Kept trading places with a couple who was involved in organizing the race, and a woman pushing a stroller. Spoke with both a bit. The couple made sure I knew about the post-race BBQ. :)

The course was pretty flat. Then, we turned a corner and surprise! There was a nice HILL ahead. The water/gatorade station was just at the bottom of it. The volunteers staffing it were great at handing you the cup. (And they joked about the hill's surprise location.) :)

Lessons learned: The cars along the road were coming close, so I opted to run on the grass/gravel/sand on the side of the road. Ended up with a pebble in my shoe. From a safety perspective, it was a good idea. But it was incredibly annoying to have that pebble lodged there.

Push myself a little harder. I kept thinking back to the last weekend's 5K with all the hills. This race location wasn't too far from there, so I kept expecting hills. But the course was flat, and I could have pushed myself a little more.....

Then again, when I try to go faster, I start over striding and heel striking. So maybe it's better that I held back a little.

Overall, I was happy with how I did. :)

Drank some Vitamin Water. (Orange is good. Dragonfruit is not.) Cheered on walkers who were still coming in. One of the last to arrive was a DAV with a prosthetic leg. Talked to a few people. Discovered that frozen bananas are good! Didn't have any of the BBQ, though.


Me and my brain. :)


Fund-raiser for the DAV. They're trying to buy a new transport van.

All the volunteers were friendly and helpful. Very well organized and staffed, especially for a first race.

Unfortunately, they weren't able to close the road, so there were cars passing by. The volunteers and police were good about stopping traffic at intersections when runners needed to cross the road. But as you ran at the side of the road, the cars were pretty close to you.

After the race, they announced the winners, then had a raffle. I won a pair of socks! Yay! :)