Sly Fox Half Marathon & 10K

Spring is here and races, once again, start at 7:00 AM.   Ugh.   So Friday night, I set my alarm clock for 4:15 AM and hit the sack at 9:00 PM to be up in time for this great little race.  Same day packet pickup for the Sly Fox opened at 5:30 and would close at 6:30 AM.  After a couple cups of coffee and a granola bar, I set off for St. Charles at 5:30 AM.  The good thing about early races is there was absolutely no traffic and I pulled into the free parking garage with time to spare.

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!