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5K Report Back on October 7th I ran a 5K in 25:20. Today I had hoped to break 25, but it did not happen. The race was held in conjunction with the Memphis Marathon and Half Marathon and is a huge fund raiser for St Jude Hospital. The number of participants in the 5K made it one of the largest races that I've done in recent years.
At the start the temperature was a bit above freezing
and I just did not do a proper warm-up. Last Sunday I
came down with some sort of gastro-intestinal illness
and I'm still dealing with that. And, I almost got
tripped up at the start by someone lined up behind me
who thought the race as a 100 yard obstacle course.
Enough of the excuses.
I did get a slow start and after about
3-4 minutes I decided I probably was not going to make
my sub 25 goal, but I wanted to try to win my AG. Last
year I won it with a time of 26:45. I knew that the
woman who had won last year's 55-59 AG would be in my
60-64 AG this year. Last year she ran 26:17 so I figured
I'd probably have some competition. I ended up with a
time of 25:40. My Garmin said the distance was 3.2, but
I figure that for some reason it was not accurate. I
can't imagine that a race of this size would not have a
correct distance. It was advertised as USATF certified.
Statistically, I'm very proud of my placement. Of 1345
finishers I was 121 and of the women I was 30 of 811.
There were 20 women in my AG 60-64.
Oh yes---I did win the AG and the competition that I was
concerned about just about the same time that she had
run last year and placed second. © Becky Ryder
See results Marathon Report
Several thousand very cold
people lined up on Saturday, December 2 at the
corner of Beale Street and Third Avenue to run the
St. Jude's Memphis Marathon and Half Marathon. We
had a wave start, but the honor system was used to
place people in the various places to start. I
started with the second wave, but a lot of slower
runners started with the first wave. The weather was
perfect for a long run with a temperature of 28 when
we started and about 40 at the finish. Luckily the
wind was very mild. This is a great race for a great
cause. All of the money goes to St. Jude's Hospital.
To add to the emphasis of that fact, parents with
pictures of their sick children lined the course
with large signs saying "Thanks" to all of us who
ran. As we were running along and passed a
psychiatric hospital, I started to wonder if that
was where we needed to be. In all seriousness, the
course is not too difficult and the support from the
workers is excellent. We had aid stations every mile
with sports drink and water. At three of the
locations we had power gels of various flavors.
Mississippi was well represented at the race. Jim
George ran a 2:49. He is fast, but he does weird
things in his training regiment. How many people get
up at midnight to eat a bagel? Phillip Wedgeworth
ran a 3:44, which will qualify a old slow man for
Boston. Mark Byrd, Mark Lipking, Audrey Jackson, and
Johnny Newsome ran well in the half. I am sure that
I am leaving many people out, but I either don't
know them or didn't see them there.
Results are linked. © Phillip Wedgeworth
Great BBQ and Beale Street weren’t the only happening things going on in Memphis, TN this weekend! The Fantastic Four PBP Rookies ran their first and greatest distance – The St. Jude’s Half Marathon. Andy Maxwell, Kelton Turner, Dwayne Higgason & Christy Pickering endured the extremely cold weather conditions (about 28 degrees) to reach our greatest running goal to date. Famous words spoken recently by Jim Coll come to mind after this spectacular weekend - it is for sure a “growing insanity” that only runners can understand. We could not have picked a greater race to be our first! The people on the streets cheering us along the race route, and the photos of some fantastic St Jude’s kids were very inspiring and were what kept us all going! The entire weekend from the race check-in to the post race celebration at the Peabody Place was well organized and exciting. The race began at 8am with a wave start. About 8900 runners showed up to run the Full, Half, & 5K distances with the largest group running the half. It was really an awesome feeling to be among such an elite group of athletes. We actually caught up with The King himself. There were a few runners dressed in some not so comfortable costumes – Elvis, a couple of elves, a Christmas tree, and several others with really funky hats. The race route took us down Beale St, up the Mississippi River, and along the great streets of Memphis. At mile 10 we began running through Overton Park, a very beautiful area of the city. But nothing was as beautiful to me as the Autozone Park sign over the baseball stadium where we would finish. The last mile was for sure the hardest for me, and I could not have made it without the support of my fellow runners. Encouragement from others is truly the most important part of running. Crossing the finish line was one of those moments in life I will never forget. The past 16 weeks of training have been somewhat fun but very intense all for this one moment in time! There is nothing more rewarding than the feeling you get from reaching a goal you’ve set! We finished the half in 2:11 which was well under our predicted time and were greeted at the finish line with race helpers who adorned us with our half marathon metals. Joining the running world over the past 8 months has been one of my life’s most interesting journeys. I’ve learned so much about the sport, and I’ve met some fantastic people along the way. A quote from Runner’s World Magazine came to mind as we crossed the finish line with reverence and satisfaction: “The Miracle isn’t that I
finished….it’s that I had the courage to start!”
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