ECO 5k

It was so good to race again! It's been too long. Now, don't take me wrong, the marathon was a race but for me it was more of finishing than a race. My racing for me had been put on hold during my training as I didn't want to take a chance of incurring an injury just before the marathon. We'd signed up for the ECO 5k but as the weather begin to worsen we weren't sure we were going to make it. But decided to bite the bullet and go for it.

Festivities began the night before when we picked up our packet. They were held at the quaint little Mockingbird Cafe. I loved the ambience and art there. We were also treated with a choice of a hamburger or veggie burger with drink and Miss Vicki's chips as part of our race fee. Let me tell you, that is probably the absolute bestest hamburger we've EVER eaten!! I'm not talking size (though it was huge), I'm talking taste. It was 100% Angus beef, at least an inch thick. It was on a roll type bun made with cheese and jalapeno's in it. Oh my goodness...it was fine!!! We could not finish it, it was so huge.

Race day started out with a 100% percent chance of rain forecasted but for "some" reason it delayed until lunch. The winds had been so strong for a couple of days and nights with gusts up to 30 mph, but they had subsided some. This was a biathalon (kayaking and running) AND a 5k race. You could do either one. But the wind and currents were so bad (a small craft advisory had been issued) that the kayaking was deemed unsafe and was canceled; therefore moving everyone to the 5k race. Even that was a bit questionable. We spoke with a couple of EMT's before the race and they were concerned because of a terrible storm that was to be there in about 30 minutes...the time the race was to start. With this in mind, we planned on racing in the rain. Unless the weather presents circumstances like lightning, it's not cancelled. We, also, met up with Ed W., lovingly called "Special Ed", and he took pictures until his disk reached "full" and that ended his tour of duty.

Here's Kent & I...okay...we didn't plan to dress alike. We NEVER do! And, I almost wore my black/gray cap, too.

At the beginning. Me in the middle and on the far right is Tommy P. Great job in your run, TP!

Ed on the left. Thanks so much for taking your time to snap a few pics.

ADDED NOTE: I forgot to mention this when I initially wrote the article but I really wanted to. There was a very nice man, D. Baria, who came up behind me when I was coming to the Finish Line. He was like an angel. Seems he just "appeared" right behind me and pushed me to run harder at the end. He could have easily ran past me but stayed right behind and kept telling me to "beat" him forcing me to run harder and harder. Thank you so much, D. You'll never know what that meant to me. Because you were so close and yet behind me I never got a good look at your face so I could never find you and tell you what that meant. I hope you read my blog so you will know now that "I thank you" for your help!

Because it continued to look like the sky was going to split wide open, we immediately left when the race was finished and headed back over to the Mockingbird Cafe where post race activities were going to take place. We received an extra shirt, an energy drink and a wrist band which gave us access to LOTS of good food, drink and homemade cookies. There were sausage and chicken jambalaya, chicken with tomatoes and onions in vermicelli, and a black bean with rice and pork loin dish followed by very large oatmeal raisin homemade cookies. Of course, there were energy drinks, beer, and coke products. It was delish! Here are some pics of the Mockingbird Cafe.

Here are the pics of the 5k winners. Loved the masks that the top winners got. They were all different and very pretty.

Overall Male

Overall Female

Masters Winners: Nancy & Leonard

Grand Masters Winners...that's me!

My Cool Mask!

Also, received this pretty handmade plaque

Race report can be found here. Thanks to Leonard and everyone who made this race a very successful one in spite of the weather! Great job...