The Florida Track Club annually holds the Tom Walker Memorial Half Marathon in November...this month they offered a "preview" shorter race, 5K or 10K as you wish, on the same course: the paved Hawthorne Trail. The starting and ending point is the same: that part of the trail that cuts through the west end of Boulware Springs Park, on SE 15th Street in Gainesville. After several months of skipping races, I decided to avail myself of this one since it was 10K (6.2 miles) in length. I've also run on the Hawthorne Trail a number of times in the past...for some reason, though, I keep forgetting how sloped it is. At this morning's race time, 8:00, the temperature was in the upper fifties and very pleasant. Everyone running in the 5K and 10K races started at the same time...since I just wanted to establish a workable running pace, I deliberately kept to the back of the crowd. As the race bore on, it quickly became obvious that many if not most of the entrants were engaged in something known as the Galloway Method, in which the runner runs for X number of minutes, followed by a walking break of Y minutes...and the cycle goes on and on. I've even trained this way and it works. But it's extremely annoying and even unsettling to be trying to determine my own pace while different people are speeding past me (especially when they are in groups), only to suddenly go into a walk...I even had to swerve to avoid one of them when he abruptly began to swing out his arms and run just as I was passing him. Not only did I have to contend with the Galloway crowd, but bicyclists apparently decided that buzzing closely past the runners at high speeds was a peachy thing to do...between the two groups I somehow managed to focus enough on my own running to finish with, for my purposes, a reasonable time of 1:04:55. I am a member of the Florida Track Club and as such didn't have to pay to run in this race. Next month's Tom Walker Half Marathon will require an entry fee although as a member I'll be getting a discount. I'm not exactly what you would call a social runner...no, let's just come out and admit I'm pretty damned antisocial...so participating in these events is quite a stretch for me, besides the very uncomfortable aspect of having to get up so early in the morning...and don't get me started about the parking. Next week I'm considering running in a different 10K race, this one held in town behind North Florida Regional Medical Center. I wonder if the Gallowayeans and cycle freaks will follow me there, sigh...
When the results are posted online, you can see them by clicking HERE...
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