Fulton County

Snuck in an unexpected race today, traveling up to Canton for the first ever Friendship Fest 5k. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately since I like to run, it was a little longer than a 5K
This was probably the smallest race I've done, even smaller than my race in Vandalia. I think there were less than 50 participants in a walk/run. But, it was a beautiful morning for a run and the runners and workers were all in good spirits, even if finding the start of the race was difficult (an address on the flier would have been nice).
The course was mostly flat and through town, including Main Street. I always like a race that goes through a town, as opposed to those that meander out into the country. I'm running in 102 counties to see some of Illinois and not just corn and beans.
The only problem with the race was apparently one of the guides left his post. I ran the first mile in 8 minutes on the head and, despite having run 7.5 miles last night, I felt strong on the flat course and had visions of breaking a 25 minute 5K. Imagine my surprise when at Mile 2 I was informed that my time was 21 minutes and some change. I figured some mistake was made and ran to the finish. When I crossed at 30:56, I said "That's wrong." It was. A lot of us ran an extra half mile or so because we took a wrong turn where the guide had left his post.
In a way I don't mind because a 5K isn't a long race anyway and the extra distance we ran, while hillier than the rest of the race, had some cool houses and scenery. But I would have liked to have known my pace. Plus, it must have made it difficult to give awards after the race, since half the crew ran one distance and the other half ran a different distance.
Anyway though, I hadn't expected to do this race and knock out this county, so I am pretty happy. I still plan to do the Hills and Hollows Half Marathon next week.