Greek Fest 5k Recap 8.23.08

On a late August morning, I packed my racing gear and headed across Charlotte. Late August has become the traditional race date for the Greek Fest 5k. This event is held in conjunction with the Greek Festival near the Church on East Blvd.

Many years this event brings the first taste of fall weather and with it cooler temperatures. While the temperature were not as cool as I has seen them in the past, they are indeed very nice.

I arrived around 6:20 so as to ensure a decent parking locations. The Greek race usually has between 800 and 1000 runners so parking near the church can become difficult.

As I started out my car, I saw Lamperski. He had parked two cars behind me.

We cycled by to pick up our chips, numbers, T-shirt, and goodie bag.

Then it was off to prep for the race. I changed shoes and headed out for a couple of miles warm up. I cycled around the outter loop of the course. I like running the first mile and the last mile of the race. This helps me familiarize my self with the course layout.

Then it was back to change into my racing flats.

At the start, I saw Megan, Stan, Cody, and Chris. Then, I did a few strides and made ready for the start.

Megan and I had exchanged race plans over the previous weeks. So I thought, we were going to head out together.

From the start she bolted out. I also lost track of Steve Spada. Some how, Steve and I usually end up running nearly the same race pace.

My race plan was to run 5:30s through the race. I was looking for a finish time around 17:15. I hit 5:23 and 5:24 for the first 2 miles and then a 5:33 for the 3rd mile. I allow myself to fall into no mans land between runners as we headed for the finish.

Megan ended up running about 17:27 after running a sizzling 5:15 to 5:18 first mile. Chris and Cody were well ahead of me. They ran about 16 minutes and 16:10. Both ran great times.

Stan is bounced back with a good 17:50 time.

We did some extra miles warm down and arrived back at the finish just as they were giving out the awards. I got a 1st place ribbon, a tiny Greek vase, and a Greek Fest water bottle - enough said about the awards.

Overall, I was very pleased with my race. My training had pushed the miles up to 80 per week in preparation for the OBX Marathon this November. This has left my legs feeling just a little fatigued. Fatigued legs never really run fast times but on this day I ran the fastest that I have run this year. In the end, it was a very good day