1st Annual New Year's Day Fun Run

This morning we hosted our first annual New Year's Day Fun Run with options for a 3 mile or 5 mile run/ walk.   As the unofficial race director (A twitchy calf muscle kept me out of the event), I was out the door around 8:00 a.m. this morning to do the course marking.  I set off from home with a large piece of sidewalk chalk and a gallon zip lock bag of flour which I used to draw arrows for the unpaved portions of the long route.  The different routes were marked with either blue or red chalk for participants to follow.  I was surprised that it took a good hour to completely mark the two routes even though there was a good amount of overlap with the two courses.

Participants had their choice of two routes . . . the short run . . .

 . . . and the long run!

A little before 10 a.m., friends and family started gathering at the house.  It was a great turn out with over 25 people joining us for the inaugural event.  I gave a pre-race briefing and showed the course maps on our TV using my new Chrome-cast and connecting it to the Strava site on our computer. Within minutes, everyone made their way outside to the starting line under a beautiful blue sky.

Approximately 24 people and 2 dogs participated in the first annual New Year's Day run!

The runners and walkers were off, while I finished the final preparations for the post run meal.  All participants were treated to a post race treat of either green or red chili along with old fashioned sodas or Mexican Beer.

The first runners started arriving back at the house after about 30 minutes with most everyone getting back within the first hour.  The notable exception was Melisa, her auntie, and Lily, all of who walked the entire 5 mile course!

Post long route pointing!

Liliana did the 5 mile course, what a "risk-taker!"

Next year we'll plan to do our second annual race and who knows, maybe we can even add a t-shirt or some other swag for those that participate! Congratulations to all of our participants and we hope you are able to relax for the rest of the day!

A 3 mile runner relaxes after a grueling morning!