Unless you’re near St. Charles, there’s no need to drive to
early packet pickup; there was only a short wait to pick up a very nice,
women’s cut, black race shirt and race bib.
I loved not getting yet another useless bag stuffed with flyers and
refrigerator magnets. Just a shirt and
a bib.
One of the really nice things about this race is the number
of port-o-potties. There was a huge
bank of them with no wait. This makes
for a stress free wait; go as often as you wish before the race.
The half marathon started right at 7:00 AM and the 10K start
followed at 7:20 AM. Both races are
fairly small with 407 and 335 participants, respectively. Having done both the half and the 10K in the
past, I knew what I was in for, hills!
The race starts on the streets of St. Charles and immediately starts
climbing. While the early hills are not
particularly steep, there is no chance to warm up before starting to use those
quads. A little after the first mile,
the course turns onto a paved path and continues its slow ascent. The paved path continues for about three
quarters of a mile before the race turns back onto the streets and runs through
a beautiful, tree filled, hill filled neighborhood. At mile 2.75, a steep hill brings all but
the strongest runners to a walk. The
hill crests about a quarter of a mile later and then it is time for the 10K to
turn around and run back while the half marathon continues on for more
hills. Although there are a few uphill
sections on the return route, overall it is a nice downhill run that almost
makes you forget the big hills on the way out.
Along the route there were many enthusiastic volunteers and
the water stop, passed twice, was manned by young women dressed as Girl Scout
cookies. Not sure what that was about,
but they were cute. My only criticism of the race is that the water stops for the
10K are too far apart making it necessary for the mid and back of the packers
to carry water.
The finish line is busy with people and the announcer worked
hard to acknowledge each runner by name.
The finisher medal is creative and also serves as a bottle opener. The opener was not needed at the post race
party where Sam Adam’s 76 and some other alcoholic concoction were both served
in cans. The after party (and packet
pickup) was held at Romano Mercato Italiano restaurant where pizza and Italian
sausage and pepper sandwiches were served.
There was indoor and outdoor seating too!
The first place female and male 10K finishers were, Lisa Guscott-Trout 44:32 and Matt Kraft 40:29; and for the half
marathon Tess Laurette-Ehrhardt 1:26:37 and Roger Pinon 1:16:38. Congratulations to the winners!
