2017 Dublin Irish Festival 5K

Last week I ran the Dublin Irish Festival 5K, which kicked off the weekend festival activities. For those of you not in the know, this is the Dublin, OHIO festival. Nope...I wasn't just over in Ireland. This was a Thursday evening race. I drove to Dublin early to pick up my packet and met Shelly, Nikki and Nikki's daughter Elise there. This was going to be Shelly's first 5K.

Nikki, Elise, Shelly and me before the race
Pre-race selfie

The weather was nice for standing or sitting around outside, but it was August, and I knew it would feel hot running. At least the sun wasn't high in the sky. We hung around while the kids dash took place, and then the 5K participants made their way to the start corral. The national anthem was played, and then we were off.

Start corral
Walking to the starting arch

The course was an out and back, mostly on a residential road, and partially on a road with office buildings. We had an equal amount of uphill and downhill. One hill was steeper than the others, and it was nice to go up it before getting to run back down it. I stuck with Shelly for the most part and we did run/walk. Nikki and Elise mostly walked, so they were behind us, and we got to see them a couple times on the course.

Selfie with Shelly and the corn statues in the background
Nikki and Elise on the course

This was a nice community race with runners and walkers of all different levels, and there were quite a few young kids who ran the 5K. However, there were not a lot of spectators. Mostly, it was a peaceful run on a summer evening.

Toward the end I ran ahead of Shelly to the finish, where I was able to get some pictures of her as she crossed the finish line of her first 5K. We stayed in the finish chute for a little while longer to see Nikki and Elise come in. They did a little mother-daughter sprint in the last yards of the race.

Shelly finishing 
Elise and Nikki finishing
Race shirt and medal

After receiving our medals, Elise and I got ice cream from the CD 102.5 ice cream truck. I had seen people eating ice cream before the race, but didn't think that would sit well in my stomach before running. After ice cream, we all walked over the the Brazenhead for post-race beers for the adults and food for all. Unfortunately, service was incredibly slow. I guess they hadn't planned ahead for all the runners hitting the pub at once. We didn't even get menus for at least 15 minutes because they had run out. Still, it was nice to celebrate our finish over a beer (when they finally came). And I think Shelly might even be up for another 5K in the fall!

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