Daylily Dash 5K

Daylily Dash 5K

June 4, 2010
Gray, GA
Time: 25:06
Age Group: 5/10
Overall: 44/177

Comments: It seems that the Daylily Dash in Gray, Georgia, is always "blessed" with interesting weather. That's part of the fun of an evening race in June. Over the last few years we've had overwhelming sun and heat to the exciting electrical storms. Last year the race became a 2-miler as the organizers pulled us off the course early to avoid dangerous lightning. This year we would get another fun weather choice: tropical rain forest humidity.

I came into the Daylily already not quite feeling fully up to racing. My first experience with speed work at the track on Tuesday had gone well - and I had the pain two days later to prove it. My quads were twitching which provided a nice counterpoint to my hips which were singing the pain opera again. Fun. Throw in an inability to sleep and I was a mess for this race. Still, I dragged myself out for the attempt.

I realized it really wasn't going to be my night when I went up to the table to pick up my packet and was told that I had not pre-registered. I had actually pre-registered weeks before using Active.com - a site I usually avoid due to their stupidly high fees. I was trying to beat deadlines on several races and splurged for the extra fees. I knew I had registered but had no way to prove it to the organizers. They had not received a list from Active.com - just checks. I was told all of the checks had been claimed and I would have to pay. I was not grumpy with the organizers - misplaced applications happen refularly - but I was pretty ticked at Active. Now I have another reason to not use their service. I told the folks at registration that I had no money on me and would have to walk back to my truck for a checkbook. That took awhile. When I returned they encouraged me to run the race without paying, and we would clear things up later. I appreciated the gesture and filled out a form so they would have my information. (A check online when I got home showed that, indeed, Active had taken money from me for the race. Hopefully one of those checks paid for my fee.)

I felt just horrible in the humidity. I cut my warm-up down to the bare minimum necessary and tried to walk all the way up to race time. Being a race on Friday night, it was the only show in town. All of the points hounds were present and most of the Macon Tracks were too. It turned out to be a rather large race field.

The start for Daylily is interesting. The pack is crowded back into a corner of the parking lot. This particular stretch is quite wide but not very deep. It's hard to get a good feel on the size of the crowd and where to start. I was back further than usual but had enough doubts about my capabilities to want to move any closer.

Right from the start I suspected I might be in trouble. I had trouble getting up to pace. I fought through a difficult first mile at a disappointing 7:26. I had decided to run with music - something I rarely do these days. I'm glad I did because it helped pull me through the next few miles.

The Daylily course is not very scenic, but I do like its set-up. The race starts off in one direction from the school, goes out a ways, and then loops around a block. It then runs back to the school and past it to the high school. Another big loop, this time around the high school parking lot, turns runners around, and a final run up the road returns everyone to the elementary with a finish right in front of the school. The course is not particularly hilly, but there are some rolling sections that will get some attention.

After my subpar first mile I decided to pull back. There was no chance of PRing or placing in my age group anyway. I would run a comfortable pace and try to have something in the tank for my race in the morning. I fought through the heat and humidty and kept to that plan. The air felt so thick, it was hard for me to ever be comfortable in my pacing or anything. My lack of rest was working on me too. I did find a little final burst of energy to sprint across the line, but that was it. My time was laughably slow, but I was not too upset by it. Frankly, I was happy just to have made it around given the weather and my own personal difficulties.

I had an entertaining talk with Jeremy Bullard. Apparently Bullard had arrived at the race just as we started. He ran a new PR for him, but started several minutes later and received credit for a much slower time. Still, I was quite impressed by anyone who could PR in rain forest conditions!

I enjoyed the cold water, snagged some yummy lemon cookies, and headed home to recuperate. I did not feel up to visiting the Daylily Festival in the park next door which is usually fun for a stroll.