Beach Blast 5K 17:15 1 OA - RRCA State 5K Champion

After getting home late from Twilight, I was back up early the next morning and headed to Albemarle NC for the Beach Blast 5k.

Peter A. from Vac and Dash helps organized this event year and it is one the biggest races in Stanley country.

The course is a tough little 5k but the last ½ mile is downhill and flat. If you can suffer through the 1st 2 miles then you can usually run a decent time.

This year, Peter and Uwharrie Running Club who direct the event had gained the rights to hold the Road Runners Club of America NC State 5K Championship. I had seen this on the entry and suspected it would pull in some top racers.

I always like to run the Beach Blast race. They do a good job with the race and each year it continues to grow in size. From ’07 there were 150 runners. In ’08 they had 200+ runners. This year, they had 300+ runners. It just goes to show that with a little hard work small towns can have good races and great turn out.

I had won the race in ’07 but could not go back in ’08 due to a scheduling conflict. So when the registration form came out this year, I penciled it in early.

My goal going into the race was to win another gord. They give away these uniquely engraved gords to the top 3 overall male and female racers.

Being that this was an RRCA championship race and knowing that last year’s winner was back, I wasn’t sure about my chances.

From the start 6 guys took out the pace pretty hard. I settled in behind and played catch up during the 1st mile. Then before the mile point, either they slowed or I was feeling good on the hills because I caught them. I don’t think any of these guys were more 20 years old.

At this point, I had a decision to make either ride here and take my chances with a sprint finish or push the pace and hope they fell back.

I am not the best sprinter so pushing the pace was the only good decision.

By 2 miles, I was running alone. From there, I only pushed on the down hills and just rode out the up hills. Not knowing the other runners well, I didn’t know if someone might come back on me if I slowed.

It was good enough for me to win the RRCA NC State Championship for ’09 and get another gord. So now I have a matching pair.

It was a tough weekend of racing. However, I was still able to follow my usually pattern by running faster during the 2nd race of the weekend than the 1st.