Christmas in July Race Recap

Last winter, I signed up for the half marathon distance of this new to the Chicago area race. My running club was sponsoring it and there was an 'early bird special' of $35. Never one to sign up early for a race, this was too good to pass up. I figured if I couldn't run it, it wouldn't be hard to walk away from $35.

Fast forward to the approaching race day. Summer arrived late but it came on with a fury. In addition, my longest run was 7 miles. Not being anywhere near half marathon ready, I decided to drop down to the 5k distance. I emailed the race organizers a few weeks prior to the race but heard nothing. The week prior to the race, I found a link that would allow runners to change their distance. Unfortunately, the website wanted to charge me $15 which would bring my fee up to the current price for the race. There was also a $4 service fee.

I posted about this in my running club's Facebook group and the club president reached out to me. He spoke with the race director who stated that it was a "glitch" and he would take care of it. When I arrived at bib pickup on Saturday, I told the RD who I was. He hadn't made the changes as promised, but I did leave with a 5k bib and no extra charges.

I didn't sleep well that night and even turned off my alarm at one point, thinking I would just DNS the whole thing. Fighting an upper respiratory virus, I didn't want to run in the hot and steamy conditions. But as I tossed and turned, guilt got the best of me and I turned my alarm back on. It was only a 5k, right?

After a cup of coffee, I drank my Tailwind as I drove the short distance to the Busse Woods Forest Preserve. As I pulled in, I saw all the half marathoners running the bridge over the busy road below. There were a hella lot of runners! I ended up parking about a mile away from the start line and walked through the fields to the race village. There were a handful of runners starting to gather. The race would be held on the bike path and as we lined up on the right, cyclists whizzed by. This would be interesting!

As I did at last week's 5k, I ran this one without headphones. I knew this would be slower than last Sunday's race because the humidity was so high.  I started out running comfortably at about an 8:50 m/m pace. The path took us in and out of tree cover. Mile 1 8:57

I kept running but started to slow down. So did a lot of the runners who flew past me at the start and I began to pass them. At mile 1.55, there was a turnaround and we headed back the way we came. I stopped for water just before mile 2. It was getting tough. Mile 2 9:15

Knowing that we were almost finished, I tried hard to push my pace but the heat and humidity started to take its toll. I crossed the finish line in 28:51 (mile 3 9:44). I caught my breath and walked over to the beer tent.

Happy to be done?
Free race photos

A local brewery, Church Street, was handing out Heavenly Helles Lager. After running in that heat, it did taste heavenly. I perused the finish line treats. There were sandwiches, cookies, bananas, and pretzels filled with peanut butter. No Gatorade. I took a cookie and walked over to the running club tent to wait with the other 5k runners for everyone to come in.

Breakfast of Champions!

We watched all the half marathoners come in and chatted with the winner. Soon, the members of my running club started walking towards the tent. One guy was talking with us when he grabbed one of the tent poles and started to collapse. We helped him to the ground. I flagged a paramedic and he came over to the tent. It became very clear to me that he had no clue what to do. Someone grabbed some cool towels and I grabbed a banana and some water for him. Not long after that, one of the women who ran the half started wobbling. Her speech was slurred and she had goosebumps. She refused to sit down. Someone convinced her to walk to the ambulance to sit in the AC. She still wouldn't sit down so I used my nurse practitioner voice. It worked and within 10-15 minutes she was much better. While all this was going on, we heard an ambulance siren and later found out that someone collapsed around mile 12.

The heat got to Santa too.

Meanwhile, a line was forming near the finish line. Apparently, they ran out of finisher medals for the half marathon. They also ran out of water on the course. I walked over to the registration table to pick up my AG award and was handed a shot glass. Huh. I ran into the president of the running club who was chatting with the race director. I held up my shot glass and the RD said, "whomp, whomp, right?" I didn't say anything and our club president congratulated me on the AG award. As I walked away, I could hear them talking about some of the problems that were happening.

This was the first time this race was held here in Chicago. The race has been held in Indianapolis for the past 3 years. Clearly, the RD has a little work to do. I'm not sure what to make of the "glitch" aka the extra charge I encountered when I dropped down to the 5k. When I complained, he did make it right. Others runners I spoke with didn't have the same experience. No Gatorade or electrolyte drink on a racecourse in the summertime is completely unacceptable. Running out of water is another thing. They did have cool washcloths which were being put to good use by the half marathoners. The finish line food was so-so. We received a race shirt which I will never wear--I think it was pretty ugly. The shot glass I received for an AG award was pretty chinzy. But that was better than no medals, which was what many of the half marathoners got.

For his part, the RD sent an email the night after the race acknowledging the problems. He apologized for the errors including running out of cups and asked for feedback and suggestions to improve the race next year. He also thanked all the volunteers and asked that runners who didn't receive medals contact him personally via email.

On the other hand, the medal I received for the 5k was awesome. I don't expect a finisher medal for a 5k and the Santa medal was pretty cool, complete with flashing lights! The half marathoners who did get a medal received a bigger and flashier version. We also got a pair of sunglasses with bottle openers on the earpieces. I gifted those to my 21 year old son, thinking he'll probably make better use of them than I will. The beer from Church Street was a really nice treat--I always appreciate a good beer at a race. My running club provided volunteer support at the aid stations.

There were 33 runners in my AG

Would I do this one again? I don't know. This kind of race isn't really my thing but with my running club as a sponsor, I wanted to participate. It's always a treat to run in the preserve where I do a lot of my training. I'm enjoying the 5k distance immensely, especially in this unbelievably hot summer we're having. I was really impressed and inspired by the half marathoners, who really dug deep and brought some great finishes. I'm glad to see the RD reaching out to participants for suggestions to improve the race, which should only make it better next year. We'll see.

It was a hot Christmas in July race! /via @oldrunningmom #runchat #running 

Have you ever run a race where they ran out of medals? Of water? Gatorade? Would you run this one again if you were me? 

I'm linking up with Zenaida and Kim for Tuesday Topics.