Georgia Peach Festival 5K

Georgia Peach Festival 5K

June 19, 2010
Fort Valley, GA
Time: 23:49
Age Group: 2
Overall: 62/360?

Comments: Ah, the Peach Festival 5K. I love this race, really I do. It has a fairly flat course (unusual for this area), great organization, nice t-shirts, and decent amenities. The only problem: every one else loves it too!

The popularity of the Peach Festival 5K just continues to grow. This year more than 350 runners took part. The race attracts some of the faster local runners thanks to the cash prizes for the winners. Once you throw in a flat course and the prospect of free samplings of the world's largest peach cobbler (if you wait until afternoon) and you have quite a lot of company at the starting line.

One of the challenges of the Peach Festival race is making the first turn. The course starts at the edge of downtown Fort Valley and runs through a residential section that always reminds me strongly of my old haunts in Corinth, Mississippi. After a tenth of a mile or so runners make a sharp right turn. This turn can be challenging with so many runners packing in together. I planned better for it this year by starting more to the center of the road. I then did not have quite as far to creep over as well as avoiding being packed into the corner on the turn.

The race itself fell into what;s become my usual summer pattern. I pushed myself hard but did not kill myself. I have accepted the fact that my times will be slower than I would like. I am just not a very good summer runner.

I did manage to save up a little something for the finish line just in case. I had been marking another runner in front of me. I thought it would be fun to catch up with him before the finish line. As I grew closer to him, I suspected that we were probably in the same age group. I shadowed him for the last half mile and then made my move after the final turn. He kept pace with me for a few seconds as I continued to up the speed. I kept holding back, waiting to fend off a final kick from him - especially after hearing his friends encourage him as we approached the line. The big final kick never came and I cruised across the line. Turns out he was indeed in my age group and my fun at the end allowed me to take second. I also was rewarded with a few minutes of hacking for my effort. I do not get sick after effort like this, but I can trigger quite a bunch of coughs if I'm not careful.

I visited with many running friends, encouraged my students over the line, and picked up my trophy at the awards ceremony. The group photo of the award recipients was entertainment in itself.