I ran one of my favorite races again this year, and 3rd time was the charm. In 2012, the first year we lived here, I hadn’t been running too consistently, but had a great time running this race with my dad. I took a few years off, then ran it again in 2015 and improved my time. This year I had a goal of 1) a personal best, and 2) sub-23 minutes, which would also be a PR. Also, to not pass out from the heat 😛
This year, I thought I’d list why this race is one of my faves!
- Hometown race. My actual hometown is Titusville, PA, another lovely small town, affectionately known as “T-Vegas.” In my mind, Kernersville is sort of the “Titusville of the South”, and ironically is called K-Vegas by locals. It’s got a cute downtown area that hosts the race, and people line the streets in preparation for the parade, making it a super-spectator-friendly race. Most races I run, there aren’t many people cheering (except maybe big city races), so it’s very special to have locals watching us run on West Mountain Street 🙂 Parking is easy, and we live less than ten minutes away, so it’s very convenient!
Can you spot me? I’m in the background, behind the guy in red. Photo by Keith Hall Photography. Thank you, Keith!
- Out & Back course. One thing that can be frustrating as a runner is a complicated course. Even if you’re not from Kernersville, the course has very few turns, and is essentially out-and-back, turning around at the–wait for it–4th of July Park. Here’s my Garmin data/map:
3. Cash Money. And trophies. Of course, I don’t see any 17-minute 5K’s in my near future, but I am striving for an age group award (top 3), which would mean a trophy. I came in 4th this year, so I have some more training to do to get there. But I think it’s awesome that some college kids (and super fast adults) can walk away with cash–top 5 winners. Results are here.
Trophies! Photo by Keith Hall.
4. Festive & fun / flat & fast! The atmosphere at this race is just awesome. People wear their best red, white, & blue (as evidenced by above pics). It’s a super competitive race because of the cash, but everyone I saw seemed to be having such a wonderful time. Including me. The course is flat –elevation gain is 10 feet according to my Garmin. And I ran my fastest time ever, so it’s definitely fast! I think about how much faster I could have been if it wasn’t so hot & humid, but I guess there’s winter races for that 😉
Festive, fun, flat & fast! Photo by Keith Hall.
5. Family at the finish! And at the start. Some races are hard for my family to get a spot close enough to spectate. This one, the fam was right there cheering for me, at the start and finish. One of my favorite things is spotting them when I’m coming down the home stretch, lungs burning, legs quivering, and giving it all I’ve got for my boys. It feels like I’m flying home to them. Here’s my finish line pic and 2 at the start, from my love:
And the professional, ugly face, finish line pic… dropping 12 seconds off my best! So close to the sub-23 goal.
Giving it all I’ve got! Photo by Keith Hall.
Head up, wings out! <– the Oiselle motto.
I saw a bunch of my Oiselle teammates, so cool! Next time we will plan for a meet up 🙂 I was pumped to see several Oiselle birds in the top ten, and right when I was having a down moment in the middle of the race, I got a huge shout out from teammate Marie!! Thanks girl!
Happy 4th of July, from my family to yours!
The rest of my stats. The race was OK in mile 1, tough in mile 2 (little hill, and the heat started to get to me), and a struggle in mile 3. God bless the man who was handing out cold water about 1/2 mile from the finish!
Next up, the Ramblin’ Rose Triathlon on 8/20!
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