Straightway Family Fun 5K (Wharton) Race Report

Career Event #111 (31st this year)
Career 5K #56 (19th this year and 50th in Texas)
27th event in a Texas city with a goal of 100!

While today's Straighway Family Fun Run 5K in Wharton, as part of the county's Freedom Fest, was the only road race on the local racing calendar, it was an event that was overlooked by many but is surely one that has a lot of potential to grow once more people know about it. Plus it is a fast and flat course that the elite runners would like!

And the only thing that rookie race director Shannon Pickard couldn't do was keep the heat and humidity completely at bay. Otherwise, it was a well put together event that had basically everything a runner could ask for! Here are some notes:

Registration -- Race-day registration only (which wasn't a problem); however, once there is a comfort level of using the online systems for pre-race registration, I'm sure this will change.

Volunteers -- Plenty of them and very friendly.

Course -- Well marked with pink arrows the entire way. Not sure if it was a certified course; however, the markings were consistent with such with the exception of one stretch where it didn't cut the tangent across the street. City of Wharton Police and volunteers controlled the appropriate intersections. Never once did I have to look and see if traffic was coming (although it didn't help my time any).

Mile Markers -- All three were clearly marked with an individual calling out the time that was exact to my watch. Big plus!

Water Stops -- After mile markers 1 and 2! So many races don't get this. If it is a hot day and I'm going to snag some water, I want to run to the mile marker to get the best mile split then get my water and go.

Post-Race -- Plenty of water, orange juice and bananas at the finish line. Awards for the top 3 in all of the age groups. There was entertainment as well. Pickard had Melody Oliver there doing a few songs (as well as the national anthem to start) as she was Houston's winner in the "American Idol" competition here.

Timing -- Index card finish meaning you received a card with a place on it. You then wrote your name, city, state, age and sex on it and placed it in the appropriate age group box. I left before the awards were handed out; however, names were taken from those various boxes to put on the awards sheet. I sent Shannon a list of e-mails to send the results to so that it will increase his exposure for next year. That has the potential to be the only weak spot, but one that can be easily remedied in the future.

My running? Actually, I was very pleased despite the final time. I didn't really do anything on Friday in preparation so other than being up too late Friday night and driving 80 miles in one direction, I felt good warming up.

My first mile was strong (9:09.92) and I was thinking that I was back to normal. I really felt good about my stride, my breathing and my arm movement. I passed a couple of people and actually kept them behind me while this part of the course was almost entirely tree-lined.

The second mile was about a minute slower (10:11.33), which is consistent with two of my last three 5K's. Normally, there is only about a 20- to 30-second slide. This may be more a function of the heat and humidity and trying to go too fast then anything. This is something that I now have to focus on. One part of the second mile included going up on a trail that had been made from the old Santa Fe Railroad train line. It was covered in hot black asphalt!

I really don't recall slowing down that much in the third mile with a time of 10:40.61. I thought my pace was fairly consistent, but to finish under 31 minutes again -- with a last .1 mile of 57.17 -- after posting a 29:43 on May 12th and a 29:32 on May 14th is something that I'll take.

I'm thinking about going to Bally's tomorrow (on Sunday) and running on the treadmill for an hour just to see if I can run for an hour without stopping. I'm just concerned that I can't get back to where I was as quickly as I'd like to be.