Moseying to the Music, Walk Report, MLK Day 5K Drum Run 2023

Awareness of the outside world. “Welcome to the Historic 4th Avenue Business District, one of the only surviving Black Business Districts in the Southeast still operating with a majority Black owned business ecosystem and property ownership!” Forward 4th Avenue. This is where the race started & finished.

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MLK Day 5K Drum Run Birmingham AL
Birmingham, Alabama USA
Saturday 14 January 2023

Chip Time – 56:00.6
Gun Time – 56:56.2
Pace 18:02

Place – 307 of 330
Division Place, Female 60 to 69 – 12th of 12
Division Place, Female – 155 of 172

The Race

Less than one hour! Good time for starting at the back & taking a potty break. Tea might not have been the best pre-race choice, but the warm was lovely.

No medal pic because once again too slow to get this year’s medal. Management broke out the medals from last year so us turtles would not go home empty-handed. I’ve ended up with overstock at other races. Shrug. Of course I’d like a medal. I’ve mentioned how I feel about ribbons and the like. However, this is the possible downside of choosing the tourist option.

No self timing. I took whatever official time turned out to be. When I wondered how far I had gone, I checked my phone & figured from there.

As previously, no pics of drummers because privacy & kids.

The Walk

This is my favorite 5K.

One. The course goes through the part of Birmingham where they keep the tall buildings so it has more of a city feel.

Two. The soundtrack! Drummers are staged around the course: drumlines from local schools, a church group, a professional drum bands. Lots of different kinds of drums & drumming.

I don’t know why every runner in Birmingham isn’t there. Maybe if you run it goes by too fast. At my pace, it is wonderful. Except for a short dead spot in the outback of the course, there is continuous music. Just as the sound from one group fades you start to hear the next.

There is a link to 2021 audio on the race website.

As I have noticed in my last few long walks, I have a definite gear change between mile 1 and mile 1.5, when my system switches from the daily mile to the 3.71 miles of a 5K. At approximately 20 minutes, I hit the slightest of walls. This was when I looked at the time. I figured I had gone about a mile. I was hearing a lot of complaints. Are we done yet? Why aren’t we done yet? Oh, one of those days. And off I went.