The February 19th, 2011
Al Toll Open 5K and Masters 15K Road Race is a Macon Tracks running club event in, of all places, Macon, Georgia. The 5K is an out-and-back course and the 15K is a counter-clockwise loop course. My buddy Jim and I would be running the 15K.
We left home at 7:00am with our wives coming along as our personal cheering committee. Our little group arrived at the IKON business park just after 8:00am. Jim and I checked-in and got our t-shirts.
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| Al Toll Memorial 5K and Master 15K cotton long-sleeve t-shirt |
The "27" in the design represents the anniversary of the race and the picture has got to represent the hilly course.
The weather was far warmer than it has been during the past few weekends...or even months for that matter. The temperature at the start was about 56-degrees and almost 66-degrees at the finish with blue skies and no wind.
Timing was done with index cards. I finished 5th overall and 2nd in my age-group with an unofficial finish time of 1:04:14 at a 6:53 pace. Jim finished 1st in his age-group with an unofficial finish time of 1:57:51.
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| Al Toll Memorial 15K award |
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| Jim, Mary Ann, Susan and I just after arriving at the race |
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| Parked right at the start/finish |
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| Less than 2 minutes to go |
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| The race director giving last minutes instructions |
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| Almost - Almost there! |
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| Almost there! |
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| There! |
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| Jim at the finish |
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| "My back hurts...I can't feel my legs" |
Jim and I had plenty of aches and pains. Jim's back hurt, my back hurt, Jim couldn't feel his legs, I had pain in my right foot. It was great fun!
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| "Good Job" Jim! |
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| The awards presentation and food area |
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| Food and drink |
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| The 15K Awards |
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| Bringin' home the bacon |
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| In 5 weekends Jim racks up 5 races and 5 awards |
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| Jim and I with our awards |
On our drive back to Lake Spivey we stopped in Forsyth, Georgia for lunch at
Grits Cafe. The restaurant had just been reviewed in the Atlanta Jounral-Constitution and everybody wanted to check it out. Luckily for us a nice person from Bolingbroke and her friend from McDonough were kind enough to take our picture outside the restaurant. We were all there for lunch.
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| Outside Grits Cafe in Forsyth, Georgia |
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| One of several dining rooms |
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| One of their appetizers |
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| Our entree's |
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| The Monroe County courthouse in Forsyth, Georgia |
Overall the race was great. Smaller races have a whole different feel from their bigger cousins. The looped course was hilly but scenic, and the awards and t-shirts were nice too. Our trip to Grits Cafe finished off our little outing with high marks.
