LaAmistad Buckhead 5K

So D and I had a 5K on the schedule. A was doing this race. Monday I verified she was doing this particular 5K (yes), and D and I signed up for Saturday's race. She said it was flat.

A picked us up.  Weather was 38 at 8 but supposed to be 50 by 10.  We got there.  It is in the rich part of Atlanta.  Another megachurch although nothing like the one in January.  This one just had a coffee shop the size of 4 Starbucks.  The church (across the street from the coffee part) didn't seem that big. A informed us she checked the course again, and there was one big hill.

This was an inaugural race, benefiting ESOL (I think) at an afterschool gym.  There were quite a few people (probably 300-500) which is a good turnout.  We went to where we thought we were supposed to start and waited.  Suddenly everyone started walking into a neighborhood. Was this the start?  WTF? This was everyone's opinion.  Finally we saw the Start Banner.  Maybe 10 words were said, and the gun went off.  I started the Garmin when I crossed the Start. (No chip time).

A was in front of me. I don't know where D was.  I passed a lot of people. A lot of people passed me.  I just ran.  I almost ran into this one woman (PIGTAIL, PT) that for the rest of the race made me keep my head up for her constant stretching in the middle of the street.  Lots of little kids were in the race too. That was cool. A said the kids were members of the gym, so that was cool.  We passed the water station at .75 miles.  I didn't get any, I just turned up the street.  I kind of wondered if we were going to pass the Governor's House.  A said we would pass Kenny Rogers and one of the founders of Home Depot's house (so we were going by BIG houses).  Well I didn't see any of these houses.  A had also been non-chalant about the hill. It was HUGE and LONG.  It seemed like it would never end.  I passed the 1 mile mark.  11:14.  Wait! What?  No wonder this hill is so hard.  Finally we got to the top and went down.  It was short but steep. (It turns out A runs the route the other way).  I finally lost site of A.

On the way down the hill, I nearly ran into PT.  Seriously, how much does one have to stretch in 1 mile?  For awhile I ran around little kids, so I was back to looking down.  There were a lot of trees and my face (sinus) hurt. Damn Pollen.  I thought about the houses and everytime I went to look, I was about to trip over someone. So again, still no looking.  I got to mile 2 at 23:24.  Again, fast (I ran 2 miles on Wednesday at 23:30).  Could I keep this pace up?  God dammit PT, pick a pace.  I came upon a couple who had run the ATL HM before.  They had a decent pace so I picked it up.  Listening, the woman had an issue.  The man asked if she wanted to stop. Would say we have .75 miles left, etc. So I picked up the pace.  My watch was reading 34 minutes.

Could I get there before 37:50?  I had no clue where I was.  I started counting down mailboxes.  A cop had traffic stopped. Would he make me wait (no)?  Where is the finish?  36... I could see where we started.  Can your legs go faster, AL?  C'mon.  I looked at mile 3.08.  36 something.  I turned and saw the finish.  I didn't see D.  I was tired.  I sprinted with everything and got to the chute.  3.14 in 37:34.  A new PR!!!!

I was so happy, even if the course was a little long.  Afterward, D (who was standing at the last turn...I just didn't see him) said J (A's husband) had dropped off C (A's daughter) before going to a music lesson (J not C).I got my T-shirt and some water.  Then we waited for C to do her 1K. It seemed to take forever for it to start (the sweat of my shirt was making me cold).  Right before it started C decided A should do it (A did the 5K).  So we waited for them.  C did great!  She was very happy with herself.

D got in the low 26s. A got 35something.  So we all did great.

Mile1: 11:14
Mile 2: 11:52
Mile 3: 12:56
Total: 37:34 (11:59/mi)