Happy Running Sole: Shrimp Festival 5K Race Recap

October 12, 2019

The National Shrimp Festival is held each year in October on the white, sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, AL. The festival offers live music, seafood, arts and crafts exhibits, sand sculpture contests, a golf tournament, and a 5K/10K run. Everyone should attend the festival at least once in their lifetime. There's plenty to see and do, and it's great fun for all.

The Shrimp Festival 5K/10K starts at the Orange Beach Sports Complex. The course runs along the paved Backcountry Trails. The race attracts several hundred participants.

This was my fifth year participating in the Shrimp Festival race, but my first time running the 5K. After a two year hiatus from this race, I was ready to run it again. I left off on such a high note in the 10K that I decided I would run the 5K for a change. My PR performance in the 10K in 2016 will be hard to top. (Read about it here)

The weather for this race has been the same every year: HOT! You can probably tell from my flat runner that I wasn't expecting anything different this year. I checked the forecast the night before like I always do. There were some showers expected over night and the early morning hours, but it appeared that they would be moved out by race time.

It was pouring when I woke up. I immediately checked the Facebook page and there was no talk of cancelling. It was still pouring when we left the condo. Michael thought I was nuts. "It's going to be cancelled," he repeated the whole way there.

When we arrived at the sports complex it was a ghost town. Usually it is packed full of runners for this race. I got out of the truck to investigate. There were a few runners under shelter by the bathrooms who said that the run was still a go. The closer to start time the harder it poured. The race directors announced a ten minute delay in the start time. They said as long as it was just rain and no thunder or lightning the race would go on as planned. I kept checking the radar obsessively, but it looked like we would be in the clear.

The 10K runners took off a 7:40, ten minutes behind schedule. There weren't many of them. I was so glad I chose to do the 5K. I think even if I had registered for the 10K I would have swapped to the 5K given the circumstances. The race directors gave the 10K runners that option and some chose it.

Runners came out the wood work when they announced for the 5K runners to line up at the start. There weren't this many runners under shelter by the bathrooms. Where did they all come from? Still, there were only about half the runners than usual for this race.

I was running more consistently while training for the Iron Horse Half Marathon in September. I hoped that with my improved endurance I could better my time from my last 5K in August. I quickly realized that it was not happening today.

The black top on the trails and the boardwalks throughout the course were really slick. I had to really watch my footing. There was no thunder or lightning before the race started. Just as I was nearing the first water station a big bolt of lightning struck ahead followed by a loud crashing "BOOM". It startled one of the ladies at the water station to the point that she dropped the cup right out of her hand.

I was scared. It wasn't long after the crash that Michael called me to see if I was okay. I was out of breath. I told him I was fine, just nervous, and ready to be done. I was halfway there. It was the same distance back as it was to keep going forward to the finish. The thunder rolled a time or two after that and it was done. The rain continued to pour as I crossed the finish line. I finished in 27:57.

Mile 1- 8:42

Mile 2- 8:53

Mile 3- 9:06

0.14- 9:27 pace

Thank you Street Safari for braving the elements to provide these awesome, free race photos!

I waited for the results to be tabulated. I was hoping the competition was narrowed with only half of the runners. I was excited to see that I got 1st place in my age group. Yes, there was more than one runner in my age group. There were eight of us to be exact. I was 7th of 92 women, and 31st of 169 overall. Thank you to the fast runners for staying in bed! 😄

I never thought I'd say this about this race, but I was actually a little chilly while waiting for my award. I warmed up with some red beans and rice. There was so much food left over I even got seconds.