The Atlanta's Finest 5K race involves the Atlanta Police Foundation and members of the police academy, in a race that starts and ends near the Georgia Aquarium, just north of Centennial Olympic Park. It is advertised as one of the flattest 5K races in the area - although there is no such thing as a completely flat race route in Atlanta. I had run this race in August 2014, near the end of my first year of running, but in 2015 I had volunteered, as I was running a half-marathon the next day, and in 2016 I skipped the race to focus on the early weeks of the marathon training program.
 |
| Bonnie and I, shortly before sunrise at Pemberton Place |
I felt that I would easily improve on my 2014 time of 26:14, and was aiming to run another sub-25 minute 5K. Around 6:45 am, I joined a few friends including runningnerds Brian Minor, Beverly Ford, and Kristi Swartz for a warm-up run. As my two best 5K times were set after running the race course at an easy pace in the hour before the race, I proposed the same for today's warmup, and as we all needed some extra miles for our respective half-marathon / marathon training programs, we all agreed. One of the things I noticed along the route (and had also seen during the Peachtree Road Race) were the giant garbage trucks blocking major intersections. I guess this is going to be the new normal, especially with two bad incidents just in the past week, with terrorists deliberately driving vehicles through crowds of pedestrians resulting in fatalities and many injuries: one last Saturday in Charlottesville, VA; the other a couple of days ago in Barcelona, Spain. Runners are advised in pre-race materials to watch for hazards or potential trouble "see something, say something", but in the heat of competition, none of us will be thinking about outside dangers, we're just trying to avoid bumping into other runners or twisting an ankle on a pothole, so I was relieved to know ahead of time that the police were taking extra precautions for our safety
It was quite pleasant during our warmup run, 66 deg F, and other than a tiny short cut to stay on the safety of the sidewalk, we covered 3.03 miles of the race route, arriving to the start/finish area 13 minutes before the first wave was to begin. I stretched a bit, talked with a few friends who were in wave B, listened to the National Anthem and pre-race announcements, and then wave A began their race. I had hoped to get closer to the starting line before today's race, but at about 10 rows from the starting line, I would have had to push my way to get any closer, and it didn't seem appropriate to do so.
 |
| Before we began our 3-mile warmup jog, around 6:45 am, with Brian Minor, Beverly Ford, Kristi Swartz, Bonnie and me. Brian and Beverly have a big day ahead: this evening we're attending their engagement party! |
As we began our wave of the race with the loud toot of an air horn, the announcer shouted "Go! Go! Go!" and we were racing a few steps before we had crossed the starting line! The Atlanta Track Club hires a fantastic announcer for its races. He maintains a high level of enthusiasm throughout the event, beginning well before the start of the race, and continuing to the very last finisher. I always enjoy listening to his patter! Most impressively, he doesn't seem to repeat himself as he finds new ways to encourage runners to their best performance, especially as we approach the finish line.
Within 50 yards of the start, the entire pack made a left turn onto Marietta. I spotted an opening in front of me and began to rocket forward, then suddenly there was a young woman trying to cross the street, perpendicular to the fast-moving current of runners. I managed to pull up and twist a bit to the right to avoid running her down; whew, that was a close call! I guess she didn't know that there would be a short break between the back of our wave and the next wave of runners. Anyway, I managed to get back up to speed, and quickly established my target pace, just under an 8:00 min / mile pace. The warmup had been perfect. Nothing was sore, and I was feeling strong and moving well. At 7:57 elapsed, I passed the 1 mile marker just past Means Street, which marks mile 25 of the Georgia Marathon heading toward Centennial Olympic Park in the other direction.
 |
| It's not a picturesque route, but as a central location it's easily reached, with plenty of parking, and permanent and clean restrooms in the park |
We took a slight right turn onto Northside Drive, and then headed for a sharp right hairpin turn onto Tech Parkway, marking the southern border of the Georgia Tech campus. I had watched the elite runners make this turn when I was volunteering a couple of years ago, and tried to hang to the left while speeding up a bit to make sure that I would have room to make the turn without cutting off anyone to my right. Despite the "advantage" of moving a few miles per hour slower than the elite runners, I didn't manage to make a nice smooth curve going around the turn, and really had to dig to straighten out onto Tech Parkway. At first we were going downhill under a railroad underpass, but as we started to go uphill, I began to feel the first bit of tiredness. Funny, I had hardly noticed this when we were jogging at an easier pace 45 minutes earlier.
In the 2014 race, I had remembered feeling extremely thirsty shortly after missing the water stop, so I made sure to get to the right side of the road as I approached the water station. Unfortunately the cup that the volunteer handed me was only 1/4 full, if that! Fortunately I had hydrated well before this race and wasn't really thirsty, but it was nice to take a 20 second walk break. But with the two mile marker ahead, I discovered that my overall pace had dropped to 8:09 for the second mile (16:06 elapsed). And that was including a short burst at a 7 min/mile pace before making the hairpin turn.
From previous experience, and this morning's warmup run, I knew that the third mile would have a gradual but relatively long uphill section. I kept pushing myself hard, but in this section I realized that I was now being passed by as many people as I was passing myself. For a short time I tried to keep up with a guy wearing a black shirt "El Oso Blanco" (nickname for a former Atlanta Braves baseball player), but The White Bear opened up a good lead and I eventually lost sight of him. The long stretch up Luckie Street was familiar from the final mile of the Hotlanta Half. This time I stayed near the cones down the middle of the street, staying far away the divider separating the bicycle lane from the roadway, over which I had nearly tripped in the half marathon earlier this summer. In this part of the race, a runner probably around my age wearing a blue shirt passed me three times - I didn't recall passing him twice in between, but I'm sure it was the same guy.
 |
| You can see where I took the walk break (1.8 miles), and how I struggled near the end of the third mile. But (spoiler alert) I fired up the jets for the last quarter-mile! |
As we crossed Ivan Allen Boulevard, on the back side of the Georgia Aquarium, I began to accelerate, and was pleased to find the higher gear. I managed to pass a few more people as we reached the mile 3 marker (8:13, 24:19 elapsed). I wasn't checking my time at that moment, but figured that I was close to a 25 minute finish if I had run each mile around 8 minutes. Making the final left turn to the finish, I could hear the announcer saying "Look for the Finish Line, Look for the Finish Line!" Someone rocketed past me on my left - amazing, I will never be able to move my legs that fast - but I was gaining ground on a couple of other runners ahead of me. Running directly east into the sun, I couldn't see the finish line at all, but could see the silhouettes of a cluster of people not too far ahead who seemed to be standing still, and then I saw the timing mats just a few steps before I finished.
As I stopped my watch, I was surprised and then momentarily disappointed to see 25:08 as the time (25:04 was my official time), but quickly put the disappointment aside: I ran a good race for me, I ran my best, and I was happy that I was able to finish strongly. Looking over the stats, my fastest mile (mile 1) was 20 feet net downhill, my slowest mile (mile 3) was 25 feet net uphill, and in between (mile 2) was 4 feet net uphill, so my effort was probably fairly even throughout. I did make the best use of the 15-foot downhill finish, covering the last 0.11 miles in only 45 seconds.
Next weekend I will run my first relay, a 20K race with four 5K loops, as the captain of a Tucker Running Club team. I'm looking forward to the relay, but am hoping that I can run my 5K stage in less than 25 minutes.
 |
| Celebrating our finishes under the giant Coke bottle cap at Pemberton Park, just outside of the World of Coca-Cola. |
No comments:
Post a Comment