Run for the Stars 5k Review and Report

First of all, let me get the negative out of the way. The race advertised medals for all those who placed as well as awards for the top 3 in each age division. I do not know what happened, whether it was a misunderstanding on my part or not. Regardless, from the wording of this, I thought that everyone who finished received a medal. After all, there are 5ks that do that. This was not the case which I did not find out until after sitting through the awards ceremony. 

With that out of the way, let’s get to all of the good stuff!

This race took place in Wheaton, IL along the streets near the Wheaton College campus. The race benefits the STARS organization. From their website,  “STARS is an outreach throughout the western suburbs providing Sunday morning Bible classes, recreation and respite programs, retreats, music programs, and parents’ dinners and meetings,” and they specifically serve persons with developmental disabilities and their families. Because of this, there were quite a few special moments in this race. Some parents ran pushing their child in a jogging stroller, and these people were FAST. 

During the National Anthem, something happened with the singer. He was doing well when suddenly he just stopped. I do not know if the sound cut out or if he really did stop singing. Regardless, the voices of hundreds of people took over singing the National Anthem. It was one of the most chilling moments I had ever experienced. 

This was the biggest race that I have done so far. Some 700 people participated. Because of this, I was careful about where I lined up, and thankfully the race directors had placed pace markers near the start line. I lined up with the 9 minute/mile people and hoped to run well for this race.

The race announcer mentioned that they had changed the course to eliminate most of the hills, and several people scoffed and said “yeah, right.” This, however, was pretty true. It was a pretty flat course, with a few small slopes, mostly downhill. 

The race started just about on time, and I slowly worked my way up to the start line after the horn had sounded. Once I passed the start line, some weaving did occur as people fell into their pace. 

As I was running, I noticed something weird about how I was running. I didn’t have to concentrate on my breathing, and I was plain enjoying this run. This hasn’t happened in the last few runs I’ve had, with the exception of Wednesday of this past week. Most of the time, it takes me a mile to fall into my run, and even then, I really do need to focus on my breathing. 

Not today. Today was just fun and felt good, pretty much the whole time. I was hoping to get a PR, but regardless, I knew that this was nothing like the last race I did. 

The run through the neighborhoods was awesome. Neighbors were actually out on their lawns cheering on their runners. At one point, a young adult with Down Syndrome was offering high fives to everyone passing by. I easily took him up on that offer. Police officers had the roads blocked off, and several were cheering us on. The race had excellent volunteers and support, and I never once felt like I could die out there and no one notice. (This seems really random, but during the last 5k race, it was on a paved trail with almost no one from the race on the course. I honestly felt there that I could just go down and no one would know who I was…especially because that 90 degree run felt terrible.)

The race had a couple of frustrating loops, but I understood the course designer’s need to add that extra mileage in. It didn’t bother me too much, especially because I’ve now run a couple of routes in my own neighborhood that are like that.

The finish line sneaked up on me, and I wasn’t able to kick it up like I felt that I should have been. 

At the end, I found my time, and what do you know. 28:36. I matched my PR. Time to get faster!! 

Also, at the end of the race, I felt something exceptionally strange for me. Normally, at the end of 3.1-3.3 mile runs, I am completely exhausted, and I am completely incapable of running further. Today, however, I honestly felt like I could keep going. This is a great sign because I want to increase my weekly mileage as well as increase my long runs. 

I may do a race in late July or early August, but other than that, I have no more races until September. This will give me time to train, strength train, and run farther and faster. 

My goals for September include running a 10k as well as running a 26:30 5k. I do not know if it’s possible to shave off 2 minutes from my 5k at this time, but I am going to honestly try. I will be following a modified Hal Higdon plan to allow me to hopefully achieve both of these goals! Here goes nothing!

Running after Rest

I woke up wondering, “will this be the day where I can run again?” I barely noticed the subtle but steady rainfall outside my window. I examined myself in the mirror, looking at my sunburn. The burn on my face was still present as well as the burn on my chest. These were slightly painful still. I examined my arms and legs. The sunburns there were beginning to fade, turning my skin a shade darker. The legs no longer hurt, and I determined that I would run again today.

I lounged about in the morning as the rain continued to fall. I could go to the athletic center down the street, but the idea of running indoors on a cool day did not appeal to me. Slowly, the rain began to stop, and with that, the promise of an outdoor run began to swell. 

I dressed myself appropriately for the run, remembering that I had last run in 90 degree heat. This day was much cooler, only 66 degrees. I grabbed my RoadID and my phone and quickly put on my shoes. I looked outside and confirmed that the rain was gone. I was eager to get out and run, but something stopped me. I wanted to run by the river. Why the river? Something about seeing nature instead of cars appealed to my senses that day, and I quickly ran back inside to get my car keys and my license. 

I headed back out and began to drive. As soon as I began to drive, it began to rain again. I did not want to run in the rain. I drove back to my house to get my gym membership card, resigning myself to the idea of running indoors.

But something stopped me. I just knew that the weather would clear up again, and I began to drive once again. I made a stop at Target to allow the remaining rain to blow over, and by the time I was itching to leave, the rain indeed had stopped.

I continued on my way, determined to run along a certain path. I finally reached a parking lot along the path and began to head to the path. Finally, having reached my trail destination, I began to run. I did not have a pace goal nor did I have a distance. I just wanted to run, to enjoy the nature around me.

My lungs quickly began to burn. The lack of physical activity the past few days had made me feel weak. My lungs were tired, and my body was tired. But I knew that quitting was not option, not today. It had taken enough work to get me to this point, and there was no need to turn back yet. I continued forward, following the trail. I had an endpoint, an island in mind, but the further I ran, the further it felt. Because I did not actually know how far away this island was, I knew I had to turn around and slow down my tired body. 

Running back became harder and harder. Soon it was not enough to be running with the sounds of nature. I needed music. I needed music to flow through my body to push me through the end of this run. The woods became alive with the sounds of Bastille and Katy Perry, and finally, my car was back in sight.

I got in my car and began to drive back home, disappointed in myself: my pace and my distance. It took a little longer for my breathing to return to normal, but soon, the satisfaction of running flowed through my veins. It may not have been the run I was hoping for it to be, but it was a run, and that was what I needed. 

Party in the Park 5k Race Report

Back in March, I was contemplating doing a 5k between my scheduled May 5k and June 5k. I found one called Party in the Park, but I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to do three 5ks so close together. After a series of events, I decided I could do this 5k because it benefits suicide prevention services, something very dear to my heart. 

That being said, this was the race where I broke all my own rules for races. 

The race is held in conjunction with an evening concert, and because of that, this is an afternoon race. The race start was at 5 pm, and this was the first race I had done where the start was so late. I thought this would be fine because at the time I signed up, 5 pm was the time I normally ran. In the last few weeks, however, the weather has drastically changed, and we definitely are experiencing summer weather. My runs have shifted to 9 or 10 am starts on some days and 6:30-7 pm starts most days. 

That being said, it was 87 degrees with very little breeze when the race started. This race course starts in downtown Batavia on an island. From there, you run across a bridge and run along the Fox River Trail. At this point of the trail, it is actually not very shady for most of it which also made the run difficult. I started off fairly well, and I felt pretty decent while I was running. I wasn’t getting passed by many people which allowed me to know that I had indeed lined up correctly at the start. Things however quickly started to go wrong. 

I started feeling very zapped of energy pretty early, and I was frustrated because there were no clear mile markers. There were encouraging messages written on chalk along the way, but I could not find that first mile marker. I eventually saw some mile marker written, looked at my timer, and decided that it must be true. From there, I kept running. I was not happy with my mile split, but I also knew that I could not go any faster. My energy was draining quickly. 

Finally, I saw the bridge that we had to cross to get to the other side of the river. Right before that bridge, I saw a water station, and with my mouth feeling very dry, I decided to take some, but I refused to walk through it. As a result, I spilled more on myself than I actually drank. At this point as well, I saw my old boss who was either helping out or simply out enjoying the Fox River Trail. He said hi to me, but I was too busy spilling water on myself and shocked to give a proper hello. 

From there, the trail got more crowded. The course is an open course, and at 5:15 pm on a Saturday in May, it was very busy. I ran past people trying to take wedding pictures, and I ran past several bikers and young children. Finally, I saw the 2 mile marker (what I thought it was), and I reassured myself that I had to keep going. 

During that last third, however, my race fell apart even more. I was feeling so awful that I needed to walk. This had happened on a memorial run on Memorial Day as well (also because of the heat), and I decided to stick to my same rule: no more than 1 minute of walking. I slowed to a walk, and my leg muscles immediately screamed and told me to keep running. So I did. I did end up stopping for about 30 more seconds of walking about a minute later, and then I told myself that I had to just keep going. 

I looked down at my time, and at where the finish line allegedly was, and I knew that this would not be a PR and would not be under 30 minutes which made me mad. I tried to give a final kick, but in this run, I just didn’t have it in me. 

Overall time: 30:20. 

Interestingly enough, this was a bad race for most people racing, and I was the 9th female to finish. I also ended up taking 2nd place in my age group which was 20-29 years old (a bigger age group than most races have). For getting 2nd place, I got a ribbon. A ribbon. Oh well.

Things to improve on for next time (also known as how I botched a week of running):

1. Take my rest days.

2. Focus on longer runs, not running shorter distances each day.

3. Keep an eye on the weather forecast and run some in not ideal conditions.

4. If it’s this hot, bring my own water and run with it. 

Yes, this past week, I wanted to run each day which was a stupid idea for me. It was too frequent too soon. If I had taken some rest days, I would have gotten in some longer runs in this weather. 

All this being said, there’s a 5k in July at 7 pm that uses the same race route. I’m tempted to sign up for it just to have a redeeming run on that course.