St Paddy's Day 5k

This past Saturday, my friend Mary and I ran the inagural St Paddy's Day 5k race in Naperville, IL. Nearly 2,000 people signed up and ran!

The race started at 8am, and we arrived in Naperville around 7:30. We drove from the northwest side of Chicago, but it only took about 25 minutes to drive there. The race is in downtown Naperville, so there is plenty of parking available and we found a spot right away. Weather wise it was warm, but windy, so that made it a little cold. Being the crazy person Mary is, she ran in shorts, but I opted for crops and a fleece lined pullover.

We ran to the start line and got there with about 10 minutes to spare so we hopped around and weaseled our way into a big crowd of people so they would take all the wind. 8am hit and we were off! ...and we immediately lost each other! I kept her in my sight for about the first quarter mile, then she was gone, only to be seen 2 times at the turn arounds.

The course goes north, then turns and comes back south, then turns, then turns again, then turns around, turn, turn, turn, finish. However, with only 2,000 it wasn't a crowded course, and I was in the front of the pack more than anything.

Mary finished in just under 24 minutes (she's a fast one) and I came in about 4 minutes behind her at 27:52.

*there are no photos because my race photos are HORRIBLE. i look like death, so those are staying off the interwebz.

Overall it was a fun little race. It was the first one so there were some bumps, mainly with shirts and giving people whatever size they wanted rather than giving them the size they noted when they registered. However, as far as I could tell, that was about the only issue. We couldn't find the post race party either...turns out we somehow managed to pass right by it (it was inside some building near the finish line.)

I'd do it again!