Run Ocala

Thank you to everyone who came out Saturday night for the 5th Annual Retro Run 5K. And to everyone who missed it: you missed a great one.

180 runners crossed the line in downtown Ocala, up from 146 last year, and that start line was a wall of neon.

The men's race came down to a second and a half. Christopher Taylor, 15, of Morriston won it in 18:48.9 over Devan Stancil of Inverness. Taylor had raced with the Vanguard cross country team at Cecil Field in Jacksonville the night before, drove home, and ran even 6:04 miles to take the lead late.

Lauren Godwin of Ocala was first woman in 20:00.1, fourth overall. She coaches women's cross country at the College of Central Florida and brought her team out to use it as an early-season time trial.

Two lines from the results worth sitting with. Cida Wright, 65, of Ocala ran 27:43 and was the fastest woman over 40 in the whole field. And E. Self, age 10, of Ocala ran 22:45 for 16th overall, ahead of most of the adults out there.

We filmed the finish line. Go find your moment.

WHAT'S NEXT

This Saturday, August 29, is the free Ocala Kids Run. One flat paved mile on the Cross Florida Greenway, 8:30 AM, Baseline Road Trailhead. Free entry, free parking. A ten-year-old just beat most of the adults at Retro Run. Bring yours out and see what happens.

And then there's Thanksgiving.

Every family has the things it always does on Thanksgiving. The parade on in the background, the same argument about the same recipe, the walk after dinner nobody actually takes. Here's one worth adding: come run the Gobble and Go 5K with us Thanksgiving morning. Grandparents walk it, kids run it, the fast ones race it, and everybody is home with an appetite before the oven timer goes off.

Do it once and your family will ask about it next year. That's how these start.

Series runners: Gobble and Go earns series points at quarter value. That's on purpose. Enough to make up ground if you missed a race this year, not so much that anyone spending the morning with family falls out of the running.

Links in Comments

Mile markers are put out, rain is letting up. We will see everyone in a few hours!

Retro Run is tomorrow night at 7 pm!

Still undefeated in Ocala! Adam Truesdale takes the Beer Mile win in 6:26! We had 117 people toe the line this afternoon.

Results are Live:
http://runsignup.com/Race/Results/150510 -679900;perpage:100