October 5, 2013:
Winship "Win The Fight", my first 5K
Goal: To finish my first 5K with a time less than 30 minutes.
Bonnie and I arrived at McDonough Field, in the
center of the Emory University campus, around 7:45 am on Saturday morning,
shortly after sunrise. The mood was
festive, with prospective runners of all ages, shapes, and sizes, gathering
with friends and colleagues. Several
teams had designed matching shirts for the occasion. I had already stretched out at home and was keeping loose through the opening announcements. Around 8:20 am, the runners were directed to
the starting zone, between McDonough Field and the Dobbs University Center (the
“DUC”). I took a position that I judged would be the middle of the pack, about 50 meters behind the starting line, with
Bonnie watching from a few feet away on the sideline. Most of the others in my vicinity were just
standing around, but I decided to keep active with stretching and stepping in
place while waiting.
The start and first kilometer: At 8:30 sharp, a track gun sounded and the
front of the pack began to move forward.
I started RunHelper with a 1-minute warmup, assuming that it would take
about that long to reach the starting line, however everyone was moving very
slowly in my area until at least a full minute had passed. RunHelper began recording my run shortly
before I reached the starting line. As we
crossed the starting line, a few people began to jog, but here I discovered that most
of the people around me were committed to walking, so I worked my way around them
at a slow jog, and made the turn onto the first straightaway, downhill toward
Peavine Creek. There were hundreds of
walkers in front of me, who must have been on the course before the official
start, and we runners were working our way carefully around our walking
colleagues as we moved down the street.
As I reached the end of the street to turn left at the chemistry
department, I was finally able to reach a decent speed, although still
progressing carefully. We made another left
turn onto Oxford Road, continuing to gain a little more speed as we ran into
the Emory Village traffic circle. For
some reason, the slight elevation going into the traffic circle was a surprise –
even though I had walked through there several times each week - but I powered up to
maintain my pace. Coming out of the
traffic circle, RunHelper sounded the first kilometer, and to my surprise my
time was only 5:28. So I can’t blame the
crowd for slowing me down!
The second kilometer:
The race was now proceeding in earnest, moving eastward on North Decatur
Road, and into the morning sun. Fortunately
I heeded Bonnie’s recommendation to wear sunglasses. This was a major street and so the police reserved only two lanes for our race, to keep traffic moving on the other two
lanes, albeit slowly. The first part of
this section was gently but definitely uphill and I was very conscious of working
to maintain a regular pace. As we reached the top of the rise in front of the Schwartz Performing Arts Center, the drum
corps from Druid Hills High School played a lively rhythm to encourage the
runners. Passing the drum corps, the
road sloped downhill. The police stopped cross traffic at Clifton Road but I passed through the intersection
quickly in case the roadblock was temporary.
As I passed the University Inn, I saw the 1 mile marker on the sidewalk to
my left. I was getting alerts every 0.25
km and maintaining a good pace for me, meeting my goal of staying below 6
minutes per kilometer. As I approached the sharp left turn onto Haygood Drive, RunHelper sounded the second kilometer,
completed at 11:30.
The third kilometer: There was a water stop in front of
Druid Hills High School, but I didn’t really need hydration, and continued without slowing down, except to try to avoid stepping on the discarded
cups. I idly wondered who was going to
clean up all of those cups, when I passed a 10-year-old boy on my left who was walking
and looks utterly exhausted. Then 100
yards later, the same boy passed me at a brisk clip, only to stop again up
ahead to walk. Oh, to be young
again! This stretch was relatively flat
and we had left the walkers far behind, so I could move fairly quickly with the
rest of the pack. In fact I was occasionally passing other runners. Then
I was passed by a man with more grey hair than me, as we reached the back side of
Egleston Hospital. This spurred me to pick
up my pace, and I recovered my proper position in front of him. Ha!
But the joke was on me, because he soon passed me again and put some
distance between us. We crossed Clifton Road again, and the road
turned downhill as we passed the construction site for the newest freshman dorm. The three kilometer alert sounded, at 16:36.
Wow!
The fourth kilometer: The road leveled out at
Fraternity / Sorority Row. I missed
seeing the 2 mile marker and was feeling some fatigue, and younger runners were
passing me. Did they start that far
back? Oh well. I continued with a steady pace, amazed that
some of the younger runners were maintaining a conversation as they passed me. The road curved to the left to pass
the Peavine parking deck, where a cheering section encouraged us forward. Even the policeman was cheering for us! I increased the length of my stride as the
road moved downhill toward the chemistry building, now keeping pace with the
other runners in the area. The four
kilometer alert sounded as we reached Oxford Road again. A volunteer encouraged us with the news that
we were beginning the final loop around campus, and RunHelper recorded my time at
21:56, two full minutes ahead of a 6 minute-per-km pace! I told myself, don’t slow down!!
The final kilometer: We reached the Emory Village
traffic circle again, and took a sharp left turn through the main gate onto
campus, then right past Glenn Memorial Church.
Uphill! I tried to remember
everything I learned in the good form running class, picking up my knees, and
power my way to maintain a decent pace.
Some of the runners ahead of me were starting to slow and walk, and I
managed to pass them. We reached the Rich
Building and turned sharp left, then immediately right to go uphill between
Woodruff Library and the Goizueta Business School. This could be my Heartbreak Hill! I heard the voice of a small child behind me,
and then a man pushing a stroller passed me, going up the steepest hill of the
route! Despite my best effort, I had slowed
down quite a bit, but I was still jogging, not walking. At the top of the hill, I made the final left
turn onto Asbury Drive, toward the finish line.
There was the 3-mile marker! Only
0.11 miles to go! I tried to lengthen my
stride as the road headed downhill between Candler Library and Cox Hall, but I
was really tired. Where is that finish
line? I looked ahead but did not see
it. 100 meters to go: Usain Bolt could run
this in less than 10 seconds. It would take me a little longer. As I reached Asbury Circle, I finally saw the finish line!
I powered up as fast as I could move. Another runner on my left was slowing down,
and I kicked up my steps to cross the line in a photo finish with that
runner. At that very moment, I heard Bonnie shout “Frank!”
 |
| Crossing Asbury Circle, within sight of the final line |
I finished! RunHelper recorded the 5.0 km mark at 27:54 as I passed Cox Hall, probably actually
the 4.95 km mark of the course. I was tremendously pleased to learn that I crossed the finish line before 30:00
minutes had elapsed from the starting gun – and really appreciative that Bonnie
captured the moment that I crossed the line, with the race clock in the upper
right corner of the photo! My official time was 28:22.
I was pretty tired, and gratefully accepted a bottle of
water and a banana from the volunteers as Bonnie met me and we walked into the
cool-down area at McDonough Field. The
realization sank in that I achieved all of my goals for the race: (1) finishing
alive, (2) finishing without walking, (3) finishing in less than 30 minutes. I was exhilarated and
thinking of my progress since I began training in March, when I could hardly
run at all. I thought, "I can’t wait to do this
again!" (but not today or tomorrow, but perhaps Monday). As I cooled down, the field slowly filled with
other runners, who had all finished after me!
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