The Fort Hood Bunny Hop 5K

Since I don't have any photos from the race last Saturday, I figured Rambo giving me two thumbs up would work just as well!

Well the Bunny Hop 5K is a monthly run put on by Fort Hood MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation), and this was my first one here at Fort Hood.  I've done a few while at Fort Bragg, but I'll tell you, Hood has got them beat hands down.  Both are cheap (read:free!) but Hood offered awards 3 deep in each AG, which I don't care as much as the thought of kids getting awards (they had multiple age groups for the kids, and they turned out in droves!), so I was happy to see so many younguns getting out and running 3.1 miles (I never did that at that age!).  During the awards ceremony, they announced that they had over 500 people running (some walked, some had strollers, but besides the point), that's a lot of people!  Good to see!

Since I hadn't done too much speed work, I figured this would be a good workout for me to push just hard enough, but not too hard, and I was right on the money. I finished up with a 20:32, so not too bad.

The course is the same course they use for most of the 5Ks throughout the year, and it isn't an easy, flat one!  My garmin says only 33 feet of gain, but they are punchy little climbs.  You start in the parking lot, and head out to Old Ironsides, head down the hill, back up a slight hill and hit the first turn just short of 62nd street, over to Hell on Wheels, back up a slight rise and down the hill to 78th Street, back up Old Ironsides (up the gradual hill) to 74th and a nice flat .1 of a mile run to the finish chute.  My garmin recorded the run at 3.15, but that's close enough for government work!

Overall, I finished in 8th, and 1st in my AG, so had a good workout, and it was neat to see all the kids getting their awards, and the ones who didn't, I overheard that they wanted to run more to get faster to win a trophy next month.  That was refreshing to hear! (Soapbox time: I had the "everyone gets an award" mentality, but military kids seem to have the right mentality that if they want something, they need to work hard, or harder for it.  Bravo parents, you're doing the right thing!)

So this one's for the kids!

 

See you next time!