Arising Runner | The journey of a novice runner

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!)

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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