Wesley Hunt

Firecracker Fast 5K

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Member Since:

Oct 19, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

Arkansas Traveller 100: 1st Place; October 7, 2017

Arkansas Traveller 100: 1st Place; October 1, 2016

Arkansas Traveller 100: 15:36:33, 1st Place (Course Record); October 3, 2015

Arkansas Traveller 100: 15:59:12, 1st Place; October 4, 2014

War Eagle Tail Twister 50K: 4:07:12, 2nd Place; June 3, 2017

2017 New York City Marathon: 2:53:59; November 5, 2017

2013 Boston Marathon: 2:59:11; April 1, 2013

PR, Sleeping Bear Marathon: 2:45:41, 1st Place; October 7, 2012

PR, Soaring Wings Half Marathon: 1:20:33, 8th Place; October 29, 2011

Personal:

Pride necessarily sprouts and grows; a pride that can only come from relentless kneading of unwilling flesh, painful months of grinding and burning away all that is heavy, all that is strength-sapping and useless to the body as a projectile. --John L. Parker, Jr., runner/author

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Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Mon, Jul 04, 2011

Race: Firecracker Fast 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:17:51, Place overall: 39, Place in age division: 5

Easy Miles	Marathon Pace Miles	Threshold Miles	VO2 Max Miles	Total Distance
2.90	0.00	0.00	3.60	6.50

Because everyone from Little Rock has to run the Firecracker Fast 5K at some point in their lives, I figured why not this morning. After hitting 60 total miles for the first time last week, I took Sunday off in anticipation of being a late entry in this race. Registered at 6:30 am for the 7:30 am start. Ran the race course in reverse (mostly uphill) for a 3-mile warm-up with two quarter-mile striders during the third mile.

Not a lot to say about this race, or the insanely fast downhill course, other than that the field is loaded with current and former college athletes looking for a downhill PR and a shot at the $1,000 prize money. I ran 17:51 (5:45 pace) and finished 39th. And they don't even give age group awards, though I finished 5/49. The top 100 overall finishers do receive a pretty cool "firecracker" trophy, though. My son loved it.

One more interesting note about this race...Bill Rodger and Frank Shorter came to Little Rock and ran in 1989 (15:24, 15:52). Good stuff.

Speaking of firecrackers, my son and I just got back from the fireworks stand where we stocked up on sparklers, fountains, and anything else that I rationalized as being safe enough for an impromptu fireworks show with my three and one year old this evening.

Everyone have a safe and happy 4th.

Wesley

Night Sleep Time: 6.00	Nap Time: 0.00	Total Sleep Time: 6.00

Comments

From Rob Murphy on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 13:18:09 from 98.202.141.17

That is pretty cool as both were past their primes at that point but still cranking out some pretty good 5k's.

My guess is that Arkansas is a state where pretty much everything is legal as far as fireworks are concerned. Am I wrong?

From Rob Murphy on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 13:18:55 from 98.202.141.17

And congrats on the sub-18 even with the downhill.

From allie on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 17:23:18 from 24.10.191.18

nice race, wesley. have fun with your fireworks show.

From Wesley Hunt on Mon, Jul 04, 2011 at 23:56:07 from 99.25.245.254

Thanks, Rob and Allie. And Rob, you're correct about Arkansas and fireworks...at least with respect to July 3-4, during which we've carved out exceptions that essentially allow for an "if you don't like fireworks, you must be un-American/Democrat/effete/etc." policy.

God bless,

Wesley

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