Race Report- Lilac Run 10k

My running began over 3 years ago, that is crazy to think about! I wont go into my whole story, if you haven't read it already you can check it out here. It was in February of 2011 that I downloaded a Couch to 5k app on my iPod and jumped on the treadmill at the local gym. That first run was horrible, I was just embarrassed and figured everyone was watching me. I slowly got better and eventually was doing more running then walking, so I decided to sign up for my first official race the Lilac Run 5k.

May 2011

Since most of my running had been done on a treadmill in a lovely air conditioned environment, I struggled with the rolling hills around Highland Park and the heat & humidity. I roped Dad and Rob into joining me and even though I was poorly dressed and walked more then I thought I would, I was hooked!

May 2012

In 2012 I returned to the Lilac Run and completed both the 5k & 10 races. I think this is a great feature about this race. The 5k starts at 8am and the 10k starts at 9am so it is totally possible to do both races and if I remember correctly they even give you a little discount if you do both! Last year I was bummed that I wasn't able to do the race for a 3rd year in a row, especially because this was the one that started it all, but as you know I was participating in my first marathon!

I was super excited to sign up for the race again this year and after much deliberation, we settled on running the 10k. Since I'm a sucker for tradition, I waited to do packet pick-up until my Dad was in town on Saturday. I had a bad feeling that waiting until close the end of packet pick-up would mean t-shirt issues and sure enough I was right. We arrived at Medved around 4pm on Saturday and they were out of all of the sizes we had asked for. Now in the race info it said the first 2000 runners who signed up would get a t-shirt. After getting our bibs we were told to go over and get the t-shirts ourselves. This made me wonder if not enough of each size was ordered, or if people took sizes that they didn't actually register for, since pick-up wasn't being monitored. Or maybe they allowed anyone who registered, even beyond the 2000, to take a t-shirt. I am not hugely disappointed since the t-shirts are white and I really hate when race t-shirts are white!

On the way home I sent Molly a message to see if she got a shirt. She had gone to the store and registered for the race the day before. Sure enough she did, which proved my theory that they must have just let everyone take a t-shirt even if they weren't the first 2000 to register. Oh well!

Evan & Molly

We received an email saying that most of the grass parking lots would be closed due to all of the rain we had last week. We thought since parking may be an issue, we would just go really early to ensure getting a spot and watch the 5k. It was prefect weather, very cool and sunny. We had fun watching the 5k runners come in and the time went pretty quick.

5k runners heading to the finish line

Our crew: Evan, Me, Dad & Molly

After some photo ops and getting Mom to her spectating spot we were ready to go! We all spread out quickly but I got into a pretty good rhythm. I was going slow, but consistent. Around mile 2, amongst the rolling hills, I started thinking that I wished I had signed up for the 5k!! Before I knew it we were turning on Monroe which has a nice downhill, but is also fully exposed to direct sunshine. I started to heat up on this section but I still feel like I dressed properly. As we were going through 12 Corners in Brighton we saw lots of familiar Fleet Feet faces cheering everyone on, then we turned on to Elmwood so the sun was now behind us.

We weaved around some neighborhoods off of Elmwood and there were lots of families out cheering, this area was shady and there was still a cool breeze once in a while. By this point my Dad and I were going pretty evenly with one another, Evan was no where to be seen since he is so speedy and Molly was not too far behind us. We turned out on to Elmwood and passed Laura's house where she and her family were cheering from the driveway!! We paused long enough to drink some bottled water they had gotten ready for us and we were on our way. Thanks Laura!! With one giant hill back up, we returned to Highland and were in the home stretch. Along the rolling hills again, Dad and I picked mini landmarks to run and walk to. Once we could see Goodman in our sights we booked it, back up hill, to the finish line. Along the way we smelled lilacs and hot dogs and lots of people cheered us in! Even though Dad and I finished at the same time, I was listed first in the results, so I did technically beat him.