First 5k road race

COVID-19, “The Rona Era”

Today I have several conflicts and it is day #4 of the heat wave. Oh happy Saturday. My conflicts: Saturdays are for Road to Wellness 5k free clinic training. I’ve missed one Saturday since they started in June. Today is also the 5k Black Excellence Race in Lynn. RTW starts at 9a.m. in Roxbury . The race in Lynn starts at 11a.m. My thought was to do both. Which would be doable if I left RTW early. Add to the situation, temperature. It’s going to be 88 degrees at 11a.m. I don’t do heat or a run past 9 a.m. That should have ruled out the Lynn race.

This was the fourth year of the 5k Black Excellence race and we(BGR- Boston) made this our race for the month of August. The need to sleep in on Saturday and not be rushed made my decision for me. No RTW today but Lynn 5k instead.

There was on site registration which is good because I never got around to signing up for the race. Just driving to Lynn around 9:45a.m. I had the A/C blowing in my car because it was hot. And I will be running in this. WHY?WHY?- oh to support Black Excellence, right.

The start and finish line of the race was behind Rolly’s Tavern. We could even park our cars there as well. When I parked, I thought I saw my College Colleague’s car. I sent her a text to ask if she was here( Tavern) and she said Yes. Talk about a surprise. My friend Amy was volunteering for the race and I was running it.

When I saw her, we hugged and chatted. She told me she was wondering if I would be here because she saw my crew of BGR ladies before I got there. Overall we had about 10 women sign up for this race. We posted it on our page. Told the ladies if the sign up, they also get a swag bag( that made for them). When I say we, I mean my co-ambassador Katonya.

She also got BMR( Black Men Run) to come out too. She made swag bags for them as well.

This was good to see some the ladies I haven’t seen in a while. Plus I saw my friend Amy.

This race was started and created by black women. For the race director and organizers to be black women that is pretty kick ass. No one thinks about who is running and organizing the races. Today, they have a little over 100 people sign up. It’s growing.

The race started at 11 a.m. which is sooooooooooooooooooooooo late. And it’s sooooooooooooo hot.

But I’m here. There was even a DJ playing tunes as we all were getting ready. Thou, I’m not sure of his musical taste to play sweet home Alabama considering this is the Black Excellence 5k race. I thought there would be a theme of black music. The DJ was an African American man and the races were mostly white. There was a good number of black and brown peoples running the race.

When the race started at 11 a.m. it was 88 degrees. I told myself to go steady, no need to run hard. This was a nice course. We ran around a pound and through the city of Lynn. The race director mention this was a fast and flat course. Flat my ass. I had to curse for a bit.

The first mile I was running with Katonya, who is training for a marathon. I was keeping up with her, which wasn’t the best idea. I’m not where she is yet. Around the first mile I was running at a 9:20 pace. That was way too fast. First rule of running, don’t start off “ running fast” at the gate.

I knew I had to slow down a bit and I was getting hot. I stopped and took advantage of the first water stop. I even stopped and took a picture of a little girl with a “ Women run the world “ shirt. I took another picture because I saw my stalkers.

Then I continued. I just wanted to find a comfortable pace for me. I wish there were a couple of more water stops. There was just one on the whole course. They had young adults and older folks who guided and cheer the runners on the route. I stopped and walked about three times during the course.

Mile 1: 9:27

Mile 2: 10:44

Mile 3: 11:08

10:27 ave pace/31:17

The heat was no joke. In the process I realized this was my first physical road race since Nov. 2019. I was running at a racing pace, thou I wasn’t but I was. I’m proud that I got it done in conditions that I don’t run in..hot weather and later morning/afternoon running. I ran with a bunch of my sole sistas, that was priceless. Plus we supported a good cause.

All and all, I made the correct choice to do one and not both “ running” Saturday things today. And I glad this was the one that I decided to chose.