Hartwell Dam 5K/10K Race

For two years we had to skip our Mother’s Day tradition of walking the Hartwell Dam 5K race due to conflicting family obligations. This was our 9th year participating in this "Dam" race and we walked with another sweet, new granddaughter! The weather held out for us thankfully, and we marched on! So proud of Sawyer who held her own and walked 3.1 miles! Little Avery rode mommy's back the entire walk saying "I want out now!"

After the race was cancelled last year due to Covid, it was great to get back to celebrating our Mother's Day tradition. Even more special this year was little Sawyer could participate with us, she sure had a great time! After the race we hung out at the local brewery in town with some of Amy's teacher friends and had such fun. We decided our new tradition will not be breakfast after the race, we'll have our better halves meet us in town for some brew!

We missed last year as it was Cinco De Mayo, Amy's wedding day! This year my heart was so full as my NY daughter Jessi was visiting and could join us for the first time. Even more special was we had a sweet little new face with us, Sawyer Grace was only a month old! We were three generations for the first time walking the 5K race together.

Keeping with our annual Mother's Day tradition, Amy and I walked the 5K Hartwell Dam race again this morning - 7th year in a row! This has to be one of the prettiest courses, starting in South Carolina, walking along the lake, across the Dam, and back into Georgia. So fun looking forward to this with Amy every year!

Hard to believe this is our sixth year participating in this race! We decided on the 5K again this year and were excited to wear our red shirts! Race day actually fell on Mother's Day weekend and not the weekend before. It was another perfect weather day, cool temps at the start of the race, great for walking. We had fun taking "selfies on the dam". Instead of breakfast after the race we mixed it up a bit and cooked paninis for brunch. Not too thrilled with the boring tan shirts we got to wear next year, but looking forward to having fun times together again.

Wow! This is the FIFTH year we have done this race and could not have asked for a more beautiful day! This year we decided on the 5K race since I had not done any walking at all since breaking my foot last summer. All was good! The temps were cool when the race started making for great walking weather. As usual, it was so pretty walking along the lake and fun crossing over the dam. We met a man who has been doing this race since 1978, the first year it was run. Boy has it grown in size since then! Cooked a great breakfast when we arrived home bacon, ham, and cheese omelets with grits of course! This year's shirt was BRIGHT red, so stay tuned for us wearing some bold colors next year.....

What a difference a year makes! It was a BEAUTIFUL day - sunny and low 70s! We decided to try something different this year. Instead of walking the entire 10K, we decided to walk for 5 minutes, run for 1 minute. All was good for a while, but the running part got harder and harder. It was really neat (as usual) walking across the Hartwell Dam. The race is the only time the Army Corp of Engineers opens the dam to pedestrian traffic. Last place for us again. This year, the man in the trailer car was not as nice as the one in previous years, who told us to take our time and have fun this guy told us we needed to hurry along so they could open the road. Maybe we need to re-think the 10K next year and go back to the 5K......

So much for the 10K race this year. Bummer! Crazy weather for May. It was only 52 degrees, windy, and drizzling the entire time. We decided on doing the 5K instead, so we could finish up earlier, before the heavy rain started. We finished walking in 55 minutes and split for home, where it was warm, and cooked a huge breakfast of waffles, bacon, and eggs. Looking forward to next year....

This year we participated in the 10K Run, wearing our shirts from last year. There was no way we could run the entire course, so we decided to take our time, relax, and walk the route taking in the scenery, and enjoy the beautiful weather. Take our time we did.....we finished last in the entire race! The HART County sheriff followed behind us, opening the sections of road as we passed through. They did not seem to mind, continually reminding us to take our time and "enjoy" ourselves. Next year we decided on the 10K again, but vowed to at least try to run some of the race, running for a minute, walking for two minutes, etc.