The Bucktown 5K is usually on our calendars for a couple of reasons. It’s a RAM Racing run, so the goodie bag item is usually something nice, a jacket or hoodie instead of the usual race shirt. (I mean, that’s pretty important.) It’s also a cute neighborhood race—I like running around Chicago city streets while people stand around on their front porches drinking coffee. It’s the one time of the year I’m guaranteed to run into Foresman. And it’s one of the first races of the fall—it always seems that no matter how warm the weather has been into September, on the day of the Bucktown it’ll be chilly and autumnal.

Everything held true again this year. We got a nice hoodie. I did, nearly literally, run into Chris (I popped through a gap in a barricade at the start and stood up facing Chris). And it’d been warm weather all week and the morning of the Bucktown was cold and rainy. For me this year, it was also the first run I did since the Ironman. I got out for an easy bike and a swim late in the week, but this was the first time I’d even put on running shoes since the marathon leg. And it went not-bad. Shaun and I ran a sub-30 minute 5K, which has long been my rough benchmark of, well, “not bad”. Erica jogged and walked with a friend who hasn’t run in a while from some health issues. Good times were had by all.

Official results:

Time: 29:42
Pace: 9:34 min/mile
Place: 1756 / 3878
Place in Division (M40-44): 88 / 151
Place in Sex: 930 / 1485