Seaford Hot Chocolate 5k Review

I arrived at Seaford High School this morning at 8:10am.  The sun felt good on this 40 degree morning.  I entered the high school and made my way to the auditorium.  There was a band playing Christmas songs in the hallway.  At first, I thought they were practicing for a school performance, but it turned out they were there for the race!  What a nice touch!  There were a lot of people milling about inside.  Winter races with indoor facilities made available to the runners pre- and post-race are aces in my book!  Fellow blogger, The Emerging Runner (ER) arrived about fifteen minutes later.  I was disappointed to hear that our other blogging buddy, The Petite Pacer would not be joining us due to her petite car overheating (boo!).  We got our numbers and eventually made our way to the start.  The organizers announced there would be over 900 runners!

Auditorium

Musical accompaniment

ER and I were chatting it up at the start about everything from family to sailing to martial arts.  I realized I had forgotten my watch which was annoying.  It's not a Garmin, but it helps me keep track of time (Imagine that!) and estimate my miles.  We were lined up around the 7 minute mile pace sign, but there was still a good size crowd ahead of us.  The gun must have gone off because suddenly people were running.  It was hard for me to understand the emcee whose full time job must be teaching Charlie Brown & the Peanuts gang.  

I'm pretty sure there was no start mat to activate the chip.  The frontrunners' start time was the same as the back of the pack's.  We were near the front, so probably only seconds were lost, not minutes.  However, every second counts in a short race.   A couple of hundred yards in, my useless Yurbuds iPhone arm band unravelled (the velcro fell off months ago so I've been tying it) and began to slip down my arm.  I tried tightening the knot, but to no avail.  I decided to just take it off and carry it.  This was also annoying, but manageable.  

The 5k course was flat and basically a loop with turns at each mile marker.  The Mile One clock read 9:13 when I passed.  I asked the man next to me who assured me that was the wheelchair start time.  Whew.  Mile Two's clock read 16:20.  When I hit Mile 3 at 22:xx, I thought the clock must still be at least 1:30 ahead so I wasn't worried about finishing sub 22.  I crossed the finish line, grabbed an orange slice and water, and then waited for ER to finish.  I thought he might come in around 29 minutes give or take 30 seconds.  Of course, I looked down to get my camera ready and in that split second, he ran by.  In 27:xx, no less!  I was sorry not to get a shot of him crossing the finish line, but psyched he had such a fantastic time!  I think if given the choice between a photo op or an awesome time, he would choose the latter.

ER stands for Excellent Run!

We went to the Finish Line Road Race Technicians' (FLRRT) van to check out our results.  These timing guys are super efficient in posting the results in real time and getting them online within a couple of hours.  My 22:46 time was just that, according to them.  I ran at a 7:20 pace and finished 2nd in my age group.  I was in the top 4% of women and top 11% overall.  Not a PR, but I was happy.  

Overall, I highly recommend this race.  The organization and amenities for the runners were terrific.  The course was fast and easy.  I would definitely consider doing this again in the future.  Hopefully, with our third Musketeer!

FLOTUS and ER

not shown: TPP