About this time last year, Bobby Le played in an amateur basketball tournament.
"When the point came I felt like I was going to pass out, things changed," the Fayetteville resident says. In his mid-30s, with a mostly sedentary job at the Walmart Home Office and a passion for fried foods, Le realized he "needed to get in shape."
FAQ
Springfest
WHEN — Saturday
7 a.m. — Pancake Breakfast at Jose’s
8 a.m. — 5K Run
10:30 a.m. — Dog Parade
11 a.m. — Easter Egg Hunt at the Walton Arts Center Rose Garden
1 p.m. — Bed Races
3:45 p.m. — Car Pull
6 p.m. — Pub Crawl
WHERE — Dickson Street in Fayetteville
COST — Free
INFO — fayettevillespringf…
FYI
Springfest
Music Schedule
Bruce D. Walker
Memorial Stage
10 a.m. — Brick Fields
11:15 a.m. — School of Rock
Noon — Dead Indian
1 p.m. — John Henry
2 p.m. — Foley’s Van
3 p.m. — Arkansauce
4:30 p.m. — Barrett Baber
Jose’s Stage
8 a.m. — Effron White
10 a.m. — Caleb & Friends
11 a.m. — Whiskey Neverland
12:50 p.m. — Jon Dooly
1:30 p.m. — Jim Mills
3:15 p.m. — Voxana
4:15 p.m. — White Shockolate
5:15 p.m. — Black Leaf Clover
6:05 p.m. — Eye for a Lie
8 p.m. — 90 LB Wrench
— Source: fayettevillespringf…
On April 29, 2013, he started the Couch-to-5K Running Plan, and by November, he was running in competitive races. He'll compete in the second-ever Springfest 5K Saturday.
"I don't necessarily run 5Ks to win," Le says. "I'm not at that level yet. But it's a race against myself and a good way to track how far I've come since I first started running. ... Even though I'm not trying to win, I'm not going to let the person behind me pass me!"
Le is aiming for a 25-minute finish time -- a personal best -- and he knows the course. He ran the Hogeye half-marathon on parts of it just a few of weeks ago.
"I'm starting to use the 5Ks now as training for a longer run," he admits. He finished in 2 hours, 5.77 seconds, which was his personal best -- because it was his first half-marathon. "I do plan to do more.
"I've never been into the endurance-type things," Le says. "But running is a way to escape. It's just you and nature" -- and a few friends. Springfest organizer Doug Allen expects at least 100 -- "and that's a conservative estimate" -- at the starting gun at 8 a.m. Saturday.
Like everything else about Springfest, the goal for the race is to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, Allen reiterates, "but we also want to celebrate spring and focus on Dickson Street" with local musicians, nonprofit booths and arts and crafts.
-- Becca Martin-Brown
NAN What's Up on 04/18/2014