Sunday: 22 November 2009
I took about a hundred photos of the race yesterday, from our special viewpoint as roadmarkers. Some were good, some not so much, but they tell a small neat story, I think. I believe I’ll post a few of these in three installments over the course of the day.
Oglethorpe County’s Fifth Annual Restoration Run went off very well yesterday, due to what was from our point of view excellent preparation and planning by those who did that. Although we were not involved in the planning, Glenn and I were at our appointed three stagings before the expected time and checked in with Cary (WFD Treasurer and one of the organizers) at the requested intervals. We can follow instructions!
The new old pumper is great to drive. I had driven it for the first time on Thursday night, fifteen miles, just to be sure (I kindly let the other enthusiasts have their fun at prior training meetings). A little slow going uphill, but that’s to be expected when you’re carrying four tons of water. We called 911 to take it out of service at 6:30, and proceeded on down the road. Note appropriately placed traffic cones and chocked wheel. We remembered to remove the chock later, too, instead of suffering the embarrassment of driving over it!
As you know, our old pumper was the Margaritaville, from her yellow-green paint job. Nothing pleased so many (though not me, particularly) more than that the new old pumper would be fire truck red. We’ve been mulling over names for the NOP. In keeping with the mixed drink tradition, Glenn and I considered, but then rejected Bloody Mary, and Tequila Sunrise. I now believe we should call the new one Maraschino.
Temperatures were probably in the mid 40s when the 5K race began at 7:30. That’s cool, but much more pleasant than last year’s 28 degF temperature! It was pretty foggy, and I made the mistake of taking the long lens instead of the regular one.
The 5K race took the runners 1.55 miles down Smokey Road, and then back to the Depot. Smokey Road - what to say about Smokey Road? It’s the gateway to Garden Drive, takes off from US78 running parallel toward Crawford. It seems to have an inordinate number of first responder and other emergency calls. Let’s just say it’s no Sunset Boulevard, but then I’m no Norma Desmond either.
We were staged at the turnaround point, and so got the privileged position of viewing the front runners as they appeared halfway through, at about seven or eight minutes into the race. Number four was this young fellow on the left - 11 years old? 13? I don’t yet know how he fared at the end - we were not ever in the position of being at the finish line.
Clickable thumbnails: on the left, a much better shot of #4 as he takes off after rounding the halfway mark. Center, Numbers One through Three - who were not all that much ahead, and demonstrate that there were some formidable participants. And last, a later cluster coming and going.
You’ll note the vehicles. The roads were not shut down for the race - that would involve Georgia DOT for the state roads. Drivers were generally courteous from our limited viewpoint, but an awful lot of them talk on cell phones while they’re driving.
Later in the morning, we got a little punchy, but this time we gave the last runners a respectful length of time to get well ahead, and then left Smokey Road for Hargrove Lake Road, four miles away. That was to be our second staging point at about the 1/3 mark for the 15K race, which was to start at 8:30am. And I think I’ll post that in a second installment, a bit later today.
Oglethorpe County’s Fifth Annual Restoration Run went off very well yesterday, due to what was from our point of view excellent preparation and planning by those who did that. Although we were not involved in the planning, Glenn and I were at our appointed three stagings before the expected time and checked in with Cary (WFD Treasurer and one of the organizers) at the requested intervals. We can follow instructions!
The new old pumper is great to drive. I had driven it for the first time on Thursday night, fifteen miles, just to be sure (I kindly let the other enthusiasts have their fun at prior training meetings). A little slow going uphill, but that’s to be expected when you’re carrying four tons of water. We called 911 to take it out of service at 6:30, and proceeded on down the road. Note appropriately placed traffic cones and chocked wheel. We remembered to remove the chock later, too, instead of suffering the embarrassment of driving over it!
As you know, our old pumper was the Margaritaville, from her yellow-green paint job. Nothing pleased so many (though not me, particularly) more than that the new old pumper would be fire truck red. We’ve been mulling over names for the NOP. In keeping with the mixed drink tradition, Glenn and I considered, but then rejected Bloody Mary, and Tequila Sunrise. I now believe we should call the new one Maraschino.
Temperatures were probably in the mid 40s when the 5K race began at 7:30. That’s cool, but much more pleasant than last year’s 28 degF temperature! It was pretty foggy, and I made the mistake of taking the long lens instead of the regular one.
The 5K race took the runners 1.55 miles down Smokey Road, and then back to the Depot. Smokey Road - what to say about Smokey Road? It’s the gateway to Garden Drive, takes off from US78 running parallel toward Crawford. It seems to have an inordinate number of first responder and other emergency calls. Let’s just say it’s no Sunset Boulevard, but then I’m no Norma Desmond either.
We were staged at the turnaround point, and so got the privileged position of viewing the front runners as they appeared halfway through, at about seven or eight minutes into the race. Number four was this young fellow on the left - 11 years old? 13? I don’t yet know how he fared at the end - we were not ever in the position of being at the finish line.
Clickable thumbnails: on the left, a much better shot of #4 as he takes off after rounding the halfway mark. Center, Numbers One through Three - who were not all that much ahead, and demonstrate that there were some formidable participants. And last, a later cluster coming and going.
You’ll note the vehicles. The roads were not shut down for the race - that would involve Georgia DOT for the state roads. Drivers were generally courteous from our limited viewpoint, but an awful lot of them talk on cell phones while they’re driving.
Later in the morning, we got a little punchy, but this time we gave the last runners a respectful length of time to get well ahead, and then left Smokey Road for Hargrove Lake Road, four miles away. That was to be our second staging point at about the 1/3 mark for the 15K race, which was to start at 8:30am. And I think I’ll post that in a second installment, a bit later today.
