SRPH 5K Race Recap!

Continuing with our 5K racing season (which is very short here in our small town), Jeff, Julia and I ran the School of Rural Public Health 5K on Saturday.  We did this race last year - it's a nice race with a flat course, in a different part of town from where we normally run.  Last year Jeff ran my pace and ended up winning his age group, so this year, he wanted to try and win it again, but with his pace.  Would he do it?  Stay tuned to find out!  Since he was pretending to be Speedy Gonzales, Julia and I ran together.  We had a nice time - naturally we started out a little too fast, but once we realized we needed to slow ourselves down, we just started chatting - guaranteed pace-slower.  The race spread out pretty quickly - there was a 3K portion as well - so at one point we didn't have any runners to follow and ended up on the wrong side of the road.  No biggie - eventually we crossed over to the right side...but within a short distance, we needed to be back on the other side!  Afterward, Jeff's Garmin said he ran 3.06 miles, while ours both said we ran 3.14 (and I checked last year's stats - 3.07).  Leave it to Julia and I to earn extra credit on a race!

Pictures!  (click 'em to make bigger)

We were happy to see a fellow USAFit runner, Sarah, there!

Julia and I - and no, we didn't pre-plan our black outfits in advance.  GMTA?

Jeff and I - and yes, he tries to coordinate with me on race days.  Hey, he's lived with me for nearly 29 years...these things are normal now!

Since he finished before us, Jeff was able to get some shots as we rounded the finish area.  See how we're in front of the person with the two dogs in the top left pic?  Yeah, we saw them ahead of us and were all "no way are we going to let these dogs beat us" so we kicked it!

Getting water after - this race didn't have a water stop on the course!  Not sure I've done a 5K in recent memory that didn't have water out there. 

After the race, the mascot of Texas A&M was hanging around, so everyone got pictures with her.  Yes, the university's mascot is a dog - her name is Reveille.  She goes to classes with her handlers (who are in the Corps of Cadets) and is treated like a queen.

You have to do the "Gig 'em" thumbs up thing whenever you're around the dog...

We touched the dog.  The little girl ahead of me in line assured me that it was OK to do it...but hey, SHE didn't touch her.  We are probably on some kind of list now...

See?  Everyone, even the littlest kids, know that you have to do Gig 'em around the dog!

We hung around while they pulled numbers for the 50 raffle prizes.  Yes, FIFTY chances to win.  Once again, we were skunked.  Same as last year, although more people stayed for the raffle because word had gotten out about the abundance of prizes.  Then it was time for the race winners to be announced.  There were some fast people at this race.  Guess who was one of them?  Jeff!  He did it - won his age group for real!

Winning time of 25:54, with an average pace of 8:28.  That's pretty good - I'd be happy to finish a 5K in 35:54!

Jeff and a friend of ours, Carol, who won in her age group.  She ran with her sweet dog, Lexi - nice teamwork!

The race shirts are in contention for the worst race shirts I've received:

Does any part of this shirt say "fun run" to you?  Bah!

Other than the dud of a race shirt, this was a fun race and we'll most likely do it again next year!