Newberg Old-Fashioned Festival 5K

Small-town races are so fun!

Brad and I decided at the last minute to do Sunday's Newberg Old-Fashioned Festival Annual 5K Run. There was no pre-registration, so we arrived early at Memorial Park, paid our $10 fees and hung out on the new swingy things. 

Mom can't turn down a 5K, so she came too:

We went shopping Saturday evening at the Nike Employee Store, and Brad insisted that I buy these racing flats:

I guess I might as well break them in with a race :)

I had no expectations for this race. It was last-minute, I ran intervals Saturday afternoon, I didn't rest or fuel properly before, I didn't know what the course looked like, I was wearing brand-new shoes.

But I decided to go for it and see what happened. And what happened was a huge PR!

We started at Fifth and Blaine, heading west. We went a couple blocks on Fifth and then turned left on Dayton. It was a simple out-and-back course.

I started fast and told Brad that I wouldn't be able to maintain. Then came the hills. Surprise! But I was able to slow a bit on the ups and pick up the pace on the downs. It was tough, but I hung in and pushed hard the whole time.

The course measured right on at 3.11 miles. My Garmin time was 25:50 - an 8:17 average. My previous PR was an 8:36 average! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dad and Eryn, our faithful cheerleaders, came out to show their support:

Then the craziest thing happened. Train tracks run down Blaine, right in front of the start/finish line. A short train rolled through, cutting off the last few feet of the course. The crowd was cheering for runners to speed up and beat the train so they wouldn't have to stop. It was very exciting and scary :)

A few minutes later, friend Stephanie (in the pink) crossed the finish line. Yay, Steph!

Then came Mom:

Yippe!

There was a fun raffle, and I won a pool pass! (I don't swim) ;)

Then came the awards. I took second in my age group! (Unfortunately for me, the overall female winner was also in my division, otherwise I could have been first! She was VERY fast) I think was the sixth female overall. (It was a small field ;) )

As an extra bonus, the Old-Fashioned Festival includes a pancake breakfast. So we paid the fine Rotary folks and refueled with all the pancakes, eggs and sausage we could eat:

What a great morning! We will be back next year for sure :)