As I was doing all of my recaps for the last few races I participated in, I realized that as of June, I had done at least one race a month. Being half way through the year, I decided to see if I could finish the year doing at least one race a month. I signed up for the Pony Pasture 5k that was on July 28th. It was down by the river and after looking at the race results from last year, I knew that I would be able to finish before they packed up the finish line.
Pony Pasture is a popular hangout on the James River. It is where people come to walk some of the trails, put their kayak/canoe/tubes in to ride down the river, or swim. I was down there a few weeks ago with my photography workshop taking pictures. The race was to start at 7:30 and while you could pick up your packet the night before, there was also packet pickup before the start of the race. While the parking lot there is big, it would not accommodate all of the people expected, so they set up a shuttle from a shopping center which was close.
I had decided that I would pick up my packet before the race. And since I knew the parking situation was not great, especially if I want to bring my shirt back to my car, I decided to get there a little before sunrise and take pictures as the sun rose. I got there about 5:50 and brought my camera and tripod down to the river. For the next 30 minutes or so, I just took different pictures as the sun came up.
By 6:30 I was packed up and ready to find the table where I could pick up my bib and shirt. There was only one person in front of me and they just asked for our name, no ID needed. The bibs were not chip timed, so I got the next bib on the stack. They gave me my shirt and that was it. The shirt is one of those soft cotton ones, which I like to wear around the house.
The park had real bathrooms, so I went to use them. I then walked around some, stretched, and played on my phone till the race was ready to start. At the start it was 72 degrees with 100% humidity. I was drenched before we even started. I debated on carrying a water bottle with me, but in the end I decided it was too much trouble.
The race was an out and back and everyone lined up on River Road for the start. They played the national anthem and then we were off. Not knowing how my knee would be, I decided on a 30/45 run/walk. Soon enough the runners were ahead and there was a good little group around me doing different run/walk intervals.
River Road is very pretty with the river very close. There were plenty of trees which provided plenty of shade, even though it was overcast through the first part of the morning. They did not close the road from traffic, but since it was 7:30 on a Saturday, there were not a lot of cars out yet.
There was a water stop just after the first mile marker. Just in time as I was getting thirsty. Soon after that I could tell my knee was going to act up. It wasn't hurting yet, but it was tight. We continued down the road to the turn around.
Since it was an out and back, we had the same water stop again a little after the second mile. On hot days like that, I am glad we had a second water stop. By the second mile, my knee started to officially hurt. I continued on, running slowly and making sure I took all of my walk breaks. It wasn't bad like it was for the
Star Wars Half, but it did hurt some.
Before I knew it, I had hit the 3 mile marker. I couldn't believe that I was almost done. Despite the humidity and a little bit of knee pain, it felt like I was only out there for a mile. The finish line was a turn into the parking lot and down a small hill. There were still tons of people there cheering the finishers on. Since it was not chip timed, several people were calling out the bib numbers and the time as we ran down the chute.
This being a small race, there was no medal. I kinda wished we got a medal instead of a shirt, but that's OK, I did only have to spend $20 for registration, so it's a win either way. The only thing I didn't like was that I didn't see any water or fuel for after the race. I didn't look very hard, as I had water at my car, but I did think that was odd.
I walked down to the water and got a finisher picture with the river. I stretched some and headed home. The good news was by the time I got home, my knee felt good. So maybe I am on my way to recovery with it <knock on wood>. Overall, I really enjoyed this race. While it wasn't as exciting as the Run and Ride 5k from last month, it was just peaceful. Everyone was super nice and encouraging and being down by the river was the icing on the cake. I would do this race again.
Would you rather have a shirt or medal?
