Gainesville has a cool, free weekly 5K race on Saturday mornings at Depot Park on 874 SE 4th Street...the Parkrun concept is spreading through the USA and other countries, now with some 48 locations here and many more abroad. You sign up for it online and print out the barcodes they provide you...these will be scanned at the end of each event so that your times can be recorded and posted. I signed up at the start of 2019...so far, with today's run, I have participated in seven races, with a fourteen-month period of no races held between March 2020 and May 2021 during the Covid pandemic. My finishing times have never been particularly fast, even by my own past standards. But I enjoy the positive vibes generated by the volunteers and other runners and the park is beautiful...I especially enjoy listening to the various birds singing around me as I run by the many trees there. This past Wednesday and Thursday we received a lot of rain in northern Florida, but come race time today at 7:30 the sky was clear and the temperature a pleasant 49 with 90% humidity. It was announced just before the race that several folks were running the Trail of Payne 10K the same morning in Paynes Prairie State Park a few miles down the road...I passed on it, unwilling to endure the rain-soaked ground and mud of that trail race. My goal with today's 5K was simple: find a faster pace that I could feel comfortable running for a sustained distance. I think I accomplished that, finishing in 30:45 with a pace slower than I was running, say, ten years ago but one more suitable to my advancing age. I mentioned a few weeks back that I'd like to occasionally try speed-walking the Depot Parkrun. There's an incredible 79-year old who does this for longer races and I'm very impressed by his speed...ultimately I see my own future in distance/speed walking as well. Click HERE for today's results...
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