Left to Right: Jenn, Me, Courtney. Photo Credit: Sharon Burdick
It’s becoming tradition (does three years make it a tradition?) for Jenn and I to get up and go to the Atlanta Track Club resolution run on New Year’s Day. This race is extremely convenient to our house, so it would be a shame not to go. Plus, it doesn’t start until 12:20 PM. If you don’t get to snockered the night before, you shouldn’t have any problem getting out the door for the run.
This race is either a 5k or 10k (you choose). Last year I ran the 10k and crushed my PR in that race. This year I ran the 5k…and crushed my PR in that race. Formerly, my best post-high-school 5k time was 26:12. Now it is 23:43, which shocked the hell out of me. Especially because I ran a 5k a month ago and only turned in a 26:51.
In retrospect, I’m wholly surprised at this improvement in my time. The 5k I ran last month was a cross country run, with attendant terrain difficulties. And my previous PR had been set during the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Challenge, which runs through downtown Atlanta. The bits and pieces of Atlanta that we traverse are rather hilly. As a contrast, the Resolution Run is nearly flat, with a tiny bump at the turnaround point. Here is my artist’s interpretation of the Profile for the KP Corporate Challenge.
Notice the two big hills in the middle. They’re not nice. The one moving up Harris Street (right by the Hilton for those Dragon*Con attendees familiar with the area) is rather steep. And the second hill, (which you can tell by the profile actually goes back in time!) on Courtland is a killer. You have to pace yourself very particularly to do well in this race.
Then we have the Resolution Run.
It’s just a bit flatter. And there are fewer runners (~1100 as opposed to ~20,000) to jostle you. It all adds up to an easier run leading to a faster time.
Sharon and David came along to be our cheering squad and our pack mules. Thanks guys. It’s always nice to have people at races who will hold sweatshirts and take pictures.
All the images at the flickr set of the race were taken by Sharon and/or me. I haven’t properly attributed them on the flickr set yet.
There’s another 5k in a few weeks down in Peachtree City. We’ll see if I can better this time.
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