Best Ever St. Pat's 5K & Weekly Wrap-up!

It's been a while since I've done a weekly wrap-up! Things are starting (and I stress starting) to feel more like normal around here finally.  Only took 3 weeks from the half to get back to normalcy? In any case, my mileage is lower than it has been, but I ran 3 miles 3 times this week and feel pretty good!  No knee pain at all and my heel/achilles issue isn't getting worse, so that's good.  

I finished up the week running the Best Ever St. Pat's 5k (that's the name of it,  not a personal opinion) here locally and Rey (my husband) ran with me!  It was his first 5K and not only that, but he's only ran a few times ever, before.  I even convinced him to wear a St. Pat's shirt, I think he was too nervous to object.

It was a small race (they are all small around here) in the town over from mine, Rolla, MO.

The trash can is there because they had the street closed and blocked for the St. Pat's parade later that day.  St. Patrick's Day is a huge deal around here.  Rolla, MO. is a college town, and S&T is an engineering college...so they go mad over St. Pat being the patron Saint of Engineering.  I was actually surprised there were not more people running, I think they all waited for the parade, which brought out the biggest crowd I have ever seen in this town of 20,000. 

I ran 1/1 intervals with Rey.  There were a few times it was hard, I really didn't want to walk, but this was just a fun run for me and he wanted me with him.  I know I pushed him a bit, but in the end I told him that he had to tell me to slow down or I would just keep pushing him.  I'm hardcore! I've been sick, so I probably couldn't have gone too much faster anyway.  My lungs were on fire there for a bit.  We had a lot of fun, it was so amazing to have him experience a race with me.

 I was really pleased with the photo that one of the race officials snapped of us crossing the finish line.  I feel bad that I bolted ahead of him to the finish, but I was looking back occasionally to make sure he was keeping up!  I just cannot help myself at a finish line.

After the race we stayed for the awards, I was a little miffed that they didn't have a costume award.  The sign-up made it sound like they would...and I totally would have won.  ;) 

This was an Inaugural race and I thought it was well organized for it's size.  The Chamber of Rolla organized the race to raise funds for the local Veteran Park they are building.  The route was marked well, there were a few cute signs, and lots of volunteers at every turn to make sure no one got lost.  That can come in handy in a small race when you can't always follow a large group of people!
  
 There was one water station at 1.5 miles, which was ample for a 5K and there was only water at the finish, no food, but it was a small race for charity, so I really didn't mind.  No bling or green beer for this race either, but that is the norm around here. None of the races give out medals and most do not have anything special at the finish.  The trade-off is parking literally 20 feet from the start/finish, arriving 15 minutes before the start, no crowds, and no having to weave around people. 
 
We headed to breakfast and then dropped Rey at home and Savannah & I headed back to the parade.  The sun was shining and it was a gorgeous day.  It was a fantastic way to spend the afternoon! One of Savannah's friends met up with us during the parade and they had some green kettlekorn while watching the two hour parade.  Yep.  Two hours!  I told you these people take their St. Pat's seriously! 

Did you run a race this weekend? Do you normally run large or small races?  Do you care if races have medals and all the extras?