Mother’s Day 5K Race Report
Things I will be doing again:
Running races with Xaarlin
Things I will NOT be doing again:
Suggesting races to ANYONE in Barrington, Illinois. Okay. Maybe to people I don’t like. Ha!
Xaarlin and I wanted to do a race together. Sunday was the only day I had free for a few months so I suggested the Mother’s Day 5K Run/Walk in Barrington. We noticed the age group times from previous years were a bit on the higher side. We thought maybe we could place.
No.
There is a reason the times are on the slower side. Holy hills:
Click to see larger
Sigh. I even mapped this course out in gmap-pedometer to check the elevation, as I know people from my running club go to Barrington purposefully to run hills. Derp. Gmap-pedometer wouldn’t load the elevation, and I figured it would be flat since it was a downtown area. Nope. Derp.
So. I now know a more miserable 5K than the Frosty 5K course. Success! I found it!
And now I will shut up about the hills, since these aren’t real hills when you compare them to anything outside of the midwest.
Okay, except to say, we ran our warm-up mile on the first .5 miles of the course, and I told myself “that must be the worst of it”… ha ha. No. Guess. I am an optimist after all, though?!
So. How did I get lucky enough to have an awesome friend that will get up at the crack of buttlight* to drive out to a kind of middle of nowhere town to run a short race distance with me on a somewhat cold and windy May day?
Who knows. Let’s not question that too much. I am just lucky.
Despite ALL my whining about the hills (and hey! I didn’t even whine about how my cold made me feel like I could not breathe) I had a great time running with Xaarlin. Although, we both agreed a 5K is too short of a distance to run together – we need a longer race, where we can talk more. Uh, and actually talk, since I was just huffing and puffing. Although, I guess we made up for that by talking for a few hours after the race, ha ha ha… hmm, why even do the running part? Just kidding…
And despite the general tone of this report***, I think our finish time of 21:00 JUST KIDDING HA HA HA 24:36 is actually really good****! But really. Where is that flat 5K?! Even my most recent PR course had “hills” in it.
Damn. Started talking about the hills again.
The good news is… 5K season is OVER (for me) until next winter! Now I just run races for fun the rest of the year. Apparently this excites me enough that I mentioned it yesterday as well. Does anyone else target their “goal” races in winter/early spring and take the summer off from “racing” races?
Hmm. Maybe I will have to rethink that strategy… Xaarlin and I make a pretty good team. I bet she always wanted a shadow breathing heavily behind her… her own personal Darth Vader! Just kidding, we ran side by side most of the time. We tried pretty hard to get some Emily body spasm pics. One of the race photogs said he got it… gosh. Cannot wait to see how that turned out, after seeing these gems that Xaarlin’s man***** took! I seemed to miss him each time! Ha ha! At least Xaarlin looks good!
*As my mom likes to say**
**Okay, said once by accident and now we say to tease her
***And my blog lately, ugh.
****Especially when I compare it to my futile 2012 5K PR attempts… I couldn’t break 24:00 at all last year, and that was on mostly flat courses. So to run in the 24:00s on a hilly course is a good sign of progress.
*****Huge, huge thanks to L for coming and braving the cold… then listening to us blabber for a couple of hours after…
Themocracy
Still a great 5k! I refuse to run 5ks on hilly courses. Im just a 5k snob I guess. I can handle about one hill per 5k. On the other hand, I don’t mind hills on the longer races. Mainly 1/2 marathons I don’t mind hills. thats about it.
You’re better than me! I know if I had these hills on a HM I would still be bitching about them. In fact, I would bitch about them no matter where they were. Except maybe in an ultra in the woods.
But you both look SO CUTE!!
I think hills in a 5k are cruel and unusual. And cruel. And they suck. It’s hard enough to try and run fast for 3.1 miles…
Those hills are outrageous!!! I can’t believe that elevation profile. Awful, awful! You would do amazing in a flat course. Once you find it, let me know 😉
That’s a solid 5K performance, especially with all of those nasty hills! I often find myself wondering what people were thinking when they say some courses in the Chicago area are “flat.” I have clearly forgotten what it was like running every day in the foothills of South Carolina. 🙂
That is the sad part! This is flat compared to a lot of parts of the country! ha ha ha! We’re so weak with the hills, out here 🙂 I do feel lucky I have a hilly route behind my house I could run… you know… if I wanted to… 😉
HOLY HILLS! That looks intense and you still had a GREAT time! Way to go!
These pictures crack me up. I love them.
Ugh hills, a Chicago runner’s worst enemy…
I’m just not a fan of the 5K distance. I think the last time I really tried to run “hard” for a 5K was in 2011. Seriously!
Great photos – and it looked like you were having lots of fun! Hope the cold clears up soon.
I decided to run a goal half marathon in the summer (for some strange reason) and I have learned my lesson. Summer is not the time for PRs. Summer is the time to get out there and have fun (and maybe marathon train, if you’re doing one of those in the fall). I will never again plan a goal race in the summer. I’ll just stick to goal races in the spring and fall from here on out.
Congrats on a nice time on a tough 5k! Having a friend endure things with you (even in huff-and-puff breaths) always makes things more fun! 🙂 Glad you had fun even if you didn’t get the PR you had hoped for.
I am impressed with anyone who prefers to “race” in the summer! It’s too dang unpredictable out here!
We did have fun. And I never thought I would PR yesterday. Just maybe an age group award. I was 8th… why don’t they do them that deep? Ha ha ha.
I hate hills. I also hate that there are no Mother’s Day races in stupid FW. I might have to become a race director to change that.
And I’m going to post a random “great job” comment for fun. Because I can.
Ha! I like your random comment! Ha!
What is the racing scene like there…? *crickets*
Great job!
FW racing is good if you want to run a 5K on a Saturday morning. There are few races over that distance with any regularity and only a few half marathons. And there’s rarely anything on Sundays, which is problematic for me since I teach pump on Saturdays. So I guess that means I need to move.
Move out here! We have a buttload of races all year long… and on Sundays! 😛
Sooo many hills! How do they manage to fit so many into a 5k course? Yikes. You guys did great though considering the course!
Ha! I was thinking that while running “whoever designed this course is sadistic.” The course was not exactly an out and back, but ran parallels and some of the same streets twice so you did some hills twice.
Cool elevation chart comparison! Looks like that hill in the middle is a killer. At least the second half looks like it is a little better than the first half? Looking forward to seeing the body spasm pic(s)! 🙂
There was an awesome downhill between mile 1-2 that made it not so bad! By the last downhill though, my legs were so shot! Ha ha!
Thanks! I should check the site to see if they are up 🙂
Okay, yes, that is WAY worse than Frosty. I will NOT be doing this race!
It’s too bad the Park Ridge 5K is in the fall. Cause that’s the flattest 5K I’ve ever seen.
Is that the one that turns up and down the streets? That one does sound nice. I want a point to point flat 5K. Ha. Just get out there and fly!
That is a really good time with all of those stinking hills. Sheesh! I don’t know how to run a race for fun. Supposedly my June half is going to be for “fun” since it will be warmer by then and I might be dead after the full next weekend. I have a feeling I will probably try and race that one, too. Good thing I like to race!
Yesterday was so fun! At least post race!! Hehe so very lovely to see you and actually run with you 🙂
So, flat 5ks? There seem to be plenty of them in my usual running grounds in the summer. Almost every Thursday night I found myself “popcorning” aka banditing races. It wasn’t my fault the race was in my way!
C’mon, make an exception and run a race during the summer with me (as long as its ok with coach B) hehe and… I bet we could AG place because most of them are smaller races!
So when’s our next race together!? Since you’re so busy, should we schedule something now?? Hehe If you want to run all the miles on the lakefront after work, I’m free most days 🙂
Okay, okay. I will run a race with you. After I take the silly test, of course! 🙂 And I definitely want to fit in a run with you next week!
I’ve never made a summer race a goal race (other than the goal of finishing) and I think I’ll continue that strategy. I don’t even want to do the Fox Valley Marathon because I worry about the weather in late September being too hot for a full. Anyway, glad you ladies have fun and I love your matching outfits.
Doesn’t it suck that even Sept is a bit iffy? I was so happy that my 50K in Sept last year was not miserably hot!
I think Sept would be fine for a half or shorter, but for a full, I really don’t want temps above 70 by the end.
Oh yes Barrington! Love it. It’s not that Zooma hill though. Now that sucked.
OMG! Best. Point. Ever. I should have put that in the comparison chart!
Ouch, that elevation profile looks painful! Your time is fantastic especially considering the circumstances!
I love your matchy match outfits.
Thanks! I always think it’s so fun to match 🙂