Bill Beaumont, a.k.a. "the ol' hillbilly," regularly offers trainin' tips for readers of e-Runner's Hi!
Get Ready, Get Set. GLOW!!!!
OK. It's summer in the south. It's hotter n' heck out there. Ya' wanna' run a race. Whatdoya do???
Ya' load up the car and drive to Waycross, GA! That's what ya' do, and run the "Ready, Set, Glow" midnight 5K, put on by the
Childers Family YMCA in Waycross.
My son and I decided that a race at midnight would be something DIFFERENT! Fun, well, that wuz' yet to be determined, so we loaded up the truck and
headed to Waycross Friday afternoon, July the 30th.
When we rolled into Waycross about dinnertime, it was 102 degrees, and humid as heck. Not exactly the start I wuz' lookin' for!!!! We checked into the local Hampton Inn, then went out to find a restaurant for dinner. The club hillbilly (a.k.a. me!) quickly found what I wuz' lookin' for. About a block from the Hampton was a local joint called the "Hog N' Bones"! That had ME written all over it, so, in we went for a lovely country dinner! Barbeque and 'taters was just the carbo loadin' din-din this hillbilly needed!!!
After a quick ice cream "fix" on a HOT summer day at the local DQ, the Beaumont Clan headed back to the Hampton to rest til' it wuz' time to load up and head to the Waycross YMCA for the race.
After arriving at the Y (early, of course), we registered, picked up our bag of "stuff" and got ready to race. First order of business was to drive the race course. A gentle climb about a quarter of a mile at the start, followed by a pretty flat loop for a course, finishing up with a gentle 1/8 downhill slope to the finish. All the runners were given "glow sticks" to wear during the race. I wrapped mine around each wrist. Some folks joined 'em together and made a necklace out of 'em. Some folks wore 'em on the ankles! Some of the female runners put 'em in their hair! Runners' choice! Whatever your choice, put 'em on, warm up, and head to the start/finish line. It was still 85 degrees and 91 percent humidity at race start, so I told my wife my PLAN was to run at "tempo" pace and let the chips fall where they may. To make sure I did just that, I wore my heart monitor.
Durning tempo runs this time of the year, my heartbeat is around 160 beats a minute, so, that's where I planned to keep it during the race. My usual training tempo pace this time of the year is 6:20 to 6:25 a mile.
Get ready, get set, GLOW!!!!
The race course was on streets that were lit by streetlights, so the lighting was OK, at best. The darkness sure did make the flashin' lights on the PO-LEECE car easy to see and follow, though!!! It was also pretty cool watchin' all those glow sticks bouncin' around too! Also, the Waycross PO-LEECE were at every corner where ya' made a turn, with a squad car with the lights flashin', so that made the course easier to follow than some other courses I've run in the daylight!!!
Anyhow, my TEMPO strategy paid off with an age group first place and a 5th place overall. The folks at the YMCA used the "fill out a card" technique to figure out the results. After the race,they had plenty of treats to eat and drink, had the results tabulated quickly and the awards handed out even quicker, and that's all ya' can ask for for a race!!!
Nicely done Waycross! See ya' next year!
And by the way, when you're on the way to Waycross next year to run that race, don't forgit' the words of the immortal Hulk Hogan. Eat right, exercise and say yur' prayers!
Bill
