Racing Today

Today was Atlanta's Finest 5K.  This is the Atlanta Track Club's race that benefits the APD's Foundation.  It is their way of thanking the Atlanta Police for their support all year.  It is a great race.  The cadet class runs chanting the whole the race.  The pre and post race event take place at Centennial Olympic Park and Pemberton Place (World of Coke and GA Aquarium).  We even got to pose for photos in front of Atlanta's newest landmark our new Ferris Wheel.

We were taking it easy this race.  This is the first of three back to back to back 5K's on our schedule.  We will take the first two as training runs.  The third race, Vinings Downhill, happens right here in our backyard.  It is a pretty fast course and we will run our own races that day.  Today was a fun race.  We saw some of our track club friends and enjoyed, what has been a rare sunny day this summer.

We ran from the middle of the pack.  It was really congested at the beginning and there was a lot of zigzagging in and out, up on the sidewalk, outside the cones.  We settled into a pace around 8:45/mile and with so much moving around I finished the race at 3.19 miles on my Ismooth Run app in 28:06.  This race was pretty big, over a thousand runners.  Finished 12th in my AG out of 85.  So not bad.  We were just having fun.  I am always happy to return to a race I have run before.  This was third time running this race.  It was only the second race I ever ran in 2011.  I had to walk up the hills.  Today I saw the hills and said to my husband what I usually do, "now will be my time to pass some folks."  I love running uphill and I can usually get to some open area for a more comfortable race.  Of course the best part is always sharing these mornings with my best friend and running partner, my husband.

It feels good to be back to a regular race schedule and I am always amazed at how much more we get done when we start our day early by racing.