#25 Winton Place Youth Center 5K

I have reached the half-way point....5K race #25 benefited the Winton Place Youth Center.  It provides a safe place for kids in the neighborhood with after school care and tutoring. This was the 1st Annual event of its kind and was held in Spring Grove Cemetery.

The Spring Grove Cemetery holds a historic reverence in Cincinnati as it is a very large cemetery that is the final resting place of numerous pioneers, soldiers and famous citizens. Not having grown up in Cincinnati, some of this escapes me, but suffice it to say these people had streets named for them. Or Buildings.

We didn't have clear directions as to exactly where in the cemetery the race started and there are several entrances. God forbid you put up signs...or balloons to mark the way.   It's better to have people drive aimlessly around for awhile, zig-zagging through the tombstones and down dead-end paths in an effort to find the Start.  Finally we ask someone. And they didn't know.  So we ask someone else. and they directed us like this:

    "Take the first left, and then go right across the      path.  When you come to the gate, turn around three times, then go to your left.  When you get to the large oak tree, ask the fairy sitting underneath it if she has the magic dust."

We smile and nod, and say, "okay!"  Get back in the car and go.  Don't turn around. Keep driving.

The grounds are beautifully kept. Numerous ponds and fountains abound.  Kind of an oasis in the midst of the city. And kind of a little creepy.  Not midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  And no zombies.  It was broad daylight. Plenty of visibility.  But still.

The cemetery boasts over 1200 species of trees available for study and research. Trees are marked to signify their importance. (Tallest tree, Oldest Tree, Last of a species, Really Good Firewood, etc...)

We arrived moments before the start and it was a casual affair.  The start went like this: "Okay everybody, line up.  And.....go." 

No funny costumes for this race.  No creepy stories of fighting off zombies.  or the Living Dead. or prizes of Beer afterwards.  But fun.  In an average kind of way.

Half way done.  Stay tuned.