Heart Hustle 5K

Heart Hustle 5K
February 6, 2010
Griffin, GA
Time: 22:58
Age Group: 1/8
Overall: 10/123

Comments: I made my annual trip back to the Heart Hustle 5K. I always enjoy this race. Elementary teachers are great organizers. The ones at Futral Road Elementary School in Griffin, Georgia, always serve up a great race.

The weather has been perfect for the Heart Hustle the last few years. Not so much this year with cold and eventually wet conditions. Another change was in store as well: a major alteration to the course. A pancake breakfast at the nearby high school kept the race from going along its usual route. Instead the organizers served up an interesting boomerang style out and back and out and back. While a lot of the course was the same as previous years, the hills seemed much more intense.

I felt good at the starting line and decided to push the pace a bit. I have had success recently at going out faster than goal pace at the start to get clear of the pack. Then I slow myself down to pace and hold it until picking speed up again at the end. I'm sure running purists would scream at me for this technique, but it seems to be working. The trick is limiting the intensity of the burst at the beginning.

I had a good start, hindered a bit by the usual young runners who grossly underexunderestimated the 5K distance - by about 4.5K. One boy almost became a hurdle when he took a walk break after about 100 yards. Two other little guys were running quite an interesting race - veering sideways across the road. I was glad to have a little extra starting speed to get by the human obstacle course.

The race itself was fairly uneventful. I managed to pass quite a few people, attacked the hills well, and managed to recover a bit on the descents. I glanced at my watch as I turned into the bus drop-off area that served as the finish line. To my surprise, I was dangerously close to going over 23 minutes. I picked up the pace and came roaring across the line at 22:58. That is now the 3rd race I have run at that time. Weird. I really thought I had run faster. A look at my watch told me I had run faster - just longer too. Instead of being a hint short as in the past, the new course was .07 long. That would equal about 30 extra seconds, so my pacing was actually quite good.

I was pleased to see that my warm-up partner, Tony Edmondson, had managed to win the race. One of my former technical theatre students, Kenneth Reeder, continued his incredible running season with a second place finish.

The Heart Hustle has great after race food - hooray for Chick-Fil-A biscuits and oatmeal cookie sandwiches! I like the fact that the organizers print out a nice certificate for every finisher. A lot of the regular running crowd scoffs a bit at this touch, but I like it. I always pick mine up! The awards are fun too - handmade by the students. This year I did not leave with one of the trademark ceramic hearts that go to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers. For once, I earned one of the plaques adorned with student artwork for 1st place. Very cool.

I enjoyed sitting with a friendly group of Run & See Georgia Point Hounds. I seem to be one of that group now, and nicer people you'll never meet. They were troubled by the lack of a finishing clock. That would be an area of improvement to look into as well as getting the course the proper length. Still, I really enjoyed this race yet again and plan to keep it on my calendar for years to come.