The Chinsegut Challenge

Rich McCue had a choice - run the 5K at Gasparilla in Tampa or sludge through the sand, pine leaves and gravel along the Chinsegut Nature Center.

He wanted a tougher challenge. He chose Chinsegut.

"You hit a lot of spots of sand, so it's really hard to do," said McCue, who drove from Gainesville to run with his friend, James MacKenzie.

MacKenzie said he was glad to have a friend run with him. He knew he couldn't keep pace with his 16-year-old son, a cross-country runner at Central High School.

The younger MacKenzie finished first in Saturday's race with a time of 18:06.

"He's like the fastest guy at the school," the father said of his son as he shook his head.

Chinsegut hosts a 5K every February. It is the only scheduled fundraiser of the year for the nature center.

The trail was mostly shaded and the hills aren't steep - but they are long. Volunteers placed cones throughout to make sure the runners didn't veer off course and the roots were covered with orange paint for safety.

"Each year it keeps growing," said Becky Brown, a volunteer coordinator. "It brings in people who might not come here on a regular basis."

The runners varied in ages, sizes and running experience.

Some compete in high school. Others are morning joggers, while a few more were trying the race for the first time.

Filomena Carrerio has lost 50 pounds since she took up running as a hobby last year. Saturday was her fifth 5K race in five months.

"It's beautiful right now," she said as she looked toward the sky. "It's not too cold and it's not too hot. It's great to run through nature. It's boring just running on city streets."

The temperature 15 minutes prior to the start of the race was 50 degrees. It was considerably warmer by the time the last of the nearly 200 runners crossed the finish line.

"For me, I find it a little rough running in this heat," said Larry Quinlan, of Toronto.

He vacations each year in Kissimmee and has raced before at Chinsegut.

The snow in Canada has made it difficult for Quinlan to run outside, so he was anxious to make it to Florida for Saturday's race.

"It's a great place to run," he said. "You're so far away from traffic. You can't beat it."

A 5K is approximately 3.1 miles.

Lynne Simone, who works at the local YMCA, has run 5K races in the past. She finds a comfortable pace in the beginning and waits until the final mile or so before she begins to make her move and pass some of the other runners.

She normally runs on flat surfaces. The hills were fairly new to her. She admitted her kick at the end of the race wasn't as fast as usual.

"I wasn't passing anyone on this one," Simone said.

Chinsegut Nature Center covers more than 400 acres along Lake Lindsey Road and is located seven miles north of Brooksville.

It is managed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and is funded both by the state and through donations.