Back the Blue 5K (Jay Elliott)

Back the Blue 5K- July 30, 8am (Albany, GA)

I was glad to participate in the 2016 Back the Blue 5K, hosted by Wild Side Running in Albany, GA.  The race was for a great cause.  The money went to buy safety monitors that strap to the ankle, so that Police Officers and First Responders would be able to quickly locate people with Alzheimer's Disease, who sometimes wander off on their own.  Many local Law Enforcement Personnel came out to show their support.  I had heard about the race the week before during a group training run at Wild Side.  I decided to have a go at it, and I was pleasantly surprised by the result!  A local Physical Therapist gave me some great advice by encouraging me to cross-traiin for the purposes of stabilization and injury prevention, and I took it to heart, including weights and spin classes 3-4 times a week in my routine.  To be honest, my race strategy lately has been simple - I start off at a fairly comfortable pace - say at 70% effort, and resist the urge to burn it all during the first mile.   

Let's face it, I am not in high school anymore.  I set my goal as I go along, and respond to how my body feels.  The weather was humid, but not oppressively hot, and I crossed the mile mark in about 7:30, and was at 12:05 at the halfway mark.  I hoped that if I stayed relaxed until I made it to the 2-mile mark, I could push through the last mile.  It worked out - I had a good day, and God was my help.  One thing that helps me in a race is finding a young runner to encourage.  In this case, I happened upon a kid that may have been 10 or 12 years old.  He looked like he was running out of energy, and I don't think he knew the course, so he was not sure how much more road he had to endure.  I came up alongside him and told him that he was doing great, and that we were just two turns away from the finish.  I gave him an estimate of our finish time.  He seemed to respond to this by getting his second wind.  As we approached the final turn, I told him, "Ok, show me that devastating kick!"  And he did, finishing a few seconds ahead of me.  That gave me a great feeling.  I am thankful to all the guys at Wild Side and GLCR who have encouraged me not to quit, and befriended me on the training runs.  Short-term, I think I will run the Chehaw Zoo 5K.  In the long-term, I hope to run the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving Day, and maybe run-walk the Albany Marathon in 2017.  

22:56, First Master, 8th overall

Full Results
Photo Credits go to Jennifer Bramlett