Day 3,025: Atlanta Dogwood Festival 5K

I signed up for this a while ago when I learned this inaugural race would be in Piedmont Park. I mean, I love the park's flat paths where I train.

But then I learned that this course actually runs around the perimeter of the park on the streets, from 10th Street to Piedmont Avenue to Monroe Drive back to 10th Street. I ran this course once in July 2004 when the Atlanta's Finest 5K was held here (it's presently downtown). In that race, I ran it in 26:28.

So I wasn't sure what this course would have in store for me today. But I did bring one racing innovation into my routine -- beets. There have been articles on beet juice as a boon to race performance.

Yesterday I made a standard pasta dish but I also had roasted a few organic beets from Trader Joe's. I turned them into a yummy salad that I've made before, but never before a race. This morning, I ate about five small pieces of roasted beets (chasing them with a solid cracker) about 30 minutes before the race. Then I ran about a mile from my house (as a warm-up and a mode of transportation) to the registration tent.

The race started and because we were all corralled in one lane of 10th Street, it was a little bit congested. But it didn't take too much to break free on the hilly incline in the first few minutes of the race. When I looked at my watch at Mile 1, it wasn't the sub-7 from my last two races but 7:17. I kind of just shrugged and kept going.

Before mile 2, this younger, tall guy passed me and he seemed to have a pretty good pace. I was hopeful that this would be a situation that would drag me into a PR. There also was a woman in her 30s who passed me and eventually passed him near the end of the race.

With about .3 mile left to go, a young black guy in sweats and big headphones passed me and I finally gained something of a kick only near the end of the race. I got in at 22:57, which was not a PR for me but still is my second consecutive 5K in which I've qualified for Group A of the Peachtree Road Race (and probably something like my 5th fastest 5K ever).

I made it past the Park Drive bridge when I remembered that I forgot my T-shirt. So I turned around and ran back and then ran the rest of the way home (1.5 miles total). My single anecdote of using beets is that my legs were not sore or tired and I felt like I could run more miles. Last month when I ran in the St. Patrick's Parade 5K, I walked all the way home because I felt like I couldn't run.

So it's something to think about.

Time: 8 a.m.

Temp: 55 degrees

Gear: Technical T-shirt, short (Champion gray), shorts, Skechers Go Run 3.