Our second 5K!

Lucky number 141!

Saturday marked the completion of our second 5K race. It was at the 41st Annual Oil Town Festival in Smackover, Arkansas, and the 34th running of the 5K as a part.

Of the 380 racers, we came in 358th and 359th in the competition, thanks to timing by FitRightRacing. We had knocked some time off of the Blossom Festival race in Magnolia back in May. We might have done better, but we hadn't walked any to speak of during the week prior to the race due to a blister that Sharon acquired walking the four-mile trail at Millwood the previous weekend.  We both came in with 54:46, an exact tie which we work hard to accomplish. We're in this together, so it's not a competition between the two of us. Our goal is to finish together!

Waiting for the start

It was a nice day for the race with temperatures in the upper 70s/lower 80s. Although Smackover only boasts a population of 2,005, it's a small town with big spirit. Folks turned out all along the route to watch and occasionally cheer us (or someone near us!) on in the race. And periodically some had sprinklers set up strategically along the route to cool down the racers.

Smart tee-shirt and our race tags

The Smackover race differed from Magnolia in that it was billed as a run and there was no separate category for walkers. In Magnolia, the walkers started out two minutes after the runners, which had the advantage of letting the runners have a clear start without having to run through us walkers. On the other hand, we who walked were also free to jog if the urge struck us, without fear of being disqualified. Sharon took advantage of that from time to time, mainly to catch up with me, or so she claimed.

There were several folks from Magnolia in the race, and two from our church placed high in their divisions. We were proud for them!

Only one of these in Arkansas!

Whether we placed high or low, we moved closer to our goal of walking the Camino in 2014. When we first took a practice walk of a 5K back in May, we did it twice in about 65 minutes. In both Magnolia and Smackover we came in under the hour mark, for which we felt we had shown progress. We weren't just completely worn out after finishing this race. And it was a bargain, too--just $10 for the registration and that got us into the race, a tee shirt, a chance at some nifty door prizes (where else can you win a barrel of oil?) and a drink and a candy bar at the end of the race. I felt like I deserved to eat a Snickers bar, considering the number of calories I had burned!

Monday means we are back to training, and we plan to get up early and walk on hour. Let's see if we can carry through on that commitment!