Hyndai Hope on Wheels 5K (Race Recap)

Irvine, CA
Saturday, September 1
A's 8th 5k
Weather - Sunny and warm

We hadn't landed until 10:30 pm on Friday night in Orange County. By the time we got settled and headed to bed, it was after midnight. We had to be up by about 6:30 to get to the race by 7:00, assuming a 7:30 start time.

Race Day

The children, apparently, did NOT need sleep. The first time I heard them moving around it was only 5:00. 5:00!!! We all got dressed and headed out the door to the U. of California at Irvine for the Hyndai Hope on Wheels 5K (raising money with the mission to eliminate childhood cancer). We found parking pretty easily and walked over to the started area. Pretty pleased to see the table of food/pastries. Yum.

Yum.

A and Gabs

The race was supposed to start at 7:30, and we were a bit worried because our friend, Julie, was supposed to be meeting us with her jogging stroller for Gabby. Apparently we had nothing to worry about since the race didn't actually start until 8.

What a bizarre race. First off, the starting area was NOT the actually starting area. We had to walk up a ginormous hill, carry the stroller up stairs (least handicap friendly place I've been ever), before actually arriving at the starting area. The race was chip timed, although we never actually saw any timing mats.

We started in the back and planned on taking it easy. Within the first few minutes, A took off with Heather's oldest daughter. We pretty much didn't see them again until the turnaround. The entire course was marked with electrical tape (why???) and flags. Different colors for the out and back, even though the course was the same. So weird.

Our friend Madison was also running and she was hoping to PR. When we saw that the course was (extremely) short at the mile 3 marker, we knew she would be pretty annoyed.

Even with a short course, A shattered her previous best time of 43ish minutes. The official results had her finishing in 33:20. !!!!!!

Bottom - (Back) -  Julie, Heather, #1, Madison, Me, (Front) - Gabby, A.

Garmin Time - 37:55
Garmin Distance - 2.85 miles (shortest 5k ever!)
Mile 1 - 12:44
Mile 2 - 14:53
Mile 3 - 12:03

Good

• Price - Schwaggle made this about $14 each
• Raising money for a GREAT cause
• Race gave a shirt AND medal
• Bottled water AND food at the start
• Plenty of bathrooms 
• Running with my BFF, Heather AND my Ragnar buddy, Julie!
• Heather's daughter paced A to a new PR!
• The knee was not angered

Bad

• Shortest 5k ever! How do you even measure a course that short?
• Super hilly, pretty crowded for an out and back

Overall, a really fun race. Super glad I got to meet up with two of my Ragnar run buddies for this one. And yay for A and her fabulously new PR!! (even WITH a regulation length course, she would have PR'd here).