On Saturday October 5th, Shattuck hospital hosted a 5k to raise funds for the hospital. The race started at the picnic area in front of the hospital and ended there. Before the race started, Terry announced to everyone the importance of this race and what we can do to help out. She mentioned that there are booths for us to take pamphlets and to participate in any future activities in Boston. She encouraged all people to start at the starting line, which was also the finish line. She wanted the runners to be in front, so that the walkers would not get trampled. Before the firing of the gun, I spoke to a man who was coaching his young kids to improve their times in the 5k. I asked him about what he was doing and the tips he recommends for the race.
He stated that he wants his kids to run and then slow down. At the same time, you should not go full throttle when the race starts, since you are going to be out of energy and have to walk a huge portion of the race. I asked him how fast he can run a 5k and he stated he can do it in 26:40 and I told him that I can do it in 25:36. Soon, the race started and I became the first runner to be ahead of everyone. Eventually, six runners caught up ahead of me and I tried to keep pace with them, but I could not, so I decided to jog it out at a steady pace. While I was jogging, I kept telling myself to keep going and never stop at all.
To me, I did not care how long the race was; I knew that there were going to be guides along the race track and arrows pointing to where I was going to run. Also, the whole race was in Franklin Park and I did not care that much since I was seeing a lot of trees and bushes. As I was jogging, I walked past a bridge that got me to the other side and I made a U-turn to finish the last two miles of the race. As soon as I made the turn, I was jogging back to where I started from, except I was on the sidewalk and not the road track where the finish line was. I kept going ahead and I saw a fork in the road and instead of turning left, I decided to turn right since I felt it was the right direction. I kept going straight ahead and I saw a water station at the 1.6-mile mark, but I decided to ignore the water since it would slow me down and I would lose my momentum to continue.
After the water station, I kept jogging straight ahead and I caught up with the man who was the coach. I was jogging past the golf course that was there and I took a second to enjoy the scenery while I was outpacing him. Soon, I ran past him and kept going knowing that the race was almost done. Although I had made the right turn that would leave me only half a mile, I tried running but the guy who I outpaced caught up to me and he outran me. Soon, I tried to catch up to him and asked the volunteer when it would be over, but they stated that it is only two turns left and never gave me an exact number. So, I kept running to catch up with him and soon I saw him and thought I was going to catch him, but he finished before me. However, I managed to sprint it all the way out and I got a time of 25:42.
After the race, I enjoyed some refreshments and food to celebrate running all the way to the finish line. I was confused and thought that there was something wrong with the race and I went to the organizers to complain about the problem. One of them walked with me and I showed her the fork in the road and I thought you were supposed to turn left, but she assured me that I did the right thing and that there has been issues with this race. Soon, I took out my phone and tracked the location and I found out that I made the right move. Although I did not win anything at the race, I managed to run all the way through and I came in seventh despite being six seconds slower compared to my first 5k.
Lemuel Shattuck 5k
By Jim Wang
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November 1, 2019