2011 Cranberry Crawl 5K

The Cranberry Crawl is a race that benefits the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri and starts at the Food Bank..   I warmed up with Hugh for about 1.5 miles and then we found the bathroom before the start.  Temperature was 47 F so I wore a long sleeved shirt.  I felt like I had a good race in me so I hoped to go out at a sub-6 minute mile.  Started off with Dan E. and Tony R. was right behind us.  I felt like maybe I was running too hard for the hilly course.  The first mile was 5:47 and I felt better.  There was also a 10K that ran 2 loops and the leaders of the 10K were ahead of us.   We ran just behind the first female runner for about 1.5 miles and then passed her.  Dan would pass me on the uphills and I pass him on the downhills and then we ran side by side. There wasn't much chit chat since we were working hard.  2 mile split was 6:10.  At about 2.3 miles, Tony passes me and I work to keep up with him.  I passed him up the last hill, but he passed me back.  My 3 mile split was 6:06.  I had a kick at the end but couldn't quite catch him.  Overall time was 18:32 and Tony was 18:30.  Dan came in after me.   It felt like an actual race and no doubt we all helped each other to run our best today.

Overall I placed 7th of 92 and 2nd in age group.  Hugh placed 11th overall and 1st in age group.  I ran the course again with Dan for a cool down.  Then we went inside to get some food and get ready for the awards.  For the prizes we were allowed to pick from an assortment on a table.  Hugh and I both picked the Body Glide.  The last time I ran the 5K in this race was in 2008.  Today was a 17 second improvement.

The course is shaped like a turkey.  Here is the map and course elevation profile.

Tony & Andy

Hugh

Marc, Bill, Andy, Hugh

Back of shirt has course shaped like Turkey - We selected Body Glide for age group placings.