MS Harborfest Shoreside 5K, 2013

I didn’t run this one, so I managed to get some pics of the winners. I also got to help Cara promote her new gluten free home bakery. We showed off the food, answered questions, met some nice folks and saw a 5K from another perspective.

First, let’s talk about the event. It’s a nice little fund-raiser for the National MS Society. It was small, but nicely organized, and the weather was just about perfect. The organizers were happy to let us place our food on the refreshment table, and we kept things in their own wrappers so they wouldn’t be contaminated by those tasty (but gluten-filled) bagels on the next table. Cara brought Maple-Glazed Mini-donut Muffins and Chocolate Chip Galley Pie Minis. All was well, and the vibe was good.

I didn’t sign up for the race because I thought Cara might need me, but I turned out to be extra weight after setup. Since it was too late to go home for my running clothes, I decided to use this as an opportunity to get some spectator-type photos.

My old, beat-up iPhone had some trouble with keeping proper focus, but there was one thing I was really pleased to see. To my great joy, they began this race with a starter pistol. There’s only so many ways a person can stand with one of those, and the woman holding this one was just perfect for my zombie apocalypse fantasies.

It was a small crowd of happy folks, but I pretended that they were only happy because they had an armed escort. In fact, this wasn’t even a race. These people were on their way to a new settlement, possibly near Abel Township, and were just waiting for the all-clear before continuing. Unfortunately, there was no all-clear. They were spurred on by the sound of a gunshot.

We’re all lucky that she was there. Things could have been much worse.

But I digress.

Most of the details are in my Flickr set, so I won’t go into that here. I will say that everyone loved Cara’s baked goodies, and the crowd was everything a running community should be. There was a good vibe in the air, and it was contagious. Not in a Grey Plague kind of way, but in a “NPR story from 2008” kind of way. And I did get to run today, so the wife didn’t have to endure any moping about. This was a good day.