2011 St. Judes Sweet Corn Festival 5 and 10K race in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Great day for a race. When I woke up and went outside the weather was gorgeous and in the low 60's. I picked up Stephany and we headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to race our 5K. Before the race some dark clouds were rolling in and it was getting windy. We weren't sure what to expect for weather. I took some pictures of some cool looking divided clouds as you will see later.  The clouds rolled by quickly without a drop of rain and even most of the wind disappeared.  The weather was nice for the entire race and post race activities!  The course was mostly flat with a small gradual hill in the first mile, then it seemed to be downhill the rest of the way to the finish. I finished with a decent 5K time, not my best, but I was happy with my time of 28:49. This means I had a 9:17 average mile time. The stats have already been posted so my official results are these: I was 4th of 32 in my age group of 30-39, 102 of 224 total people and 32 of 121 total women. Had I been only 21 seconds faster I would have placed third. I am kicking myself now because I walked a few times super briefly to catch my breath. I couldn't seem to find a comfortable pace today.

Reasons to do this race:
Chip timed
Race number for your scrapbook
massive amount of food after the race
lots of door prizes
volunteers at every turn
Accurate results that matched my stopwatch
nice shirt, with the option to upgrade to a technical shirt
local race
massage therapists to help you recover quicker
packet with freebies inside
good friends to do the race with you

Me, Waterboy from Z102.9 radio station and Stephany

my race number

Some crazy looking clouds were rolling in and I thought there was going to be a storm, but then it rolled past, cleared up and got hot within a matter of minutes.



Stephany and I taking  our famous picture of ourselves before the race.

massage therapists were there after the race for massage!

post race food!

Chex mix as another option for post race food.

grapes and tons of them.

COOKIES!!!  And whoever made them is amazing because they know how to cook a great cookie.

Stephany's and my shoe with our timing chip.

Almost ready to race, just about to get in line.

My friend Bill Johnson who used to take my Body Pump class was at the race so I had to have a picture with him.

Stephany Coleman, Muriel Naumann, and Me before the race.



Stephany was estatic about her race time. She got a new Personal record of 26:59 and was literally jumping out of her skin.  She was standing on my car while talking on the phone to her Dad about the race.  Stephany not only set a P.R., but she also placed 4th in her age group.

Prizes after the race.  I actually won 3 things! 2 bags and a lanyard from Chick-fil-A!

This is my friend Muriel Naumann who ran the 10K (6.2 mile) race today and placed 1st in her age group of 50-59 with a time of 47:01.  Stephany and I see Muriel at most of the races we do and she always places in her age group.  She is an amazing runner.

Here is my friend Bill Johnson, he ran the 5K.  He won one of the first door prizes which was a bowl full of stuff for a movie night.  AND he placed 4th in his age group of 50-59 with a time of 24:22!  Way to go Bill!




At the end of the race I was admiring the leftover watermelons when the volunteer race ladies said, "Would you like to take one home?"  heck yes, so there I am with a watermelon and my other prizes.