Jamie Fargen's Weblog

Even though this was my third 5k this year, it was the most difficult to complete. There were two reasons, first I didn’t feel great, the second reason was the bridge. This race starts by climbing the bridge which is listed as 74 feet clearance above the waterway, this means the decks is probably 86 feet at it’s peak. This was a huge shock to a Florida boy, 5k’s are suppose to be flat. So you climb this bridge almost immediately, you go up a cork screw, which I think lessens the gradient a bit in the beginning, then once on the bridge you continue upward, here the pack was pretty tight and people didn’t start spreading out until we started going down the bridge, you finally get to start coasting down the bridge, and the next 1.5 miles is a flat stretch along the causeway. Then you turn around and make a 1.5 mile return along the causeway back to the bridge. You must climb the bridge again, the second time was of course much harder, fighting a strong wind (it had been storming most of the day, but cleared shortly before the race). After cresting the bridge for the second time it was all down hill, back down through the corkscrew and then 150 meters or so to the finish line. All in all due to the elevation change, which I had never experienced in a race, this event was extremely difficult. My rank was 47 out of 62, the bottom 25%, hopefully after dropping some pounds I can at least make my way into the 50th percentile.

http://www.coolrunning.com/results/14/fl/Mar29_Capito_set2.shtml

The Gasparilla Distance Classic is one of the largest and oldest races in the Tampa Bay Area. I ran it back in high school and for nostalgias sake wanted thought it appropriate to run the race again 20 years later. Oh how times have changed, besides being at least 80 pounds heavier than in high school, my overall time was 34:17 (20 seconds better than the I Will Inspire 5k in January), still it was approximately 10 minutes slower then the time I ran the race in high school.

This race is crowded, I ran in the fast race, still I’m pretty slow so I was about 2/3 of the way back, around the 11 minute mile pace runner. You are almost body to body with the other runners, especially in the beginning, while running in the crowd people will just give up and start walking a lot of them didn’t even have the decency to move out of the way out of the main body of the group. This causes your pace to go up and down constantly, it probably slowed me down by a minute overall. Besides the crowds and rude people it was very muggy that day, out on the Bayshore, your sweat just stuck to you and you were completely drenched. I finished right behind the 11 minute mile pace runner, this time I did improve my time over the January 5k: I Will Inspire. Lets see what we can do in March.

Here is a link to the Gasparilla results.

In January I began a fitness regime to include running and I plan on running a 5k every month. In February I enrolled in the I Will Inspire 5k. It was a little difficult because I was getting over a cold and had not run in several weeks. This 5k was a little weird and kind of disorganized. It started approximately 30 minutes later than scheduled, not sure if it was a weather issue and they just didn’t communicate that they were waiting for a squall to pass. After waiting for about 20 minutes it started to rain, fortunately the starting line was by a Fire Station, that was apparently part of the event. They let us stand in the Fire Station Garage, the rain lasted about 10 minutes. After it passed the race started.

The first mile went pretty well, but then I started to fade quickly, when I hit the ever so slightest hill it really drained my energy. About 2.5 miles in my friend took off, I guess I was going to slow for him, then I walked for about 2 minutes. After catching my breath I jogged the rest of the way, actually sprinting prett well for the last 150-200 meters, with a finishing time of 34:37.

I definitely need more work, it is 10 minutes longer than my best 5k time.

Here is a link to the I Will Inspire results.

There is a young girl that was born very ill, she requires round the clock care and medical attention. I don’t think any of us can understand how difficult this could be for a young family. If you have the resources please check out her page and consider making a donation to help with her ongoing care and assistance.

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/for-the-love-of-lucia/86229