A 5K race comes to my 'hood

I was really excited to learn that there is going to be an inaugural 5K race in my very own hometown on May 17. It's going to start and end at a place that I run past frequently and it'll be nice to not have to do much more than roll out of bed and hit the starting line on race day.

There was some controversy over this race because it is replacing an arts festival that one group of merchants wanted to continue, but there was something about the local Chamber of Commerce wanting to go in another direction and blah blah. I'm not sure what happened and I'm not really interested in the politics associated with the creation of this race, but I'm in.

While I know the road the race is going to be run on, I've never run it. But reading the description of the course made me think, "hmm." Especially this part:

The course has rolling hills and is very scenic.

That sounds only partially true. I mean, once you get past the library and the elementary school and the baseball fields and the synagogue I guess it's very scenic. But I wasn't sure. So I went to take a look and brought along a camera.

The course does have some beauty. You run past a farm pasture and stuff, and you get to run along a route that features this view:

And this one:

And this one:

But by the same token, you run along and see stuff just as prominently along the course such as this:

And this:

And this:

And especially this:



Additionally, I think the course has more than "rolling hills." It's pretty doggone hilly and doesn't look like a lot of fun. And it's scheduled for a week before I'm running a half marathon, so I should be running more along the lines of 11 or 12 miles that morning and not 3.1. But I was seduced by its proximity to my abode and I've already registered so there's not much left to do but ignore the ugly parts, imagine the hills are fluffy, soft clouds of fitness and think about the bagel at the end of the run.

I can't help but think this is going to turn out to be a leaped when I should have looked kind of thing, but on the upside it'll all be over in about 23 minutes.