Two 5ks - Reviewed

Well I have not been running very much because riding my bike, swimming, weightlifting and yoga feel A LOT better than running! But I have run in two 5ks this summer. The first was in Hartford in June and it supported fundraising efforts for breast cancer, I am not sure but I think it was the Susan Komen Race for the Cure. It's a beautiful race with lots of support, but not a lot of shade :) It was soooooo hot and humid, I could barely breathe. I struggled but accepted my time of 28:15. I have hardly run and am still struggling with my psoas tightness. This race is close to home and one that we do every year and is always rewarding.

Fast forward a month and 5 terrific ladies and I trekked almost 300 miles north to Utica, NY for the Boilermaker 15K. Yet three of us, myself included, chose the shorter race distance of a 5k. The ride is long but not hard. There was very little traffic and it was easy to travel. It took us about 4 hours to get there. There was a very large and interesting packet pick up expo. We took part in this wacky recruiting simulation for the air force....I don't think they are going to come knocking on my door. I think my stranded first aid workers I was supposed to rescue are still stranded!

After the expo, we traveled about another 25 miles north to Verona, NY to our hotel. We relaxed and ate at a fun sports bar called Recovery. It had 39 televisions! It was nice not to have to worry about what I ate since I was only running a 5k the next day. I got a chicken pesto panini that was banging! After dinner we walked and gabbed on the patio. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. It was great to relax with my awesome friends.

The race the next day was not so relaxing. I was not prepared for the logistical manuvering required for race participation. So we left our hotel at 5:30 for a 7:30 start. The 5k starts at a different place. We parked and got into the city with no problem. The 5k actually is the last 3 miles of the 15k route. We did a rather large horseshoe course, BUT our car was about 4 miles away from the finish! There was a shuttle that brought us back to the car, but we couldn't cross the street to actually get to our car! We played racer frogger and somehow managed to get to our car and change. Then we had to leapfrog back across the street to catch the shuttle again to get back to the finish line to see the other three buddies finish. We could not really get close enough to the finish line and missed them. THEN we had to swim through oceans and oceans of finishers to get to our meeting place! Thank goodness it wasn't that hot, had it been normal temperatures I would have melted for sure! We finally found the speedy runners and ate our bag lunch included in the race fee packed in like sardines with all the other 15000 racers. After we finished our turkey sandwiches, we said our goodbyes and got the heck outta Utica!

Oh wait no we couldn't because we had to wait for the shuttle bus to bring us back to our car! The shuttle ride sucked, it was hot and everyone was smelly. We finally made it to our car and ventured back the four hours to HOME SWEET HOME!

My time was 2 minutes quicker for this race. It was a nice downhill course with lots of water and the temps were awesome, like about 75' and low humidity.

I would think about doing this race again but not any year soon. I would definitely think about where to park and how to celebrate. The boast a great post race party but it was waaaaayyyyy to congested to really enjoy.

My next race is the Cranberry Tri at the end of August. I can not wait!