Hearts on Franklin 5K Race Report

Another running goal of mine in 2007 is to run at least one road race per month. My race for February was the Hearts on Franklin 5K, held this morning in Chapel Hill, N.C. Close to 200 people braved the low 30-degree temperatures for this inaugural event, put on by the Alpha Epsilon Delta sorority at UNC to benefit the Children's Fund of North Carolina.

Running through UNC's beautiful and historic campus because it's where I spent four of the best years of my life as an undergraduate. The course started and ended at Ehringhuas Field on south campus and wound past Kenan Stadium, the Bell Tower, the Old Well and Boshamer Stadium before returning to Ehringhaus Field for the finish.

My goal was to simply run the race at a leisurely pace, but my finishing time of 25 minutes, 19 seconds -- my fourth fastest 5K time ever -- was faster than I anticipated or expected. I was surprised mostly because the 5K came on the heels of a 16-mile marathon training run earlier in the predawn morning.