Ardor Adventures Dia de los Muertos 5k Race October 29, 2016

My youngest daughter goes through my running and triathlon medals often. I have about fifteen hanging on my curtain rod in my kitchen from various races the past few years. My youngest daughter isn't into running. When she had shared with me a few months ago that she wanted to do a running race and get her own medal I was excited for find a race for us to do. 

When I saw the race announcement from Ardor Adventures for the Dia de los Muertos 5k and saw the beautiful medal design and t-shirt I knew that my younger daughter would love it. I signed both my daughters and myself up. 

As the race neared I was prepared for rain and darkness but amazingly the weather turned out to be perfect~cool and sunny! The start/finish line was the the Yaquina Bay Bridge in the parking lot of the Rogue Brewery. There was plenty of parking. Ed Cortes, Race Director put a lot of time and detail into the race from the beautiful design of the medal and to the post race entertainment.

The course was flat and fast. It started under the Yaquina Bay Bridge and went by the Port of Newport South Beach Marina & RV Park entrance and back by the Rogue Brewery out towards the jetty and back. Since the weather was nice I brought my dog Leia, with us. The race was dog and stroller friendly.  My older daughter just finished her first year of high school cross country.  She was excited to run a 5k race and wanted a PR.  This was my younger daughter's second 5k. She was nervous about being slow.  My plan was to run/walk together. My daughter did a great job run/walking after battling a chest cold earlier in the week. At times it felt more like intervals.  It was fun to see all the runners' different costumes.  Even one dog had a costume! My daughter was so excited to have her medal placed around her neck.  It was fun to cheer in other runners as they crossed the finish line.

The highlight of the race was the cultural display by the a wonderful dance company, Mitotiviztli Tezcatlipoca after the race. While we were picking up our race number and shirts.  The dancers were finishing the beautiful alter with flowers. This is where they danced during the post race festivities.

My older daughter PR'd on her 5k and came in first in her age group, as did my younger daughter and I as well.

My younger daughter loves her shirt.  She's proclaimed it as her favorite as she loves how soft it is and how it fits her perfectly. I have to agree, between the cool design and the super soft t-shirt that actually fits me, I think it will be my favorite shirt as well.

This is was the first 5k that my girls and I have done together as well as Leia our dog.  I have a feeling there might be more 5k's in our future.  Not even a full mile into the race my younger daughter mentioned that she would like to do another 5k. My non-running daughter just might be a runner after all. This was Leia's first official 5k race. She's done this distance many times. It was fun seeing so many other dogs running as well.

Check out Ardor Adventure in Newport, Oregon.  http://ardoradventures.com. They put on many different races throughout the year.  The next race coming up is the Arctic Circle Newport Turkey Trot, Thanksgiving Day, November 24th. They will have a 5k, 10k, 15k and a kids run.