Filed Under (Races, Road Running) by Matt on 07-12-2010
After a long hiatus from running any races, I’ve decided to register for the Polar Bear 5K to be held on January 22, 2011 in Marietta, GA. I’ve been forced indoors by my schedule and the cold weather, so I needed some new motivation to keep pushing myself with my running. Now that I’ve spent money, hopefully I’ll stick to my training plan. We’ll see if $20 is enough to keep me from blowing it off…
Well, it all led up to this. 16 weeks of training, sometimes religiously, sometimes slacking. This was THE day I, along with the rest of the CCFA Team Challenge Team Georgia, had been training for.
The weather was amazing. The scenery was amazing. The course was safe, smoothly paved. The only problem was that it was NOT Boston. It was in Canton, MA. Close, but no cigar.
The course was quite challenging with tall and long, drawn out hills; and although they ran out of water (mostly just the cups) along the way, I was prepared with my own water bottle and had trained frequently on hills.
That’s my mini review. All in all, a GREAT weekend. Everyone I encountered on the course was friendly and Team Challenge camaraderie was out in full force.
Now, to the facts.
Goal: 2 hr 30 min
Distance: 13.1 mi (claimed), 13.3 mi (actual)
Chip Time: 2 hr 17 min 4 sec (PR!)
Avg Page: 10:18/mi
I ran the 2010 Big Peach 5K race in Atlanta with other members of Team Challenge. It was nice to talk to some people pre-race and get motivated to run, plus I was able to get a last burst of motivation thanks to one of our coaches who was cheering by the finish. Big Peach Running Co put on an excellent race.
Time: 26:55 (NEW PR!)
Learn more about CCFA Team Challange Boston or donate now!
Well, this morning I got up at 5:00 AM to make it down to Atlanta for this year’s O’Highlands Jig & Jog 5K in Virginia Highlands. My 5K PR is from this course last year.
I was not hoping to set a new PR, just push myself again to run through it the entire time. Well, they made it easy for us because the course was short.
I crossed the finish line in 24:57. I hit the 2 mile marker slightly past 18:00, so there is no way I went from a 9 min mile age down to under 7. I also recalled a painful hill last year. Well, in talking with a friend who ran, a group of girls came up, having overheard us, and we discussed it being a short race. The group consensus was .25-.5 miles too short.
When they announced the winners, the director said something about not being able to drive the motorcycle, implying that the lead bike misdirected the path of the runners. A Google search found another blogger posting it as 2.67 based on his GPS. I just pulled up MapMyRun.com, found the missing hill, and it comes in at 0.43 distance skipped, so that matches a 2.67 mile course.
So, although it was not a 5K, it was a race on a relatively hilly course. I guess we’ll chalk the cost up to the t-shirt, since no one can honestly mark their times down as a new PR (although I am sure some might).
2.67 miles – 24:57
