On the Right Track 5k Race Report

March 29, 2017 / Nicole Huston
Updated Mar 2, 2020

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race 5k road running

Notice the wind hitting the flags in the finishers’ video.

I was looking to do the Winter Run again this year with James in Granville, Ohio. Unfortunately I couldn’t find any concrete information about the race, as the website was not updated for the current year. I waited a few weeks before starting to search for a new 5k for us to do assuming that this race might not happen.

On the Right Track was a small, first year race put on to fundraise for the Track and Field programs at London High School. The race fee was reasonable at $25 and it wasn’t too far outside Columbus. I signed myself and James up.

I was excited to see that this race had age group awards and made it my goal for this race to place in my age group. I told James that he should aim for that as his goal too but he seemed less enthused.

As the race got closer I looked again at signups for the race. 4 people were in my age group (including me) but James was the ONLY person in his age group. Great. Now I knew I would have to work to meet my goal, meanwhile he would likely default place.

Race morning came and James was complaining about anything and everything to try to get out of going to the race. “It’s cold.” “It’s a far drive.” “I feel sick.” “I’m tired and would rather sleep.” At this point the goal is just to get him into the car and start driving. We start driving and he is going on and on about how he is going to walk the 5k. I tell him he can’t because he needs to place in his age group and other people might register day of. I think I just got a glare after saying that.

We get to the race start and it is WINDY. Ugh. Sometimes living in the city you forget how much wind buildings and trees actually block. There wasn’t a whole lot of either around the school. Just open fields.

The race was about to start and no one wanted to line up at the front. There may have been one or two guys up there and then a huge gap. I lined up behind a few girls thinking they looked faster than me.

The race started and James and I ran together for the first 3/4 mile. Then we went our separate ways as I peeled ahead. There was a long stretch along Elm Street before you turned into a neighborhood and ran a short loop before heading back. In the neighborhood I was trying to hold pace and I was looking over my shoulder around every turn to see where the next girl was.

I held my lead through the neighborhood but as soon as I hit Elm Street again my pace slowed. There was an impossible headwind. I wished I was shorter to improve my aerodynamics. I was praying no one would pass me in this section. As the next left hand turn loomed ahead, I hoped the wind would soon be an issue of the past. Wrong. It just kept coming. All the way to the finish.

Final Time: 21:41.4

I finished 1st female and 7th overall out of 49 participants. James finished 10th overall and placed first in his age group!