This past weekend, my wife and I traveled to New Jersey so that she could visit her family, specifically her uncle who was taking a vacation away from his current home in Arizona. Our trip to NJ was short--we arrived there at about 10:00 pm on July 21, and we left at about 7:00 on July 23--but yet we were able to spend some good time with the family, and we squeezed in a 5K on July 22: the Team Gov Invitational 5K in Allenhurst, NJ.
The Team Gov 5K memorializes Todd McGovern, who died of cancer in the late 2000s. The race is organized by Seas It, the organization that Todd and his wife Amanda founded to help fund athletic events that, in turn, raise funds for cancer patients and their families.
The race itself was lovely--a modest-sized 5K that is timed, contains marked mile splits, two water stops, and bananas at the finish line! Remember when races gave out bananas at the finish line? Well, this race does, and it was just about the best thing on a hot Saturday morning.
The course is flat and fast, despite the many winding turns through the pretty side streets of Allenhurst. It also runs under a railroad bridge, over railroad tracks, down a main street, and on a beach boardwalk all within the span of 3.1 miles, so the scenery is great, too.
Kids, walkers, families, baby strollers, and competitive runners--all of them are welcome, so the whole event has a nice festive feel. Truly, it's a great way to start a Saturday at the shore.
For my part, I was mostly pleased with how I performed. As I wrote a few months back, I've spent the better part of the past eighteen months attending to some minor health issues and a variety of exciting work projects, and as a result, I took some time off from training. Saturday's 5K, therefore, marked my first race in 2017, as well as my first race in about nine months.
Given all of that, and including the heat, I was fine with how I ran: a respectable 20:05 at a 6:29 average clip. I used the run as a kind of tempo pickup in the midst of a seven-mile workout for the day. I kept the splits negative, and I ran at a pretty comfortable cruise pace. I finished seventh overall, and I think I was technically first in my age group (age awards were not given at the race).
As I also wrote a few months back, this getting close to being a masters-level runner has been a little challenging for me from a psychological standpoint (I only have about three months left in my thirties!). However, as we just saw, runners perform well at every age, so that 5K time can--and will--drop down to where I prefer it to be. It will just take time and more training.
In the meantime, I can, and should, enjoy the ride. And Saturday was a fun ride. If you're in the area next year, come out to run. Seas It will be happy to have you.
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