Running the Ventura YMCA Fun & Family 5k!

Guess what I did last weekend? 

Ran an awesome 5k - the Ventura YMCA Fun & Fitness 5k! I'd never run a race with a friend before - and it was tons of fun :) Races go by so fast when you have great company (the cool Ventura weather helped too!) I love running races that support great causes. For this run, 26 families and 86 individuals participated for a total of 183 people! This helped raise  a little over $6,500 for the Open Doors Scholarship program.

The volunteers were friendly and cheered us on along the course! The weather was perfect for running, the goody bag full of good stuff. There was ample water, live music, a pancake breakfast and even prizes! Every age was represented - it was a stroller friendly and walker friendly morning. Even the Chick-Filet cow showed up to cheer us on.

The race part was nice too. It was a flat course through parks and neighborhoods, resulting in a pretty fast course. I came in 6th in my age group at 29:16 - and that while chatting with my friend the whole time :) Though I didn't have time to stay, you also got free access to the YMCA facilities for the day. I took a peek at the facilities and was very impressed - the pool looked awesome! I wish I lived a little closer so I could go more often...

I look forward to running this race again. I love small, friendly runs. There were people on the course cheering us on - waving, smiling with their morning coffee. Kids having a blast, and folks enjoying their Saturday morning. It made me want to go run another 5k soon! I think if I put a little training in I can really improve my time! Thanks YMCA for all the great work you do!

Happy to finish under 30 minutes!

Disclaimer: I recieved a free entry to this race, all opinions are my own!