It's Mashed Potato Time - Hastings Spud Run 5k 2017

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What a cute little race this was!  I gotta be honest, I'd never even HEARD of Hastings before seeing this race, but it was a nice distance away, it came with a medal and had a handful of people I knew I could beat (based on previous years' results), so I decided to try it out.

Hastings is east of Palatka, but not as far as St Augustine, so I was able to get there in about 75 minutes.

I left around 5am and arrived at around 6:30. I had to pit stop at a Circle K right near the Community Building, which wasn't too terrible (it was very clean, thanks Circle K!). Since I was so early, I got a great spot in the parking lot of the Community Building.

I'm about the only CAR here!

This is my new favorite race shirt - it's a tee, but it's so soft!

Visor, water, treats, pencils and green magnet stick

I went and got my bib and my bag of potatoes. Yes, seriously. Potatoes. Beautiful red potatoes grown about 5 miles away. I headed back to my car and played on my phone for a while (I was WAY early). I also got a cool visor, some pencils and a weird green thing in my goody bag. (It's a magnet! That sucker is STRONG, too!)  Eventually, I geared up and headed back to the start line area.

When your Start Line looks like this, you know it's a tiny race

So. Much. Fart. Potential!

Had to use a water cup to insulate my hand - my Nathan was still frozen!

A lot more people now!

At this point, there were a lot more people!  Of course, "a lot" for this race means about 200 people. I took my Start Line Selfie, my Shoo-fie, started my Garmin and my music and got ready to go.

Selfie!

Shoofie!

The course, to many people, would be considered very boring. We made a big square around freshly tilled and planted fields and returned back to the Community Building.

Amazing Grace

But for me - a girl who spent every available moment at her grandmother's house in rural Lafayette County, Florida - this course SMELLED like home. Wet earth, vaguely animalistic with the scent of manure, warm and moist... it was comforting. I spent much of the first mile just enjoying the sun rising over the fields, watching the ground release it's heat and thinking of my childhood.

Beautiful light

Nothing gives mist better than fresh fields

Mile 1 came quickly - because I was in the past - and they had a little water stop.

Two people, pouring to order!

Between Mile 1 and Mile 2, the half-marathon runners kept going, but we turned right. They had good signage so no one got lost.

Lots of signage!

More memories got me to Mile 2.

I've seen cows and chickens and dogs

The final turn brought us to a terrible graveled dirt road and a straight-away to the finish line. I'm not a huge fan of running on gravel, so I'm pretty sure I just walked this whole bit.

Ugh, gravel roads make me feel unsure about my footing

My official time was 50:05, with a 16:08 pace. A terrible time, but what are you gonna do? I'm fat and it's hot. I came in 133rd out of 156 people (I beat 23 people). I was 6th out of 7 in my age group.

I got my medal, which was super-cute for such an inexpensive race, then went to get refreshments. They had tons of Papa John's pizza, as well as water and bananas.

Cool - look at my Magnet Stick!

One one of these waters are mine

I ended up with more cabbage and potatoes because the kids at the booth hadn't seen me get them before the race. I can never say no to potatoes!

A coworker didn't believe that I'd get potatoes, so I took this photo

I hung around for a while, changed my clothes at the library that was open (it's so cute, only 2 little rooms!) and then headed up to St. Augustine.

My first stop was Schooner's for lunch. They had a great lunch deal of 7 shrimp, fries and a soda for $8.49 so I got that. Just filling enough to tide me over for the afternoon.

Bridge of Lons, up and to your left

Next, I found a great parking spot right on Avenida Menendez - right in front of Harry's actually - and walked around St. George Street for a bit, grabbing some snacks for later from Savannah Sweets (best maple fudge in existence!). I think I paid for 2 hour parking, but ended up back at the car within an hour. I'm getting kind of tired of St George Street... too many beggars, too many people smoking, too many idiots with their dogs... I'm tapped out, I guess.


But that was okay... when I'd been driving to Schooner's I passed a good looking thrift shop - St. Vincent de Paul Society Thrift Shop, so I headed back that direction to check it out. I have a deep love for thrift shops... you never know what you're gonna find, or what you can transform that find into!  This time around, I scored four picture frames that I can paint for later. I dropped a big whopping $6.

Yes, there's LOTS of Reese's in there - she used a 1/4 cup scoopful!

My last stop was back near Schooner's; an ice cream joint called Bruster's. I'd never heard of it before, but it came up in the Garmin last month when we were searching for ice cream, so I decided to give it a go. I ended up getting a Reese's Pieces Blast (their version of a Blizzard). It was a couple bucks (I didn't save my receipt), and even though it melted within minutes in my hot-ass car, it was pretty good. Not spectacular. I wouldn't go out of my way to get another one, but if I was near a Bruster's and wanted one, I'd get it.

Once I snarfed down my ice cream, I got some gas and a soda from Circle K and headed home to pick up Hubby from work.