A Race! With PEOPLE! - Spud Run 5k 2021 Race Report

Last year sucked. Let's just get that out of the way. I'm not talking about the cooties, we all know that sucked, but I'm talking about the fall out from the cooties. Closed businesses. Rising unemployment. Toilet paper shortages. It sucked. 

One specific thing that sucked was that in-person races stopped. Races were my carrot, the thing that got me off the couch every weekend, either to train for one, or to attend one. With no carrot, I had no reason to do anything. And for many months, with no gym, I used all of it as an excuse to not do anything at all. 

Flash forward to now - we have races again!!! Very, very slowly, like a timid deer after a thunderstorm, they are reemerging slowly. They are reemerging quicker in... well, places that were never overly scared of the cooties to begin with. But I digress (to keep politics out of it).  

So, I was stoked to be able to sign up for one of my favorites and run it today! 

After getting Hubby to work a bit early, I headed towards Hastings, getting caught in a lot more traffic than usual. I was confused, especially when I saw traffic jams in Palatka, but when I got home later, I saw that today was the 2021 Mug Race, which is apparently a 38 nautical mile one-way race down the St. John's River from Palatka to Orange Park, FL, and open to all sailboats with mast height 44ft or less. Well, I guess that certainly does explain all the boats I saw!

Anyway, I got to Hastings right at about 8am, picked up my packet, bib, and shirt, and headed back to the car. I put on my shoes and geared up, leaving everything else in the trunk, as usual. I walked around, trying out my new FauxPro (generic GoPro), and was happy to see that probably 99% of the crowd was mask-free!

Many of the 5k runners were still completing the 10k

I lined up with everyone at the start and off we go - God it felt good to do this again!!

So cute in their matching skorts and hats!

Sadly, within minutes, my wireless earbuds were dead. I could have sworn I charged them? Guess not. I spent the rest of the race listening to my own asthmatic wheezing and the insipid conversations of those around me. 

Son, you are dissapoint

A few minutes after that, I realized I couldn't hear the noise from my bib - I've done enough of these over the years to hear the specific swish/crinkle of my bib. I looked down, and son of a bitch! I FORGOT to put on the bib! I have never made such a rookie mistake, LOL. At this point, I was technically breaking the rules, but I kept on going. I was certainly not fast, but I knew I wasn't going to be last. 

There should be a bib there, on that skirt

At Mile 1.5, instead of cups of water, they handed out tiny 8oz bottles of water. I tucked one into my pocket for later, since my water bottle was still full and cold. 

The only Mile Marker I got a photo of!

I didn't take a lot of photos since I was trying out the FauxPro. I need to edit those, so I'll put them in later. 

Unharvested cabbage plants

According to Garmin, I finished with a respectable (for me) 57:22. Okay, so that's 10 minutes over my official PR time, but again... cooties, no running for a year, etc... I'm happy with it. The Finish Line clock shows my time at 58:06. This time would have put me at 239th out of 248 total runners. Again, respectable. 

Dude it's so hot!

I got my medal (safely tucked into a plastic bag so as not to spread those cooties) and picked up an ice-cold water, then went back to the car to grab my bib. I was hoping to find a race official who could update my time using the results from my Garmin (and the bib was there to prove I was who I said I was). 

Unfortunately, I never saw anyone in any official capacity - they could have been standing next to me for all I know! - and eventually gave up. I emailed the Race Director when I got home, but I never got a response and as of July, my results sill aren't there, so I've just let it go.

I went over to pick up my potatoes and cabbage, but only cabbage was left. However, the lady gave me ten huge heads of cabbage because they'd harvested so much, so I was able to share the bounty with a friend of ours, who then passed the bounty on to other friends of his - the town had never been fartier!

I also picked up a few post-race goodies like Rice Krispie Treats and headed out. I changed at a local RaceTrac gas station and grabbed a Gatorade (which took me about 1.28 seconds to guzzle down) and then headed over to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Unfortunately it was drive-though only, but they're so damn efficient, the wait was minimal. I ended up eating my nuggs in the parking lot of the nearby Home Depot. 

This Chick-fil-a has you go around the building THREE times!

Once full, I hit up Dollar Tree for organizing baskets for my office, then slipped down the road to Buc-ee's at World Golf Village. I ended up spending over a hundred bucks on stuff (and that doesn't include gas!). I picked up the following goodies:

• Long Sleeve Shirt (Heather Grey w/logo on the breast area)
• Short Sleeve Shirt (Black, with 80s style Buc-ee)
• Wooden plaque to turn in to magnet
• Florida  Magnet (to retroactively complete the FL-to-WI Road Trip set)
• Chocolate Pudding Cups (one for each of us)
• Banana Pudding Cup
• Cheese Cup
• Smoked Stix (like Slim Jims)
• Teriyaki Beef Jerky
• Buc-ee's Steak Seasoning
• Salted Caramel Beaver Nuggets (off balance, too salty not sweet enough)
• Cinnamon Sugar Beaver Nuggets
• Fountain Lemonade (Buc-ee's brand)
• Fountain Pepsi
• Chopped Brisket Sandwich
• Beaver Chips (homemade potato chips)
• Chocolate Fudge
• Cream Cheese Colache  
• Cinnamon Roll
• Bumper sticker (to turn in to magnet)
• Sticker Set (some for magnets, some for water bottles/etc)

I think it was about 5 bags... whoops! Anyway, I filled up the gas tank, then tucked myself out of the way to do a YouTube video tasting of the sandwich and the chips, and then headed home.