2012 Amber Pizzo Memorial 5k Race Review

After a week of beautiful, low humidity summer weather, a heat wave has returned to NJ.  A hazy, hot and humid morning came just in time for one of my favorite local races…the Amber Pizzo Memorial 5k in Berkeley Heights, NJ.

The Amber Pizzo Memorial 5k is run in honor of Amber Pizzo, a local teacher who was killed by a drunk driver in July 2005.  The 5k raises money for the Amber Pizzo Foundation, a foundation that assists in developing and funding peer leadership and educational programs within Union county as well as sponsoring efforts to reduce alcohol related fatalities throughout NJ.

A friend and I drove over to the race site around 8:45am to pick up our packets, walk around and stretch out before the 9:30am start time.  Amber Pizzo must have loved butterflies because the whole race area is decorated with them.

The events also has a MADD walk and the course is lined with sobering statistics about drunk driving deaths.

My friend and I lined up at the start at 9:30am and with a ready, set, go, we were off.  The race is timed gun to chip and it took me about 20 seconds to cross the start line.  I chose to start in the back to give myself some “passing people” extra motivation.  This course is super hilly and I crossed the mile 1 marker in 10:10.  Mile 2 contains two large uphills with just one downhill and I ran Mile 2 in 10:55.  I did have to take some walk breaks to go up those huge hills so that definitely slowed me down.  Mile 3 also has a bunch of uphills and I ran that mile in 10:36.  The race finishes on an uphill (notice a theme) and I ran the last .1 mile at 9:35 pace.  I crossed the Amber Pizzo 5k finish line in exactly 33:00 for a min mile pace of 10:31.

It was so hazy, hot and humid out that my face was beat red and salty sweat was making my eyes sting.  I’m pretty happy with my race time and beat my other morning 5k (Share NJ 5k on June 10, 2012) by almost 2 minutes.   The two runs are hard to compare because of the elevation differences but I’m proud of myself for running faster on a super hilly course.  In the past, my times for the Amber Pizzo 5k have always been a least a minute or two slower than my usual 5k times.  Must be those hills!!!!!

After crossing the finish line, my friend and I headed to get some post race eats.  I don’t usually drink Gatorade but it was definitely a Gatorade kind of day.  The fruit spread was awesome and I helped myself to a banana and two slices of juicy, sweet watermelon.

I love this local race.  It was run for a great cause, has many amenities and on course support and is super well run.  The race field is pretty small so next year I will definitely be jogging it with Mr. L in the stroller.  It’s just going to be hard with all those hills!  This is a race I love to run every year.

Anyone else race this weekend?  Was your course hilly?