First time at River Valley Ranch!!!!

Last night my friend J.D. came over from the MD Eastern Shore to spend the night so that we could get up in the mornin' to do a race in Carroll County, Maryland, the River Valley Run 5K at the River Valley Ranch in Manchester. River Valley Ranch is a renown camp in Maryland, famous for its positive atmosphere with a more "wild-west" theme
The course was mostly on shaded and hilly roads, although towards the end it went downhill and was flat through the Frontier Town part of the camp. Frontier Town was really cool because it was like running through an old time western town (ghost town in my case, because I did not notice anyone too close behind me and the people in front of me were at least twenty seconds ahead, haha). Near the end they had a little sprinkler thing we ran through (a "mist tent" I think they called it) in addition to a covered bridge goin' over a creek/river just before the finish line. I really enjoyed the course, even though my 19:13 finishing time was not that strong for me compared to other 5-Kilometer times I have run. Though, I guess I will take it considering I was tired from gettin' up so early and my right foot was kind of hurting (but fortunately my legs did not fall asleep like they did last race on Wednesday in Howard County). I know I've said it several times before throughout this year, but I hope from now on, I can put down faster 5K's in my races. At least I finished second in the male 20-29 age category and took fifth overall. WHOOHOO!!!
Hopefully soon I can put some ice on my foot too.
I would like to run this race again and hopefully run a much stronger time. I heard from the people putting this on that in the future they may try to expand this race into a 10K route. That would be cool, I am sure there would be a lot more hills!
Well I started out fairly conservatively, which I thought was smart, because most of the first half of the race was uphill. I managed to make my way up through the runners and get about 5:59 the first mile, and from then I pretty much held on to fifth place. My second mile saw me slow up, goin' through it in about 12:20. However, I must have held that pace quite well with a strong finish, because my third mile was about 18:44 with a 5K finish of 19:13 ((19:15 by their clock, but the two second discrepancy is most likely because I started a little ways back in the pack and it took me about a second or two to get up to the starting line. I know that the third mile was a 6:24 given those splits, but I must have really pushed it in with a 29-second difference between 3 miles and 3.1 miles (I do not think I have ever broken 30 seconds for the last .1 miles of a 5K). Either that or else that third mile may have been a bit long. I'm not gonna give myself a headache over-analyzin' that stuff. Either way, a 19:13 is pretty much the result of a 6:10-per-mile pace, the same pace it took to run a 12:20 two-mile distance, so therefore my face was strongly even comin' up on two miles to the end of the race! That's another plus!
Sometime soon I hope to get the photos I took of the camp and event up on this blog, but I want to get ready for bed so I can get up at least a little past five in the morning to go get good parking to watch the famous Annapolis 10-Miler at the Naval Academy's Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland, the state's capital located in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. I know quite a few people participating in it so I hope I can be there to support! Also I'm pretty tired from gettin' up early and goin' around Howard County with J.D. today and hangin' out with people in addition to the race.
I hope all of you have a good night and enjoy the weekend :)