Race Report: Greenville News Run Downtown 5k

This is always a great race - people are gung-ho about starting the new year on the right foot and are all excited about running in the cold weather. Especially after the week of snow and ice we had, this was the first "nice" day and you could tell people had been indoors too long! Just lots of buzzing energy and positive attitude out there today.

All 3 of us (Scott, D, and I) signed up for this one... Scott and I doing the 5k, and D for the "kid's run". We did packet pick-up after work yesterday, so we had a relaxed morning which was nice. We ended up both waking up before 6am today for no reason, though, so we definitely didn't need to rush!

We got downtown around 8:15am (race start 9am) and easily got to our company's meet-up spot. This race is part of the Greenville Track Club's Corporate Shield series, the first of the 2018 season, so we had a great group from Milliken who came out to participate!

Team!

Family :)

I decided to be the stroller runner for this race... honestly, I used it as a safety blanket. I could have gone hard for a PR, but I haven't done any hard work since the marathon in November and really didn't want the disappointment of yet another attempt & failure... so I opted for the stroller as my "excuse". Silly, I know, but one of us did have to push it and I usually make Scott do it (bless him) because I'm always "going for a PR". So really, it WAS my turn to do it anyway.

It was chilly (around freezing) at the start, but by the time we got moving it had inched into the mid- to upper-30s and was quite comfortable. Stroller running this race wasn't quite as bad as some of my previous experiences. The start is pretty wide and stays at least 1 lane if not 2 lanes of traffic wide for the entire route. I got stuck a few times behind a barricade of people, but it was short-lived and I got to joke with some folks along the way which was nice. It was a nice change of pace to just be able to relax and enjoy the camaraderie of the race.

"You need a train horn on that thing."

"Aw come one, getting passed by a stroller?!"
"Don't feel bad," (pointing to D) "he's been training really hard for this."

Pace variation shows the challenges of stroller running.

I felt great through it all, never felt over-exerted or really like I was giving 100%, which is fine. That makes me even happier with the results!

Sub-8 average with a stroller? I'll take it. ;)