Freshburst 5 Miler Results

Our family got up early on Saturday morning to drive about 30 minutes to Lititz for the Fresh Burst 5 mile run. We left home around 7:15 AM. The run was scheduled to begin at 8:15 AM. It was a sunny morning with the temperature in the low 80's by race time. Dylan's 30 yard dash was acheduled to begin at 9:15AM.

The race start and finish was located in front of the Johnson & Johnson manufacturing plant on 400 W. Lincoln Avenue in Lititz. The parking lot for this plant was used as the race headquarters and general congregation area.

Turkey Hill was the major sponsor for the race as they donated baby sized pools filled with iced teas, lemonades and water. Subs and Italian ice were also available.

The plant apparently produces mouthwash and mouth rinses for kids as both my son and I received goodie bags containing bottles of each.

I was surprised to see hundreds of people lined up for the races. There was a 5 mile run and a 5K walk being conducted at the same time. There were 522 finishers of the 5 mile race and 74 racers for the 5K walk. This was the largest local race I have run.

Of the 522 runners I finished 248th with a time of 42 minutes and 35 seconds. My Garmin Forerunner watch measured this course at 5.03 miles. The Forerunner recorded a 42:19 time at the 5 mile mark.

I held back ever so slightly the first mile in an effort to conserve energy for the last mile. The second mile was all downhill and prior to the race determined I was going to run this as fast as possible. I ran the 2nd mile in 8:07, which turned out to be the fastest mile split of the run for me.

I was particularly pleased with my performance for the last three quarter mile splits of the race. I ran each quarter mile, which translates to roughly one lap around a track, in less than 2:07 each. I actually passed a half dozen runners at the end of the race. I typically get passed by runners at the end of a race.

I have come a long way since March of this year. In the next couple of months, or more specifically, 75 days, I need to build my endurance level to where I can run the half marathon distance of 13.1 miles.