Run for Boston 5K Race Re-Cap

Let’s Start with the “Swag” – I like this shirt a lot and it was very useful on the ride home since I was wet and this shirt was dry (because it was in the car). I also really like the water bottle and am sure I will get a LOT of use out of it.

Got up early-ish on Saturday morning to head over to Eric’s so he could drive us. It was the usual suspects myself, Eric and Chris. We piled into Eric’s car and headed out to Libertyville. We got there early and got our race packets and killed time before the race started to I wanted to get a couple of pics… And no, I don’t know why I didn’t ask anyone to take a pic of the three of us together….

Eric and Me     Chris and Me

Shortly after this it started to rain… Yea… this was the last thing I needed since I was still getting over being sick… Misery ensued and I knew this run was not going to be good for me.

After waiting under a tree to try to stay as dry (and therefore slightly warmer) as possible we lined up to start the race. It was a no fluff start and we were off. I was kind of excited to run through Independence Grove because it looked really pretty. It was definitely a lovely course. Tad hilly though. Haven’t Run in nearly two weeks, Rain and Hills… Yep… this was not going to be pretty

About a mile and a half in I was wheezing. I expected it but still hated it because it meant I would be run/walking. Another half a mile later it started to really rain… Yea… Ok… Thanks Mother Nature. I was very happy to get near the finish line. The speedier runners that were back on the path were encouraging and when I saw Eric and Chris, Eric told me the course was short… This was stellar news for me because the wheezing was starting to get to worse. Round the corner and I can see the finish line but then I coughed hard. Then I noticed a horrendous cramp which made it physically difficult to breathe and since I am already wheezing I knew I had to walk (Beyond angry at this fact). There was no sprint to the finish for me as that whole breathing thing wasn’t going too well.

Found Eric right away… or rather he found me as I got my snacks and some water. We then grabbed some pizza and he got a beer and we waited for Chris to get back from the car. AND hello coughing fit. Grrrr…

While standing around we chatted with some fellow bloggers. I was excited to finally meet some! All super nice people! Not going to lie though… I really was not feeling Suzy sunshine. I was wet and cold and coughing.

But Chris was announced as one of the winners of the Raffle. He then gave it to me jokingly (maybe not entirely) as a belated Housewarming present. Thanks Chris! I haven’t tried any of the food yet but the Tiramisu cookies look yummy

Forgot to take a picture of my watch (yea… I am stellar at the whole being responsible thing this past week) so no picture of the final results but I finished in 33:46 for a pace (assuming the actual 5K length) of 10:54

Am I happy with the time – Nope. But its not as bad as I thought it would be so that’s a plus and considering it was my second run after being sick for two weeks… I really couldn’t complain. I also didn’t go into the race expecting a decent time so there was no let down there.

Now – I am sure a LOT of you are thinking this is a horrible race re-cap. And for me personally, it was not a good race. But that had 100% to do with my still having a cough and the rain (and I wouldn’t have minded the rain as much if I hadn’t just been sick).

Now let me talk about the race itself and remove my not so good mood at the race out of the equation….

The course was awesome – super pretty and really enjoyable. Lots to look at and just very soothing. Packet pick-up was easy and appeared to go off without a hitch. All of the volunteers were amazing. Not only did most of them take time out of their busy schedules to help put this race together but they were all cheerful and gave amazing support to the runner’s on the course. It was a no frills kind of race but still very well done.

I would Definitely do the race again. Haha – Just without the whole getting sick before thing :-p