Race report: Super 5K

Top shelf swag for the Super 5K.

On Sunday I did something I haven’t done in three years: “raced” in February.

By “raced” of course I mean paid money to get up early and run on a designated route with a few hundred of my closest friends, not actually try to win the thing. Sunday was looking like decently warm temperatures for February, so my husband and I signed up at the last minute for a Super 5K not far from us. The swag looked cool, we haven’t raced in a while, and we figured it would be a fun way to kick off (wokka wokka) the day of the big game, since Detroiters will never have a vested interest in it.

I try not to sleep in too late on Sundays anyway, but that 6 a.m. alarm still hurt. Neither of us had gotten great sleep that night, but we were up and at ‘em before too long, taking the mutts out for their morning walk and making some coffee and quick breakfasts for the road. We were out the door by my goal time of 7 a.m., which was a football miracle, but I ended up driving right by the highway exit. Luckily the next one wasn’t far and sneaking in the back way actually worked to our advantage, as there was still great parking available in the nearby municipal lot.

Bib and swag pickup was at a local high school and took about 5 seconds. We immediately ditched the winter hats we brought in favor of the warm, fluffy, race-themed hats we got with our numbers. It’s nice to have something other than a t-shirt once in a while. We got organized, pinned bibs to our race belts, ran extras out to the car, and people watched until it was time to move outside to the race start.

One note about the weather. I had worn a wicking tee under a fleece and was perfect from the waist up. I had worn my thickest running tights under my lined wind pants, with plans to ditch the wind pants before the race, but… it was pretty windy! I made the decision to leave the wind pants on over my tights, which actually left me a bit too warm from the waist down. If I had realized how windy it was, I would have worn thinner tights underneath. In the great scheme of things, it didn’t really matter for a 5K and I would rather be a little too warm than a little too cold, anyway.

We went off in waves and headed out on the main road, where it was breezy but had clear roads. We took a turn into a subdivision, which had less wind but the roads still had a good coating of snow on them. No one was going to PR this thing, so we settled into a slow and sustainable pace, enjoyed the football jerseys around us, laughed at the few funny signs set up, and tried to enjoy the morning. It had been cloudy earlier – meaning the groundhog hadn’t seen his shadow and that spring was on its way – but the sun started to come out as we ran. It had been a while since we saw the sun!

"Michigan winter is temporary; Detroit Lions playoff futility is forever." So true!

My husband hadn’t run since our last 5K on Dec. 31 so we chugged slowly through the subdivision and back onto the main road, where we could pick it up a little. I was worried about my knee cooperating, since I hadn’t run at all in over a week, but it felt fine except for a twinge or two going down what passes for a “downhill” in southeast Michigan. He had a bit of kick left for the finish and I let him run ahead. And then we were done, woo hoo! We gathered our medals, a finishers’ pint glass, and some water, and headed inside for some post-race food and football-themed shenanigans. We didn’t stick around long; we knew we weren’t winning any awards, and we wanted to hurry home and get started making pancakes and bacon. =)

Did you save any bacon for me?

Overall, this was a fun time and I would do it again if the weather permits. The fun hat was a nice change up for swag, it wasn’t too far away, and it made me feel better about the junk food I ate later in the day while the game was on. It was not a shabby way to spend a February morning!