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.

RunHeart5KPacketPickUp

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!

RunHeart5KDebBeth

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!

RunHeart5KDebAmy

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!

RunHeart5KBethCherylDeb

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.

RunHeart5KTrack

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!

RunHeart5KBethBillDebBruin

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.

RunHeart5KSwag

Here’s a close-up picture of the race pin and =PR= Races’ schedule on the back side of the lanyard card.

HeartRacePinRaceSchedule

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.

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  • Questions:
  • How cold was it where you live this weekend?
  • What’s the coolest thing you did this weekend?
  • Who raced this weekend?