September 25, 2020: The Atlanta Track Club Virtual 3K Cross-Country race

Last week, the Atlanta Track Club announced a free Grand Prix event, a 3K run that we were encouraged to cover on a trail. I signed up, and decided - almost on a whim - to run at Yellow River Park in Snellville. Bonnie and I used to regularly visit Yellow River on Sunday mornings after WeightWatchers meetings, taking hikes along the river and getting a little bit lost in the hilly forest. On Friday morning, I woke up well before sunrise, and the weather looked promising for the next few hours. Almost on a whim, I decided to run at Yellow River Park. I arrived around 7:30, and warmed up by jogging along the river for about a mile, taking a few photos. I set my watch to metric so that I would get a signal when I completed 3 kilometers.

At the north end of the park, I began my run: on a trail overlooking some rapids where the river passed through some large rocks.

I was running quickly and lightly. Before long, I was on an asphalt trail, not exactly what the track club might have been thinking, but that was the pathway through the park.

About 1 kilometer into the run (5:10 elapsed), the asphalt path had ended, and I headed onto a real trail.

I ran across a bridge, onto a fairly wide sandy path.

It had rained a little bit the night before, but there weren't too many significant puddles (the photo below was the biggest puddle I saw), so it was a nice route to run.

I tried to remember the idea of following the river by turning left every time I came to an intersection. It took a few minutes before I saw the river again, but then ran parallel to the river.

I was aware that I was slowing down a bit, but I wasn't really racing, just getting my Grand Prix race credit and enjoying an early morning run in a nearly empty park. I passed a couple walking on the trail, trying to give them plenty of distance, then back on the trail by myself. 6:08 for the second kilometer, 11:18 elapsed.

Shortly afterwards, I had reached the end of the trail. At least I couldn't see how to go forward, but I could turn around and head back toward my starting area. Making a big loop, I leapt over a fallen tree (didn't fall!) and headed back the way that I had come. Or so I thought. Things looked a little different, and then I realized that the trail by the river was 20 feet to my right. Oh well, I just kept running since the trail seemed good. On a whim, I took a left turn heading away from the river. It looked level at first. Then I gradually began running uphill. I probably slowed down some more, but I didn't have much further to go. I saw another man running up ahead, in fact I was gradually gaining on him. I decided to slow down just a bit, I knew that I was approaching the end of 3 kilometers, and didn't want to pass him only to stop within a minute or two.

At a trail intersection, the other runner turned right. I decided to turn left, and was on my own again. The route turned downhill, rather steeply! I was scrambling down some rocks, leaping over tree roots, determined not to face-plant. And then the watch sounded the 3 kilometer alert, 6:30 for the third kilometer, 17:49 elapsed as I stopped my watch. I looked around, in the middle of the forest. Overall, I was pleased to see that I had finished in less than 18 minutes. Now to find my way out of the forest! I began walking, thinking that I was returning to the river, but when I checked the map app on my phone, realized that I was walking exactly the wrong way! Eventually I found my way back to the river trail, even began running easily again to get a nice cool down.