Airport Runway 5k for the USO

On Saturday I ran the Pensacola International Airport Runway Run 5k that supported the USO. Overall it was a great little race.
The start was lined with flags which was pretty cool:

I didn't find out about this race until last minute, but I'm glad I did. Turns out that kids under 12 got to run for free! Hopefully next year my little ones can do it too. The entire race was on the runway at the Pensacola airport. When they were doing colors before the start of the race a biplane flew overhead - it was super cool!
I decided to run the race with the American flag.

I ran into my friend Lisa, who did the Pensacola marathon with me. She was doing really well. We finished together. Couldn't really talk though because it was pretty windy and the flag was taking it's toll on me.

I had to take a 30 second walk break after pushing up a hill against the wind (around mile 2). It literally took the wind out of me. After that I was good to go. My garmin said 3.01 miles in 28 minutes. The official time was 30:02 (9:42 minute pace). I was 15/46 for my age group and 252/551. Not bad at all!
The worst thing about this whole race was the parking situation. We got to park in the economy lots for free which was great! However they said to choose either #1 or #2. I parked in #1 since it was the first one I came upon. There were no signs telling you where to go and it took some time to find the tents and packet pick-up area. I was glad I'd arrived an hour before the start because it took about 45 minutes to find the start, get my packet (nice long line of people), and then get everything back to my car, then back to the start. It would've been nice to have mentioned that economy lot #2 was right next to the tents and signs directing you to the start and to use lot #1 as a back up. It would've also been nice to have signs at lot #1 directing you towards the tents. After the race there was a long line to get out because you had to sign and print your name on the backs of the tickets which no one knew about so we were all doing it while trying to leave. Other then that it was a very well executed race! There was someone taking photos, but I haven't seen any other then the ones I've shared, so hopefully they'll post more soon!