Just Spear It

Asparagus makes runners strong and healthy! 

About two months ago, Dan and I started looking for fun summer activities we could do together. We talked about going to a variety of festivals because, well, festivals are awesome! So, when looking around for information on Silver Lake (where we'll be heading later this summer), Dan found the National Asparagus Festival. Whhhhha? And when he mentioned there was a 5K involved, we decided we were definitely, positively in. 


Fast forward to yesterday morning. The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. I thought to myself... WHY are we doing this? Because we are crazy people, that's why. At 5:15, as I was grumbling in the car, Dan said, "Do you not want to go? We can skip it." Umm, where was that option the night before?! But, we were up, and on our way, so off we went to Hart, Michigan. About halfway there, I realized I'd forgotten my headphones. I HATE running without music! 


Upon our arrival at 7:45, we were some of the first people there. We got our bibs and t-shirts and walked around the registration area. We put our shoes on, tied the knots twice, and decided that we wouldn't be running together. Mostly, this was my decision, as I'm a slower runner than Dan, and I didn't want to hold him back. So, when the gun went off (oh, wait, there wasn't a gun, everyone just started running), we split up and planned to meet at our designated area. 


The race course was beautiful. It started and ended along the lake front and in between went more inland to some nasty hills. It was a small race... the one water stop was literally two people filling up Dixie cups from an Igloo cooler... but it was fun. I didn't have music or my watch, so I just focused on running my best race. 


I was surprised at how good I felt despite not having music. I crossed the finish line with the clock reading 27:48, a PR for me, but also, inaccurate, considering the start time and the "gun time" were the same time, and we DEFINITELY didn't cross the start line right away. I'm subtracting 7-10 seconds based on that fact alone! Dan finished in 24:22, a PR for him, AND he took third place in his age category, earning him a sweet bronze medal! I took fourth in my age group, earning nothing, but I didn't care. (And, by the way, if I'd been in the 30-34 age group, I would have taken second, meaning next year, those women better watch out!) While we waited for the awards ceremony, we filled up bags of asparagus, ate really awesome cherry muffins and fruit, and decided it was worth it to get up at 4:30 after all. 


After the ceremony, we drove to the festival, walked through the vendors, and ate deep fried asparagus, because, that's what you do! It was a wonderful day, and really nice to do a short race. I'm looking forward to finding some more 5 and 10K's this summer to reinvigorate my love of running. :)