Stonyfield Earth Day 5k Race Report!

This was the second year I am doing this 5k. It is one of my favorites! I love that they do it in conjunction with the Earth Day fair that stonyfield puts on. What better thing than to go run and then walk around and get a bunch of free stuff!

We got there early and headed to registration to get our bibs and t-shirts. I was lucky enough to be number 166, it was based on when you registered. Then we went to get t-shirts. I was thrilled to see that this year they were life is good shirts. I had forgotten about that and those shirts are amazing.

Once everything else had been done bathroom, putting on compression pants, sneakers, etc. We decided to check out the vendors at the fair that were already setup (the fair didn't start until 10am).

I got a breakfast sandwich from a local farm that had organic eggs. It was delicious! We picked up some Hint Water which was nice to have before a race. We generally just walked around and looked to see what was there. I went over to the start line about 10 minutes before the race started.

We ended up waiting for a little while because there was such a large turn out that there were many people registering this morning.

Then they started the opening ceremony. They gave a very nice tribute to all those hurt or killed in the marathon bombings as well as the unfortunate events of Thursday/Friday. We gave a moment of silence and then the national anthem was sung! It was actually eerily quiet, I thought for sure people would sing along but they didn't. 

We all paid our respects with the flag at half mast.

Then they made the announcement that when you hear the cow moo to start the race but not to start until you hear it. For a minute or more we were al very confused because there was no moo. Then it happened and we took off. I crossed the timing mat and started my run.

It was the same course as last year so I knew where to go. However I had forgotten about all the hills. I will say that I successfully completed my first mile at 12:07 which was fantastic considering my hip was bothering since the early morning. The great thing about this course is that although there were lots of hills they were pretty evenly spread out. So you would have a hill or incline but not for that long and then it would be down hill. That repeated quite a bit so it was nice because you worked hard on the hill and got a little recovery period.

The last hill is the largest. I remember last year I walked up the entire hill. This year I was not going to do that! I made myself to run/walk intervals of 30 seconds, that way I was still working but it was easier.

I made it up the hill and turned onto the Stonyfield street. With the last tenth of a mile to go I took off and told myself I was going to run the rest. And I did just that!

I crossed the finish line waving my Boston marathon jacket like a flag and of course was sporting my runner unite to remember bib too! 

This race went really well for me. It was windy and there were hills but I was able to finish with a time of 39:44! I was so happy to be under 40 minutes and when I looked at my time from last year (48:38) I realized just how much I have improved.

After the race was over I got enjoy some much needed yummy food and walk around the fair. There were lots of people but we had fun!

Yes that is a giant dinosaur! There was so much to look at and there were lots of things for kids to do too. 

Just some of the loot we got includes jam from The Stonewall Kitchen, Kind bars, Hot dogs, Natural candies, Hint water and of course yogurt! They were also giving away tickets to a Fisher Cats game on Tuesday but since we don't live anywhere near there we didn't get an tickets. 

Even though the day started not so great cold, rainy and with my friend Sara not being able to run with me. It ended with the sun coming out, having a great race time, enjoying the fair oh yea and on the way home we stopped at my absolute favorite place to eat in New Hampshire, Mr. Mac's! I got Chicken Cordon Bleu mac and cheese!! If you have never been there I highly recommend it but I warn you that no other mac and cheese will ever be as good again.

Today was a fantastic day!