Monthly Archives: April 2023

A 5K for 5K Geocaching finds? GeocachingHealth/Fitness

Late last year I was talking with some geocaching friends, some of whom happen to be runners, and an idea was hatched to host a 5K run event for my upcoming 5,000th geocaching find. A 5K for 5K, get it? I crunched the numbers and figured it would be sometime in February or early March when I hit that magical number. Five months of number managing later we picked a location/date that worked and the event was on! It had been nearly 10 years since I ran that far so, during the next 2 months, I tried to get myself back into some kind of shape. I logged 22 miles and got up to running 2+ miles without falling apart so I figured I was ready for 3.1 miles. My running log is below.

The day of the event the weather forecast was promising rain off and on all morning and this kept some folks away. However we still had two dozen hardy cachers (and a geo-pooch) in attendance – 10 of which opted to run/walk the 5K loop. At the last moment Allison decided she wanted to run the race as well so I hung back with her and we ran an easy pace – even taking a walk break to enjoy the scenery of the beautiful Manasquan Reservoir. The rain had tapered off before the race started but it really picked up its pace during the last mile or so. Allison did too – she flat out sprinted to the finish line just so she could say she beat her old man. 🙂

Group shot pre-race – What better way to celebrate than with friends?

We got pretty wet but it was unusually warm for April so we didn’t mind. There were post-race snacks, trophies for the front-runners and real metal medals for everyone that opted to do the loop. The best part – there were new caches hidden for the event and the runners had to choose between being first to find and first to finish the race.

The weather could have been better but it also could have been a lot worse. There were actual tornadoes in the area that evening! It was a lot of work to setup the event and get back in shape but it was worth it for a memorable 5K for my 5K. I guess 10,000 will be my next big milestone. It took me over 16 years to get 5,000 finds. Will I be able to run a 10K when I’m 64? Only time will tell!

Running Log:
2023-01-29 – 1 Mile with Allison
2023-01-30 – 1 Mile solo
2023-02-05 – 2 hours roller skating (Took a spill)
2023-02-09 – 1 Mile solo (9:54) (Back tweaking)
2023-02-12 – A few minutes of running with Allison while out caching
2023-02-13 – 1 Mile with Allison (11:02 due to side-stitches)
2023-02-16 – 1.1 Miles solo (9:02 for the mile)
2023-02-19 – .5 miles on treadmill + swimming
2023-02-20 – Fast walked around 4 miles. (11K steps)
[Rest of February – sick!]
2023-03-06 – 1.2 miles plodding at 13:26
2023-03-09 – 1.5 miles to MAMS in 14:44
2023-03-12 – Dance party while cleaning. 3000 “steps” recorded
2023-03-16 – 3.1 miles with many stops through Tatum. 1 hour 4 minutes.
2023-03-17 – 6 mile hike/bushwhack feeling the burn from yesterday.
2023-03-20 – Quarter mile sprint to get Allison’s shoes to her at the bus-stop
2023-03-21 – 2 miles ploddy ploddy 20:37
2023-03-22 – 1 mile solo – 8:47 (PB)
2023-03-26 – ~3.2 miles with HILLS and lots of stopping (Aprox 39 min)
2023-03-28 – Short sprint with Allison who wanted to see if she’s faster than me yet.
2023-03-29 – ~2.2 miles in 24:00 for my final “long” run before the event!
2023-03-31 – A few miles of broken/thorny/damp terrain while caching.
2023-04-01 – 3.1 miles, untimed, running with Allison.

Total 22.0 measured miles + Skating, Hiking, Dancing & Swimming.