2011 Heritage Days 5K in Mt. Vernon, IA

Today I woke up nice and early before my alarm at 5:30a.m. I felt great, so waking up so early wasn't the worst thing. It was my turn to drive and I picked up Stephany at 6:30 to go to Mt. Vernon. We arrived right on the dot of 7a.m. and went inside the high school to check in and get our shirts.  It was nice and slightly breezy outside and 70 degrees. At 8a.m. the weather had become a bit humid and hot. I'm not sure of the temperature, but it was definitely much hotter than when we arrived. The race started and the first mile went ok. It was really hot to run in. My first mile was 9:44 and that is slow for my first mile. I had thoughts of not running, but knew I would because I came to finish. There was this massive steep hill at the end of mile one. It was so steep that it was taking all I had to run up it. At one point I must have been running so slow up it that a power walker walked right by me, so I started walking instead up the hill.

I picked up the pace a bit in mile 2 and felt like I was running at a fast pace. However by the end of the race my time was a disappointing 29:50 I received a popsicle stick that had my place number on it. I was place #130 out of about 300. I ended up placing 6th in my age group which at the time I looked at my age group sheet it had 24 people in it. It's not the worst race I've ever done as far as time goes, but it's definitely not my best. I'm glad I finished given how hot I was.

Positives of this race:
Low Cost
You get a shirt
Bananas, watermelon, granola bars and water after the race
Indoor bathrooms!
5K and a 10K so if you like to go to longer races, then here you go.

Negatives and reasons I won't do this race again:
No doorprizes
No prizes for top three in age group
No medals of any kind for top three in age group.
No race number
Popsicle stick timing--I don't like this because it is so inaccurate because there are always people that don't turn them in, so you may think you have one time, but then get recorded as another.
The race organizers seemed a bit frazzled at the beginning of the race and not organized. They didn't have the 30-39 5K Women's registered sheet.
At the end you run on the high school track, but people were actually exiting the track so it was a little confusing where to go, they needed one of the volunteers at that turn.
Only one water stop on the course. Usually that is fine, but for as hot as it was, they needed two water stops and they needed gatorade or something equivalent.
I like bagels at the end and there weren't those.
No packet of goodies
Not chip timed.

Next year if I have to do a race on the 2nd weekend of July I will be glad to travel further for a better run race.

A picture of my shirt, that I can't find currently.

Stephany and I before the race.

Eating watermelon after the race.

Stephany and I after the race.

Lots of watermelon to eat, it was amazingly good!

granola bars too!

Stephany and I about an hour after the race waiting for results.