Hard Cider Run 5K

I'm not sure what he was looking for, but Jon found this race about a month ago and suggested we do it.  5K.. sure!  At a cidery?  yes please!  And Jon is going to actually participate?  Absolutely!  Even better was that you can pick your wave start, and we picked 10:10am which means we didn't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get to Charlottesville super early (though Jon might argue that leaving at 7am *does* mark the crack of dawn).

That's the white ceiling of U-Hall (old basketball arena) in the distance...
That's where we pick up the shuttle after standing in this long line!

This was a trail run and there was rain in the forecast accompanied by concern that there would be a ton of mud.  Not to worry, I still have my dirty shoes from the North Face relay a couple weeks ago!  But, despite a few sections of rain on our drive down, it stayed pretty dry.  We arrived at the new UVA basketball arena around 9am where we were to pick up the shuttle over to the cidery.  They told us to allow about 15 min for the shuttle ride.  Factoring in that time, plus time to pick up our packets, check a bag, blah blah... we figured we were in good shape.

Nope!  Over an hour in that dang line to get to the shuttle - and I really think the reason we made the most forward movement in that line is because people bailed and found other rides.  We didn't even get on the shuttle until 10:15, 5 min after our wave was supposed to start.  Of course everybody else was in the same situation and they assured us we'd be able to run.  Sure enough, we got there, got our stuff situated and made our way over to the 10:50am wave start.  Ready to go!

Photographer stationed midway up the long hill from hell?  Mean!

I told Jon that we shouldn't worry about staying together and would meet up at the end - run your own race!  So he took off.  The trail consisted of tons of tall grass and uneven terrain which made it really hard to run.  I noticed I was running about 11:30/mile pace and keeping up with Jon... until he started walking and I passed him.  He signed up for the Hungry Apple challenge to eat a donut at every mile marker, so I pulled a little further in front when he stopped for that first snack.  Right after that first mile marker the trail turned upwards.  It looked daunting.  I was doing a run/walk pattern by now and decided to shift to just walking for this hill, thinking it wasn't too long.  And then we turned a corner and realized we weren't even halfway up! 

I'm not sure how he did it, but Jon powered up that hill and passed me right back!  I might have been standing still and resting when he passed me, that's how bad this hill was!  And I was not the only person who stopped for breaks.  I didn't see anybody actually running.  I mean, seriously... this was a 5K race marketed at beginners!  At least, what goes up must come down, and finally we were on top of the mountain (yes, I am pretty sure whatever that hill was called, it starts with "Mount" something) and on our way back down. 

I started running again and really minimized the walking on that last half.  Luckily the rain held off and it wasn't muddy at all (except for maybe a small part on top of the mountain).  The course took us winding through the orchards on more tall grass and slanted ground.  I was in front of Jon again, but not by much and I was a little jealous of the little snacks he was getting.  I was starting to get hungry!  

Finally I came out of the orchard and ran through the finish line - done!  That was a really hard course for a 5K!  I got my medal and some water and waited for the 2 more min for Jon to come in - we really were pretty close on pace.

...and of course he was munching on his 3rd and final donut as he crossed the timing mats!  This was only his 2nd running race ever, and much more challenging than the Baltimore 5K that he did over 10 years ago.

We got our cider and sat around for a little bit before getting back on the shuttle and going to lunch in Charlottesville.  And as it turns out, Joann and Daz were in town celebrating their anniversary, so we ended up meeting them at a winery for a bit.  Not a bad day!