Fire Ant Festival 5K

Fire Ant Festival 5K
March 27, 2010
Ashburn, GA
Time: 21:49
Age Group: 1/2
Overall: 9/91
Awards: Medal, backpack, odometer

Comments: I had run the Fire Ant Festival 5K two years ago and enjoyed it. I always like races tied in with wacky local festivals. You don't get much wackier than a festival dedicated to that summer Georgia pest, the dreaded fire ant. Ashburn, Georgia, apparently loves their fire ants. They have giant statues of thems, people dressed as fire ants, you name it. They also have a nice city festival with booths, food vendors, and a carnival. One of the food trailers had fried alligator. I was really wishing it was lunch time!

The race is hosted at an alternative school. I have never seen a school bathroom that clean in my life. The school is older but is very well looked after. I like seeing schools that are treated well.

The race is rather low-key. As usual it had a great shirt. This time it was a parody of a NASCAR shirt with fire ants filling the human roles. Fun! I also enjoyed (as usual) the volunteer shirts that were labelled with "WORKER ANT". As I said, they do enjoy their ants.

I enjoyed visiting with Jerome and Terry before the race and had a quick chat with Brenda Gail. It was a smaller race (maybe 80 or so) so I lined up in the front row. It still feels very strange to be up there, almost like I'm trespassing. I keep reminding myself that if I think I may finish in the top-10, I should be in the front to start.

The start was very informal, almost casual. I headed out at a good clip, around 6:00 pace as usual for the start. I was amazed at some of the people who were sprinting out in front of me. Either they have gotten a lot faster recently or they will be regretting this fast start soon, I thought to myself. It turned out to be the latter. I passed a number of panting people in the first mile.

Two years ago I compared the course to running up and down a lot of fire ant mounds. The description is still apt. None of the hills are particularly big but they do come along very regularly. I focused on really using the downhills and trying to maintain pace on the uphill sections. The first 2 miles were very strong. I wondered if I could hold on for one more and a PR. My legs continued to respond well, and I focused carefully on keeping my breath support strong. I heard someone come up behind me. It was the front-running female. She (I found out later) decided to use me as her pacer to the finish. I responded well to someone running right behind me and picked up the pace slightly. I finished the race at a sub-5:00 mile pace and a new PR: 21:49. The overall women's finisher thanked me for being her pacer - I thanked her for my PR. I love when runners can support each other during a race - however it happens.

I managed to finish 9th overall and first in my age group. Fun prizes: a small (but very attractive) medal, a pedometer, and a Fire Ant Festival backpack for first. Second and third place received a medal and a different prize package. I liked the variety.

I wrapped up a great race morning by strolling down to look at the booths. Sadly, the alligator people weren't serving breakfast. I had to satisfy myself with a banana and water for the ride home.