The second 5K we did this weekend was a rather different affair. Yesterday we ran the Run for Science literally because we wanted the race shirt. Today we did the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K Run/Walk as a memorial to Erica’s dad, David Reid. This is the fourth year of the run in Chicagoland (we’ve run two of the previous three years) and this year we decided to step up our efforts a little. Erica created a team — the David Reid Memorial Classic Rock Appreciation Club — and nine of our friends came out to race with us. Shaun, Kristen, and Ryan ran with me. Sylvia, Gabe, Denise, Noah, Stephanie, and Jessy walked with Erica. It was a pretty emotional morning, especially for Erica, but it was also a gorgeous day and it was good to be out on a morning by the lake with friends. Check out the podcast episode for more from Erica and I about the day.

I’ve now started the first week of the training program I’m using to train for the New Orleans Marathon in February, so I needed to run 6 miles sometime this weekend. Erica and I got to Montrose Harbor early enough that I ran a mile and half away from the start and then back and timed it well enough that I only a few minutes of downtime before the race started and I was off for my second three miles. Ryan and Shaun were both fresh and kept me at a good pace—the official results don’t seem to be online yet, but I know we were sub-30 minutes. With all the longer distances I’m going to be doing over the next year, I’m imagining I’m going to cool it on the 5Ks a bit, as it just gets harder to fit them in with a longer run.

(I’ll update this with the official times when they’re available.)

Official results:

Time: 29:57.3
Pace: 9:40
Place: 79 / 298
Place in Age (M40-49): 13 / 21
Place in Sex: 51 / 120