Parade 5000

How did I not know there was a parade at the county fair? And that they have a 5k immediately beforehand on the parade route???

Thankfully, I found this out from a friend in time to sign up. The Parade 5000 is held right before the parade, so that meant a 1:30 start time. In July. So it was hot.

After last weekend's heat exhaustion, I was not going to let that happen again. I spent the wait before the race eating ice, holding ice to help chill my circulatory system, and even stuck some down my bra. Hey, whatever works to stay cool.

I started the run slower than most (which was good, given the heat!). I still pulled off a 7:33 mile. By halfway, I had slowed- I took two cups (only sipped once- dumped the rest on myself) and walked through the water stop halfway through, then walked through the three hoses some kind bystanders had. Second mile was 8 something, as was the third.... But I didn't care.

There were great crowds the whole way along the parade route which continued once we got on fair grounds. The race ended with a lap of the dirt track, finishing in front of the grandstand- that was pretty cool, too, especially since I could hear my mom yelling for me.

I finished in 24:33. That's the slowest this summer, but also the hottest race day. And I was not racing today; I was running for the sake of running. Sometimes, it is nice to take a break and enjoy a group run like that.

I was a little surprised to see I placed in my age group! 

Afterwards, my mom and I walked around and had some fair food- fried cheese curds and an elephant ear for me, while mom had pie.

I was glad to have the race shirt to wear since my tank was soaked, but it didn't exactly stay clean!

This was a fun event. Hot, but the parade crowd was awesome. I wish there had been food at the end, but at least being at the fair meant we could go find stuff.

Have you ever run a race that didn't start in the morning? This is only the second time I've ran a race that wasn't in the morning. The other one was at 5pm.

Does your county have a big fair? Elkhart has a huge fair. Miami county, where we lived the last three years, didn't. I'm glad I had one more chance to go to the Elkhart County 4H fair before we leave the state.