The 2011 Jingle Jog 5k race took place in downtown McDonough, Georgia on Saturday, December 3rd. The race started and finished just south of the downtown square at Shiloh Baptist Church. Runners start the race headed north on Macon Street. They go through the square, run down a few streets before turning south and through downtown again on Griffin Street. The course map showed the final turn-around at Old Griffin Road but on race day the turn-around was just beyond that. Whereas, the
Aubrae Gunderson race was probably a bit shy of 5K, the Jingle Jog was a bit long. It's not a big deal though since it's not a PRR qualifier.
The turn out was good. There were almost six hundred runners and walkers at the start. The weather was great too. It was in the mid 60's and sunny. What made it even better was that Susan and I didn't have to get up at 6am to participate. The Jingle Jog started at 3:15pm.
Our neighbor Jim came by to pick up Susan and I at 2pm. Jim was more familiar with downtown McDonough so he drove and got us there without the hassle of driving through the square. It's always backed up. We parked off of Old Griffin Road near the last turn on the course.
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| We parked at the Municipal Court building |
The lines for packet pickup were long. The same was true for the port-a-potties.
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| The line for pre-registered runners |
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| The line for the port-a-facilities |
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| Me and Susan before the race in front of Shiloh Baptist Church |
My Ironman buddy Chip showed up for the race.
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| Chip and I before the race |
The race started with race director Adam Stanfield in the lead vehicle for the 5K'ers. Right from the start three young guys took the lead. I hit the first mile mark at 5:38. I was in 4th place until around the half-way point when I was passed on Carmichael Street by another runner. I passed the second mile maker at 12:01. The police stopped traffic at the square as the runners ran through. The drivers must have had a fit!
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| Jim on the final stretch of Griffin Street near the finish |
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| Runners headed south on Griffin Street |
Susan had a good race and did well considering this was only her second race. She paced herself in fear of inflaming her plantar fasciitis again.
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| Susan on the final stretch |
I finished the race in 5th place overall out of 566 participants in a time of 19:35. That was fast enough to win the Master Award.
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| Me picking up my Masters Award |
Jim placed 1st in his age-group with a time of 36:04.
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| Jim adds another medal to his collection |
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| The artwork on the long-sleeve cotton t-shirt |
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| Participants received a Santa cap |
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| My Masters Award |
Overall the 2011 Jingle Jog 5K was a fun local race. Registration/packet pickup was a little slow and it seemed a little unorganized. There was no defined starting line for the race. It would have been nice to have some cups of water before the race started. Maybe there was some and I just missed them. The post race refreshments included bottled water and whole bananas. I don't think there was enough of either. All of my crew had enough but some runners may have done without. Timing was done via Innovative Timing Systems bib attached RFID chips at the finish line. There was no timing mat (or tower) at the start so everyone had the same start time. One thing that all my crew did comment on was the large number of kids in the race some of which were running all over the place. I could see that this might be an issue as we readied for the start and the line of young boys stretched side-by-side across the road. A few of them beat me so I guess I can't say that they shouldn't have been up front.
That's about it!
Thanks for reading.
