Des Plaines Chase to Taste 5k

Today I ran my 2nd 5k race. First 5k was way back in 1994 so it’s been quite awhile. For the past few days leading up to today I was feeling rather anxious and scared about the race. Not sure why really. It’s not like I was actually competing for anything.

I woke up at 4:30am this morning. Puttered around on the computer and drank some yummy coffee. At around 6am I ate a waffle with peanut butter. Around 6:30am I start trying to wake up the family. The kids were very hard to rouse but I finally got them up and dressed with the promise of getting doughnuts on the way.

Around 7:30am we get to Des Plaines and find a place to park. It is a really nice day, sunny but not hot, a bit of a breeze. Overall, really lovely running weather. I worry about getting lost b/c I really didn’t know the route.

At 8am we start. I check Garmin and see that I am going to fast, think I was under a 12 minute pace, which is very fast for me. But it doesn’t feel fast so I don’t worry too much about it. I’m falling farther and farther back but I feel very calm about this. Decide that I’m just going to do this like a normal run. Realize I don’t care if I come in last even.

About halfway through though I start feeling very hungry. And weak. Have thoughts of just walking. Most of the people around me are walkers, or run/walkers. I have moments of coming very, very close to walking. Not sure how I kept myself running. I guess I just kept telling myself to go a little more, just a little more. And how would I feel if I had to tell everyone that I walked? Actually I was telling myself that I’d be okay with that. My mouth was feeling dry and I took water at both of the water stations. Just little sips. Normally I don’t drink water during my runs. But b/c I was feeling so hungry and a bit down, I thought I should. And I think those little sips did help revive me a tad.

Start thinking that I never knew Des Plaines was so big. Didn’t realize that 3 miles was so long. Blah blah blah. Think that I will never enter another 5k race again. It’s so not necessary.

And so I plodded, plod plod plod. There was a 9 year old girl with her mom in front of me. Every time I got a little closer to the girl she’d start running. And then go back to walking. Before the race I was all stressed about being passed by walkers. But during the actual race it didn’t bother me that much. Maybe b/c I was too wrapped up in my own struggle.

One good thing was that I didn’t have any physical pain. I stayed pretty relaxed. In my darkest moments I could feel my posture suffering. But I tried to get more upright and it made a positive difference.

And then finally I could see the finish. The clock. And I could see that it would be possible for me to finish in under 45 minutes, which was my goal. So I got a little burst of energy and managed to finish fairly strong. Garmin said 44:23 but the race results say 43:11. I was 263rd out of 332. The 1st place finisher finished in 16:30, which means that he ran 5k in the time it takes me to do a little over a mile!

After the race there were bottles of water, Powerade, bagels, bananas, and green apples. I grabbed some water and decided on an apple. Oh, that was apple was so good. The bummer thing was that my family missed my finish. The race was not chip timed.

I made us stay to watch the children’s 50 yard dash, which was so cute. Hoping that my kids will want to do that next year. They had zero interest today (still grumpy at being forced awake). On our way back to the car we passed a restaurant called the Sugar Bowl, which I insisted we eat breakfast at b/c I liked the name of the place.

Overall, I thought the race was very well organized. Lots of volunteers. The race swag was nice. I was just expecting a t-shirt but we also got a plastic water bottle (which I’ll probably never use) and a reusable tote bag. I quite like the bag. The course was super flat.

Now I’m thinking that maybe I could have pushed myself more during the race. I know I don’t really push myself that much b/c I worry about not being able to finish. Going out too fast this morning did hurt me later. I’m going to start wearing my heart rate monitor on runs and see what that’s all about.

The one thing I would have done differently is that I should have eaten something closer to race time, like maybe 45-60 minutes before, not 2 hrs before. Oh maybe I should have hydrated better in the days preceding the race.

Felt pretty good when the race was over. Decided that it was kind of fun. I may try to do another one before the Nov 1, which is when I’ll be doing the Hot Chocolate 5k.

Just think. At the beginning of this year I could not run 3 miles. And now I can .