Goal C: To better my 2014 time of 26:14
Goal B: To break the 25:00 barrier
Goal A: To outrun Curt Walker and Brian Minor
The Atlanta Track Club (ATC) hosts the Hearts & Soles 5K each February, at the Georgia Perimeter College campus in the Panthersville neighborhood on the south side of Decatur. I ran this race as my first ATC event in 2014, and then volunteered in the 2015 race when I was focusing on improving at longer distances, not wanting to blow out anything on a fast shorter distance. This year I will try to run all nine of the ATC's Grand Prix events, as I will win a special T-shirt if I complete all nine races. The Hearts & Soles race also has a Valentine's Day theme, and so Bonnie and I entered in the "In-Love" couples category, Master's Division, under the team name "A Thousand Times Yes!" - which was Bonnie's response when I proposed in October 2009!
In recent months my times have been improving, so that I'm approaching the times that Curt Walker has recently run. Curt was one of my 2014 Peachtree-In-Training coaches, and is also one of the co-founders of the Tucker Running Club (TRC), so I do a training run with him most weeks on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Brian Minor is a new runner who joined the TRC last summer. He recently completed his first half-marathon at Thanksgiving, and is heading to New Orleans in a few weeks for his second. Brian and I run at similar paces and have done quite a few Sunday morning runs together.
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| Tucker Running Club was well-represented this morning! There are 18 in this photo, and at least 2 more regulars also ran with us this morning. |
Before this morning's race, I did about 30 minutes of yoga stretches at home, following a Runner's World video. Since discovering this video in late December, the yoga routine has really helped with some age-related stiffness, and probably also helping to build up my core. Bonnie and I arrived at the race location slightly more than an hour before the start time, which gave me plenty of time to warm-up in the frigid morning air. I decided to jog the entire 5K course at an easy pace, taking short walk breaks every 5 minutes. That was not only a good 30 minute warmup, but also reminded me of every challenge that would come up in this race. The race route is not that interesting, passing by athletic fields on the way to Cedar Grove Middle School, and has only one real hill, about 40 feet in elevation. The main attraction is the prospect of a fast course. In addition, I now know quite a few people who are regulars at ATC races, and the Tucker Running Club promised a good turnout this morning.
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| Three amigos! Brian, Frank, and Curt |
Brian and I agreed to start together, and I talked him into starting with me at the back of wave A, for runners at a 7:30 min / mile or faster pace. Normally I line up in wave B, but I was concerned that I might start too fast in the front of that wave and would not be able to sustain the pace for the full 3.11 miles. Curt is always a contender for an age group award and so he tends to start near the front of wave A in ATC races. Without much fanfare, we received the signal to begin, and Brian and I crossed the starting line about 20 seconds after the official start. (Curt began about 10 seconds ahead of us.) Brian and I stayed together up the first hill, but after making the left turn onto Wildcat Road, I felt like I moved a bit ahead of him. The warmup run had really helped and I felt strong throughout the race. I had set my watch to the kilometers setting so that I would get a signal about every 5 minutes, planning to take walk breaks if I needed them. But with the first kilometer alert, I still felt strong and decided to keep running. Shortly before reaching the mile 1 sign, I spotted Curt Walker ahead of me, and caught up to him. He said "Hey Frank!" as I caught up to him, but I didn't have any breath to respond and only raised my right hand in greeting. I thought that I would run with him for awhile, but I found myself passing him and easily moving ahead. I passed the mile 1 clock at 8:00 sharp, corresponding to about 7:40 for my first mile. Normally I have to slow down if I'm running at that fast of a pace, but this morning with the cold air and my long warmup, I was invigorated and just kept moving.
The second mile was mostly flat and I kept running strongly, around a 4:45 minute per kilometer pace. As we approached the school, I knew from this morning's warmup run that the route curved around the school. In 2014, that curve seemed to go on forever, but this morning I knew exactly what I would be facing, and had the mental energy to keep running strongly. As I made the turn, I saw Curt Walker coming up to the turn, followed a moment later by Brian Minor. One of the fun things about this run was being cheered by friends in the Tucker Running Club on the return leg. Again I could hardly spare a breath, and simply raised my left hand to acknowledge friends, but I appreciated the encouragement. I had planned to take a walk break at the water stop at the midway point, but feeling strong I simply grabbed a cup of cold water from a volunteer, took a sip without breaking pace, and just kept moving forward.
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| Race route, with kilometers labeled |
I passed the 2 mile sign as it read 15:35, corresponding to about 15:15 elapsed for me, and a 7:35 second mile. Shortly afterwards, the 4-kilometer alert sounded at 19 minutes even! At that point I knew that I was likely to break the 25 minute mark even if I slowed down a bit, but was determined to keep up a pace under 5:00 minutes per kilometer if at all possible. Now it was time to run up the hill. I remembered suffering on this hill in 2014. Although I had to slow down a bit today, it didn't seem as difficult, as long, or as high as it had felt in 2014. Several people did pass me in this section, but I didn't let it bother me, knowing that I was running with a fast group this morning. As we approached the top of the hill, I could see and hear the volunteers cheering us on. The road flattened out, and I began to speed up. Upon making a right turn back onto the main road, and seeing a long downhill stretch ahead of me, I lengthened my stride and began to accelerate. I passed the 3 mile sign at 23:20! Wow, I realized that I might finish in close to 24 minutes!! Making the turn into the parking lot and then a left turn into the finish chute, our perennial speedster Corey Tanner from Tucker Running Club was cheering for me. As I reached the finish line, I recognized Deborah Chensvold, a regular ATC volunteer, and she congratulated me as I crossed the timing mat with 24:23 on the clock!
When I checked my watch, I had finished in 24:03, and it was a legitimate 5K (5.05 km, 3.14 miles covered)! Personal record - and when I received the official result, I had finished in 24:00 even!! Best of all, I wasn't too winded and quickly recovered as I walked forward another 100 yards until I reached the volunteers offering water and bagels. Curt came up behind me, and we realized that I had outrun him for the very first time! (To be fair, Curt had a bad cold a week ago, and that may have slowed him down today, although he wasn't making excuses.) Brian crossed a couple of minutes later, and then we cheered successive friends and Tucker Running Club members as they continued to cross the finish line.
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| Tucker Running Club after the race, at least those that could stay until 9 am! |
Today's race was successful on many counts. The yoga stretches at home and the 3-mile warmup jog on the race route certainly helped. I also found a perfect pace that I could consistently maintain throughout the race, with km splits ranging only 4:41 - 4:51 minutes and mile splits 7:35 - 7:50. I've never before run a race that consistently from start to finish.
Goal C: To better my 2014 time of 26:14; Achieved!
Goal B: To break the 25:00 barrier; Achieved with 24:00 official time, 7:44 average pace!!
Goal A: To outrun Curt Walker and Brian Minor; Achieved!!!
338th out of 1719 finishers, 24th out of 73 in the 50-54 age group. Bonnie and I placed 11th out of 15 teams in the "In-love" Master's Division.
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| Bonnie finished strongly! |
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