Plano Balloon 5k Recap – Trophies, Balloonies & Selfies!!!

So here’s da ting – I got to race this weekend!!!! It was the Plano Balloon Festival 5k. It went pretty well ~ I think I sent a PR on the way to a 3rd place division finish!

Balloon race, balloon medal, balloon trophy!

I signed up for this race a long time ago, and I’m glad I did – had tons of friends out there this day!

We run. We fun.

I was also glad to run into some of my super speedy friends who I haven’t been able to run with in a while. These two have been inspiring me for a while now – starting a few years ago when we’d regularly meet at the track to try and kill each other with 400’s…

Me and a couple BQ’ers. Maybe I could join them if I got shorter shorts.

It was a VERY humid day. So humid, in fact, that it started raining shortly after the race. Because of the weather they weren’t able to launch the hot air balloons as planned. Bummer, yo! It’s ok doe, I was there to race…and race I did!

And big ups shout out to my boy Tory for taking the following video of some of us during the race. T-dawg is always so supportive of his fellow runners…

I was purdy pleased with my race. I had a great time for me despite the humidity, hills and already running 40+ miles that week.

Official Results: 5k- 21:11 – 3rd in Age Group – 31st Overall (Out of 1945)

Don’t steal my soul, race photographer guy…or my award!!!

I LURVE the awards they gave us – individualized hot air balloon metal wall art hanging thingies…

Division placers…I have fast friends.

After the race, we explored the balloonless festival a bit. And of course, made a spectacle of ourselves…

Not sure what’s happening here.

Oh yeah, I remember ~ someone brought a selfie stick.

I enjoyed the race. I’ve been doing so many hundreds of miles getting ready for the Chicago Marathon that I couldn’t remember what it felt like to go short and fast! I was so glad to see I had gotten faster than when I started marathon training. Funny how that works ~ to get better at running, practice running.

I don’t think our group got enough pictures.

In the end, it was a good time with good peeps. And it was just the little confidence boost I needed after such a miserably hot Texas summer of long slow sweaty miles. Yay, my legs still work!

All smiles after the miles.

And guess what…..the festival also had a half marathon the day after the 5k. And yes, I ran that too. Stay tuned for that recap!!!!

How bout you? Any races recently? Ever go to a balloon festival with no balloons? Did our group take enough pictures (trust me, there’s more I didn’t post here)?

-Scott

Balloon ½ Marathon Recap (From Someone Who Didn’t Race It)

The day after running my 5k PR, I was up early again for a race…but this time I wasn’t racing. I was running yes, but not racing. I was there with some friends to support the racers.

The cheer squad.

I had SEVERAL friends running this race – (Hot Air) Balloon ½ Marathon & 5k – Including my brother…it was his first Half!

So I got there early to get in some miles before the race. We eventually came to the start of the race just in time for the gun. We cheered on the runners until it thinned out then jumped on the course and joined them. We ran along the first 4 miles and eventually found my brother and ran with him for a short while.

Along the way we saw dozens of hot air balloons as they launched. That was a cool sight.

I don’t care what you say, those dudes are full of hot air!

We also found some friends who were there to cheer too. Though the racers didn’t seem to appreciate their sign. It read, “You are NOT almost there.” Haha!

We then ran back to our cars for 10 total miles! Waiting in our cars were mimosas, bloody mary’s and shiner beer. We were parked at mile 11 of the course and tried to encourage the runners to finish strong!

Our cheers didn’t work on that guy…he kept walking.

A lot of the runners thanked us for being there. This course was VERY hilly. The temps were VERY hot. It was a tough day for them all. I’m glad we could help some of them.

My run bud Ana. I guess we ‘cheered’ her up. See what I did there?

Buuut, some of the runners had a bad attitude going into the race….

Hahahaha!

And apparently I was hatching an evil plan in my head while we spectated…

Muahaha! Evil smile much?

And then we saw my brother!

Almost done with is first half marathon!

As my BQ friends there mentioned, he was looking pretty solid at this point of a very tough race. He didn’t look like he was hurting at all. And he got er dun!

In the end, we cheered on many runners – friends and strangers alike. I know I appreciate the support of race spectators. And if we can squeeze some of our own miles in along the way, then all the better!

Our ‘refreshments’ are almost gone. Time for one last pic.

Sometimes it’s good to give back like that.

How bout you? Ever go to a race just to cheer? Ever run along a race course to support the runners? Was it wrong to taunt them with our mimosas?

-Scott