This morning Bill, our friend Beth, and I ran in the Run Your Heart Out 5K in Reston. Race proceeds went to the American Heart Association to support life-saving efforts in research and education. From their website…
This year we are proud to announce our partnership with the American Heart Association. With the help from Leidos, a top leader in the science and technology sector of government support, race proceeds will go to support the American Heart Association. Together we can support life-saving efforts such as research, education, advocating for better health, improving patient care and reaching populations at risk.
The race started and finished on the track at South Lakes High School. We arrived an hour before the race started to pick up our packets. We’d never run this race before so we weren’t familiar with the logistics. Everything went so smoothly that we could have arrived 30 minutes before the race and had plenty of time!
Registration and packet pick-up was outside in the cold 26° tempurature, and I really felt for the volunteers.
After packet pick-up, Beth and I snagged one of the volunteers to take our picture before seeking out the porta-potties. We were impressed that we were the first ones to use the porta-potties and had to take the outer wrapper off of the toilet paper. Oh, the little pleasures in life! Little did we know that all of the smart runners were using the restrooms inside the school!
Once we realized that the school was open, we headed inside and I bumped into Amy, who blogs over at Twingles Mom. This amazing ultra-marathoner completed the Dopey Challenge (5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon in four days) at Disney World in January. I guess this counts as my first blogger meet-up of the year, albeit unplanned!
The next seven photos are courtesy of Potomac River Running. If you remember from my previous race recaps of races put on by =PR= Race Series, they take professional photographs along the course and have them available for free downloads. Thank you, PRR!
The race started and finished with 3/4 of a lap on the high school track. I hadn’t run on that track since I used to run intervals on Tuesdays with my running buddy Miles and his friends during lunch.
After we exited the track, we ran past the baseball field and onto the trails that wind through the Reston community. Beth and I stayed together for almost the entire race.
Volunteers were stationed to direct the runners along the course at the many trail intersections. I saw at least one volunteer wrapped in a blanket, and another two dancing to stay warm! By now the runners were warmed up and feeling comfortable, but the volunteers must have been freezing!
I chuckled when I saw the shirt on this runner (non-racer) heading toward us!
With just over a quarter mile to go, we climbed a final hill before getting back on the track.
Just a few seconds later, Beth (far right) powered up the final hill as well.
Bill, Beth, and I all finished within 25 seconds of each other. Here’s Bill crossing the finish line. My final time was 25:57 (8:22 pace) and I finished fourth in my age group.
After the race, we bumped into a friend from our Worldgate Sport and Health days. It’s always fun to see friends at races. Cheryl rocked this race with a 23:12!
Within five minutes of finishing the race, we headed back toward the trails (in the opposite direction) for a two-mile cool down run. We forgot to stop by the food tent, but I did see lots of people eating bananas in the parking lot. Based on PRR’s previous races, I’m sure it was well appointed! As we left the track, we took this picture of the runners coming in off the trail and heading toward the track.
We stopped and asked a guy to take a picture of us in front of one of the lakes. His dog Bruin wanted to be in the picture!
As always =PR= Races gave out great swag. In addition to the perfectly sized ladies cut shirt, our packet included a lanyard and race pin.
Here’s a close-up picture of the race pin and =PR= Races’ schedule on the back side of the lanyard card.
Overall the race was a lot of fun and you can bet I’ll be running more =PR= Races this year. I’m already signed up for the Reston Ten-Miler and have three others on my radar!
Don’t forget to enter my Road ID giveaway! For complete rules and details, check out To Celebrate The Olympics, I’ve Got Another Road ID Giveaway! and enter with Rafflecopter.
- Questions:
- How cold was it where you live this weekend?
- What’s the coolest thing you did this weekend?
- Who raced this weekend?
I ran the Cupid Run 5K at the Mosaic District! Placed second in AG!
Sue @This Mama Runs For Cupcakes recently posted…Week One #MNB Challenge recap
Congrats!
That’s a cute race shirt! I love when races have women-specific shirts instead of one-size-does-not-fit-all unisex!
Nicole @ Work in Sweats Mama recently posted…10 Reasons to Hit the Trails and a Giveaway
=PR= Races has gone one further, and now you have the option to opt out of getting a shirt and instead you receive a $10 coupon toward another race. Pretty cool, huh?
Looks like a great race! I am ready for races to be in the 50s again though 🙂
I am doing the PRR Mother’s Day 4 miler with my mom and family in May!
Becky recently posted…Weekend Recap!
How fun!
Isn’t it funny how excited we (runners) get about the little things! I love it! Wow, that racing series sounds like a great one! All those photos they took came out very clear and FREE, that’s a double bonus!
Well, the temps here dipped down into the 60’s over the weekend, I think even one of the days over the weekend it didn’t even reach 60 degrees. But don’t worry we will warm back up by this coming weekend, 85 temps here we come! I know us people in SoCal are very spoiled with our very nice weather pretty much all year round. I know to some (like my hubby) the summers here are too hot but, I guess after growing up in it I just get used to it. I do wish we would get more rain, we have been in drought status for 3 years now (I think)!
Lindsey @ OneMotherofaDay recently posted…Food Prep + Meal Planning: week of 2/9-2/14/14
This same racing series also offers a $1oo race pass that’s good for four of their races during the course of the calendar year. Basically that means you can pick four $40-$50 races and sign up for $25 each! That plus free pictures is pretty amazing!
I like the changing seasons we get here, but by March I’m always ready for spring. We’re buckling down for another snow storm that is supposed to hit tomorrow night!
I’m not too far from you, so we had the same frigid temps that you did. I stayed indoors watching basketball and field hockey. Oh, and I saw the play “War Horse” – it was great! I cried (should have added that to the list!)
Dana recently posted…A good cry
Keep a list and publish a part 2 in a few months! 🙂
Thanks Debbie and Bill for a great race! Fun post run too!
It was fun!
Great job on your race! It looks like Potomac River Running puts on a great event.
I had a few field hockey games at South Lakes HS during my high school years 🙂 Brings back memories and makes me think of how much I miss field hockey.
Meagan recently posted…Snow! And lots of it.
Sometime you should come visit Roger and join us for a =PR= Race!
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