Duluth Donut Dash 5K (Race Recap)

 

Duluth, GA
Sunday, September 26, 2021
Race/Event #93
5K #31
Weather - perfect Fall morning, clear mid 50s

This race used to be called the Duluth Fall Festival 5K. It's always been the same route, same day (the Sunday of the Duluth Fall Festival weekend), just has a new name/sponsor now. I've done it seven times before. The race was uneventful, finished with a time of 39:21. The donut and coffee afterwards were very good! :)

One of the things I really like about this race, some of the financial proceeds go for a good cause.  Their website had:

"We are happy to continue our support of Wellroot Family Services’ (formerly the United Methodist Children’s Home) vision of a world where every child is raised in a loving, compassionate, and nurturing home. Their Foster Care Program provides hope and healing to children who have been neglected or abused by providing loving foster homes, as well as helping children find permanent homes through reunification with their birth parents or through adoption. Wellroot Family Services serves the North Georgia community."

Here's my prediction - this may be the very last 5K I do. It's not that it was a bad race, it was a nice race. A very festive atmosphere as it was part of the annual Fall Festival. Friendly people all around, easy going activity going on, and of course free donuts and coffee after the race. The problem, it was only a 5K, 3.1 miles. I just like longer distances. It felt like just as I was getting warmed up and in a rhythm, it was over. I know the saying, "Never say never." We'll see.

Epiphany Lutheran 5K (Race Recap)

For race number 72 I decided to do the Epiphany Lutheran 5K.  I always prefer participating in races that benefit a cause instead of the profits going to some corporation.


Epiphany Lutheran Church will be hosting a 5K Run on March 3rd to raise money for our youth trip to Houston this summer. Every three years, the Lutheran Church hosts a National Youth Gathering that attracts 30,000 high school age participants from around the country. This year, participants will be aiding in recovery efforts for the devastating effects of Hurricane Harvey. All race profits will go toward alleviating the cost of this trip for families of our youth.


I did not pre-register for the race so I needed to sign up when I got there.   Gave them the money, got my t-shirt, and the woman said "the next race number is 238" and started to hand it to me.  My brain quickly wondered if race bib 239 was available so I asked.  She said "yes it is, would you like that one instead?"

I'm sure she wondered why, but didn't ask, and handed me race bib 239.  For my sisters and me, there probably is no other number, in all the numbers, that has as much meaning as this one.  Our dad passed away in 2007 and the number 239 immediately brings back fun, warm memories of him.  Dad had a joke, that he told many, many times, typically in a BBQ restaurant or anytime baked beans were being served.  He would say "you can only eat 239 of them".  Which would always warrant the response "why".  He would then get a gigantic grin on his face and say "because the next one is too farty"!    


As usual, did a combination of walking and running in this race, always aware of heart rate.  For me, no need to stay in the max heart rate range.  It was a good race, well except for the uphill parts.


I ended up placing 1st in the Male 60-69 category for the race.  However, there was only one person in that category!  :)

Strong4Life Superhero Sprint 5K

Yesterday I hopped on Marta to the Midtown Station and then headed east to Piedmont Park for the Strong4Life Superhero Sprint 5K.  Joining 1,077 others for the 5th annual race/event hosted by CHOA (Children's Healthcare of Atlanta) supporting Atlanta's Strong4Life Program, which is designed to help eliminate childhood obesity.  A very good cause.

As I was walking past the Flying Biscuit on 10th Street, a woman, who looked like she was in need of directions said to me "do you know where Piedmont Park is".  She was dressed in race day garb so I said "are you doing the race", she said "yes".  So I said "me too, we'll find it together".  Her name was Marie and as we made our way to the park she told me that this was her first race in about 30-40 years.  Wow!  Co-workers convinced her to get out there and do this.  As we got closer, heard music in the distance and a feeling of comfort came over us as good, we're in the right place and almost there.  The music got louder and before long we saw the starting line, the balloons, tents, and hundreds of people getting ready for the race.  I wished her luck for this, her first 5K in 30-40 years and went off to find the race day registration line.

All signed up, four safety pins, race bib on, ready to go.  It did not take long to notice there were a lot of people in capes and/or dressed up as superheroes.  Man, I left my cape at home!  I actually have one from a race I did a year or two ago.  Oh well.  But this all made sense, after all "Superhero" was part of the name of this race :)

Themed races.  Fun, and kids really seemed to like it too.


9:00 AM rolled around and we were off.  Headed out of the park, took a right on 10th as the race course was actually on the roads around Piedmont Park.  The first mile kind of sucked as it was all uphill, not really steep, but none the less, uphill.  I hate hills when doing these races!  I only like the downhill parts.


As we headed north on Piedmont couldn't help but hear some kids from a balcony in one of the buildings we passed.


"Hey Superman, you suck!"


"Hey Flash, is that all you got?  Come on, you can go faster than that!"


Kids...  However, it's probably something I would have done as kid.


Just after mile one, downhill!  Yay!  So although this blog is about "Walking" I have been doing a bit more running, especially in shorter races, more specifically on the downhill parts.  It sort of feels like I'm cheating on my blog!  Anyway, my left knee is holding up, it feels pretty good, no pain.  Not sure how much running I'll do moving forward.  Time will tell.


Finished the race with a time of 37:14.  Once again, for me, pretty happy with that time.  In my head, my goal more or less has been to finish under 40 minutes.  So this is good.


It was really hot during the race so they were handing out ice cold bottles of water.  It was really good!  Refreshing!  Made my way over to the post race goodies tables and immediately zeroed in on the watermelon.  That was even better than the water.  Looking around the spread noticed bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, blueberries, watermelon, and carrot sticks.  Typically post race spreads include all kinds of not-so-healthy choices, of course justified by just burning off a bunch of calories.  But then I remembered the theme of this race - eliminating childhood obesity.  So it made sense and I am glad they did not include all of those high sugar, high fat, high calorie choices.  It was the right thing to do.

The race was over for me, although they still had the Fun Run for the kids coming up, the race awards, and the best costume contest, decided to head back to the Midtown Marta Station.


Crossing over Peachtree Street came across a fun sight, the Margaret Mitchell House.  She referred to it as "The Dump".  Of course this is where she wrote Gone With the Wind from the bottom floor.

Margaret Mitchell House

Wonder if she ever came out on that back porch to think about what she was going to write?

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Postscript...

Back home, showered, checked results for official time only to discover that I placed 3rd in the male 60-64 category.  Darn, I should have stayed for the race awards!

2017 Fast Track 5K and a Dog Bite

After recently being inspired to get back (and complete) this 100 race/event goal I started a few years back, did the Fast Track 5K in Duluth, GA.  It is a small, local race, this was the 3rd annual.  So local, I didn't even have to drive to get to it, I could just simply walk to downtown Duluth, do the race, and walk home.  Easy.


Nice day, temps in the low 60s, listening to tunes with the earbuds in, walking to the race.  This was nice!  Walking on the sidewalk noticed a woman walking her dog coming the other way.  No worries with the dog, it's on a leash, with a harness, no aggressive movements, nothing really here to be concerned with.  As we got closer the women and I nodded, smiled, and said "good morning".  As we passed each other with the dog in between us, all of a sudden "WHAT THE ..." the dog bites me.  Brain immediately goes into overdrive - what's happening, what do I do, this is weird, end up take two more steps and fall to the ground.  That blanking hurt!!!


The women appeared more upset than me, she said "he's never bitten anyone before, he never does this, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry".  "Are you all right"?


So about that time I stand back up, pull up my running shorts looking to see if the dog broke the skin.  It bit me in the buttocks on the left side but I could not see it, especially with my left Lazy eye.  Brain really trying to figure out what to do next.  I need to see this bite area to assess it - but can't.  The thought comes, oh yeah, I have an iPhone, I'll just ask her to take a picture of it so I can see it.   Yeah this something that you do everyday on the side pretty busy road - ask some women, who you don't even know, to take a picture of your ass while you pull up your shorts!  Yeah, that's the ticket!


So I say to her "I know this is a bit weird, but could you take a picture of this so I can see it"?  She says "sure".


It did break the skin but was not gushing or dripping blood.  She was still in massive apologize mode.  I ask about the dog's vaccines, she says all up to date so that did make me feel a little bit better.  I get her name, number and that was pretty much it.


Okay, where was I, oh yeah the 5K, earbuds back in, walk to the race.


It was about a mile walk and the whole time I'm thinking, I really need to clean this.  Now I'm banking on someone having a first-aid kit at the race.  As luck would have, quite a few   officers from the Duluth PD were at the race for traffic control so made my way over to them.  One of the officers noticing me approach says "can I help you"?  I said "yeah, I got bit by a dog on the way here and was wondering if you had a first-aid kit in your car with anything I could use to clean" as I pull up my shorts and show my ass to five police officers.  Yeah, can this day get anymore weirder?

Thanks Duluth PD!

Luckily, the rest of the race was very uneventful!  We did some group warmups, headed to the starting line, and we were off.

Fast Track 5K

I had a good race, mixing in a little running with the walking for a 38:09 finish.  About 12:18 miles, for me, that's a good day!

Purple Stride 5K & Atlanta Half Marathon

Catching up on races from last year...

 PurpleStride Atlanta 5K, November, 2016, Atlanta, GA

My son organizes this race for us each year as it supports research for pancreatic cancer research and support.  Pancreatic cancer impacted our family, my dad suffered from it.  I'm proud of my son for doing this each year.

We gathered at Centennial Olympic Park in a sea of purple (t-shirts, hats, balloons, streamers,...) to do this race.  As always - a great cause!!!

Atlanta Half Marathon, November, 2016, Atlanta, GA

It has become somewhat of a Thanksgiving Day morning tradition.  After doing this race six times and blogging about it, there really is not too much more to write about.  I do like seeing Atlanta this way and suspect I will probably continue doing this race as long I am in the Atlanta area for Thanksgiving.  The absolute best, best, best thing about this race - since calorie consumption will be significant later in the day - you sort get the feeling you are getting ahead and justifying the overeating that will take place by burning a significant number of calories before the feasting even begins!  :)

If I'm going to do this race in November, need to sign up soon as they do have a tiered pricing scheme:

$65 through 5/30/17
$70 through 7/31/17
$75 through 8/31/17
$80 through 9/30/17
$85 through 11/15/17
$90 at number pick-up

sigh...

Manna Fund Popcorn 5K

Saturday June 18, 2016


Besides recently deciding to do more 5Ks, I've also noticed that I am much more inclined to doing a 5K if I do not have to travel too far to get to it.  Heck the last 5K I did, was so close, didn't even have to drive to get there.  So when I noticed the Manna Fund Popcorn 5K was in my town, it was a slam dunk deciding to do it.

The proceeds from the race support the Manna Fund, I had no idea what that was.  So of course with the magic of Google and a few clicks, it's a 501c(3) non-profit organization dedicated to providing hope and financial assistance to individuals who need treatment for eating disorders.


Other than a pollen alert, it was in the low 70s with a 10-15 mph breeze at the beginning of the race.  This was really nice considering it has been in the 90s for about the last 10 days.  It felt good.


I estimated about a hundred participants in the race, give or take.  The race brochure indicated that medals would be given to the top three male and female finishers in five year increment age categories from 10 and under all the way up to 65 and over.  If it was an even distribution, age wise, of participants, that would be 72 medals.  So in a field of about a hundred, chances were pretty good that a lot of folks would go home with some hardware!


Just before the race started they brought us all in together to explain the course and the guy says "it's confusing but it really isn't".  It's never a good sign when they have to explain the course using the word confusing.   The normal trail at the park was 1.25 miles, so twice around would be .6 miles short of a 5K.  So at a certain point in the course there was a football field (with a track around it) and we needed to do two laps around that track but only on the first lap of the 1.25 mile course.   Being a really low key race, this was no big deal,  Plus it occupies your mind a little which is actually nice during a race.


We were off.  The park was opened for anyone  so there were quite a few others on the course doing their normal Saturday morning stroll/jog.  I'm sure they typically did not see a hundred or so extra people out on 'their' course on a quiet Saturday morning, but no one seemed to mind.


I ended up doing the course in 37:40 so I was happy with that, just over 12 minute miles.  It was a good workout.  And as mentioned earlier, with all of those medal categories, I place 2nd in my age group.  Although, there were only two of us in that age group!!!  :)

Number 64 - Fast Track 5K

Fast Track 5K - Memorial Day Weekend - May 28, 2016


About a month ago, while heading home on the Amtrak Crescent after the Great Saunter, I was thinking about the goals I have for myself on this blog - 100 races/events & 10,000 miles and I can retire from full time work.  Currently at about 8,300 miles and with the fitbit tracking, the 10,000 mile goal should be met in just over a year.  However, for races/events, I'm at 63, a little behind.  There is no way I'm going to do 37 races in a year!  But it looks like I need to focus a bit more on races/events.


So there I was on the train (NYC - Atlanta) thinking I needed to start looking for more races.  Luckily the train did have wifi so a few clicks and I'm on the race calendar on rungeorgia.com.  I am at the point where I really don't like doing marathons so I don't even bother looking at them.  I still enjoy doing half marathons, but not 37 of them!  So I'm going to concentrate more on doing 5K & 10Ks.  And as luck would have it, there are plenty of those to pick from.  Plus, as it turns out many of the 5Ks are basically fundraisers for some type of cause.  This really adds a nice dimension to do these races.


About this time, my mind shifted to where I was on this 18 hour journey so I switched over to the Amtrak tracker app and found we were 17 minutes from Trenton, NJ travelling at 107 MPH!

I was surprised, didn't think U.S. trains traveled that fast.  Okay back to finding some 5Ks.  It didn't take long before spotting a 5K near where I live coming up in a few weeks - the Fast Track 5k.  It just seemed to fit with being on a train going 107 MPH!

Proceeds from race support the Southeastern Railway Museum.  So being on a train (finding I prefer train travel over flying when I have the time) and finding this race just came together, it made sense to do this race.


It was a small race, think it had about 130 participants.  None the less, enjoyed it.


Need to find more races like this one.

Race 40 - Duluth Fall Festival 5K

I walked the Duluth Fall Festival 5K this morning.  This was my 7th time doing this race, four times as a runner, twice as a walker/runner, and this time as a walker.  This morning I had an average pace of 12:07 per mile for a finish time of 37:39.  Ironically, my walking time this year was faster than my walking/running time last year.  The bottom line for me on the walking, no knee pain!

This is a fun race for me.  It's close to home, the Fall Festival is going on with lots of activity before and after the race, it's just a good community type thing.

This year four of us did the race.  My son, his fiance,  my wife, and I made our way to the starting line on a beautiful, crisp Fall morning, with temps in the mid 50s and enjoyed the race.  This was a very special race for my wife as it was her first race!

Raney, Daniel, me, Mary after the race

And of course, for participating we all received a 28th annual Fall Festival 5K, 100% cotton, long sleeved t-shirt!

Perfect timing as we make our way into the cooler weather!