Great day and race today. Took a short trip down U.S. 301 to Dade City for the the Kumquat 5K and Festival.

Sunrise driving down U.S. 301

Lining up at the start with my friend Lamonte Singletary.

Had a fantastic race. Ran the whole race at a fairly even effort. The course at Kumquat is one of the better courses. There isn’t hardly a flat spot on the course, but the hills aren’t too much that they will wipe you out. All of mile two is a slight uphill. I was shocked to see my finishing time of 18:00. I was thinking that the course was short since my Garmin only showed 2.94 miles. I measured the course at www.mapmyrun.com and the course measured out to 3.15 and the mile markers showed the same as they were on the course.  So, I am not sure what to think. I still find it hard to believe that I could pull off an 18 minute 5K. Overall, I placed 5th and was first in my age group. Next race is this Saturday in Plant City for the Strawberry Distance Challenge 5K being held at Walden Lakes.

Finishing strong and easy!

Getting picture taken with the Kumquat Queen at the awards.

One of the great things about the Kumquat race is that after, you walk across the street to enjoy the Kumquat Festival.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse plant sculpture from Epcot.

Old Pasco County Courthouse.

Emily getting a kitty cat painted on her face.

The happy finished product!

Kids getting a garage tour from Buzzie.

Kids hanging out with David Reutimann.

The kids got a major surprise when they got to have a private garage tourwith NASCAR driver David Reutimann today.

Jenny’s Grandmother did good! Before Christmas, she went to Reutimann’s garage to buy a model car for the boys. They only had one car, so she would have to come back another day. The next time she went in, she talked with Buzzie Reutimann (David’s Dad). Since she was buying two cars, Buzzie gave her a signed car and told her to bring the other one back to trade out for another signed car. Nice deal, but it got better. They kept talking and he took an interest in hearing about the kids. Told her David was going to be in town for a couple days and to bring in the kids to meet him. Sneaky as we are, we didn’t tell the kids about any of it. Before we even had a chance to tell them that we would take them into the garage, they came up with the idea to make Buzzie a thank-you card. Perfect!! We told them that we would take them in to give it to him personally, we just had to find out when a good time would be.

Jenny’s Grandmother called the shop yesterday to talk to Buzzie to see when David would be there. He wasn’t there so she left her number. She heard back from Buzzie later in the day and told her David would be in the shop and he would call her when we could take the kids in.

We met Buzzie in the office and he took us back into the garage, the kids thought that was so cool in itself. Then, they noticed that there stood David Reutimann working on a car. The kids got to talk to David for a couple minutes and Buzzie was great showing the kids their newest car and some other racing memorabilia.

A huge thank-you to the Reutimann’s for taking the time with kids. All of them are super nice, down to earth and easy to talk to. They are the kind of people that you immediatley feel comfortable around.