February 22, 2014:
Charles Harris Run for Leukemia 10K
Goals: To finish in less than 54 minutes; to run every kilometer in less than 6:00 minutes
Today’s race
was the culmination of my February races: a 10K beginning at Tucker High School
near our home, and finishing near Druid Hills Middle School, formerly named
Shamrock Middle School. The race was
named after a former principal at Shamrock Middle School, who died in 1981 at
age 49 from leukemia. His son has
organized an annual race in his father’s honor, this year in its 34th
running. The race had a good rating on
Roadraceplace.com, and I was excited to participate in a race near our home in
Tucker. Moreover, I was intimately
familiar with the route, as I have driven the section from kilometer 1 to
kilometer 9 on Lawrenceville Highway in my daily commute to Emory. The race was billed as a popular qualifier
for the Peachtree Road Race (registration deadline in March), and the downhill
course as well as the late February timing has undoubtably contributed to its
popularity.
In my last
10K training run, four days ago at Lucky Shoals Park, I set out to run at a 6
min / km pace for the first five kilometers, with the intention of saving some
energy to run more quickly beginning in the later parts of my run. Sadly, the slow start didn’t help, and I just
ran more slowly than 6 minutes in the last five kilometers, including an
embarrassingly slow 7:00 final kilometer.
So I didn’t really have a race strategy for today other than to be aware
of where all of the uphill and downhill sections were in the course.
Earlier this week, I reviewed the results from last year’s race. Having run the Eastside Beltline 10K in 55:45
in December, and achieving a personal best 5K time of 25:23 last week, I
realized that my times would not raise me above the bottom third of last year’s
field in the Charles Harris race. (Spoiler alert: I won’t be
winning a medal in today’s race.)
Around 7:15 am, Bonnie dropped me off at the county library
near our house, a half-hour before the scheduled 7:45 am start, about three
blocks from the starting point, and then she headed to the finish area to
exercise on her own and wait for my arrival.
I was the only person walking to the starting point: everyone else that
I saw was running! As I reached Tucker
High School and walked to the back of the building where the runners were
gathering, I saw a cinder track where quite a few people were warming up by
running laps on the quarter-mile oval track.
Not to be outdone, I soon joined them, taking the first lap slowly to
warm up, then speeding up a bit more in the second lap, on the third lap
running at my expected race pace, and concluding with a slower cool-down
lap. Hmm, was it such a good idea to run
a mile immediately before running 6.22 more miles? I quickly put that thought aside, took a cup
of water and sipped it down while walking to the starting area, where a few dozen
runners had already gathered. I decided
to take a position about 30 meters behind the starting line. As we were joined by other runners, I saw my
physician standing with one of his neighbors. I had known for many years that he was a
recreational jogger, having occasionally seen him running in my former
neighborhood in Druid Hills, near the Emory campus. At my physical exam last year, after I had
lost about 25 pounds and had told him that I was starting to run, he had
encouraged me to enter the Winship Cancer Center 5K. He seemed pleased to see that I had slimmed
down a bit more, and I learned that he is a regular participant in the Charles
Harris Run. We were then joined by a
half-dozen younger runners, who were apparently some of his students from Emory
Medical School.
In this race, there were also a few wheelchair racers in the
group, some racing on their own, and others pushed by friends. Several people in the crowd were wearing
shirts from the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, and my Dad had appreciated the
society’s support when he underwent successful treatment for lymphoma in
2002. Another small group of runners
were wearing shirts and even a cape in the design of the Venezuelan flag. So amongst the serious runners, I was glad to
see a diversity of other interests represented in the group. As we waited for the start, the early morning
sun was shining directly in our eyes. I
was one of the few runners wearing sunglasses, but only short sections at the
start and near the finish would take an easterly direction. As the race time neared, a few clouds blocked
the sun.
The start and first kilometer:
I checked my position, about ¾ of the way back in the crowd. We received an alert about 30 seconds before
the start, I cued up the RunHelper program, the starter’s gun sounded, and the
crowd moved forward onto Lavista Road.
As I crossed the official starting line, I started up the RunHelper
program, and was on my way. I found
myself working my way around slower runners in front of me. Like a jackrabbit, I was beginning much too
quickly, but overcome by the exhilaration of the start, I threw caution to the
wind.
In the first half-kilometer of today’s race, I was running at a 4:30 per km clip, even though I was working my way around “slowpoke” runners. I was staying to the left of the group, near the center line of the road, as both east-bound lanes were reserved for us. We quickly proceeded to the eastern terminus of Lavista Road, and at the Walgreen’s at the corner, turned onto Lawrenceville Highway. Before I knew it, we had already covered the first kilometer, in 4:45 minutes.
The second kilometer: There was a slight rise as the road crossed over the railway passing through downtown Tucker, but I was relieved to discover that the climb was very mild. The group of runners then turned the corner past the intersection of Hugh Howell with Lawrenceville Highway, for the long straightaway to the east, toward Decatur and Atlanta. I was running in the left lane of the two east-bound lanes reserved for the runners. As I passed Main Street, my nose was suddenly assaulted by the odor of frying grease emanating from the Burger King. I can’t believe that I used to eat at places like that! The odor was almost nauseating and I was motivated to get away as quickly as possible. The alert for the end of the second kilometer sounded, at 4:44 minutes and 9:29 total elapsed time. If I could only maintain this, I would finish in less than 50 minutes.
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| I'm at the top center of the photo, with the lime green cap, sunglasses, and blue jacket. |
The third
kilometer: We ran up a mild rise to
the intersection with Fellowship Road.
The police were blocking traffic at major intersections, so that we
could run through unimpeded. Unfortunately
I was already starting to feel the first bit of tiredness. RunHelper sounded an alert of 2.5 km as we
approached the intersection with Brockett Road, which I had previously noted as
the quarter point for the race.
Remembering how I felt at the turnaround point midway through last
week’s 5K, and not having much energy after finishing the 5K, I began
to wonder if I would be able to finish today’s 10K. But the road began a gradual downhill for a
long stretch, and I remembered from studying the
The fourth
kilometer: This section of
Lawrenceville Highway is heavily industrial, especially along the right
(northwest) side of the road, with the railway passing behind buildings and
warehouses. We passed several used car
dealerships. In this section, I found
that other runners were beginning to pass me, a few moving significantly faster
than me, so I moved to the right lane of the road, so that others could pass me
safely. But I feared that some of the
“slowpokes” in the first kilometer were now passing me. There were not that many people behind me at
the start, so it was statistically likely that some of the runners passing me
now are having the last laugh, if they recognized me from the start. I reminded myself that I’m not racing today
to win, I’m racing to improve on my previous time of 55:45. So I will just run my own race. The 4 kilometer alert sounded, 5:24 for the
fourth kilometer and 20:05 elapsed.
Oops, now at a 5:01 minute per kilometer race. The race route now narrowed to one lane. A 50 minute finish would probably be
impossible, unless I made up a lot of time on a later downhill stage of the
race.
The fifth kilometer: Upon passing
the Steel Mart at the 4 km mark, I saw an encouraging sign hanging from a
street-side mailbox, reading “Run for Love!” in rainbow colors. Several other colorful signs followed, spaced
about 100 meters apart, including “I don’t know you, but I’m proud of you.” Thanks to the signs, and perhaps also due to
other runners passing me, I picked up my knees a bit higher, and focused on the
mechanics of running, trying to keep a consistent pace. At this stage, a woman crossed into the
street several meters in front of me, dodging the other runners to get to the
cones. I thought that she was perhaps
waiting for a bus, but then she joined a wheelchair racer that was pushed by a
young woman, and I realized that they were going to run together. We crossed a big intersection at Northlake
Parkway (to the right) and Cooledge Road (to the south). A few minutes later I saw that the first
water station was coming up on the right, and I moved to the far right of the
lane. Although I wasn’t really thirsty,
I thought that it would be wise to take a sip or two of water. I slowed down to accept the cup of water with
both hands, and then realized that another runner was coming up quickly behind
me. He barely avoided plowing into me,
and managed to dart around me to my left.
I ran slowly for several steps while I took small sips of water, then
dropped the cup into the last garbage can as I picked up the pace again. The five-kilometer alert sounded, indicating
another 5:24 kilometer and elapsed time of 25:29 at the halfway point. At least I wasn’t slowing down any further.
The sixth kilometer: As we
approached the funeral home and cemetery, we began a nice downhill stage. I tried to lengthen my stride a bit, but I
couldn’t take much advantage of this section.
The wheelchair racer and runners were about 10 meters in front of me, in
the left side of the lane. Then of
course, the road turned upward again, as we approached the perimeter highway,
I-285. Some runners slowed, and a few
even began walking up this hill, but the woman pushing the wheelchair barely
slowed. Here I was appreciative of my
hill training, as I was able to pass a few runners in this stage, and maintain
a decent pace. As we reached the
intersection with Montreal Road East, the six-kilometer alert indicated 5:32,
and 31:01 elapsed.
The seventh kilometer: The
stage crossing the Perimeter was the last, and perhaps the biggest uphill
challenge of the race. However I was
able to maintain my pace, and even caught up with the wheelchair racer. Out of respect for the wheelchair pusher’s
ability to maintain her own good pace up the hill, I decided to run with the
wheelchair racer for a moment instead of deliberately pulling ahead – and I
knew that she would probably have passed me anyway on the next downhill
stretch. We ran together through the
large intersection overpassing the interstate.
The police were forcing southbound drivers who had attempted to exit at
Lawrenceville Highway to turn around back onto the Perimeter, presumably to
take the next exit about one mile to the south at Stone Mountain Highway. As we passed Montreal Road West, the road
leveled out. The hardest part of the
race was over, and the challenge now was to endure to the end. The seven-kilometer alert indicated 5:56, and
36:57 elapsed.
The eighth kilometer: The
section was a mild downhill.
Unfortunately I was unable to lengthen my stride, so I didn’t manage to
speed up at all. The wheelchair racer
pulled far ahead, and a steady stream of runners passed me on the left. I mean, they kept coming, and coming. I was going to finish last if this kept up
much longer. My momentary joy at
reaching the CVS, the three-quarter mark for the race, was quickly tempered by
a twinge in my right knee. I had felt
this before on occasion in training runs, which had forced me to stop running
and walk the rest of the way. That would
really ruin my time if I had to walk the final two kilometers, but if the pain
grew any worse, I would need to stop running to avoid serious injury. I focused more on mechanics, picking up my
knees, and that helped a bit. Certainly
the pain didn’t get any worse, and I decided that I could keep going. In fact the road took a slight rise as the
eight-kilometer alert sounded, and the change in running mechanics helped the
knee, I guess using a different ligament.
Even though this stage had been mostly level or slightly downhill, my
time for the eighth kilometer was only 5:54, with 42:51 elapsed.
The ninth kilometer: The 8
km mark was also the five-mile point, with a clock showing slightly more than
43 minutes. I took a cup of water at the
water station and took a couple of sips.
I tried to calculate my anticipated finish time although I was so tired
that working arithmetic in my head was difficult. Or perhaps I wasn’t happy with my answer
projecting a finish time of 54 – 55 minutes.
I was still on pace for a personal record, but I wouldn’t be able to
move up to starting wave C for the Peachtree Road Race if I didn’t finish in
less than 54:00 minutes.
Ever since crossing the Perimeter, there had been groups of people
cheering us on. Quite a few were young
people wearing college sweaters, including some Emory students. Some of them were even cheering me
specifically (no one else ahead or immediately behind me) and I managed to gasp
out a couple of times “Go Emory!”
I had been looking forward to the ninth kilometer ever since I had first learned about the Charles Harris Race late last year. The long downhill
The tenth and final kilometer: The intersection of Lawrenceville Highway and
North Druid Hills Road has a deserved reputation as metro Atlanta’s most
dangerous intersection, and in the top-10 nationwide for collisions. I’ve seen the immediate aftermath of two
collisions myself. But today it signaled the final kilometer of
the race! I picked up my knees as I
turned the corner and quickly covered the block to Mistletoe Road. Another right turn onto the shady residential
street was followed by a third right turn onto Mt. Olive Drive. There were advertisements for the Intown Ten
for next weekend (probably not for me...).
A few people who had already completed their race were walking back to
the parking area at North DeKalb Mall.
Mt. Olive Drive took a broad turn to the left and there was the six-mile
sign! Only 0.22 miles to the end. But I couldn’t see the finish line yet! The road was also uphill in this section. Finally, upon reaching the crest of the hill,
I could see the FINISH. And it was not
nearly as close as I had hoped it would be.
I couldn’t even make out the characters on the clock at first, and by
the time that I was close enough to read the clock, the time had ticked over to
55 minutes. But I could still set a
personal record if I hurried. As I drew
within 50 meters of the FINISH, I saw two women ahead and to my right who
seemed to be slowing down. But the
announcer was encouraging us to finish strong.
I mustered my last bit of energy, began pumping my arms and increasing
my pace, and quickly accelerated to a fast sprint. A group of men at the finish line, probably
working for the race, could see that I was rapidly gaining on the women and
cheered me on. I passed them both, with
about 10 meters to go, and the clock reaching 55:30! I flew through the finish gate to cheers and
Bonnie’s cry of “Frank!” I gave a fist
pump and tried to grab my cap to wave it in the air, but it fell off behind me
and I ended up reaching behind to avoid dropping it in the road.
After the finish: Oh my
gosh, I was so tired. I kept walking
forward to try to cool down, Bonnie called again, and I turned around and
walked back toward her, but kept moving, to keep anything from cramping up, and
continued walking up Mt. Olive Drive to Druid Hills Middle School, where the
finishers were gathering. Bonnie was so
excited with my finish, and she had captured the perfect photo! At the school, I picked up a couple of cups
of water and a banana. There were a lot
of people who had finished ahead of me, but I finished. FINISHED!
I almost forgot to pick up the commemorative technical shirt, but
remembered just before we left the school to walk to Bonnie’s car.
By setting a personal best, I achieved my primary goal, to improve
a little with every race. But I learned
today that significant further improvement will require some training with a
knowledgeable coach, which I hope to do once the Peachtree training sessions
and group runs begin in late April.
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