Brrr River 5K Race Report

Well, it turned out to be a beautiful morning for a run.  There was very little wind and the sun was shining.  Not sure what the temperature was but it was around zero, give or take a few degrees.

Sign up was from 8-9am and the race was at 10am.  There was a bit of confusion about the start time. I guess it was advertised in the local paper to start at 9am.  Anyway, we all decided to meet halfway and we started at 9:30am. There weren't a whole lot of participants, maybe 10 runners and 10 walkers.

Right at the beginning of the race there was a fair size hill.  The roads were mostly snow covered still so I was slipping and sliding for a bit going up the hill. Other than that the snow didn't give me too much trouble.  Once at the top of that first hill it was pretty much downhill for the next km or so.  Just before the 1K mark, I took a wrong turn at a fork in the road.  Luckily I wasn't wearing any headphones so I could hear the gal behind me yelling "WRONG WAY!!"  In my defense, I was just following the kid in front of me...

From about 1.5K to 3K was pretty much uphill.  Ever been to Bear River? AKA The SWITZERLAND of Nova Scotia!!!  At one point I considered walking but that kid in front of me was in striking distance, so I kept at it.

Luckily, from 3K onward, it was downhill.  Gave as much as I could given the slippery conditions.

I didn't catch the kid in front of me :(

Ended up finishing 4th. How very Canadian of me! Official time was 27:10 which is a ways off from my PB but given the road conditions, hills and the fact that I've taken pretty much the entire winter off from running, I'm pleased with the result. I won a thermal cap!

This is the first Brrr River 5K run.  Overall, I think that the gal who organized it did a pretty good job.  I guess my only real complaint would be the inadequate route markers.  She used strips of fabric which weren't very effective.  It was probably OK for locals who knew the names o the roads we ran on.  She mentioned that she was organizing a 10K race to take place during the Cherry Carnival in July.  That should be challenging.