Ashland Harvest 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Many years ago, when I was training for my first half marathon, I heard about the Ashland Harvest 10k.  I had always wanted to do it as we do not have many 10ks around here and I have always liked that distance.  I was happy to hear that they also had a 5k option.  To my surprise, they have always had the 5k option and I never realized it.

I signed up for this race a few weeks ago before one of the price bumps.  This would be the race I did for October.  I had been looking forward to it, as Ashland is such a nice little quaint town.  Most of my bike rides are from my house up through Ashland and back.

They had packet pickup for a couple hours the evening before as well as an hour before the race started.  I decided that I would get up early and get my bib before the race.  That would give me time to get parked and situated and not worry about anything last minute.

That morning it had been raining, but radar showed that by the time the race started, it would be sprinkles if not gone.  I got my bib and shirt and two tickets for door prizes.

The door prizes ranged from $25 off oil, to a gift certificate for Creative Memories, to jewelry.  The drawing was at 8:30, so everyone would just need to check back after they were done with their race.  I put my tickets in and headed back to my car.

On the way back I saw that they were setting up a pin for two horses.  I made a bee line over there to say hi to the two beauties.  It turned out that they were from Wings of Hope Ranch which rescues and rehabilitates horses.  There are free programs for children who are in need, no matter what type of need.  It's mutual help between the horses and children.


I went back to my car to shed the jacket and sweats and get ready.  As I headed back to the main area I heard someone call my name.  It was a lady that I see from time to time at the gym.  She actually volunteers with Wings of Hope Ranch and was only running to support them.

It was time for the race to start so we headed to the start.  The 10k start was at 8 and 5k at 8:10.  The 10k had a separate start line and they did their thing.  I stretched some and just kinda tried to enjoy the moment.  It was in the mid-50's and the rain had stopped.  It would be a nice morning to run.  There were some announcements and then the National Anthem and then we were off.


The race started on a unpaved path that went from the road we were on to the road next to the railroad.  I hate running on unpaved paths cause I'm such a clitz.  But I made it to the other road without issue.


My knee had been bothering me a lot more then usual the last few weeks, so I tried to keep an eye on it.  So far so good as I continued my 30sec/30sec run/walk.  We ran parallel to the rail road for about a mile.  I was bummed that no train came while we were running next to it.  The 10k course was a bit different so there were runners coming towards us for a little bit of that part.


About mile in, we turned off the road next to the train tracks.  We were now running through a neighborhood.  Even though I bike a lot through Ashland, I have never been to this part of the town.  It was nice to see a different part while running.  A lot of the houses had their Halloween decoration out, and I enjoyed seeing all sorts of scary items on the lawn.

We had our first an only water stop.  I actually didn't grab water as I really wasn't too thirsty and I knew I would get a bottle at the end, so I kept on trucking.  Around mile 2 you could see we were near the finish line.  I knew we had a turn off soon, to get the extra mile in, but I don't like when races get you so close to the finish line when you are not close to being done.

After the turn away from the finish line, we ran through another cute neighborhood.  At this point the 5k and 10k were on the same course and would finish together.  There were a handful of runners around me at any point of the race.  I knew the ones that zoomed past me were the 10k runners and the rest I was playing leap frog with.

At this point my knee started to bother me.  I tried to slow it down and made sure that I took all of my walk breaks.  But after I did my second mile well under 13 minutes, I knew why my knee was hurting.  But at the same time, I knew that if I kept it up, I would do my fastest 5k in a long time.  I really tried to talk myself into slowing down, but as usual, I got caught up in the fun of the race.

We came around and the finish line was behind me.  There were two ladies in front of me that I knew I could pass.  I knew that going full out at the end would not help my knee, but it felt great to just run as fast as I could.  As I came close to the end, I saw my friend from the gym call my name.  My knee hurt, but after stretching at home, it felt better.

I got my bottle of water and headed to see if I won any of the door prizes.  I did not win anything, but that was OK.  I love door prizes and it's just fun to see what could be won.  I realized at that point that we didn't get a medal.  I think their logo would make a super cute medal, but if that meant more money for the charities, I was OK with that.  I noticed that if I left at that time, I could make it to Costco as they opened, so I headed to my car.

I would defiantly do this race again, either the 5k or 10k.  Even though the courses were a bit different, it was very well organized.  Even when there were only a couple people around me, I never felt like I would get lost, or end up on the 10k course.  There were different colored arrows plus a ton of volunteers everywhere.  Plus there was a door prize with tons of options to put your tickets in.


I just looked at my official time, and shockingly, I was 3rd out of 4 in my age group.  I didn't see anywhere that said that they did age group awards, so it was OK that I didn't stay.  And I looked and one of the ladies I passed at the very end was in my age group, so the knee pain was totally worth it. :)

I haven't chosen my races for November or December yet.  But I have a couple in mind, so stay tuned.

What has been your favorite attraction at a race while you waited for it to start?  Do you like door prizes as much as I do?  Do you get swept up in a race and push it more than you should?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.

Pink Power 5k (Tuesdays on the Run Edition)

Uggg, it's been forever since I've had time to do a post.  Work has just been crazy for the last couple of weeks and I've just been too tired when I get home to think.  But I do have this week off and I am taking full advantage to catch up on everything, including posting.

A few weeks ago, on August 11, I ran my August race.  Like most places, it's hard to find races in the summer, August especially.  This year was the 10th year of the Pink Power Triathlon.  It is a sprint triathlon that is only open to women and it was my first triathlon 5 years ago.  And no, I didn't sign up for it this year.  This year was the first year that they added a 5k on Saturday open to both men and women.  And I signed up for the 5k.

When I got the email the day before discussing the details of the day, they had said that they were still taking walk up registration and they were still advertising the fact that the first 100 signed up would get a medal.  I knew that this would be a small race, which is never good for me.  I didn't even have past years to look back to see if I would be able to finish the race before they started to clean up.

I got there early as I planned on picking up my bib before the race and I wanted enough time to bring everything back to my car and still have time to stretch and stuff.  I got down there and it was sprinkling.  I got my bib and shirt (which was so soft).  I asked how many signed up and they said 54.  My stomach sank.  I decided to wait in my car since it officially started raining.  When it was time to head back to the start line, it had stopped raining.  Not that I would have minded it to continue, as it was hot out.  But for the race it stayed dry, but overcast.

The parking lot was set up for the tri the next day and I looked around to the crowd as we waited and saw a few men (7 in all) and a bunch of ladies.  I was terrified that I would be left in the dust.  The national anthem played and before I knew it, it was time to start.  The course was the same as the one they use for the tri, so I sort of knew what to expect.  A big down hill to start, tunnel under the road and around the lake, back through the tunnel and through a neighborhood, and then back up the hill we came down at the start.


Most of the runners took off.  There were a handful of people back with me and I started to feel better.  I stuck with my 30s run/45s walk, even down the big hill.  I knew I could make up time if I just ran down the hill, but I have been very protective of my knee.  No way was I going to mess up my knee again this time by over doing it when I didn't have to.

At the bottom of the hill, we rounded to the tunnel that took us to the park with the lake.  The tunnel was very slick and dark so I took my time through it.  The lake was beautiful.


I even saw ducks!


Back through the tunnel and on this gravel path.  I made sure I was careful as uneven ground is very hard for me.  I didn't remember this path from when I did the tri, but it was very interesting.  It happened to be the "Richmond Coal Basin".  There were a couple restoration type buildings that were on display.  This was the Grove Shaft Ventilation Building which was built in 1924.


We ran up a short little hill and into the neighborhood.  I realized that this is the same neighborhood that hosts the Tacky Light Run, which made sense since the start is in the park with the lake.  Earlier I noticed that there was a man running without a bib near these ladies and he kept taking pictures of them.  He had run ahead of them and past me.  He mentioned that this was his wife's first race in several years and he was there to support her.  That was nice to hear.

After the neighborhood, we were back to the main road and that hill.  Having to end a run on a hill like that is just cruel.

This does not do the hill justice - it was steeper then this looks.

I kept up my walk/run even on the hill.  I made it up and through the grass to the finish line and I was done.  There were not many people left cheering people on and I knew that there were only a handful behind me, so I decided to stay and cheer on the last few.  It turned out that there were only ten ladies behind me, and it was so much fun to cheer them on.


Overall it was a fun race.  I know I shouldn't be nervous about finishing last, but it's more then that.  I'm afraid that these smaller races would be packing up before I can even finish.  And really the lady that came in last had the loudest cheering section.  And after all of that, I looked at the stats when I got home and in my age group I placed third out of five.  Unfortunately they were not doing age placements.  Always my luck. :)




Do you like to do races the first year?  Do you like very small races like this?

I’m linking up with with MCM Mama Runs, Marcia’s Healthy Slice, and My No Guilt Life for the Tuesdays on the Run linkup.