Sweet 13 5K

This race is part of a Spring Series in Iredell County.  Thirteen races take place in Statesville, Union Grove, Troutman, Mooresville, and Love Valley.  Each race is only $10 and manually timed.  Shirts are available for $15 and this year's color is light gray with the Ready. Run. Race. logo on the front and the Sweet 13 listings on the back.

This was my 5th race with MRT and I beat my previous best score for the series, which is surprising given the hills we encountered, the mud we faced and the terrain of a trail race.

My splits showed the effects of each hill.  My timing on Mile one was my best effort to date.. less than 13 min and it would have been better than that except there were lots of children and walkers for this particular race and I got behind them at the start - if you've run a trail race, you understand there is not a lot of "passing" until the crowd thins down.  Not at all complaining about kids and walkers... my own fault for not lining up correctly to begin with.  I didn't expect to do as well but the constant workouts I've been doing since the beginning of June are paying off.

A local church group showed up for this run so MRT had its largest turnout tonight.  Lots of enthusiasm on the field so I stayed throughout the entire award ceremony to support all those that had done a 5K for the very first time.  One lovely grandmother had been a spectator for the entire series, watching her grandchildren run, so she decided to run one with them.  She was the final finisher but her family could not have been more proud!  Lots of love at these events!

This course was located at Allison Woods Living History and Reenactment Home in Statesville NC. The entire course was on dirt single lane roads that interlaced through the wooded areas of this site.  The final half mile was next to an air strip with a slight incline, turnaround, and the final stretch being a decline to the Finish Line.

Quite a workout for a Tuesday night.  

The Final Race of the series will be held this coming Tuesday at the Statesville Recreation Dept (same as first race) and we are promised that it is completely flat and on asphalt.  My fingers are (once again) crossed for a PR on that course.

Looking forward to Race #13 and very grateful for McLelland's Racing Team and their support of the running community.

Official Time:  45:46