Vardaman 5K

Saturday, Penny and I along with Trevor journeyed to Vardaman, Mississippi for the Sweet Potato Festival. It one of the festivals we like and plan to attend every year. Our good friends, the Johnsons, took us there in 2016. I ran the 5K then and won my age division along with $15. Yeah, they gave cash instead of trophies Last year we went back, but that was during my injury phase and I did not run. We like this one for several reasons. It has that small town feel, maybe because Vardaman is a small town. Penny loves shopping these kind of events and they do have lots of vendors. Not only that, but they have one whole street that is lined on both sides lined food folks. You can walk down the middle of that street and watch the most fabulous food dishes being cooked on open air griddles. This year, Trevor, my workout buddy, wanted to do the 5K, his first. I have just started back running, shuffling, about three weeks ago. Trevor has run maybe four times, five at most. So we were going to survive, shuffle through, get a fun workout in. 

I was short on cash so I settled
for this: $4.00.

The starter gun went off with me fifty yards in front of the starting line. I had gone for a warm-up walk and according to my watch, which is GPS controlled so it is accurate, I had two minutes to go till starting time. I have never know a race to start on time, I still haven''t. At 7:58 the started shot his gun and the runners shot off like they were being chased by hungry bears. I had no choice but to clear my watch, wait for the wave of participants to pass, and fall in at the back. I noticed some walkers in the group. It took me .25 to catch and pass a fat lady who was walking.

That was just the first of my battles for the day. A goofy-looking young man was walking really fast and was way out in front of me. Slowly, I reeled him in, but it took a full mile. My goal for the day was simply to try to finish under a 12:00 minute per mile pace. I did the first mile in 10:54 and I was beside the walker when I lapped my Garmin. Shame.

At 1.54 miles, the course hands the runners and walkers its first and only real hill. To add inuslt to injury, the hill is beside a large cemetery. After the hill, the course turns left at ninety degrees giving me a chance to look back and see if walker man was catching me. He was. I shuffled on in fear knowing he was only 50 yards behind me.

Trevor before running his first 5K.
He placed second in his age group.

After that I was shuffling scared. At every turn, and there were lots of them, I looked back for walker guy. After two miles, I began to pull away from him and only after another half mile did I feel confident that I was going to best him. Such is this running thing. 

I finished in 33:53. Yes, that is pretty pitiful, but consider that at the Greenwood 5K I finished in 39:59. So I am more fit. My splits looked like this:

1 - 10:54
2 - 11:17
3 - 11:17
4 - 9:55

It is a start. Trevor and I are now talking about ditching the Warrior Dash we were contemplating on doing on the Coast next fall. It is the exact same weekend as Vardaman. When I suggested to Trevor to train for a year and come back and win the whole thing, he jumped at the idea. Yes, I think he can do it, if he trains on the road as hard as he does on the weights. 
I was third in my age group, encouraging, but at my age, not that big of a deal. Still, it was a good workout, a good time, and good day. I look forward to next year. If you like things and have never been to the Sweet Potato Festival, put this one on your list. You'll like it, I guarantee.