This is it.
It’s finally here.
The snow’s gone, temperatures are slowly on the rise.
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It’s racing season.
OK, technically, it’s been racing season for at least a few weeks–the West Deptford Laxers4Life 5K was two weeks ago, which was about the first weekend you could actually get out and be comfortable–but the unofficial kickoff comes next weekend at the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5K.
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After that, it’s hard to find a weekend where there isn’t a 5K or other running event happening. Here’s a look at what’s coming up.
Haddonfield Adrenaline 5K - March 19
As mentioned, it’s the unofficial kickoff to racing season in South Jersey, but it’s also one of only a few to actually offer prize money to the top five finishers in both the men’s and women’s regular and masters divisions, which should make for some fast finish times.
Still, you don’t need to be an elite athlete clocking those 3.1 miles in less than 15 minutes to get out there and get back to racing. There are the usual age group awards, plus the ability to run as a team, with awards to the top two teams in high school club teams, family teams and corporate teams, and a pair of kids races: a 100- and a 400-meter run.
And hey, what other 5K offers an after-party–in this case, the grand opening party for , a few blocks up Kings Highway from the starting point at Haddonfield High School.
West Deptford American Liver Foundation 5K - April 2
Locals, this one’s in your back yard–head over to West Deptford Park for one of the 10 races that make up the South Jersey Road Racing Series, which will rank runners according to age-graded performances (so no, you don’t have to beat those 16-year-olds every race).
The road course here actually takes you through the industrial park, which is a lot faster (and significantly less sloppy this time of year) than the XC course in the park itself.
Rutgers-Camden Run for Justice 5K - April 16
Another in the SJ Road Racing Series, this one benefits the Rutgers-Camden law school, and gives you a chance to the streets of Camden’s riverfront. If nothing else, the course is almost dead flat and about as fast as you’ll find in South Jersey.
Broad Street Update
It’s a scant seven weeks until 30,000 of us–officially, anyway, not counting the bandits–go charging down the central artery of Philly, which doesn’t leave a lot of training time for those of us shooting for a specific mark.
This’ll be my first time racing anything longer than a 5K, and I’ve been adding weekly mileage and longer weekend runs to try to get myself to the point where I can hit my goal time of 1:18, which seems horribly slow, given the course record, and impossibly fast, given my short track record, all at the same time.
Pushing over eight miles in one shot a couple of weekends ago was my big step, and I’ll go for nine or 10 this weekend, just to see how much I’ll need to carve off my time.
After all, I still have seven weeks.
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