The Old Runner

I'm not running many 5k's these days, but this one is an exception. It's a series of four 5k races held at Kings Mountain State Park on the 3rd Friday of each month during the summer. It's a good time to meet up with some of the runners I see less often these days, and it's a lot of fun except that it's a hilly and difficult 5k and most people are slower than in most other 5k's. The course is out-and-back, and the 1st and 3rd miles are rolling and curvy hills on the road that leads into the state park. The second mile is fairly level, so that helps. Once again, I was a little over 30 minutes, finishing in 30:22, which is not terribly disappointing on this course although last year I managed to finish in under 30 minutes in each of the four races. Oh, it was 88 degrees at the start of the race, which adds to my arsenal of excuses for being slow! Race Name: Friday Food Truck 5k #2 Location: Clover, South Carolina Date: June 21, 2024 Course: Elevation by Mile:

Back during the years when I was doing my best running (2009-2017), the half marathon was my favorite race distance. During those years, I ran as many as 16 half marathons per year, and on an age-graded basis, the half marathon was my best distance. In more recent years I had trouble running long distances, so I cut the number of half marathons down and almost quit running them entirely. When my streak of 120 half marathons in a row under 2 hours ended in September 2022, I considered never running another half. It wasn't so much that finishing in over 2 hours was shameful, but I began having difficulty running the distance.  I turned 71 in February 2023 and had only run two 5k races after the previously mentioned September half marathon. Not being a cold weather runner anyway, I waited until April of 2023 to run another 5k, and by then my 5k times were slower than ever. I wasn't enjoying the races any longer, and when I began having a hard time keeping up with my younger runnin

The Parkrun is a worldwide race series held in hundreds of locations every Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m., and the Little Sugar Creek Greenway Parkrun in Charlotte is just about a 30-minute drive for me. This was the 100th race since the Parkrun started in Charlotte two years ago, and although I haven't been running it much lately I decided to give it a shot. There were 96 finishers this week, the highest number since the series began in Charlotte. This year I've been concentrating on half marathons when one is near enough to get to, and I'm not enjoying the 5k races nearly as much now that I've slowed down so much. That being said, this was a lot of fun and I got to see some folks I haven't seen in a while. If you're in the Charlotte area, or anywhere there is a Parkrun, I recommend it highly. Best of all, it's completely FREE! I was happy that I was able to keep my pace under 9 minutes (barely). As you can see from the dips on this chart, I walked 13 times