This past weekend was an impromptu race weekend in St. Augustine, FL. I ran their 5k race which benefits the EPIC Behavioral Healthcare, a non-profit community health clinic. For information about the race and EPIC, check out their website. The race had several unique characteristics.

1. The start time was 4:30 in the afternoon.

2. There was a food tasting festival afterwards that included live music.

3. There was a free beer along will all the bagels and bananas you could ever want.

The course was relatively flat, with half traipsing through Anastasia State Park and half through a relatively shady neighborhood. The only tricky part was the start which was relatively wide but narrowed to a dirt/sand trail within about 100 m. The trail portion was only about a quarter mile in length and the rest of the course was on asphalt.

Race day was warm, especially with a start time in the afternoon. I’d say about 75 degrees F. There were 395 entrants which included some walkers and stroller runners.

With all my training I managed to set a personal best (post high school era) of 27:43 and a pace of 8:56 min/mile. I came in 5th in my age group and 95th out of all the runners there. All in all, a pretty good day!