Normally, I don’t jump into short races like this one.  After all, I’m trying to build up my miles toward a 15K and half marathon later this year.  However, I couldn’t resist a short little race on a hot summer night.

This was this group’s first racing event, and frankly, it went off pretty well.  They looped inside the St. Charles Community College campus, which made traffic control and the course pretty easy.  I will say that the heat was miserable, but that’s not the fault of the event folks!

There were two waves of races — one non-competitive and another for competitive runners.  The non-competitive was fun to watch starting, with loads of kids and families taking off at “kid speed”.  Thirty minutes later, the competitive wave began, and I took off.

They had tons of volunteers along the way, and a course well-marked in quarter miles.  The race came and went quickly, and despite some slight hills, was very manageable.  Once again, I proved that I don’t do well in the heat, and did just as much fast walking as I did running.

This is the first “short race” I’ve done in well over a year, and frankly, I enjoyed it.  I’m definitely no sprinter, but I did collect a PR for me for both the mile and kilometer, which was pretty exciting.

The only hitch seemed to be with the finisher medallions advertised on the website for the race.  Apparently, there were only age group medals.  The event organizers have indicate on Facebook that they’re working on how to resolve this, especially since there were so many kids running the races.  Probably more on this another time!

Short race — short race report!

This race benefitted Recreation Council of Greater St. Lois, St. Louis Life, Treehouse of Greater St. Louis, Willows Way, Pathways to Independence, Family Advocacy and Community Training, Community Living, Caring Solutions, The Center for Autism Education and ShowMe Aquatics and Fitness.

Race Course