I'm no longer a COVID virgin. After 3-1/2 years of dodging the dreaded virus, five vaccinations between March 2021 - Seprtember 2022, it caught me when I had completely let down my guard. I missed the Decatur-DeKalb 4-miler on Saturday August 5, as we went to Houston to visit my mother. Based on the timing of the onset of symptoms, we were probably exposed on Sunday August 6, at some stage of our return from Houston Hobby airport onto Delta flight 1509 through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. I had registered to run the Vinings Downhill 5K on Saturday August 12, but the night before the race, I developed symptoms. Fortunately I reserved an 8:15 am appointment at our local Immediate Care facility. The physician assistant confirmed the COVID diagnosis, and a slight "wheeze" in the lower lobe of my left lung "but not too bad" she quickly assured me. It was just enough to earn myself a prescription for Paxlovid. A five-day anti-viral treatment was the cure. Days 1 - 3 were fairly unpleasant, including some brain fog, but on day 4, I felt well enough to take an hour-long brisk walk at our local park. On day 5, I worked in some 60-second easy runs interspersed with walk breaks. On day 6, Thursday August 17, my isolation period ended and I went to work. In the evening I completed a 5K easy run concluding with four strides. I didn't feel any ill effects from COVID other than the expected slight lack of fitness from not running for several days. Although the current strain seems to be extremely contagious, I seem to have escaped any serious or long-term adverse affects. I decided that could run today's race, but would do so cautiously. My only goals were to run the first couple of miles conservatively, then pick up the pace if I was capable of it, perhaps racing the final kilometer or so. That would get me to the finish line in less than 30 minutes, I hoped.
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| In front of Centennial Olympic Park before the race |
I arrived for today's race in time to warm up, out-and-back on the last half-mile of the race course, as I did before last year's race. Lining up near the back of wave B, I said hello to several friends and acquaintances in the wave. Wave A started almost as soon as I arrived, we moved up in wave B, and it was time to run! I decided to run with Lindy Liu for awhile. Lindy was doing the race as a tempo training run, preparing for the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day. Her pace seemed like the right pace for me, around 9:15 min / mile pace. The first mile was north on Marietta Street, gently downhill or level the entire way. I kept reminding myself, take it easy, I'll have to run uphill in the 3rd mile. I didn't see the mile 1 marker, but my watch recorded 9:10 for mile 1, just about right.
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| 66 deg F at the start!! |
At that stage, Lindy sped up a bit and moved ahead of me. I caught up with Colleen Curran, who I met five years ago when we were both in the training group for the 2018 Publix Atlanta Marathon. She's training for the Atlanta 10-Miler in mid-October, a race that I recently registered for myself, along with the Thanksgiving Half Marathon. I think I did most of the talking as we ran together for a half-mile or so. At the U-turn onto Tech Parkway, I left Colleen behind, and caught up with Susie Kim. I wasn't paying too much attention to my pace, but wasn't pushing things, just rolling along. At the water station, Stephanie Batson and Kim Harrell were cheering me on, as I accepted a cup of water from Stephanie. Other than the short walk break to drink the water, that was the only walk break that I took in today's race. Getting back up to speed, catching up with Susie, we started working our way up the first little hill on the Georgia Tech campus. I lost Susie in that stretch, and just focused on running my own consistent pace. Cresting the hill, the mile 2 alert sounded, 9:07, 18:17 elapsed.
Approaching the intersection with North Avenue, where I had completed my warmup earlier this morning, I knew that I was about 6 minutes from the finish line. My watch showed 22 minutes elapsed, so I was definitely going to break 30 minutes. On Luckie Street, I caught up again with Lindy Liu. We ran together for a moment, then I was in front. I was getting ahead of most of the other runners around me, without consciously speeding up, so I think that most of the other people were slowing down. I was running well, just trying to find a straight path to run. A couple of volunteers were cheering us on: one of them said "I want to run like that old guy." I looked around and didn't see an old guy gaining on me, so I just kept working my way forward. Up and down another hill, then I could see the traffic light for Ivan Allen Blvd up ahead. It took another minute to reach the intersection, 26 minutes elapsed as I crossed the street. Now it was time to pick up my pace. The route was net downhill from this stage, so I surged ahead, running past the Georgia Aquarium. Mile 3 alert, 8:54, 27:11 elapsed. That was basically my finish time last year, but post-COVID I'm just happy to be running.
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| Happy with my pace progression! |
Before reaching the final turn onto Baker Street, a couple of younger men passed me. I tried to keep up with them, but I was at my highest gear. I made a beeline for the finish line, but a young woman jetted past me. Where did she come from?!
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| from Atlanta Track Club Facebook page, added August 24: I'm in the gray singlet, still fuzzy |
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| A few seconds later, the woman in black is gaining on me. I was oblivious at that very moment. |
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| Where the heck did she come from???!!! |
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| Resignation: no way I can catch up to her. Her gaze is totally focused on the finish line. |
Anyway I crossed the finish line, official time 28:06. I was pretty happy that I had properly parceled out my energy across the distance.
I chatted with Lindy for a few minutes after the race, and she was heading out for 3 more miles. I was thinking that I was done, but after I picked up my shirt and dropped it off at my car, I decided to follow Lindy's example and go out for a few more miles myself. I need to get my mileage up if I'm going to have a good experience in the 10-miler and the Thanksgiving half!
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| Race statistics |
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| Getting back into the training routine with an 8-mile day |
