it was going to be a great run.  I’m starting to see some of the same runners at these events each week.  It reminds me of when I used to play racquetball.  I’d see the same guys at each tournament and we were our own little group of racquetball junkies.  I guess every hobby has it’s own set of groupies.  I suppose I’m one now.

At 8:00 we took off.  This race had a lot of fast runners participating.  It’s part of the Run & See Georgia series, so you had your usual suspects that run all those races, but there were also quite a few Atlanta Track Club folks.  Pretty cool seeing all the ATC unis.  The first portion of the race was downhill.  I ran a solid sub-7 first mile and felt good.  Lots of folks huffing and puffing around me, but I was doing ok.

The second mile we got into some rolling hills and they started taking their toll on me.  It was one small hill after another for the remainder of the race.  My mile splits just kept going up and up.  I had set a goal of breaking 30 minutes before the race and I barely squeaked in at 29:33.  Two runners that I’ve beaten lately both finished ahead of me in this one, so I guess I just didn’t have my A game that morning.  I had one kid try to out sprint me at the end, but I showed him my olympic-caliber speed burst and edged him at the line.  That was pretty fun actually.  Gotta keep those high schoolers in their place.

I hovered around the timing table at the end to see if I placed in my age group, but no such luck.  I wasn’t too disappointed though.  I saw the awards before the race and I think they were mouse pads.  uggh.  Who uses a mouse pad anymore?  I probably finished about 5th in my age group.  Not too bad, but I can definitely do better.  Luckily next week is another 4-mile race (Magnolia Run), so I’ll have my chance to improve on my time.

Great shirt

• OFFICIAL RESULTS – I finished 5th in my age group and 37th overall.  29:32 
• The shirt is really nice.  A blue technical shirt — probably in my top 5 favorites so far.
• In the first .5 mile This guy veered off to the side wheezing and huffing.  He might have been having a stroke.  I hope he was ok.  I didn’t hear any emergency vehicles, so I’m assuming he made it.
• I kept gaining on the runners around me on the uphills and then losing significant ground on the downhills.  What’s up with that?  I guess I’m not letting it all out on the downhills.  Maybe I’m leaning back too much and using too much brake…
• Overall, I really thought this event was extremely well run and organized.  They had a nice indoor facility to hang out in the A/C if you wanted.  I also met Harris Jacobs’s widow when I first arrived.  Very sweet little lady and it made me feel even better about contributing my $$ to her cause.
• Garmin stats.
• The race advertised that they had the best goodie bag around.  I was anxious to see what they considered the “best”. Toothpaste, toothbrush, mints, 2 koozies, chip clip, cup, dandruff shampoo (sweet!), emory board, and a Wheaties Fuel sample box of cereal.  Not bad.  How about an iPad next time?  :)

Nice goodie bag indeed

Celebrate America 10k Shirt

I wish I had more pictures of this race.  Alysia and I braved the elements and ran a 10k in Alpharetta on Memorial Day.  With the threat of rain looming, we sucked it up and headed out the door.

The course for the Celebrate America 10k was the same course as the Jog for a Cause 10k back in March.  If you recall, the course was long, coming in at 6.45 kilometers.  This prevented me from getting a P.R. that day and also caused me to whine about it a couple days later.  So, I wanted some revenge.

Overall, the race left a lot to be desired.  The shirt is pretty cheap looking – gray cotton.  No goodie bag, not even a box of rice.  This was kind of surprising because the race has a lot of participants.  I would think they would offer a technical shirt and some decent goodie bags.  We got our numbers and Alysia noticed they had incorrectly marked her down for the 5k.  We got that straightened out and we were ready to go.

I think the race directors learned a little about the course from the Jog for a Cause run because this time they started us down the street a bit.  What was strange was that they started the 10k runners further down the street than the 5k runners.  This must have been really annoying for the fast 5k guys.  They had to pass ALL the 10k folks during their race.  Not really great planning in my opinion.

We took off and not even a mile into the run the heavens opened up and it rained HARD for about 15-20 minutes.  My dri-fit shirt wasn’t very dry and, in fact, weighed about 5 lbs.  My shoes and socks were soaked.  It was crazy.  It was raining so hard that I had old sweat that had built up in my hat running into my eyes.  With my glasses fogging up and sweat going in my eyes, it’s  a wonder I didn’t run over someone.  As miserable as this all sounds, it was actually really fun.  I had never run in the rain before and it just turned out to be a great experience.  It wasn’t a thunderstorm, so I wasn’t worried about lightning or hail or anything crazy like that.  Just good old hard rain.  At least we aren’t this guy:

ouch

I ended up running really well despite having to splash through some puddles and carry around some extra water weight in my clothes.  I rounded the corner for the last stretch of road and knew I had a pretty decent time going.  I picked up the pace and passed through the chute at 46:12.  That’s a new 10k P.R. by about 6 seconds.  I don’t have the official time yet, but it should be a P.R. either way.

Alysia also ended up running a new P.R.  It leaves me to think what we could have done that morning without the rain…

There was a photographer there snapping some pics.  Here is one of Alysia and I:

New PR's! I love you. I love you too.

• OFFICIAL RESULTS – They have me at 46:17.  Not happy about that.  The race clock and my watch both said 46:12 at the finish.  Anyway, I finished 5th (out of 22) in my age group and Alysia finished 7th (out of 12) in her age group.
• Garmin stats
• Alysia’s iTouch cut out during the hard rain, but thankfully came back on after she stuck it in her pants.  That would have been an expensive 10k if we had lost her iTouch.
• Neither of us won an award.  They looked pretty nice.
• If you ran the 10k, you were out of luck for post-race refreshments.  No water or food left after the run.  Really poor.
• The course was a double loop.  With the hard rain, it was SUPER tempting to veer off and finish as a 5k.  I know Alysia said she was contemplating it.  I was too.  Neither of us did of course and I felt immediately empowered passing the 5k finish.  It’s like we were warriors.  We didn’t care about the rain.  :)

Next week is Alysia’s triathlon.  I’ll be cheering her (and Nate, Christy & Dave) on Saturday morning.  So, it will be  another Sunday run for me:  the Harris Jacobs Dream Run 4 miler.  Anyone else doing that one?

Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k

Saturday I was just 2 miles down the street from my house for the Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k.  It was shaping up to be a fun race with Nick, Christina and Nate also running.  The race got started at Holly Springs Elementary school.  It was a little windy during the race, but really the weather was pretty nice.  No rain with just a hint of chill in the air.

And they're off!

The course was a bunch of rolling hills.  Just one after another.  I started off pretty fast and, about a mile into the run, kept hearing this guy behind me yelling out pace times.  He was so loud I was wondering who this guy is with the mouth.  I’m moving at about a 6:45 pace and I hear “come on!  The guys ahead of us have nothing on us!  Especially not for my man, Tony.”  Yep.  I knew him.  It was my neighbor, Jason.  I hadn’t had a chance to run with him yet and apparently he’s a talker.  So, Jason and I ran together for about a quarter of a mile or so, but I couldn’t keep up with him and he slowly pulled away from me talking the whole way.

Me finishing

My pace really slowed over the second half of the race, but I picked it up on the downhill finish and came in with a solid 22:05.  Not a P.R., but a good 7:02 pace.  I finished about a minute or so behind Jason.  He won our age group and I claimed second.  I added another medal to my collection.

Holly Springs 5k Medal

Nate came in at 24-something.  Nick was at 27:04.  Christina at 29:33.  Good times on a tough course.  Here are a couple pics of Nick and Christina finishing up.  Thanks Trey for coming out early in the morning and getting some pictures for us.

Christina Finishing

Nick Finishing

After the race we hung around for the awards ceremony.  It turned out that Christina had won her age group!  That’s awesome.  I have 10 medals/trophies/plaques and I am still looking for that elusive 1st place award.  Congrats Christina!

After the run - Me, Christina, Nick

Christina and I with our hardware

• I’m not sure we’ll ever have official times posted.  I’ll keep my eyes open for them, but don’t hold your breath. UPDATED: results (page 37)
• The shirt is grey cotton with the Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k logo
• Here are my Garmin stats because you’re dying to study them.

Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k Shirt

One other thing.  Most races hand you a bag when you check in with various items inside.  Usually you’ll find inside the bag things like your race shirt, other race entry forms, a pen, a water bottle, coupons to local business.  Stuff like that.  Well, the Holly Springs Memorial Day 5k gets the award for most random bag item:

Rice?

In an effort to make up for the race that got canceled back in February, I doubled up this weekend.  Saturday I was in Alpharetta at the 14th Annual Mayor’s Challenge 10k and Sunday I was back at Boling Park in Canton for the Alvin Price 5k for Cancer Research.  Neither race went really great, but I ran solid times for me in both.

Mayor's Challenge shirt

14th Annual Mayor’s Challenge 10k

This was an early start time of 7:15 AM.  I had set my alarm for 5:15 Friday night and had gotten to bed pretty early.  Turns out I set the wrong alarm and so I woke up at 6:17 wondering why it was so light out.  After a brief second of panic, I jumped out of bed, gathered my gear, got some coffee and hit the road.  I made it over to Will’s Park in plenty of time, but my morning routine was shot.  I really hate being behind schedule.

There appeared to be a few hundred folks running the 5k & 10k, which both started at the same time.  The course was a double loop around Will’s Park and downtown Alpharetta.  The hills weren’t too bad, but the humidity was thick.  I ran the first 5 miles really well, but ended up getting passed by a ton of people at the end.  Here’s a photo of one of the people that flew by me in that last mile.

Eat my dust, sonny.

I ended up running a 47:23, which is about a minute off my PR.  I didn’t stick around for the awards.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t place.  I’ll keep an eye open though for the official results.

The shirt was advertised as a technical shirt.  It wasn’t.  100% cotton and actually pretty ugly.  I don’t really understand how you can say a race is giving away technical shirts and then not have them.  Oh well.  They did have a pancake breakfast though for all finishers.  That’s pretty cool.

My Garmin crapped out on me when trying to upload the run, so I’ve got no stats.

Alvin Price 5k Shirt

Alvin Price 5k for Cancer Research

An 8 AM start and a location 10 minutes from my house and I was loving life.  The race was held at Boling Park.  It was 2.5 flat loops around the park.  It was mostly crushed gravel path and some dirt/grass trail, so you couldn’t quite go as fast as on road, but it was a prime 5k course for a new P.R.  Unfortunately, the course was measured short at 2.89 miles.  I ran a 20:52, which would be a P.R. on a regulation 5k course, but, with the distance at 2.89, it was actually only a 7:13/mile pace.  This is 12 seconds per mile slower than my Big Peach 5k run.  Here are my Garmin stats.

yay me

I did come in second in my age group though and got a nice trophy.  The winner of my age group was in at 17-something, so no hope in catching that guy.  Here’s a picture of him.

Fast

I feel like I’ve kind of hit a plateau.  I think in order to get my times down more I’m going to need to do some more focused training — hills, intervals, tempo, fartlek, whatever.  I’m still pretty new at this running thing so I need to figure out how to do some of these types of training runs.  It’s easy to read about them, but another thing entirely to get out there and do them right.

Next week is the Full House 5k.  Should be fun.  Who’s with me?

River Green Run 5k Shirt

On Saturday I ran the River Green Run 5k in Canton, GA.  It was a blustery morning with threatening storm clouds.  For a few anxious minutes before the race I really thought we would get poured on.  Luckily, though, we escaped any rain and got in a nice run.

Let’s cut right to the chase.  I ran a 21:28.  PR right?  Wrong.  My Garmin measured the run at 2.97 miles.  The course was hilly and I knew the whole time that I wasn’t running as fast as last week’s Big Peach 5k PR effort.  So, when I rounded the corner to the uphill finish and saw the clock in the low 21’s, I was surprised and a bit skeptical.  Turns out I was right.  I’m not sure what happened.  Maybe the lead runners turned around too soon or maybe the course wasn’t marked correctly.  The website has the course mapped out and I had verified beforehand at mapmyrun.com.  Based on my Garmin stats it looks like we turned around too soon.  Oh well.  I didn’t deserve the PR anyways based on how I was running.  A full 5k distance would have left me at 22:30 or so.

With all that being said, the race was still a lot of fun.  It was a challenging, hilly course with a steep uphill finish.  The headwinds were strong which made it even tougher.  I did finish 2nd in my age group though and got a really nice little medal to show for it.

2nd place

• Ran into some friends (Freddie & Courtney).  Freddie was running his first 5k and he finished 2nd in his age group.  Very impressive.  That P90X must be working.  Courtney won her age group!   So, it was pretty cool standing around during the awards ceremonies with all three of us having medals around our necks.
• Shirt is white, cotton short-sleeve.
• Some pics of me:  Here, here, here, here, here.  The last three are at the start of the uphill finish.  I passed the dude in front of me.  Just an fyi because I know you were wondering.
• Official Results will be here
• Garmin Stats