Belltown Spring Sprint

This past weekend, I finally got to run a road race! It's been awhile for me, and I was really wanting to get back into road racing (and by road racing, I mean spending money to run slow, but in a new locale). My friend Tracy had told me about this 5K that takes place right in her town, and I was excited to join her!
We arrived just as the kid's fun run was starting. Those kids are adorable. And FAST! The 5K is a smaller race, with only about 80 people participating. I like these smaller races, it gives you a better chance at success!

Important to note, they had a great event photographer who allows free downloads of photos! Imagine that? Free photos!? Yay!
Tracy runs SUPER FAST! (Or at least compared to me.) So I was excited to find this photo in which I was ahead of her at the start! (It lasted about 1 stride.)

The course was lovely with rolling hills (for the most part). We headed out of the parking lot and ran alongside a lake for about a mile and a quarter or so. We then took a left up a side road where we would eventually turn around and head back to the park. The hardest part was this side street, as it was all uphill to the turnaround point. I had managed to run at a pretty good clip until reaching said hill. (First mile in 9:16!) I did take a little breather about half way up the mountain hill, but then thoroughly enjoyed the downhill portion! We ran back along the lake again and finished up in the same place we started.

Tracy knew she was the fasted female, so we made sure to stick around for awards. (I told you she's super fast!) The best part about her winning (besides the obvious winning part) was that it bumped her out of my age group's awards... leaving me to finish in 3rd! My first real age group award!

My time was far from a PR (my current 5K PR is 26:36 which may stand forever, likely) at 30:19, but with how I've been training, I'm really happy with it. I would definitely run this race again, and can't wait until my next one!

Have you run any 5K's lately? Do you like out and backs or prefer a loop?