End of Summer 5K Race {Race #1 of 2015 aka Welcome Back to Running}

What’s the first thing you do when you move to a state? One of the first things I did was check out the running scene, and I noticed what a vibrant community exists in Illinois. I wanted to get back into running races again, and so I signed up for the Lake In the Hills 5K.I chose this race because it was self timed, and every finisher got a medal. Honestly, I was feeling very apprehensive about running a race just 2 weeks after I started running again, but I needed the motivation of training for something. So on Friday night (September 4th), I laced up with a bunch of other runners.

The race had a relatively flat course through local neighborhoods, with one water stop – thank you – and many people from the community were out supporting the runners throughout the course, which was awesome.

I ran the entire time – very proud of that – and finished at 30:00 minutes exactly (my Garmin said I ran 3.18 miles). During my regular runs, I average a little more than 10 minute miles, and I almost always stop at about 2 miles to rest. So this was quite an improvement. Now, I’m super excited to keep running and tackle more races and increase distance and speed – eventually.

Race Bling: Race medal to all finishers, a pretty sweet tech t-shirt. And $5 off food at the fair.

Cost: $35

Worth it? Good race for beginners and slower runners like myself.