This was a fundraiser for the Guardian Ad Litem project which seeks to
help at risk kids. The project is sponsored by several of the Juvenile
Court Judges. I actually don't know much more than that about GAL.
The GAL'lop 5k race was nice.
Location was downtown Cleveland. Registration was at the Juvenile
Courthouse.
I went with a friend of mine. The crowd was small. I asked the race
director and he said about 100 people, which was good given the
weather. But I think that included the race walkers who started a half
hour ahead (It had snowed the night before, so we were concerned about
running on snowy, icy streets.) 9:30 was the start, but we waited
inside the Courthouse until then. I was thirsty and had a little bit of
coffee, which I don't normally do. I had brought a windbreaker jacket
and pants in case the breeze off the lake was strong. It was cold, but
not windy. My friend of mine and I were talking a lot at the start.
At about a half mile I let he go. He is still currently faster than me.
I kept him in sight a long time, much longer than last time we raced.
I found my pace matched a older woman dressed for Christmas, shorts
with christmas trees, a red shirt, a basball cap with antlers, and
jingle bells on her shoes and around her waist. So you definitely know
if she is behind you! I had seen her before the start of the race, and
I knew she would be strong because then she wore a jacket from the Las
Vegas Marathon, February 2005. I thought that if I can keep pace with
her, I'll be doing okay.
I felt good, yet also like I was straining to maintain pace. Mile one
came at 10:25. Certainly better than my recent training run times, and
faster than the last 5K. I began to worry may I started too fast. But I
didn't worry long. I focused on the runners around me. Granny Jingle
Bells and a couple others from 5 to 20yards ahead but basically going
the same pace. At times they drifted ahead and I tried to close the gap
by doing a little surge here and there. At two miles I was ahead of
granny jinglebells but not by much. She got ahead of me again in the
third mile. I decided to do a surge and just after I started it, she
begain to walk! She may have been setting me up because she passed me
again later.
As we approached the end, there were serveral turns. Granny jingle
bells moved ahead, but a couple other runners came in sight. I slowly
closed in picking up a little speed and just before the final turn I
hit the gas. Granny Jinglebells finished ahead of me But I poured on
the speed. I worried a bit that I started too soon as I was passing a
20yearold on my way to the finish shoot, but he never responded to the
challenge. After the finish, I was totally out of breath and gasping
for air.
I haven't gotten any overall results yet (placement & official time),
but I can say I improved greatly over last race. I knocked over a
minute off my time. My last 5K (Twinsburg Turkey trot) was 32:54. My
time here was 31:22. (Just for reference, my very first 5k was 31:27.)
I found out my friend finished only about a minute ahead of me.
Snacks afterward includes orange slices, water coffee or hot chocolate,
and lots of christmas cookies. My friend won third place in his age
group. Overall the crowd was slow. I didn't hear the first place time
but the second place overall winner was 20minutes plus.
Overall it was a good course, very flat. Mile two finished in the
middle of a long straightaway.
I'll have to run this again next year.
Ed