Heart and Soles 5k – Race Report

February 13, 2017 Faux Runner Comments 0 Comment

The FauxRunner family has been a member of Atlanta Track Club for the past 3 or 4 years, but we’ve never taken advantage of the Grand Prix series and the free 5k events. When I was looking for a 5k for Miss. FauxRunner around February, the Heart and Soles 5k was perfect and it was free for members.

Having raced The Red Top Rumble 11.5 mile Trail Race just last weekend, I wasn’t planning to race this one, even though it was “only” a 5K. But a couple of days before the race, I was talking to Tina and found that The Kyle Pease Foundation might need a pusher at the race for one of their athletes. With the Publix Half Marathon just 5 weeks away, it was a great way to be initiated.

My athlete was Aiden, a sweetie who was so enthused by crowds and cheers. Brent gave me a quick 5 bullet point on what to do and we were off! All I can say about the experience was that it was everything I had thought it would be and some more.

Obviously, I had expected it to be hard to push – it was, and yet it wasn’t. Hills/inclines were hard and flats/downs were faster than I expected. It was a matter of learning to position myself comfortably.

I expected to be stuck while turning and needing assistance – I soon got the hang of how to move the chair without making it too bumpy for Aiden.

I was worried about running with someone else – it was the greatest fun for me! I kept talking all through the race (du’h, of course) to Aiden and he probably either loved it or hated it. I loved it.

I was nervous about my time (even though it is about experiences and not pace) – I came in at 36:xx, which was surprisingly exactly what Brent had predicted when I told him the time I thought I could run independently.

I knew it would be a great experience – I had not realized how much. We had started 30min before race start and were in the last mile as the rest of the crowd (1894 runners) was starting and the amount of support we got was amazing. And I kept grinning on seeing how happy Aiden was with the cheers from the crowd.

Take aways from the race

Publix Half is 4 times the distance we ran over the Heart and Soles 5k. It will be no easy walk in the park.

I need a mental collection of awesome things or curse words to get through the nasty hills at the Georgia Publix Half. Even the mild ones at the Heart and Soles 5k was a bit of shock to me. The Georgia Publix race has the meanest hills I’ve ever encountered.

I’ve been doing a lot of strength training and I can see that it helped me because I was not in the least bit sore and ran 8 miles the next day. I’m a believer.

Miss FauxRunner aka Minion 1 had a great race too and she says she will write a race report separately. She came in at 28:49 and ran the race completely on her own, which was commendable given the number of people running. Jennifer, Aiden’s mom kept an eye on minion 2 and made sure that Miss FauxRunner got to the start line since I had started 30 minutes early.

Overall, the Heart and Soles 5k is a great race by Atlanta Track Club. The course was one of the best I’ve run in the Atlanta area with hills being more long inclines than the steep ones. After I settled into a pace, I was able to run up many of the hills (still need hill repeats to strengthen legs more!) and even Miss. FauxRunner said that it wasn’t a hard course compared to the two other 5Ks that she has done (Vibha Dream Mile 5K and the Spooktacular Chase 5K)