It was unseasonably hot, in the 80s and on the humid side, so having not yet acclimated to that type of weather, it seemed quite warm, especially off the hot asphalt.

It was a very small, low-key race so I placed myself accordingly, not too concerned where I was because with such a small crowd and closed roads it would be easy to pass people if necessary.

The first section of the race began with a bit of a climb. At the top we were treated to a bunch of very young kids all banging, shaking, or hitting some sort of instrument and cheering, so cute! Yes, they had parental supervision. It was a fairly rural route, so there were plenty of animals to say hi to. Horses, dogs, cows, sheep.

Ran or 'ran' the whole thing, even the blasted hills, except for a few steps at the water stop when I attempted to drink water via my nose at the 1.5 mile water stop.

Narrowly avoided getting pooped on by a bird. I swear it must've been using high-tech bombing sights because if I wouldn't have zigged for a crack in the road, it would've nailed me. It only missed by about a foot or two! My guardian angel was looking out for me ;)

It was kind of hot out there, and the heat was radiating off the asphalt from baking all day, but I just tried to keep a decent pace because I wanted to have a decent finish time. As I ran toward the finish, another friend, Jim, was yelling and cheering for me so I gave it my all.

I was surprised to eventually pass all the 'youngsters' from our Masters group, and I was even more surprised to see Kaye not all that far ahead of me as we neared the finish. She only beat me by :32. Later she admitted to walking the hills, which also shocked me. She's the stereotypical runner build: thin, short, wiry and generally puts down much faster times than she displayed today.

This was a 5K race PR by 8 seconds (although not a 5K PR if you count training efforts) which surprised me some because of the hills. My previous 5K PRs were flat.

Not try to inhale water through my nose. Air intake only!

Kaye brought me a water for which I was immensely appreciative. We walked back to the start to cheer on the others we knew were racing, then I headed back out on the course (walking) to find Cuda and Lizard. Trotted back in with them, peeling off before getting to the finish area.

We picked up a few freebies in the form of sample-size iced teas and banana halves, then headed up the hill to the vineyard to claim our race wine glasses and fill them with 1 complementary wine! Food trucks were on site, but we didn't partake because we were planning on eating at my place when we were finished.

The vineyard has a great deck overlooking farmland and countryside and it was a great evening to be outside. Live music made it festive and fun, and chatting with friends was enjoyable, too. We each had a 2nd glass of wine, then headed home.


Not being used to 'hot' weather yet! Slightly sore leg. Hills.


How can ya go wrong with a race that involves wine?! :)