The Freedom Run consists of a 5K and 10K race in Morrow, Georgia. The 10K course is USATF certified and one of the top ten Atlanta Track Club Peachtree Road Race 10K qualifying races in the metro Atlanta area. Luckily for me it's close to home and starts at 9:00am. That means I didn't have to drive far and could sleep-in. Registration and packet pick up was in the gym area. The gym provided a great place to get in from the cold, stretch and warm up.
The 10K course starts and finishes on the campus of
Clayton State University and includes two clockwise loops through the neighborhoods that surround the college. The 5K course is a single loop. My buddy Jim ran the 5K and I ran the 10K. The timing was pull-tab with a gun (horn) start with both races starting together. There were two different finish lines, one for each race.
The 10K course is on MapMyRun.
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| 10K finish line water station |
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| The 10K finish line |
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| Jim in need of URGENT assistance at the computer |
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| The post-race Waffle House breakfast |
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| Race Director, Mike Mead presenting the awards |
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| CSU Cheerleaders address the runners |
I hear the CSU (NCAA Division II)
Lakers women's basketball team are doing very well this year.
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| The 5K and 10K men's overall race winners (Nice shirts guys!) |
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| Jim and I with our awards |
Jim took first in his age group. This was Jim's fourth race in as many weeks where he "brought home the bacon". I was 3rd overall and, since the overall winner was over 40, I won the masters overall award with an time of 41:32 at a 6:41 minute per mile pace.
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| White Swans |
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| Canada Geese |
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| Canada Geese wondering why I'm taking their picture |
The weather was perfect, a cool 31-degrees at the start and around 36-degrees at the finish with blue skies all the way. I didn't get my sub-40 minute finish. The Charles Harris 10K on February 26th will be my next attempt.
