Prairie State Half Marathon and Dead Last 5K Race Report(s)
Woo hoo! I think today is the first time I have run two races in one day! What is your shortest time between races?
The first race was the Prairie State Half Marathon, on the Des Plaines River Trail (DPRT), starting in Libertyville, IL, at 8:00 am with Emily.
The second race was the Dead Last 5K, at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, IL, at 3:00 pm with Bobbi and Sara.
I was actually signed up for the second race first! I saw an ad for it months ago and had to suggest it to Bobbi and Sara, fellow zombie slayers. Ha ha. Then awhile later, Emily mentioned she was doing the trail half the same morning, and I kind of invited myself along! Hey! Totally enough time between the two races! So, on to race #1…
Prairie State Half Marathon
I run the DPRT a lot. It’s a 31-mile crushed limestone trail, is mostly shaded, and is super close to my home! I was curious to see what it would be like to run a race on a course that I frequent. Would it be useful to know the ins and outs of the trail? Or would it be annoying to know “how much further” there was to go?
It rocked! The DPRT is beautiful year round, but especially in the fall, with the trees changing colors.
Um, and dropping sh*t all over the ground that made me roll my damn left ankle AGAIN, grrr. I only hobbled for a bit, then iced that ankle twice before race #2. But yeah. Um, back on track. Running the DPRT never got old, despite having run the trail what feels like a zillion times before. And they did a staggered start for the race so there wouldn’t be too much congestion on the trail.
Emily wanted to come in under 2:20, and we did a 9/1 run/walk ratio (when we remembered to take the walk breaks). Sometimes stopping to walk makes my legs lock up a bit, but I felt the run/walk ratio worked really well today! It helped me deal with the humidity, and I think it let us have a faster “run” pace, overall. We came in just under goal! I am so proud of Emily! And happy she let me crash her race. It was fun to run and catch up a bit!
We also got to catch up with Erica, who was blazing fast, per usual!
Special thanks to my girl, Chris, who picked up my race packet and gave me a ride home. Apparently, packet pickup and driving to the race was a disaster (I got dropped off 2 miles away and ran in) – she saved me some headache!
Also… love the race medal and top!
Okay! Race #2!
Dead Last 5K
This was a zombie themed race to benefit the Oasis – a youth center in Grayslake. You could sign up to be a zombie or a survivor. There ended up being about 150 of each! 1 to 1 ratio! Ahh! The course felt overwhelming with all the zombies, at times, but I’ll get to that.
So, we were each given a flag football belt with two flags. The zombies could grab them (they were held on by velcro). Lose two and you’re dead. However! You could get extra flags on course! And… there were overall age ground winner awards for alive, and dead!
Like a jerk, I decided to gun it at the beginning. Uh… crap. Then I realized, power in numbers! Hoards of zombies were coming for me, and I was all by myself!!! Ack!
So I stopped, and waited for my crew. Duh. And then the rest of the race was like a KILLER interval workout. Run a normal pace. Oh sh*t, zombies! Speed up! Dodge! Gosh, it was so fun. And our heart rates got jacked up!
I couldn’t believe how well done it was! I thought since it was a first time event, and a themed 5K, it might be a bit on the meh side, but man, they nailed it. It was a total blast, the zombies looked good and made it challenging!
A majority of the zombies were high school students. One set was entire baseball team. Ha ha. They really got in to it – hiding in ditches, trees… in a garbage can. Ha ha. There were some adult zombies too, with elaborate outfits:
Ha ha. When we passed this guy the second time, I said, “he can’t catch me!” Then he sprinted after me. Oops!
All in all, I only had one flag stolen, and I quickly replaced it. However! I must be honest and say I protected my flags! And I would run on the grass to dodge the zombies. Hee, hee, I don’t think I was the only one!
We finished in just over 30 minutes! And that was with walk breaks (when we were clear of zombies, of course!). Walk breaks were necessary! We were sprinting when we saw zombies!
What. A. Blast. I am so happy I did this race, and hope to do it again, next year. There was a great post race atmosphere with hot cider and snacks, then a pizza party later on for the younger volunteers and a party at a wine bar for the adults! Great event.
And now I know for next year – power in numbers. Duh, Kim. DUH! Homework – watch more zombie movies!
It was such a fun day – two races with friends! If only every Saturday were this awesome. Ha ha.
Oh! Side note: all zombie pics are from Steven! He and Matt spectated, some in the rain! Thanks, guys!
Also, loved the race shirt and the nice schwag bag!
Themocracy
Pretty damn cool!!!
p.s. You look awesome!
Such a fun day! Count me in for the zombie race next year…so fun!
You are adorable.
That race sweatshirt looks awesome!
you look amazing chica! The Zombie race is a fabulous idea, V would be all over that!
Two races in a day? Wow. Zombie race looks cool. I did not realize there were other races taking place this weekend! 🙂
I know! Can you believe races have THE NERVE to be on the same weekend as Chicago?!
Have a great race today!
The Zombie race sounds like a lot of fun! Maybe an “alterna” race that I’d consider!
I think the quickest turn around that I’ve had is a week… including from a marathon to half marathon, but more often 5K to 10k type distances. Or Ragnar…. 6 hours?
What a fun idea for a race! Those pictures are great. Were you tired for the 2nd race after running a half already?
I wasn’t tired! I think it helped that it was a shorter distance, and I have regularly been running doubles in the past few weeks so my body is used to it.
Here I sit, nursing a hamstring injury and now a hip flexor issue after trying to run a few miles today, and you not only ran a half marathon but a 5K on top of that? How in the world to you manage? Very impressed, and also envious. That zombie race looked like it was a lot of fun!
Aww man, I am sorry you are injured! 🙁 That sucks! 🙁
That zombie race looks hilarious! Love your matching outfits. How could you earn back flags? (Sorry if I missed that part.)
Thanks 🙂
I think there were people assigned to hand them out to you. That is where I got my first flag back, then I saw more people handing them out later. At the end, Sara and Bobbi were just grabbing them off the ground.
Looks like such a fun day!! That medal and sweatshirt from prairie state look awesome! The zombie race looks like a lot of fun! Love all the pics from the day!
How cool to run two races in one day! Although, the zombie race would have freaked me out – my heart is racing just reading about it.
WOw great double day! I did not know about that zombie race. Fun!
Great to see you guys!! That second race looks like a blast!
I have done 2 races in a day (surprise) but like you one pacer one racer. And relays 🙂
Sounds like a pretty ideal running day – nice that both race experiences were so different!
Nice!! They have a zombie run here too!!! I’ve never done it though! Maybe I should!!!
Love those camo pants!! And congrats on TWO races in one day– what perfect weather for races! 🙂
OMG, this is so fun. I would run the zombie race in a heartbeat! Congrats on 2 races in one day – talk about commitment! 🙂
mmmm BRAINS!!!!!!!
I love the Prairie State medals! Very cool. And the zombie race looks like a ton of fun! I don’t think I’d last very long at one of those though, but it may be a fun way to approach speed work 🙂
The shortest I’ve done in between is back-to-back days on a weekend (and all the comments I got on that were along the lines of “I’d never race on consecutive days like that!” but I’ve seen a few people do it this summer!). I think I would have been okay doing that if I hadn’t hurt myself in race #1.
Yeah, I think racing twice on one weekend or on the same day is nbd if you are not injured and not going all out! 🙂
I thought those medals were neat too. Although it made me feel guilty for not really training for the race. Ha ha./
That zombie race sounds like SO MUCH FUN! I’m not one for races, but I would totally do that one!
I wonder if they have any in your area! Zombie races are becoming really popular!
LOLing at those signs. “Run fast, I just farted!”
Ha ha ha! I love it when people have funny signs!
Oh, man, I would totally be dead if I did the zombie race. Or maybe that’s just my horrible memories of high school flag football…
Glad you had fun at both events!
Harrison was talking about your pictures from the zombie race!! Ahh, it sounds fun, but I think I would get so tense and have a heart attack. Just reading about it (being chased by moderately scary things) made my heart race a little bit.
And I can’t believe you sprinted so much AFTER A HALF MARATHON.!
I was wondering if I would have a panic attack, but luckily, there were parts w/o zombies were you could calm the eff down a bit 😉
I don’t think I’ve ever run a 5k where I felt more like I was dying (maybe because I did die like 8 times – hooray for being reborn haha!)…so MUCH FUN!