Saturday morning was the 'flat' Greek Fest 5K race. This race is flat by Charlotte's standards. The race is run around the Greek Church in the Dilworth neighborhood and draws runners who are hoping to set a new 5K Personal Record (PR). This year it drew almost 1,300 runners.
The course starts in front of the Greek Church on East Blvd and runs East on East Blvd (down) then turns right onto Dilworth Rd West, which is mostly flat, but there is a small hill or two. Then the course turns left onto Dilworth Rd East, then left onto East Blvd, which is flat to slightly up hill. You then take a quick right onto Park Rd and then a very quick left onto Kingston Ave, which is a long slow incline (about .34 miles). Then you turn left on Lyndhurst, which is flat, then left onto Worthington which is a nice long slight decline (about .43 miles). Then you repeat the Dilworth loop and finish by running another slight incline up East Blvd back to the church. The hardest part of this course is the ending. The incline is probably the same as the Kingston stretch, but you can see the finish line the entire time. And it appears to move out of your reach with every step!
Last year I managed a 24:47. This year I managed a 27:24. I did everything wrong. Didn't get enough sleep. Didn't get out of bed early enough. Didn't seed correctly (entirely too far back! I was 30 seconds off the start line!). I gave up at the 1 mile mark when it said I was running about 8:40. I don't think I was awake for any of it.
But I ran into several friends afterwards who had done very well. They were very happy with their time and most had run a personal record. I joked that next year when I look up my time, I'll know I can beat it. So basically, I set up a slam dunk for next year!
4 comments:
Always start at the front. You've been running for 5.5 years (god, been that long?); you've earned it. That is the flattest course around Charlotte (though not necessarily the fastest). I personally think the firecracker in huntersville is fast.
Yeah, but some races seed better than others. I was pretty tired that day and wasn't thinking clearly. Funny that I was a minute faster on a course that was pretty hilly a couple of weeks ago. I got talked into a 30k trail race at the end of the month. But I think it's pretty flat. Salem Lake 30k, heard of it?
Yeah, I know a guy who ran it and based on his time I'd say it must be fairly easy. Heck, may as well just do a 50k...
Ha! I'm still having achilles/plantar issues, so not really up for long runs right now. Not sure how I'm going to get through 30K!
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