Beach Blast 5K Run

Excuse the tilt, but I hurriedly shot this sunrise photo while riding my bicycle to the race start.


From Cayo Costa on the Gulf coast to St. Augustine on the Atlantic coast, we have found another Florida State Park in which to tent camp and call home for a few days. We were signing in at the ranger station at Anastasia State Park when I noticed a flyer about the upcoming Beach Blast. Students enrolled in the sporting facilities and events class at Flagler College in St. Augustine organize this event each spring. It includes a volleyball tournament, surfing contest, and a 5K run. I haven't run 3 miles since last summer's triathlon, but when I signed up I was hoping this Beach Blast 5K would kick-start my training.


This is the race course...out and back on the beach (3 miles total). Look at that storm moving in. It was a beach (you know what I mean) running against 15 mph winds.



I watched out for this young guy when I heard his name was Devin, my son's name. He gave me a big smile and wave when he passed me on the course but fell behind later. I cheered him in as if he was my own son. His mom took this photo after the race and vowed to start a fitness program herself.

Did you read the inscription on the mug in the top photo? At the awards ceremony, the students called me up as the recipient of the 2nd place female, age 50 and over award. I remember coming in behind a woman in a green shirt at the finish, but they didn't call her up for 1st place. The students awarded some other woman 1st place. We asked the students what our finish times were but they said those got all mixed up (papers were blowing around in the stiff wind). So the 3 of us ladies had to figure out our placement. Remembering our approximate times on the clock at the finish line, we determined I should have been placed third. We told the students, and they gave me a different mug. The prize mugs were wrapped in cellophane with pretty ribbons. When I unwrapped mine back at camp, the inscription read "2nd Place Female, Age Group: 18 & Under." Bless those kids!