Fox Valley Half Marathon Race Report
I’ve spectated the Fox Valley races (there’s a half marathon, twenty miler, and full marathon) in St. Charles, Illinois, a couple of times, but this was my first time being a racer! Xaarlin asked if I’d like to do a race for my birthday (back in July) and I said hells yes! I picked the Fox Valley Half Marathon because:
- The course looked neat (it runs up and down the Fox River)
- There was a chance the temperatures would be cool (HA! NOPE.)
- And THIS MEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay… I really picked it for the medal!!!
Xaarlin signed us up and did packet pickup for both of us in the city, making it SUPER easy for me. Thanks so much, Xaarlin – spending this time with you was a wonderful gift!
We weren’t running the race with a specific finish time in mind, just a goal to have fun and chat. Because of that, it was very low stress for me – I looked up the start time, start area, where to park, and went from there.
Traffic and parking was easy, and I met Xaarlin and her husband just after 6:00 am. We did all the pre-race business and got in to the corrals a few minutes before the 7:00 am start, and our group took off around 7:09. It was 64°, 93% humidity, with a 62° dew point when we started.
Right after the start!
Right away I felt icky sweaty because of the humidity, but I have a personal race rule where I don’t complain about the weather (at least not until the end!) because it puts me in a bad head space. Instead I thought about how grateful I was that the beginning of the course was mostly shaded!
I hadn’t looked at the course map, so I was surprised how much of the first half was on city streets. I was thinking the course jumped on the trail next to the river right away, but that didn’t happen until five miles in. It’s a smart course design to keep the beginning of the race on the streets and spread out the runners so it never gets too congested. I can’t imagine trying to fit all of those people on a trail!
The beginning of the course was neat – I liked seeing the town and some gorgeous houses – but the trail we ran on stole the show. It was simply gorgeous. Some leaves had already started to change colors and gave us a visual glimpse of fall to enjoy. And provided us some much needed shade.
There are public access points to the trail, so we still had plenty of spectators while running on it. Xaarlin and I liked one woman’s mantra of “you’re bad ass and beautiful!” We also appreciated the spectators around mile 12 who gave us mimosas. Who knew that would taste so awesome at mile 12?!
I was feeling great until around mile 8 when I could tell the humidity was getting to me. For the last five miles, I walked the aid stations to fill up my water bottle and started drinking Gatorade. Despite feeling like I was wearing down, I knew I was still fine because I was talking Xaarlin’s ear off. Ha.
The course went back on the roads just after mile 11. We saw Xaarlin’s husband again (a huge thanks to him for spectating and hanging out with us before and after!),
Ha, I didn’t want to lift my arms all the way up in case I was hella smelly
did some silly loop through a park (because I really want to turn away from the course and do a loop to fit in mileage when I am so close to the finish…), then finished in 2:26:53! I had so much fun running with Xaarlin and catching up, but I was happy to stop and get out of the sun – I was roasting.
The race had a fantastic food setup – cakes, donuts, cookies, bananas, chips, pizza, freezer pops, soda, and water. I think there was a place to pick up beer too, and there were several other tents (massages, etc.). We didn’t explore too much because we wanted to be in the shade (and I really wanted to change out of my drenched clothes – as soon as I stopped running I had sweat dripping down my arms and legs, eww).
We met up with Xaarlin’s husband, took our post race picture,
and headed out to get some breakfast. I didn’t have much of an appetite right after the race, or at breakfast, or when I got home. My stomach felt a bit messed up from the humidity. Hopefully I don’t have too many more runs like that this year (one can dream).
But hopefully I DO have more opportunities to run with Xaarlin this year! I don’t run with friends very often and it’s such a treat when I do. It’s much easier to catch up when we’re together, rather than using email and text (duh, right?). Thank you, Xaarlin!
Themocracy
93% humidity!?! That sounds really tough. Yay for it being shaded on the trail. I love that medal 🙂
It was! I was actually really proud of my mostly consistent pace a not feeling like complete death. Ha!
The trail looks gorgeous. What a nice present, I do like your idea of experiences as presents rather than things!
It was! I want to run more of it (too bad it’s 70 miles from my house).
YES! This is something I try to do with friends for Christmas. I’d love to start doing it for birthdays, too!
Sorry to hear about the weather, you think it would be getting cooler instead of hotter as we head into late September. Oh well that’s how it always goes! In any case, it sounds like you had a great course and a fun time chatting with Xaarlin!
You’d think, but we know better, here in the midwest! 😉 I did really like the course (minus that dumb loop at the end) and had such a blast chatting 🙂
That medal is awesome, I can see why you chose that race! And the trail looks lovely. How fun to run a half with a friend! Your description of how you felt afterward – soaked clothes, sweat dripping down your arms and legs? That’s my everyday feel after our runs, even our short ones. I can’t fathom getting to run this time of year without that…super jealous of everyone who can finish relatively dry.
I really love the medal! I put it front and center on my medal rack.
Gah. I am so sorry that every single run you do is like that 🙁 We’ve had a few days recently with actual cool weather, so this coming back was just a pain. I hope you get some cool days soon!
What a fun birthday gift! 🙂 I’m glad you had such a good time running together! It IS nice to be able to run with a friend (not that I’d know anymore – waaaaah LOL). And the course looks pretty cool! I like how it goes through the town and on the trail so you get a little bit of everything.
That’s too bad the weather wasn’t great yesterday though. Ugh! It’s been really hot and humid here too, which makes running pretty rough (I’ve been totally dripping with the sweat at the end of my very short runs lately too, it sucks). We had a week or so of nice cool weather at the beginning of the month, which makes this kind of weather even harder to stomach.
🙁 Is Jessie not running yet? Are you thinking about checking out any of the run clubs there?
I did like that too – all trail may have been a bit boring. The mix was nice!
Sigh, I know it’s like this each year – a preview of nice temps then horrible mugginess and humidity, but it doesn’t get any less annoying each year! We have a streak of it starting tomorrow (I think?) so I bet you do too. So freaking over it!
She’s been getting back into it. We thought about running this morning but it was humid and gross so we went to get donuts instead 🙂 And I’m planning to check out some running groups too… also once the weather stops sucking so hard. So everything revolves around the weather! BLAH!
Yep, it’s in the 80’s here every day for the next week. Then it’ll rain and cool down (hopefully). I’m with you, definitely over it!
Donuts sound way better than running (or sleeping in, ha!). I hope you find a cool group when you do check them out! And I hope the rain does help with the heat. Just, ugh.
So. Much. Fun. I was looking at my recaps and forgot you had spectated in 2012! You’re the best! I had a blast running with you and hope we can do it again soon. Baby bark!?!?!?
I hope we can do it again soon too!!! Maybe a celebratory one after Naperville!!!
I LOVE that this was your birthday gift from Xaarlin. What a great idea! And I’m glad that it turned out to be a fun day, despite the heat and sweat. The trail looks so beautiful and fall-like. I was surprised when you talked about the humidity because the photo made it look like a crisp fall day.
I also learned about your no-complaining-about-the-weather rule. That’s a good one! I should implement that in my everyday life.
It’s such a great idea! I like doing stuff like that instead of gifts (which sounds like something we’ve probably talked about before).
Isn’t the look of the trail deceiving for what the weather actually was?! Ha.
I kind of have implemented it there, too. I used to know what the weather was going to be all the time, and now I just look that morning when I dress (or a few days before if it’s a trip). Although, since I have family coming this week I checked and am super annoyed it’s gonna be hot and muggy. Ha! Hypocrite 😉
I’m glad you had a good time! I was definitely thinking about everyone running this race when I was doing the 20 miler in the city on Sunday. I had seriously considered doing the marathon at Fox Valley again this year and I’m SO glad I opted not to based on how the weather turned out. That being said, I LOVED this race last year! I was so impressed with the whole event: the course, the post-race spread, how nice the race director was, packet pickup in the city. It was definitely one of my favorites 🙂
Oh gosh, this was definitely the year not to do the marathon! I can’t imagine how much the runners roasted out there, ugh 🙁
I think it was fabulously put on race too!
Glad you ladies had a good time hanging out! Sorry the weather sucked. The medal is pretty sweet though. Good choice.
It’s all good (re: the weather) – I am just happy we didn’t have any goal time in mind!
As others have said – it sounds like a great racing experience, despite the weather! How fabulous that there’s a 20 mile race. I feel like mixing up distances (rather than the standard 1/2, full…) can be fun!
I think it’s awesome they offer that distance too. The race is three weeks before the Chicago Marathon so a lot of people use it as their last 20 miler 🙂