Each year Atlanta Track Club hosts the largest cross country meet in Georgia for high school and college and they include a community 5k that is part of the Grand Prix series. Because of the way fall break fell this year, my daughter’s birthday party would not be on this weekend, so I was finally not rushing around and able to attend. It was definitely stepping out of my comfort zone as I have never run a cross country race. I’ve done some of the easier/fun mud runs, so I knew this wouldn’t be terrible, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t a tiny bit nervous.
I headed to Cartersville with hopes of arriving by 6am. It sounded like there were various parking options and I wanted to make sure I got in the nearby lot. I was donating a box of old shoes to Eco Sneakers and I didn’t want to have a long walk to them. This is where the lesson of early arrivals comes in. Along the route Waze mapped out for me was a detour. Of course, I tried to listen to Waze again and set myself back a few more minutes. Thank goodness I finally decided to follow the detour signs and I was eventually back on track to get to Sam Smith Park.
There were a lot of parking volunteers, but due to my still early arrival, I didn’t wait in a long line to get into the lot or find my spot. I forgot my sunglasses and had to trek back closer to the race start and parking had a long line by that point. I ended up with an amazing spot behind a tree which kept my car in the shade for most of the time I was there since I would do the rest of my miles on the trail around the park.
The theme of the morning would be wet grass. I parked on wet grass, walked across a lot of wet grass and ran on some wet grass. Normally, I would be mad about walking through all the wet grass pre-race, but since it was a cross country race, I knew it was just getting started. Early arrival made bib pick up super quick and I was quickly pointed in the direction of the Eco Sneakers table with my box of shoes. It felt good to let go of some shoes, including my first ever pair of Brooks shoes and the shoes that got me through my first half marathon. I hold onto things way too long and since there was some good to come out of it, it was a win-win situation.
What was so fun to me was the feel of this race. There were hay bales everywhere, including a few on the course. The anticipation of the younger runners as they arrived was evident. After two different trips to the porta potties around my walk back to the car for my forgotten sunglasses, I made my way to the really big start line and did not see a timing mat. The really big start line allows everyone to line up and head out into a large grassy area that eventually gets smaller by the time you get to normal sized running space. Basically, you need to be on it when the gun goes off, because that’s when timing started.
I’m a run-walk-runner, and still haven’t ventured above my 30 second intervals. It was in the low to mid 60s, so while fall was not showing to be happening anytime soon in Atlanta, I appreciated the temperatures and the fact that this race started a little before official sunrise time. It’s amazing that the placement of some temporary lights can turn this course into something that can safely be run in the dark. After some quick announcements, we were sent off. I felt odd being so close to the starting line since I’m used to starting further back, but the speedy people quickly separated themselves.
I admit to watching the course preview that Atlanta Track Club had posted, but when that was a time lapse vs my slow running, it was amazing how long the grassy start area lasted for. For those around me, we were pretty spread out by the time we got to the normal lanes. I was grateful for the warning of a steep drop off, but had no idea this would come into play later. And this was not going to be a flat course by any means as there were smaller hills everywhere. It did seem like most hilly parts was the loop out by Douthit Ferry Rd which we would face going out and coming back in, but by Atlanta standards, I can’t say any hill made me curse. I looked at them as a challenge.
When I got to the bales of hay on the outbound side in the first mile, I was in a run interval and decided to be brave and jump each one of them. How often am I going to have this chance? Maybe once a year. I’m going for it. I made it to mile 1 feeling pretty good and at a 14 minute mile pace, which I was thrilled with given how my training runs had been going.
At this point, the race felt quiet. There was a section of the outbound that didn’t have an equal inbound option and we were pretty spread out there. I was enjoying not having to worry about passing people and expending extra energy, though. Making the turn along Milner Rd meant the halfway point was coming, but so was the sunrise. I looked over at one point and enjoyed knowing I was running with such a beautiful sunrise. The volunteers out there helped out a lot cheering us on, too.
When we made the turnaround, I was feeling good and hopeful about having a good race. I hit mile two and despite having a few moments where I didn’t want to do my run interval, I reminded myself I can do anything for one (or 1.1) mile. I knew I needed to save a little for the hilly area, but I also knew what was in front of me wasn’t anything super bad in terms of hills. I pushed a little harder and ended up running my fastest mile of the race. That was despite having to go up the steep drop off at the end of the race that I went down at the beginning.
This ended up being my fastest 5k in 2019! My comeback has been a challenge and while I’m nowhere near as fast as I was, I’m glad to see I’m making progress. Post race, I got a much needed Powerade, as I still had three more miles to run for training. We didn’t get snacks, so I hit up the food truck for a small breakfast wrap.
My one piece of advice to anyone who may do this race in the future is carry water. I guess because the cross country speedsters are so fast that they don’t need water, we didn’t have that for the community race. I carried my own handheld and was fine in the slightly cooler temperatures of the morning. Also, the park had a pretty trail that runs near the Etowah River and I enjoyed getting to check it out while getting my other training miles in.
I had a lot of fun and I highly recommend you checking this race out if you’re an Atlanta Track Club member or even just local to Atlanta. If you’re local to Atlanta and not an Atlanta Track Club member, you need to fix that! Here are some upcoming Atlanta Track Club events open for registration:
Mercedes-Benz Stadium 5k/Walk Like Madd – November 9
Invesco QQQ Thanksgiving Day Half Marathon, 5k, Mile & Dash – November 28
Resolution Run – January 1, 2020
Publix Atlanta Marathon, Half Marathon & 5k – March 1, 2020
Atlanta Women’s 5k – April 11, 2020
Check out the events page for more of the 2020 race calendar.
Gator Girl Runs 