Fairfield 5K Race Recap (and my first DNS)

Happy Wednesday! Today I’m linking up with Annmarie from The Fit Foodie Mama, Jen from Pretty Little Grub, Michelle at Fruition Fitness and Nicole from Nicole from FitFul Focus for Wild Workout Wednesday!

On Saturday I ran the Fairfield 5K. This was my first time running the race and I was very impressed with the organization and race route.

We saw many volunteers upon arriving at Jennings Beach for the race. It was great because this race had 1,500 runners, many of which drove, so the parking lot was busy. It was nice to have volunteers directing us where to go. After we parked, we were able to snag our bibs and t-shirts rather quickly (within 10 minutes). I appreciated that they had tables with cups of water available before the race. It was hot so I definitely drank a little water before the race start. We still had time to spare so we took a photo.

The race started right on time at 8:15 a.m. (I love when races start on time). Within a minute or so we were crossing the starting line. This course is flat, like really FLAT. It’s a definite PR course, but the only downside is that there isn’t a lot shade. It was super sunny on Saturday so the heat started to affect me after the 2nd mile.

Other than the heat, the course was awesome! It was mainly though the town and neighborhoods. There was a lot of crowd support from local residents and cheerleaders from a local school. There were also 2 or 3 water stations – I can’t remember how many there were because I had my handheld water bottle so I used that for the whole race.

As runners were coming toward the finish line the announcer said each one of our names. I really like that personal touch! After crossing the finish line there were tons of vendors and food/drink available on the beach. Also my mom won her first AG award – she came in 2nd in her age group! We never stay for the awards (because we never win any) so we were shocked when we checked the results. The race organization is mailing her the award (how cool is that)! All in all I would give this race an A+ for organization, volunteers, food and FUN!

…and now for my first DNS

So as the other part of this title of this blog post suggest, I had my first DNS on Sunday (Although, I’m not sure if this would count since I was luckily able to defer my registration to next year). Basically I was supposed to do the Lucas Challenge which was the 5K on Saturday and the Half Marathon on Sunday. Because of my knee, I opted out of the half marathon. It SUCKED and I was SO sad when I saw all the runners on Saturday with their special Lucas Challenge bibs 🙁 I know I made the right decision, no doubt, but it still sucked…BIG TIME!

Have you run any new races this year? Have you ever had a DNS?