Empty Beaches & Treasure Hunting - Endless Summer 5k Race Report 2021

So, this was a race that I've wanted to do for a few years.  I love St. Augustine, and I love the quirky description of the tee you get: 

Our Turtle Shirts have been extremely Popular. In fact, it's the "BEST T-Shirt in Running HISTORY" (so says the artist).  

This year was the 18th annual race, which benefits Don's Foundation, a foundation dedicated to encouraging college students to choose the Alternative Break, where students choose to travel on their breaks and help those less fortunate. Sadly, Don passed away at only 22, in 2009, after a tragic fall while at home. 

I was psyched for this race when I signed up in March, but a few months later, we planned our Anniversary Adventure Road Trip, and oh crap... This race was scheduled for September 11, when we're on vacation..! I was bummed, and reached out to Jim the Race Director to see if I could have my swag mailed to me. He was more than willing to send everything to me, which was great. 

But then, just a few weeks before the race was set, I got an email telling participants that the race was postponed (not cancelled!). Don's Foundation chose to move it to November because of "current Covid concerns."   

Endless Summer 10K Cross Country and 5K Beach Run/Walk are temporarily postponed...not canceled.

 We are making plans for a November run as we did last year.

Both the 10K & 5K Runs are SOLD OUT.  However, many of those who registered for the runs have recently transferred to the Virtual Runs amid current covid concerns.  Also, our Florida State Park system and our local Sheriff's Office have been affected by covid, as you may have heard.
     For these reasons we have chosen, out of respect for many of you and our partners at the State Park, to postpone the events until a date in November (to be determined).  Note that this was not at the request of the State of Florida......just a decision we made to support you and our local partners.  
   Many of you will be glad that the events are being postponed, as most of the Virtual Runners would rather switch back and run the actual 10K or 5K.    Also, many of you may be disappointed....but, we can all hope that the weather will be much nicer in November :)  Also, we hope to be able to run both races in November with less restrictions (as last year).  
    We do have a nice advantage as our runs take place in Anastasia State Park, which also allows us to reschedule for any reason including inclement weather.
We will not have a September packet pick up, as we did last year.  All packets will be picked up during race week (dates to be determined soon).

This was a very tough decision for us.
We want to put on a great event for all of the participants and hopefully things will be a little better in a month or two.  We are exploring a date in November and will let all of you know very soon.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
We appreciate each and everyone of our participants, sponsors and partners.

Oh, okay! This sucks for everyone who was ready for a September race, but this worked out great for me! I quickly emailed Jim and let him know that I was able to participate in person, and looked forward to a much less humid fall race along the beach. 

Oh, but wait?!?

Is this the same week as The Cupcake Race? No, it's okay. That race is the weekend after this one. 

So I made my way to St. Augustine on a cloudy Saturday morning, sadly without my little point & shoot camera. Yes, I lost another freaking camera (Hello, my name is Lazy and I lose cameras). The last time I remember having it for a race was last month at Run the Runway. For the life of me, I can't figure out where it would have disappeared to, or where I might have lost it. At this point, I'm wondering if it's even worth it to buy a new camera, or if I should just embrace doing photos with my phone... I guess I'll shop around and see if there's anything affordable out there right now. And if I can get a Tile or something to help me find that one when I inevitably lose it, too!

Anyway, I was able to score a parking spot inside Anastasia Island State Park - I think there was only one or two more spots open before they made people park outside the park. I picked up my goody bag, which was a neat backpack, and had my bib, tee (damnit, they gave me a dude's shirt, not a ladies v-neck, grrrr), sticker, and random koozie. 

Single-Strap Backpack with Front Pocket & Luggage Tag

Sticker (will turn into Magnet)

Boy Howdy! What is Creem USA? 

Photo of Race Shirts (courtesy Don's Friend website)

I ran it back to my car, hit the potty, then lined up near the Start Line. We sang the Anthem then started the race. 

The flag was massive, hung from a Fire Truck

We went right out onto the beach, through an entryway that was a bit of a bottleneck. 

Waiting for the fast folks to get out of my way

Once on the hard-packed shoreline, everyone spread out and found their pace. 

Lots of room now

Dreary Selfie

Turn Around Point for the 5k

It was a very boring course, honestly. The overcast sky made everything so dank and dreary; there was no gorgeous Florida sunrise to enjoy.  

Yes, there's people behind me!

If I was just out here to enjoy the beach, as a beach-goer, I would have loved the day, but there was no energy here, and I often felt completely alone. 

Hello? Is there anyone out there? 

Eventually, we had to leave the beach, and instead of coming back in where we came from, we had to climb these "massive" dunes to get to a gorgeous boardwalk. I feel like this was just an accident waiting to happen, especially for the really, really fast people, and the really, really slow people in the back. For instance, the pair in front of me were probably in their 70s, and had a hard time fighting through the soft sand. 

There's a walkway there somewhere

Once up on the boardwalk, it was much easier to keep your footing, and it was beautiful in that area. 

This is probably gorgeous during sunset

At the end of the boardwalk, you hooked a right, made a circle of the parking lot (I left my water bottle on the trunk of my car, so convenient!) before coming up the road to the finish line. 

Almost done!

Hang a right!

With an amazingly terrible time of a few seconds over ONE HOUR, I picked up my medal and wandered around for a few minutes before asking someone to take a finish photo for me. 

It's a cute medal; matches my manicure!

Wearing my "Waves" Sparkle Skirt (get it, waves?)

I came in 267th out of 300 total runners, last in my age group, and the 165th Female out of only 187. 1:01:16 Gun Time (1:00:49 Chip Time), with a 19:35mm pace. I blame some of this on the "beach" part of the race, but also just because I wasn't feeling this race, and so I didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. 

I wandered around afterward a little, drinking some water, but didn't stick around for any awards or anything. I changed my clothes in the restroom near the car, then headed out into the city to find treasures. First up was the Betty Griffin Center Anastasia Island Thrift Shoppe on SR-312. There's another on in Fruit Cove (haven't been to that one), and they support survivors of domestic or sexual violence in the local communities. 

This was the first time I've been there, and I'm in love! I generally don't look for clothing at thrift stores (because fat girl clothing is hard to find, and usually worn ragged), but I was impressed by the amount of clothing they had. They had massive amounts of shoes and accessories too. In one area, they had what felt like an entire department of textiles - sheets, pillowcases, towels, blankets, etc. I scored 2 blank pillow forms, two half pillows, and two Christmas pillows. I also picked up a few kitchen items, and two massive Christmas wreaths for four bucks each! I plan on going to Dollar Tree to get stuff to decorate them. 

After scoring some treasures, I had a trashy lunch at Steak & Shake, complete with electric cheese sauce for dipping. 

Last stop on any trip to St. Augustine is Buc-ee's. I really wanted this shirt, but they didn't have it in my size (and let's be honest... I stain any white shirt within a week of owning it). 

Yes, that's a cart full of Buc-ee's treasures! Chips, fudge, cookies, jerky, Beaver Nuggets, probably a shirt, and two drinks for the road. 

So, would I do this race again? Eh, maybe. I liked Don's Foundation and what they support. I liked the location, kind of. I think I'm going to withhold a decision for now... Covid has made so many things weird and wonky, that I should do it at least one more time, when shit gets totally back to normal, before making a final decision.