Race Report: The SWAG-tastic Frederick Running Festival (Part 2)

The Mid-Day 5K

After completing the half-marathon, and picking up our shirts and other various goodies, Cassie and I headed back to her car to meet up with Katie, our resident running super-star who always finishes before any of us.  We chatted for a bit about how each of our races went, what we thought of the course, etc.  Then we snapped a few pics of ourselves in our snazzy medals.  We were going to head toward the infield of the track for the after party, but first I had to take a detour to my car to retrieve sunglasses.  The day had gotten very bright!  On our way back to the random field, where both Katie and I had parked our cars, we had the brainwave to go try to retrieve our 5K shirts.  As I mentioned before, the tables were understaffed, and we walked in the back entrance, bypassing the still-lengthy half-marathon-shirt line.  All of the 5K shirts were stacked next to the half-marathon shirts....and all of the bonus "Nut Job Challenge" shirts were stacked next to those...One woman just came up beside us, and took a shirt.  We didn't want to do that without alerting the shirt-table staff in some way, so Katie and I found our sizes, grabbed our shirts and then flagged down a poor volunteer (who was swapped with half-finishers) to give him our bib tags. (I'm pretty sure he didn't understand what exactly we were switching, but at least we tried.)    

After that, we headed toward the field in search of sunglasses.  The fairgrounds was hosting a farm auction along the way....so the there was an interesting combination of runners and farmers wandering around! It was hard after already getting our TWO race shirts to get motivated to run the 5k race.  I mean, we had our swag that we came for, right?  But, Katie and I decided that we simply could not wear either shirt with pride if we didn't actually complete the 5K stretch....no phoney-bolognas here! 

Stolen from Cassie

We picked up my sunglasses and headed back into the fairgrounds for the after-party.  The party at this race was really great! I felt like it was a smaller version of a Rock-n-Roll race after-party.  They had a fun cover-band, Crushing Day, and it was in the in-field of the racetrack, so we had a great view of the finish line and could watch the other runners as they finished the race.  Although, most of the half-marathoners had finished, there was a 1 Mile FunRun for kids, and we watched that too.  It was super-adorable!  If you have children, I highly recommend running this with them.  They get their own medal (a nice metal one!) the kids have their own post-race tent, with gatorade and pretzels.  And, right next to that, they had a huge moon-bounce slide and the carnival basketball-shooting booths!  It looked like a lot of fun, and a great way to get kids involved, if you're a parent that races, or if you're just trying to get your family to be more active.  I was impressed. I had one of my four free beers while we watched the fun run and waited for them to set-up for the 5K. (We got 2 beers for the half, and 2 for the 5K. cha-ching!)

 Eventually, it was time for Katie and I to reluctantly line-up at the Start line for the 5K (which was also the finish line for the Half.) There was a decent number of people running.  Also, I guess a local youth track team was running as well.  A bunch of little kids, around seven to nine years old, I assume, all wearing bright florescent orange and yellow shirts that read "Lightning" across the front, lined up in front of all the other runners. When the gun went off, those kids ran--and I mean RAN.  I remember when I was a little kid (and I HATED running) and there were always one or two kids in my class who were amazingly fast--faster than anyone else.  Well, the Lightning was a collection of all of those kids from every school zooming ahead of us slow-pokey grown-ups.  It was humbling.

Lightning Fast!!

I took off at a slow pace....I realized about 100 yards out that I'd forgotten my ipod, which given my lack of motivation would have been very helpful and friendly to have had with me.  Oh well, at least I had my sunglasses....the weather was nice--still cool when I stopped running, but the sun was blazing in a cloudless sky!

The 5K started out on the racetrack.  I thought that was pretty fun--especially considering it was also Kentucky Derby day.  Then the course went down a rural road and looped back up.  As I ran, some of the Lightning kids were already on their way back.....a lot of them shouted out words of encouragement to us as they passed. It was super cute!!--even though part of me was jealous of them for being so fast and beating me. Humph.

The waterstop, about halfway through the race, played a mean trick by giving runners water in Corona-cups.  I thought a refreshing alcoholic beverage might have been coming my way, but they were just teasing me.
After the turn around, I started making my way (back uphill) toward the fairgrounds.  I was actually feeling a little more energized on the second half of the race, mainly because I knew it was almost over! As I ran, one lady commented, "So, you didn't get enough running the first race?!"  She must have recognized my pink sparkle skirt. I told her, this isn't the smartest decision I'd ever made in my life, but that I do go to great lengths to get a free tee shirt. (Fact.)

Finally, I reentered the fairgrounds, and came back toward the finish line.  I saw Cassie and Katie, who had finished long before me, cheering and snapping pictures.  They put a smile on my face as I finished the second race of the day.  Finally!!  I was relieved that that we'd already gotten our swag and I didn't have to wait in the t-shirt line again.  I swung by the bathroom then found Cassie and Katie in the infield.  I was so excited to be finished! I also felt like I'd accomplished something....because it was really hard to psych myself up for a 5K almost two hours after I'd finished the half marathon, and I felt like I'd met a mental challenge and beat it.  I'd finished.  I wasn't as fast as I'd have like to have been (33:28) but I wasn't as bad as I was expecting to be.  Heck, I run training runs that are slower than that!

long sleeve, medal, short sleeve, & nutjob shirt

We settled in with a round of victory beer, and enjoyed the music and the gorgeous weather.  Cassie had been catching up with some of her Half-Fanatic friends when Katie and I were running, and one of the guys she was speaking with had run the Richmond Marathon last year.  I'm running it this year, mainly because it was very cheap to register and it's only two hours away.   But this guy was absolutely raving about it.  He said it was one of the most fun races he's ever run, and he highly recommended it.  The got me really excited!!

Overall, the who festival was fantastic and I'm really glad I went!  I wish I had trained more so I could have used the flat course to maybe get a new PR, but running with my good friends, and getting ALL my sweet swag made the day worth it.  The t-shirt line after the race was long and chaotic, but really that was a pretty minor detail, considering how well-organized and nice the rest of the race was.  Also, the after party, the farm auction and the kids race made it a great event to go to with friends or family that might not be into running. Now, time to start training for the Full-in-the-Fall!!

Click here for Part 1.