race report: santa maria del mar mission possible 5k

The Mission Possible 5K was a race happening on the same day as a literal TON of local races. I selected it above the rest because it was new (to me), in a different location (Flagler Beach), and it was comped (thanks, J!)

Arrival + Packet Pickup

Santa Maria Del Mar in Flagler Beach is almost an hour away from me, so I planned to be up and out early. I still had to get gas and a snack for the road (bad planning on my part), but I had every intention of making it to the race venue by 6:30 AM for an 8:00 PM start. Flagler Beach is cute, but parking is pretty limited and I wasn’t keen on finding street parking in an unfamiliar area in the dark.

Lucky for me, Santa Maria Del Mar is a huge church, with an even more huge parking lot, so my worries were for nothing. I settled on a spot, and went to get my packet. We got nice t-shirts in a pretty teal color as well as a cute little goodie bag with some branded items and local coupons and offers.

Pre-Race

Since I was there super early, I had plenty of time to get to the car to drop off my stuff. I used the restroom (the church made the bathrooms in their offices and classrooms available for us, which was lovely), and then I took a stroll to the beach to catch the end of the sunrise. It was a pretty morning.

Then it was back to the start line. This was a super small race, probably one of the smallest I’ve ever done. By my count, there were less than 100 chipped runners, and then there were the unchipped walkers. I love that this made the event super inclusive and ability-friendly.

Mission Possible 5K: Let’s Go!

The posted start time was 8:00 AM, but the organizers fell as little behind. I don’t think more than five minutes, but it wasn’t a huge deal. Everyone lined up at the inflatable arch, and off we went.

The course of the Mission Possible 5K was a long rectangle. We ran north through the parking lot, and then out on Daytona Avenue. That continued through the little neighborhoods for about a mile, where we hit a water stop and then went east one block and back to north. From there, we made another eastward turn, and then headed south along A1A. This part of the race was pretty, because we could see the ocean on the left the whole way. There was also a second water stop.

Then finally, we turned back down a side street, which was maybe two or three blocks from the finish line. There was a small technical difficulty where two runners had to hold up the finish arch as the power cut out somewhere, and I had to basically duck under it (tall people problems), but it got done!

Post Race

After the race, there were plentiful drinks and snacks.

And a massage school showed up, offering mini massage for $5. That was a super nice touch.

I hung around a little, just to see the printout of finishers: only overall and age group winners got medals. Since it was a smaller event, the age groups were big (I was in the 40-59 group, so no bling for me).

Final Thoughts

Once everything was all wrapped up, I headed back to the beach for one last look.

And then I took myself to Swillerbee’s for a donut and iced coffee.

And then it was time to head home.

It was a great race and a fun morning. My only negative comment is that I got attacked by no-see-ums while waiting, and am now an itchy mess. The next time, I’m bringing bug spray!

When’s your next race?

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