Skip to main content

Christoval VFD Firecracker 5K (w/pics and a rankings update)



Tuesday I volunteered at the CVFD Firecracker 5k in Christoval, about 20 miles south of San Angelo.  The race benefitted the Christoval volunteer fire department and also included a post-race BBQ.  It seems to be quite the tradition among the running community here, but I wasn't exactly feeling like racing a 5k.  I couldn't just miss out on a San Angelo-area running tradition, so I had to at least volunteer.  The race started and ended in a nice, shaded area, nice enough that I heard rumors about a 1/2 marathon maybe being planned there.
the start/finish line
I... was a bit late, so I didn't get a volunteer assignment.  Luckily, Blanca needed some help at registration, so I was gainfully employed.
Dude had a great 4th of July shirt on

The little guy in the black glasses was talking smack to Blanca, saying she's lucky she's not running cuz he'd dust her

Isn't Mila lucky?
As I said, the race seems to be a San Angelo area tradition and it was well attended.  There were maybe 125 runners between the 1 mile and 5k.  The temperature at the start was around 80 and I've heard it seemed hotter on the course.  I didn't get to see too much of the course, but I know there was a bit of a hill at the end.  The 1 mile and 5k runners all started out together.
getting ready pre-race

the start!




I don't remember his name, but I sure do like his shirt

CLIFFORD!!



the last few walkers starting out
Blanca, Carlos, and I were contracted to be the "tab pullers" at the finish line.  There was a big timer, but only first male and first female times were recorded.  We had to pull a tab at the bottom of everyone's bib as they crossed the finish line in order to determine the finishing order. I took the chance to walk around a bit before finishers started coming in.
there goes the last of the walkers

a fire truck blocking the road for our runners


did I mention the post-run BBQ? (photo credit: CVFD)

(photo credit: CVFD)
The "first place" one mile runner was the same kid that had been talking trash to Blanca.  He took a wrong turn and ended up finishing his run in 6 minutes.  All of the 1 mile runners were given really cool finisher's medals.  Which, I should've taken a pic of but I didn't think of that until just now... 4 days later.




pushing it to the finish

I only got to take a couple of pictures of the 5k finishers as we got busy pulling tabs.  The course, I'm told, was a little short at exactly 3 miles.  However, there were still some great times.  Matt Lindsey took the overall win in 19:12.  I was able to take a peek at the clock as a few of the runners came through.
Matt coming around a 1 mile walker to the finish

Mark Huteson coming in only a few seconds after Matt

Look at that Huarache Turbo shirt!  Guillermo came up from San Antonio for the race

The shaved ice shack was a good idea, just poorly placed.  We kept having to ask the people standing in line to watch out for runners finishing with a final sprint.



Alexandra Rodriguez was the first female to cross in about 21:03


Hey, it's Dennis!  He took 2nd in our age group
The races seemed to have a good turnout and there was definitely some speed in the field.  I think there were 5 runners under 20 minutes.  Furthermore, I think some first time or sporadic racers took home age group places.  That's awesome!  After the race, many runners went straight over to the BBQ.  If I'm in town next year, I'll definitely be doing this race.  At the very least, Christoval seems like a nice place to come visit.
Team RWB post-race (photo credit: Jennifer Schmidt)

Rankings Update:
As I wrote in the my San Angelo 5k rankings post a few weeks ago, there were a few runners that I knew deserved a spot, I just needed 5k proof.  Well, 4 of those runners showed up to the race and find themselves on the list.  I'm sure that there's some runners and times that I missed, but here's what I have.
New to rankings:
Mark Huteson is now #7 overall and #1 in the 50-59 age group.
Brian TIllman is now #11 overall and #1 in the 40-49 age group.
Dennis Hall is now #25 overall.
Kent Fish is now #1 in the 60-69 age group.
Movin on up!
With their wins, Matt Lindsey moves up 1 spot to #6 overall and Alexandra Rodriguez moves up 2 to #18 overall.

The next San Angelo area 5k I know of is next week's Fallen First Responder 5k.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fanciness, gardens, and you're a guey

 Day 4 was "supposed" to take place mainly outside. The forecast called for rain most of the day and, well, it looked like we would be running ourselves ragged to make the self-imposed time hacks. So, we made a little adjustment. We still decided to go to a couple different gardens. However, we needed breakfast first (let's be honest, it was second breakfast for this hobbit). We went to Confiteria La Ideal for a fantastic breakfast. I had thought it was a smaller place to grab a coffee and snack and then be on our way. However, we walked in and realized it's not that type of spot. The cafe originally opened in 1912 and was long considered the best example of porteno (coming from Buenos Aires) gastronomy for the best part of the 20th century. They closed their doors in 2016 but reopened in 2022 after a massive restoration project.  We also saw that we were way underdressed. Luckily, we could play the ignorant tourist card and, if need be, I could always speak horrendou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Not Crying for Argentina (Buenos Aires part 1)

Good evening Jordan, it's Sunday and this series comes to you in at least 3 parts. We'll see how long these posts get with the preposterous amount of pictures we were taking. Now, I can say that I started my post on the day we bot back. I will have to take a day or two organizing and editing pictures, so I'll be right back. Promise you won't even know I've left. See? Bueno As has been the ongoing theme for a while now, our planned vacation spot was Peru. This would be attempt #3 to go eat lomo salteado and hang out with alpacas, but as we were starting our initial planning phases, Macchu Picchu was closed down due to protests. With that being such a center piece of a Peruvian plan, we decided to hold off. again. However, we decided to keep it to the same continent. Our highest rated spot was Argentina (yes, we have solo and combined updated top 15 vacation destinations lists) and Gabriel had gone there the year before, giving us some good ideas. I was in school thro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art and Futbol (Buenos Aires Part 2)

 I had decided that I would try and get all the pictures edited before getting started on writing this up. After over a week, I'm a bit sick of adjusting the "pop" and "tint" slider bars and need to write a bit. Our days weren't exactly themed as I mostly grouped things by distance and their schedules, but there was plenty of art and futbol on these two days. Sitting just next to our hotel was Teatro Colon. After a pretty solid hotel breakfast of pastries ( medialunas being the classic Argentine breakfast pastry) ham and cheese sandwiches, and coffee, we walked briskly through the rain, hiding under awnings as possible and made our way to what we thought was the front of the theater. As we were to find out the next day, the theater was built before the avenida 9 de julio and so the back of the theater is to the main road.  Walking in, we saw a large group of elementary school-aged children and a sign announcing that the main hall's lights were being tes...
Post a Comment
Read more