Hula Hustle 5k Race Report

 This is going to be a short recap...

For those of you who don't know, I generally will do an outline of a blog post and then come back and write it up a few days later. While I was driving around Jax after the race, I had the great idea of making a voice recording as an outline, while it was still fresh in my brain. Unfortunately, I forgot to transcribe it, and I moved on with life, doing other blog posts. When I finally realized this post had been forgotten about, I went back to find that recording, and it's gone. I'd had phone issues, and repeatedly formatted my phone (once with my SD card in it), so there was no recording to be found... 

Long story short... I'm trying to remember anything about this race!

Anyway, I'm guessing the drive to Orange Park was uneventful. I arrived and got a great place to park. I picked up my packet and shirt, then geared up and headed back to the start line.

Runners to the front of me....

Runners behind me (including a photobomber!)

Start line selfie!

Because of some road work on River Road, the course had been altered a bit. We would run down a side street, loop back, go through the finish arch, and then finally to the regular part of the course.

Check it out! It's Mr. Libby Legs!

It was nice to have a lot of cheerleaders at the beginning of the race. And we got to hear the drum line again.

I love a drum line!

Once on the course, it was a basic out and back.

Damn straight!

Meh... my time doesn't suck

I thought we'd turn around here (the aforementioned road work), but we went past the sign.

Oh... we keep going?

Hey sexy legs, how you doin'?

Eventually, we found more Road Closed signs, and we turned around at one of them.

Okay, now we turn around!

I love out and backs because I can see who's still behind me, without me having to physically turn around and look.

Not Fast, but Not Last

Mile 2... Still around 17mm

Mile 3... I slowed down

Right after Mile 3, you can see the finish line through the trees. I'm so ready to finish, though I feel really good!

Almost there!

My official time was 54:41. I think it's the slowest I've run this course (or the normal variation of the course). I finished 533rd out of 611 total runners, and 53rd out of 57 F40-44.

Finished!

I didn't stick around for the awards or the costume contest. I grabbed a few snacks from their awesome snack table, though, and headed out to a gas station to change clothes. After changing, I hit the Chick-fil-A drive through for a dozen nuggets and some lemonade, before I trucked it over to IKEA for a new nightstand.

Moooooooo-ve up to order

We've finally decided to upgrade from our Queen innerspring mattress (that we bought in 2003 from a cheap-o mattress store) to a grand King size memory foam bed. As such, we needed new furniture. I knew I wanted to upgrade my nightstand - I've been using a Salvation Army upcycled desk as a table, well, since 2003.

After going back and forth between MALM and HEMNES, I went with MALM because it had cleaner lines. I purchased a 3-drawer chest, which will be slightly less wide than my current desk/nightstand, but give me much more storage.

MALM 3-Drawer Chest

I also purchased a PROJS clear deskpad - originally to put on my desk at work - but it actually was perfect for the nightstand. Okay, it's not quite wide enough to completely cover the top, but it covers all the parts that I can reach from bed, so it will keep the top of the chest clean from spilled drinks, lotion, etc. I'm okay with that!

Desk Pad

I also found these great drawer dividers (it's IKEA, of course they have organization!), and I purchased 2 sets of 6 boxes. I don't know yet how I'm going to use them, but they're going in the dresser!

SKUBB Boxes (Squares, Rectangles, Small Squares)

On my way out, I picked up a TOLSBY 2-sided picture frame to use in my office at work. On one side, I put a photo of me, my mom, and my daughter (3 generations of awesome) at Disney, while on the other side was a photo of Hubby that I took while we were in Tampa a few months ago (yeah... that trip... <winky face> ...)

TOLSBY Photo Frame

I was able to get all of that for about $150 or so! I love IKEA!

After gas and snacks at Wawa, I was on my way home.