Race #35 – Waldensian Trail of Faith Hearts for Heroes 5k – Valdese NC – 05/30/09

The first annual Hearts for Heroes 5k wound its way through the quaint, historic, and beautiful town of Valdese, which is in the North Carolina foothills. There was plenty of up and down, which is to be expected in these parts, and once again I got plenty of hill practice. It was a fairly small race with only about 100 runners (I don’t have access to the results as I’m writing this), but I finished in 5th place overall at 22:05, which wasn’t my fastest time ever but was my highest overall finish in a race (yay!).

My mother lived near this area of Burke County as a girl and I always feel a little closer to her when I’m there, wondering if she might have traveled the same roads, so I like to run in these parts anytime I can.

There was no computer chip timing for the race but things ran smoothly and the race organizers and volunteers were helpful and courteous. The food was fairly basic race food but plentiful (bananas, apples, oranges, cookies, and bottled water). A lot of people hung around for the awards and there were some good door prizes given away, interspersed with the awards, which consisted of trophies for the overall winners and medals for the age group winners. They also started with the awards to the older age groups and worked their way backwards, which always makes us old codgers happy.

This race was part of the Founders Day Festival and was followed by special events for the rest of the day. We stayed after the race and watched the Civil War re-enactment, which was really entertaining — especially the part where they fired the cannon. Wow… I never heard a cannon before. Seems like just the sound, which was louder than anything I’ve ever heard, would have been enough to send the enemy running for cover.

I don’t have a link for the results of this race yet but will add one if and when it becomes available.

Race Rating:

1 – 1-10 Website (Informaton, results, registration, photo links, etc.)

7 – 1-10 Awards (Quality of medals, trophies, etc.) (1 to 10)

9 – 1-10 Awards Presentation (PA system, winning times, etc.) (1 to 10)

6 – 1-10 Food for Race Participants (1 to 10)

5 – 1-10 T-Shirts (1 to 10 with 5 being average)

4 – 4/6 Part of Race Series (Grand Prix, etc.) (6=Yes and 4=No)

0 – 0/5 Professional Photography (5=Yes and 0=No)

4 – 4/6 Chip Timing (6=Yes and 4=No)

3 – 3/7 Certified Course (by USA Track & Field) (7=Yes and 3=No)

5 – 1-10 Course (1 to 10 with 5 being average)

5 – 1-10 Parking (1 to 10 with 5 being average)

10 – 1-10 Entertainment (1 to 10 with 5 being average)

7 – 3/7 Age Groups (7 if 5-year groups; 3 if 10-year groups)

0 – 0/5 Indoor Shelter from Elements (0 if none; 5 if provided)

8 – 1-10 Bathroom Facilities

0 – 0-10 Other

TOTAL – 74