Abby’s Run For Dandy-Walker Review

So last week I wrote a preview of this 5k race.  Now I’m writing the review.  As I said in the preview, my friend was the race director and the race benefits Dandy-Walker Syndrome.  The race is named for a little girl with the condition, coincidentally named Abby.  She was at the race, that was cool.

At the start. In a crowd.

The 5k took place in Frisco, Texas.  I’ve run quite a few races in Frisco, and I’ve spoken to quite a few of the race directors from those races.  From what I gather, the City isn’t always too cooperative with the race organizers and don’t like closing roads.  That’s the reason why so many of the races in town include multiple laps, 180 degree switchbacks, etc.  I’m assuming that’s why this race was a two lapper with one switchback.  I normally don’t like it when you have to run multiple laps because that means halfway through the race you have to pass by the finish line.  That always seems like such a tease!  But this race I hardly noticed it because at that point two people had caught me and I was trying to hold them off (I did!).  And I didn’t mind the switchback because it let me see how close the runners behind me were.

At the finish. All alone.

Why did it matter how close they were and why did I want to fight off other runners?  Because I wanted to do well in this race since I knew so many people involved with it and because I had lots of friends and families there.  I was lucky enough to finish officially 3rd overall and 1st in my age group!  Technically there was a friend of mine who beat me, but he was wearing another injured friend’s bib, so I guess his time didn’t count cause he’s not listed on the official results?  I still count it as finishing 4th for me.

Abby’s Run with Scott’s Finish places.

To be fair, it wasn’t an extremely competitive field.  This is only the second year for this race, and they’re still trying to make it grow, but talking to some of the organizers, they said they were very pleased with the turnout as it was waaaay more than they had last year.  I hope it can continue to grow!

And I was glad I ran a smart race.  I didn’t go out too fast like some others did who I later passed.  And I was able to be smart when we were running face first into the extremely windy wind!  I had done a warm up with my friend Brian, who won the race, and we previewed the course and strategized where to conserve energy and where to let it fly.  I stuck to the plan and it paid off!

Some of our group. We brought home some hardware!

I think they did a great job with the whole event.  It started with a one mile fun run.  And they had some trainers out there warming people up.  They also had a whole village set up with sponsors tents and activities for kids!  That was a cool thing that you don’t see much – a whole section devoted to keeping kids entertained.

But the coolest thing was how this race benefits a great cause.  And I was VERY proud to accept my medal for winning my age group because they were hand made by some of the children who are affected by Dandy-Walker.

I’ll treasure this one fo shizzle.

Each medal is unique and mine had a cool painting design on it.  I wish I knew who the kid was who made it so I could thank him/her.  Maybe next year!