The Unicorn 5k is held in Largo, Florida, between Clearwater Beach and St. Petersburg. It is run in conjunction with the Largo Renaissance Festival. It’s run on a double-loop course around a city park. Very flat and fast course. Weather conditions were excellent. 50's and sunny. Low humidity. Light breeze. The field size was about 500.

 

I ran 25:35 (8:15 per mile pace)......almost a minute faster than the previous week. My splits were 8:19, 8:21, 8:05 and :50. I didn’t die in the last mile this time, but stayed strong through the finish. It was still a minute slower than I had hoped to be this spring, but I can live with it.

 

I found the double-loop layout for such a short race to be interesting. The starting line was at the 3 mile marker. So, the loop was exactly 1.5 miles long, with a .1 mile leg to the finish. Thus, the 2-mile marker also marked the first half mile and the 1-mile marker doubled as a 2.5-mile marker, which helped to time a late race push.

 

The post race party was held in the park and included fruit, pizza, chilli, beer, powerade and numerous random awards. The T-shirt was of high quality with a 5-color design in blues and greens and festooned with 15 modernistic unicorn head outlines. All race participants received a complimentary ticket to the Renaissance Festival, which was also very enjoyable. A good race in the morning....a fine festival in the afternoon....both under excellent weather conditions. Just an all around great day!

 

Jim2

 

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