This was the first Froyo 5k and they have eight others planned including one in Scottsdale. The setup of the FroYo 5k was different than most races. They didn’t have a day before packet pickup option and you had to get your packet the day of the race. They had plenty of volunteers to help with the process (maybe too many volunteers) but the interesting thing was your name was not assigned a number, rather you were just given one when you checked in. This made it easy as far as pickup went but you needed to make sure you kept your bib to find out results later. It was very simple though and worked perfectly for a fun race like this.

Since you had to pickup on race day, everyone was there very early. They had music blasting and Zumba instructors leading kids in a dance. There was also a costume contest; my favorite were the two women dressed as froyo spoons. It was nice to hang out and enjoy ourselves. Since it was a later start, it wasn’t freezing or dark out. Parking was right on site so it was easy to get your bag and put it in the car. With your bib, you received a FroYo 5k hat, a pink Yogurtland snap bracelet and a coupon for Yogurtland. I decided to wear the hat because, why not?

The announcer led us to the road where the start was. We had a national anthem and they did a nice job of putting the runners first and having the strollers and walkers go after. It wasn’t a huge race but it’s always hard to organize if there are not corrals.

The course was an easy, flat, fast loop. The first part was on the road before it turned into the corral. I love running the corrals at home but the dust that kicked up during that stretch was not super pleasant. It was still nice to run along the water. The rest of the race was along major roads in a suburban area in Mesa. Not very scenic, but very flat and fast. They had aid stations with water at every mile and had a giant blowup with misters at the halfway point and at the end. The misters weren't working at the halfway point and the way the wind was blowing, they did not hit me at the end.

We headed over to the yogurt tent after. All competitors had their choice of tart or strawberry yogurt and you could add gummy bears, Oreos, Nilla Wafers, granola, almonds and another topping I can’t remember. It was very efficient – at the bottom of your bib was a form and you would check your flavors and topping then hand that to a volunteer. The sweet treat was the perfect way to finish the race.

This was the first FroYo 5k and they have eight other locations planned. I was very impressed with the race, especially since it was the first one. The medal was very nice (it reminded me of 90s Nickelodeon in a way!) and of course the yogurt was fantastic!