Elm Tree Wildcat Rumble 5K Race Recap

Saturday morning was the Elm Tree Elementary School's Wildcat Rumble 5K in Bentonville.  This was going to be a family event with both of my sister's and their children participating in the Fun Run and 5K too.  Lindsey and I were signed up for the 5K which had an 8 AM start time.  My goal for the race was to finish in under 30 minutes in order to run with Gavin during the 1 mile Fun Run that started at 8:30. 

 The Rush Running Team was out in full force with Mike and his store employees timing the race.  Last year this race was a little short so I was happy to note that the start/finish line had been moved to lengthen the race.  We kicked off the race and it was fairly uneventful for me.  The temps were low 70's but it felt hot with most of the course being in the sun.  The course was an out and back that included two loops through two different neighborhoods.  I got to see Lindsey as I exited the second loop just after mile 2.  I also ran into a co-worker who was heading through town to the Big Ride on his bike.  He rode next to me for a few seconds and we chatted. 

I was disappointed in the lack of course support at this race.  There were no directional arrows or signs anywhere on the course.  I knew the course only from doing it the previous year.  As I exited the first neighborhood loop, I ran into a walker who didn't know that she needed to go up one more street before turning.  My sister who was run/walking made a similar comment that she just didn't know where to go.  Also, there were a couple of street crossings that didn't have anyone there to manage cars for the runners.  As I was finishing there were some kids near me running by themselves and I was worried that they wouldn't look for cars before crossing the street to return to the school. 

Overall, the race went well and I think my time was around 29:06...good enough for 2nd in my age group!  I was happy with that time since I hadn't run much during the week and it was HOT!!!

A little race hardware!

After the run finished, I was trying to figure out where the fun run was starting.  As we were waiting, Lindsey finished and was just in time to do the fun run as a cooldown.  All morning Gavin had told us that he was just going to walk for the fun run and not race.  We should have known that wouldn't stick because as soon as the fun run started Gavin wanted to run.  Lindsey told him he should run with me and so off we went.  The fun run started by crossing a grass path and then running a lap around the school.  We had a little stumble near the end of the grass path where it transitioned to sidewalk.  I thought Gavin was going to be out of the race with the face he made and the limp he started to have but he shook it off and we got back onto our pace.  Gavin finished and was so proud of beating Whitney! He couldn't wait to tell the rest of our gang.  I sort of told him that he couldn't have any ice cream until he did the fun run and even then I had to make him wait a few minutes more until Lindsey and Kristen finished with Lily Cate. 

My nephew Gavin after our one mile fun run.