The final race of the Publix Summer Series was a 5K cross-country race, at the McIntosh Reserve recreation area, a few miles southwest of the small town of Whitesburg. I thought last week's race was remote, but today Google Maps, finding the most direct path, guided me onto dirt roads while I was still a half-hour away from my destination. I was relieved to spot the signs for the Reserve, and was grateful to see the familiar Atlanta Track Club signage and the volunteer guiding me into the field for parking.
 |
| Progressively further and further from home |
I was determined to run today's race more cautiously than last week's 8K race, when I was undone by an unexpected set of hills hidden in the treelike. And unlike my daydreaming during the course instructions for the 1-mile race two weeks ago, I paid careful attention this morning. During my pre-race warmup next to the course, I noticed that the route was two adjacent loops, and realized beforehand that I might easily go off course, especially if I grew tired later in the race.
 |
| The fog burned off just a few minutes before my heat began |
link to video for the start of the 7:24 am heat
As we started the 7:33 am heat, I found myself in the lead, but watching my pace carefully. I was running easily across the grass, which was cut to an acceptable level, like running across a lawn. About 3 - 4 minutes in, I noticed that the inner loop to our left turned back toward the start. I just kept cruising forward, made the turns to return near the Chattahoochee River, and passed the mile 1 marker as my watch signalled 8:30. Sam Benedict was just behind me, I estimated about 5 seconds based on the course monitor cheering each of us in our respective runs.
I had planned to speed up just a bit in mile 2, especially as we approached a gravel road where I thought that I might run a little faster. It turned out that the gravel road was the separator between the outer first loop and the inner second loop. So I dutifully followed the red arrows painted on the grass, except for one little section where we avoided a small culvert draining water into the river. I passed course monitor Jennifer Akor (at least I think it was her behind the mask), and turned off to run on a trail next to the river. I started counting seconds before Jennifer began cheering on the next runner, who I assumed was Sam, but I didn't dare slow myself down by looking behind me: I now had a 12 second lead. The trail was easy to run on, but then I spotted a few tree roots embedded in the ground, and made sure that I picked up my feet. I hardly noticed the roar of the river as the water passed over some rapids, paying more attention to safely passing a couple of women from an earlier heat. I was now +2 people ahead.
 |
| The Chattahoochee River, flowing from left to right link to video |
Just after I passed them, the course monitor directed me to make a left turn - and up a hill! Fortunately the hill wasn't too steep or too long, about 40 feet total. I let myself slow down, just maintaining even effort, knowing that what goes up would come down again. Another turn took me onto a roadway, where I glimpsed Sam further back, so I had continued to increase my lead. Mile 2, 8:43 and 17:13 elapsed.
 |
| Heart rate went up earlier than I had realized. I know to stay below 160 bpm, at least until the last mile, but had reached 175 bpm going up that hill in mile 2. |
 |
| Definitely not an Orange Theory run today. But I didn't crash and burn. |
Now it was "go time". I passed Rich Kenah, directing runners onto the second inner loop. I felt pretty good, although when I checked my watch, my heart rate had picked up to 168 bpm. Surely I could do this for just one more mile, especially since it appeared that there were no more hills ahead. I passed Bob Wells, cheering me on as I passed a man from an earlier heat. +3 on the race, and still leading everyone in my heat. But as I ran across the field, I heard footsteps coming rapidly behind me, and hugged the left side of the line as a speedster from a later heat passed me. I think he was the sub-6-minute guy from my heat in the 1-mile race two weeks ago. I restrained the urge to ask him if he was in the 7:36 heat ... it didn't matter. But I kept him in sight for quite some time. +2 on the race. As I made the first left turn in the field, the course monitor called out "One-half mile to go!". Perfect, I could definitely do this. Just then, a young man passed me, +1, and then another. So I was back to even. But I was running well. One more left turn, and there was the finish line in the distance. I felt like I was slowing down, and afterwards my Garmin trace confirmed that. But as I passed the 3-mile marker in the field (8:15 for mile 3, 25:28 elapsed), I was determined to push my hardest, and made a nice sprint across the timing mat, in the low 7 minute / mile race in those final steps. 25:50!
I was out of breath as usual after a race, but it didn't take long for me to recover. Sam crossed the finish line about a minute after me: at the very end, he was passed by the last man that I had passed early in mile 3. Although I outran Sam in all three races, it wasn't by huge margins, and I'm certain that if age-grading was considered, Sam ran better than I did, relatively speaking. I just hope that I take care of myself well enough to still run sub-30 minute 5K races when I'm in my 70's!
After the race, I noticed a cabin across the field from where we had parked. It was William McIntosh's home, built two centuries ago when he had lived on this property. I had read about the McIntosh Reserve on Wikipedia a couple of days ago. I had learned that McIntosh was a Creek Indian with Scottish heritage on his father's side (hence the last name), and that he had sold the Creek Nation land to the State of Georgia in return for property rights to his own plantation, which became the Reserve where we ran today.
 |
| From the Wikipedia pages on the McIntosh Reserve and William McIntosh |
 |
| Really? |
This afternoon, I began reading "The Second Creek War: Interethnic Conflict and Collusion on a Collapsing Frontier", written in 2010 by John T. Ellisor, a history professor at Columbus State University, available on iBooks and Amazon Kindle. Prof. Ellisor describes McIntosh in more detail, including his role in the First Creek War, in which McIntosh "assisted" future U.S. president Andrew Jackson in a battle against the Seminoles in Florida, sold people of color into slavery, and enriched himself by embezzling funds belonging to the Creek Nation. An excerpt from chapter 1, page 32:
and the introduction, page 13:
We can't change the history of Georgia, but we do need to know about and acknowledge all aspects of our history.
No comments:
Post a Comment