Pillsbury Press: David Brearley 5k

Lawrenceville is a wonderful place to live, but if I were to add anything it would be to have a 5K race that brings the town together. Plenty of towns around us have races, but there is an extra level of magic when you known many of the participants. I felt some of that magic Memorial Day weekend at the 46th annual Spring Lake 5-miler. Back in March when I heard the Lawrence Historical Society was planning to hold their first annual 5k on June 8th I marked my calendar.

Then I waited. And waited. And waited. In mid-May I thought about taking the date off the calendar and making other plans when I heard the race was on! With a registration fee a mere $15, and a start time at a pleasant 8:30 am, I signed up. I even convinced Don to sign up.

The narrow path was well marked

There was much confusion about the race. We knew it would be along the canal, but would they really make us run along the narrow path that leads from the Brearley House to the canal? One person said yes, another said no. Yes was the correct answer.

With the last minute notice to everyone but those in the know, would they really get enough people to sign up? They were pleased with the 25 registrations. Any more and they would have needed to pay police to help manage the crowd.

Don and I turned the race into a duathlon by riding the tandem to and from the starting line.

The weather was lovely. The fastest person finished in 16 minutes. The last person finished just under an hour. Both were happy with their times. The race started with a loop through the grass, which separated us just as the "spiral of death" does at RunBucks races. Half a mile after starting we were on the towpath, which we shared with people taking walks, biking, running, and otherwise enjoying the day. It was sunny and in the upper 60s, a tad warm for serious runners and perfect for fun runners and walkers.

The halfway mark took us to the Port Mercer Canal House where two junior historians were conscripted (not too often that word gets used!) to hand out water.

I chatted off and on with a man comparing notes about our choice of footwear (he is in the Brooks camp, I am team Nike). Don started strong, but fell behind me before we reached the turn around.

As I'm still babying my foot, I was pleased with my sub-40 time. I do want to get stronger, but that will involve more running and less walking in my intervals. Right now I'm working on being able to finish with a smile on my face.

We all won our age categories!

Why oh why did I think biking to the race was a good idea? Fortunately biking is Don's strength and he was able to catapult us home.