2015 Big Red Race 5K Race Recap

Last Sunday I ran the Big Red Race 5K at the Lawrenceville School. It's a local private school that is in the nearby township of Lawrence. I had done the race before, last year and also in 2012 (I heard about it from a friend). What is great about the event is that before the 5K are kids races. The kiddos both participated again this year.

It's really nice because they break the kids in groups by age and then take them to do some stretches led by students of the school.

Then they get to run a distance based on their age. With my kiddos being 4 and 5 they were in the same group and ran 50 meters. It was cute watching them run and they did great! Here they are with their medals.

The 5K did not start until 10:15 which is pretty late in regards to normal racing times, but I didn't mind. However the weather was getting warmer, I think it was in the low 60's at the start and wasn't sure if it would affect me or not. There were about 550 runners participating in the 5K. Here we are lined up at the start.

I wasn't quite sure how I'd do in the race when I got to the start line because I was recovering from a sinus infection but when the cannon went off I told myself to run hard and run hard I did. I felt pretty good in the first mile. Pretty strong and happy I wasn't coughing while running. The day before, I had some coughing fits so I was glad it wasn't happening during the run. 

At around mile 2, I saw the Hubby and kiddos and they made me smile. I always enjoy seeing them on the course as they push me to keep at it and to run strong. 

It was nice that there were water stations on the course, normally I wouldn't stop for water for a 5K but with it being warm, I needed the water. It was great and refreshed me. When I saw the finish I sprinted as fast as I could and felt pretty good, especially when I saw my time of 25:53 on my watch. I was happy with that. Below, are my split times. I'm pretty surprised that the distance was actually less than 3.1 according to my Garmin. 

My Garmin time was actually close to my chip time of 25:53.6. 

At the finish were bagels and bananas for the runners. I forgot to mention that there were also donuts and apples for after the kids races. They also had lemonade and water for all to drink. I did not see any problem with running out of food, so they did a great job on refreshments.

The big surprise of the race was when Hubby checked the results, he noticed that I got 2nd place in my age group! I was pretty excited about it. Here I am with the kiddos with my trophy. 

Closeup of the trophy. :)

Overall a great local race! Entry fee was only $20 and came with a cotton tee that is similar to the ones the kiddos are wearing in their pic above but the color I got was gray. The kids races are free, instead you bring canned goods where they donate to local community agencies to fight hunger. The course is a nice run around the school grounds. The only con I could think of is that there are no mile marker signs, so it was really nice to have my Garmin watch, just to know how much further I had to run. Other than that, a good run that I would definitely do again!

I’m linking this post up with this week’s Workout Wednesday (WOW) Link Up! Brought to you by hostesses Diatta Harris | Femme Fitale Fit Club and Sheila Simmons | The Frugal Exerciser and co-hostesses: Amanda | Eat Hard Work Hard and Heather | Divas Run For Bling.