Wildebeest Stampede 5k - Run5k

Some teenagers set off fairly quickly, and they were wearing cross country team shirts, so I figured that they knew what they were doing, and let them get away. But within a few hundred yards they had slowed down, and I found myself in the lead. This was rather a surprise. As we took our first loop through the forest, I alarmed a deer who was enjoying a peaceful snack. After a half mile or so there was an open section where I could see that I was pulling away from the second person, but after that we were twisting and turning on forest paths, so I really had no idea whether I had a clear lead.

The first mile went by in 6:05, which was faster than expected given the soft, wet ground and the slippery sections. The next mile took 7:39, which is a pretty good indication of how the course was. The forest path turned every few yards, went up and down, included logs to jump and narrow bridges. Some sections were rather muddy and slippery from the storm, and in one place I found myself skating into a tree, in an effort to avoid a muddy face plant. Note to self: consider shoes with some grip. The last mile was mostly looping around fields with soft grass, so I was able to pick up the pace some more (6:19). It wasn't until the last half mile that I was able to see that the next runners were a couple of minutes behind me. So no need to push too hard to the finish, as there's some big bike training in store for the rest of the weekend. I sped up a little for the finishing lap around the baseball field.

20:24 was the slowest 5k that I've run in a long while, but the terrain made it pointless to compare to anything else that I've done. It made it all the more impressive to me that somebody won the same race in 16:xx last year.

Nothing. This was just supposed to be a hard training run, and it served its purpose.

I jogged around a little and waited for the 2nd and 3rd runners to finish. Then ran off to accompany Zoe for a run-walk around the last mile of the course. The terrain had taken its toll on her, so she was feeling a little despondent. As soon as I got back to the finish it was time for the awards. The second place finisher was a 5th grader who had paced himself well and worked his way through the field. So between my 44 years and his 11, we had the average age of a decent runner.


This is a very low-key event. It's a fun run through the woods, not something to do in search of a decent time.