Has it really been three weeks since the half marathon? Time flies when it’s spring break and you decide to paint every room in your house. And then get sick. Good times, you guys. Good times.
This weekend’s 5K was a fundraiser for the James Eunice Charity Fund, created in 2011 by John and Tammy Eunice in memory of their son, James. After suffering an unimaginable tragedy, John and Tammy chose to honor their son’s memory by setting up a fund to provide scholarships and donations to many worthy charities in our community. Joey and I have had the privilege of meeting them at the 5Ks, “Grilling for James” at Sam’s Club, and accidentally stalking them at Publix. They are, without doubt, two of the nicest and most humble people you will ever meet.
Funny story – the second time we did the 5K, I ended up walking with Tammy . As we approached an intersection, one of the policemen providing assistance for the race told us to turn right at the traffic light. Turns out we should have turned LEFT. Yeah…that was awkward. I ended up wandering the streets near the route to make up the distance that I didn’t cover. I am both slow and honest, and I wasn’t about to turn in my finisher’s card without putting in 3.1 miles. Even if it wasn’t the same 3.1 everyone else did.
It’s been a while since we saw our “crew” and it was great to catch up with everyone before and after the run.
I have to admit that I had been dreading the running part – we slacked off a LOT after the half, both in running and cross-training. All week I dreamed that we overslept and missed the race, or that I got lost (again) and didn’t finish at all.
But for a slacker, I did alright. Official time was 39:09. I had a little trouble starting Runkeeper so my info is a little off. The takeaway from all this is….I beat Joey. Not by much. But I beat him.
He was ahead of me for the first mile or so, then I started to gain on him as we passed the university. We were neck and neck at the water stop and then I started to pull away. Around the two mile mark we hit the jasmine wall. All of the sudden we were engulfed by the heavy scent of jasmine. Coupled with the humidity it was almost overwhelming. And then, just as quickly as it came, it was gone and we were in the home stretch. I had about a sixty second lead over Joey. I knew he was there but he couldn’t catch me. It was just me and Geddy Lee, cruising through the countryside in a red barchetta (there’s something for you to Google…).
Once we crossed the line and turned in our cards it was time to relax and scarf down a Chick-Fil-A biscuit. We took a lot of pictures and accidentally loitered in front of the porta-potty. Thankfully we didn’t have any potty photobombs.
Info below is from Runkeeper and not official.
Splits:
- Mile One: 11:56 (Photo on the left)
- Mile Two: 12:47 (Photo on the right)
- Mile Three: 12:50
Playlist:
Wishing/If I Had A Photograph of You (Flock of Seagulls), Through Glass (Stone Sour), Little Red Corvette (Prince), Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel), Red Barchetta (Rush), Running on Empty (Jackson Browne), Talk of the Town (The Pretenders), Call Me (Blondie)
And last but not least, this is for everyone who ran the Boston Marathon! Valdosta was represented – we’re so proud of you Debbie G!!
Next Up: The Little River Run 5K (Formerly known as The Road Kill Run) at Reed Bingham State Park
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