Race report: Fiddlin’ 5k

At some point I will have to admit that the 5k is not my race anymore. I guess I’m not at that point just yet. With a 5k, I’m just getting started when the race ends. Despite that realization, I ran the Fiddlin’ 5k a week ago with Carol. The race starts and finishes on the campus of Mars Hill University, and this was the second year of the race.

We arrived on campus around 8:30 to grab our bib numbers and the race began promptly at 9 a.m. It went up Main Street and turned next to a service station that I remember going to when I was a student. It was a nice downhill and I stopped at one point to take pictures of cows.

At one point, Carol and I couldn’t believe we hadn’t reached a mile yet. We were at 0.8 miles and it was the LONGEST mile ever. At least, it felt incredibly long. We passed the mile marker in under 9 minutes. Super fast for me.

This race had a really low entry fee (I paid $18 as an alum, Carol paid $20) and a great t-shirt. They provided music along the route (unusual for a 5k!) and great views.

It also provided a challenging uphill climb.

The second mile was so slow! I saw a turn and then people climbing a mountain (literally, a mountain) and the memories of running this route in college came flooding back. It hurt then, and I was in much better shape. We walked a lot up the hill. We walked it faster than we could run it.

At the top of the hill, we saw Banjo Branch Road (you can’t have a Fiddlin’ 5k without seeing Banjo Branch, I guess) and there was a water station. It was relatively flat and downhill from there until we got back to the gymnasium on campus.

Then it was uphill. And it kept going uphill until the finish. A cruel way to end a race.

Post-race, there was a group performing on the quad, and plenty of water, bagels and cookies to go around. We didn’t stick around too long, as we wanted to run another loop before leaving campus. (We ran 6 miles that day.)

It was a good day, and a race I’d highly recommend (and will run again).