We went to Tallahassee this weekend for a family wedding. Coach Carl had me down for 8 - 10 miles on Saturday morning and 4 miles on Sunday, but noted "Get in what you can in FL". It was a nice morning, around 60 deg F. I had scouted out a rails-to-trails project about a mile south of our hotel, the Capital Cascades Trail beginning in Cascades Park, and was not disappointed! In fact Cascades Park is probably a giant flood control feature, which I hope served Tallahassee well during a major hurricane last summer. As I set out on the trail, near the campus of Florida A&M University, I saw a crowd gathering at an underpass and then spotted a sports timer! I asked someone standing near the clock if there was a race today, and when it was beginning. For the Martin Luther King weekend, the Rotary Club of Tallahassee Southside organized the inaugural Southside Dream 5K, due to begin at 8:15 am, about 45 minutes from then. The organizer assured me that I wouldn't be in the way as I continued my run, but after heading out another mile or so, the trail narrowed to a sidewalk. I decided to return to the starting area. I figured, if they accept last-minute registration and if it's not more expensive than the $30 in emergency cash on hand, I could certainly run a 5K as part of my 8 - 10 miles.
Sure enough, registration was simply and inexpensively managed, only $22 to register for the race without buying a race shirt. I proudly pinned a bib to my Atlanta Track Club shirt, then headed out for another mile or so to stay warmed up. By the time the race was to begin, I had finished 4.6 miles, and felt good and strong. There were water fountains along the trail and in the park, but I hadn't eaten anything other than a few pieces of fruit at the hotel over an hour ago.
It appeared that there were only about 50 people running the race. I wasn't sure where to line up but found a spot about 20 people back. We began the race with little fanfare, simply a man saying "Get set ... Go!" I carefully started at an easy pace. One man took off at high speed, and about 10 more runners started faster than me. I settled into what I felt was an easy pace, around 7:45 min / mile. The trail was straight at this point so I could see everyone in front of me. About 1/4 mile in, I passed a group of three: a man taking photos of two women as they ran together. Then I realized that I was in "gulp" fifth place! Surely that wouldn't last ... but before long I zipped past another runner to move into fourth. I gradually caught up to a man who seemed to be running at my pace, and decided that perhaps we could run together. I started up a conversation, "This is a really nice trail ... I'm visiting from out of town and came across this race!" Unfortunately he was already breathing pretty heavily and wasn't able to say much in response. I decided to move in front, into third place. I just hoped that I wouldn't regret this later on!
About 50 feet in front of me was a woman wearing a purple shirt, and far ahead of her was the speedster in a white shirt. I wondered if I could catch up to the woman, but felt that might be difficult if not impossible, and I wasn't trying to prove anything today. I reached the water station before the 1-mile mark to a fairly large cheer group. I took a cup of water and continued running without a break. Shortly past the water station, we reached a roundabout after which I remembered that the trai narrowed to a sidewalk. To my surprise, the woman in front of me made a left turn traversing the roundabout, and then I realized that the policeman was subtly waving me in that direction as well. Good thing I was paying attention! I might have missed the turn if I hadn't seen the woman in front of me. Happily, the 12' wide path continued beyond the roundabout!
Around about 1-1/2 miles in, I could see up ahead where two boys were standing with purple shirt. The lead runner turned around and raced back toward the start. He was really young! I said "Great job" as he sped past. Then the woman in the purple shirt made the turn, I congratulated her, and then I made the turn, giving the boys "high fives". Indeed I really was in third place, and the fourth place runner was possibly a full minute behind me!
Unfortunately I began to feel tired at this point. The awareness that I had run 6 miles without fuel began to sink in. It probably would have been fine if I had continued the medium-long run at a 10 min / mile pace, but running faster had taken more out of me. I began to slow down, struggling to maintain an 8 min / mile pace. After the race was over, I saw that the route had been gradually downhill on the way out, with about a 30 foot elevation increase on the way back, but I couldn't really see it while I was running.
As we made a turn at the roundabout just past the 2-mile mark, I dared to look behind me: I could see the fourth place runner in the white shirt but pretty far behind me. Nonetheless I felt that he could catch me if I bonked. The woman in front had opened a pretty big lead so there was no longer any thought of trying to catch her, I just wanted to avoid the embarrassment of being passed after having built a strong lead. About 20 minutes in, I noticed at a roundabout, I lost sight of the woman in front of me for a moment - so when I got there, I thought about taking a short walk break while I could "hide" from the runners behind me - but decided that would be embarrassing if anyone did see me, so just kept on running!
At 22 minutes, I saw 2.75 miles on my watch, and determined that I can do anything for just three more minutes. I managed to speed up a little, as the overpass where we had begun the race came into view. It still seemed far away. I took another quick look over my shoulder but didn't see anyone behind me. I wanted to finish strongly, but my legs wouldn't go faster than an 8 min / mile, but it wasn't going to matter. As the clock came into view, I saw that I would finish around 25:50 as I entered the short finishing chute, smiling for the finish line photo. There wasn't a timing mat but two women sitting at a desk must have recorded my bib number and finish time.
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| First, second, and third place finishers |
I tried not to let my disappointment show at finishing slower than 25 minutes - after all, I had finished third! I congratulated the second place finisher, Ivory, who told me that she was surprised to see me so closely behind her at the turnaround. I admitted that she opened up a pretty big lead on the way back. The fourth place runner came in, then more runners trickled in over the next 30 minutes or so. I gratefully accepted a banana for calorie replacement, followed by some grapes and a couple of large cups of water. There were plenty of shirts available so I paid the extra $5 as a souvenir of the race.
No one had recorded my age so there weren't age group awards, but the first place male and female runners received awards, with the promise of trophies to come! The overall finisher, a high school senior named Malachi, finished in just over 20 minutes. I congratulated him before the awards ceremony, and learned that his personal best was under 18 minutes, amazing! He probably would have broken 20 minutes if he had had any competition running at his pace.
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| The awards ceremony |
With a 1.3 mile return to the hotel, I ran 9 miles for the morning, so mission accomplished for today's workout, even if I ran 3.1 miles of it faster than intended. I'm glad that I ran a 5K on the spur-of-the-moment. My only regret is that I hadn't brought some ShotBlocks on the trip, or found some other way to get some quick calories right before the race, otherwise I might have felt stronger in the last mile.
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