This weekend was the Dexter Michigan “Holiday Hustle” put on by Running Fit. (The local running supplies store here in Ann Arbor.) A nice brisk day of 28 degrees greeted the runners and kept everyone from getting overheated. Starting right in the\u00a0 center of downtown at the gazebo the couse then winds through some of the nearby housing additions and loops back on itself to the finish line. A few short but steep hills on the way, but they are short enough as to not present that much of a challenge.<\/p>\n
This year the race had over 1200 entries, (and finishers) while last years results list only 658 finishers, so it is rapidly growing in popularity. I got out pretty strong and avoided the real crush of traffic and managed an 8 minute first mile. (Way to fast for me, but since it was only a 5K managed to hang on to the end anyway.) The overall time of 26:32 is a new PR by about 16 seconds over the 2009 spring race. May have to start doing a little more (some, any) speed training if I want to keep getting PR’s at this distance.<\/p>\n
Lots of people dressed up for the event, including Santa’s, Mrs Santa’s, lots of reindeer and one very complete Christmas tree! The race did sort of go to the dogs, since there hey were more people running with their pets than any other race I remember. Maybe since it is shorter and also was very cool they thought the dogs could handle it better. The pets didn’t cause any problems that I saw anyway, unlike the runner who stopped short right at the starting line to retrieve a glove she dropped causing a lot of evasive maneuvering on the part of the people behind her trying to break out of the starting gate!<\/p>\n
The usual photography team accompanied me to the race and took a lot of excellent photos before, during and after the race.<\/p>\n
“The Holiday Hustle 5K 2009 Photo Album is complete!” The official bib number. The start of the race, off like a herd of turtles!<\/p>\n The race almost doubled in size since last year, with over 1200 runners.<\/p>\n …. and I made it to the finish. Some results, sixth out of 18 in my age group.<\/p>\n
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