Sweet Home Milwaukee - 5K

 Sweet Home Milwaukee - April 6, 2025
time = 25:38

pace = 8:16
placed 1 in my age group (50-59) out of 42
placed 7 in women out of 236
placed 32 overall out of 348
link to strava data

the last time i ran this race was back in 2016, the race was much larger (1369 participants), and i ran it marginally faster.  

picked my packet up yesterday at PRO and that was easy peasy lemon squeezy... in and out and well organized.

race day was just as seamless.

no corrals this time likely because there weren't enough people to need them. i signed up for this race on a whim.  i am FINALLY running consistently after years of injuries and life changes, and i'm feeling pretty good.  my brother was supposed to come with my nephew to cheer me on and go to brunch afterwards, but he wasn't feeling good and bowed out at the last minute.  i arrived about 30 minutes before race start.  didn't seem like there were a lot of people there, and several were arriving at the same time as me.  got a good parking spot right by the kites again and headed to the bathrooms.  no lines for me and i ran into celeste (incidentally, my yoga instructor), who signed up after i posted it on instagram a bit ago. she, in turn, spread the word and got a group of people together to run it.  i got to meet her friends and hang out with them all before and after the race which was really nice.  we got pictures, had hugs, and generally hyped each other up for a job well done.

photos by Eric Natamihardja

the course was the same as in 2016 (link to that race report).  just more potholes and uneven footing, as the trail could maybe use some repairing.  i started out near the front because, for some reason, i always think it's better to have people passing me than to have to pass myself.  this consistently proves to be a mistake.  i ALWAYS take off too fast and then sometimes putter out as the race goes on.  today was all of that and a bag of chips.  positive splits are not awesome, and they are what i had going on for sure.  i didn't know this during the race because i do not look at my watch/splits as i'm racing.  i wait to be surprised at the end. 

ran that first mile in 8:15, slowed down in mile two (while i chided myself in my head... yelling at myself "DON'T YOU DARE WALK!  DON'T YOU DARE WALK!" over and over until i got through that mile). clocked mile two at 8:31.  

the course was short according to my watch and the watches of others in the group.  my watch said the total was 3:04 instead of 3:10.  not a big difference, but short nonetheless.  mile three was 8:37.  nice and fast overall compared to what i have been doing for this distance.  just disappointed in myself for going out too fast and effectively thwarting a negative split.

i was struggling the whole time, but i managed to do some semblance of a sprint for the final stretch.  well, it FELT like a sprint, but it probably wasn't much of one. i didn't push hard enough to cry this time.  i suppose i'm not exactly in that mindset anymore, i am older but not quite wiser given that i still have no idea how to effectively pace myself.  

the race was fun.  the shirt is again a nice cotton long sleeve (the small is too big for me, but it is what it is), the medal is nice and doubles as a bottle opener,  and they had a well-supported finish with water and bananas.  a ticket for custard, a bloody mary at a brunch spot, and a coupon for another custard at a later date.

all in all, it's a nice flat, easy course.  today had barely any wind, which was also a blessing given that this is an open flat space, and if there were any wind, it would have been brutal coming right off the beautiful lake.  it was a really great way to start this sunday.  10/10 would do it again.

special thanks to celeste for sending me those photos!  you are the bees knees.  

Sweet Home Milwaukee - 5K

Sweet Home Milwaukee - April 24, 2016
time = 24:44:13
pace = 7:57
placed 6 in my age group (40-44) out of 103
placed 55 in women out of 999
placed 125 overall out of 1369
link to strava data

it seems that disappointment with my race results is a running theme.  although, this is not an unusual result for me for a 5K after i went back and looked at my average result for a 5K.  this is average for me.  not slow not fast... it's a bit slower (seconds) so probably not even worth mentioning.

since my last entry (4/10) my running has looked like this:

4/10 - 3.1m
4/11 - 3.1m
4/19 - 3.1m
4/21 - 3.1m

so i suppose it's safe to say that i should be happy with this time given the very minimal running i've managed.  in fact... since january my mileage has taken a nosedive to look like this:

january - 121
february - 23.5
march - 7.1
april - 15.5

where i'm at with my leg is this... my left leg has a pinched nerve somewhere which is causing me some issue.  my foot is going numb when i run, but the good news is that the tendonitis seems to have resolved?  of course, i'm barely running so maybe it hasn't.  i intend to pick up some mileage this coming week so we will see.  another issue i'm struggling with is my calves.  i have consistently had issues with them where the muscles (for lack of a more medical term) bunch up.  they get knots in them that then have to be "released" via A.R.T.  this is incredibly painful and my chiropractor (bless his heart) practices active release.  i have stopped going to my physical therapist because i felt he wasn't helping as much as i had hoped (he's not a runner) and i felt that the needling wasn't really getting to the root of the problem.  the active release works but i need to figure out what is causing the issue in the first place.  so after my last run my calves were really painful.  i could feel a knot in each one and no amount of rolling was getting them out.  it was painful to walk.  so i had my husband work on them the way my chiropractor had in office.  after the race i had my son continue to work on my right one and then my husband came in and simultaneously worked on the left.  my husband worked so hard on it that when it released it was so painful i burst into tears.  the right never released.  it is still incredibly painful.  i had no idea that the left had released until later when i had stopped sobbing.  it is crazy how painful it is.  my left leg feels great now but the right... man, that one really hurts.

so that's the body update.  let's get to the race.  i've been wanting to do this race ever since it's debut in 2015.  mostly because the t-shirt is awesome!  long sleeved cotton w/ the milwaukee skyline.  love it.  if you know anything at all about me you know that i absolutely HATE the 5K distance.  it is SO HARD!  i have found that sprinting for the duration of a race is not enjoyable to me.  sprinting in general is one of my least favorite things to do which is why i rarely work it into my training... much to the detriment of my speed i suppose. lol!  anyway... 5K... not my favorite.

i signed up for this race pretty early on and decided that in spite of my gross lack of training or any sort of running for that matter... i would still run it.  i really wanted the damn shirt!  so run it i did.

it was supposed to be 70 today.  it was not.  i got up to a balmy 42 degrees.  i opted to still wear capris and a tank.  i did end up turning the car around and going back for a long sleeve shirt because the wind was awful at the lakefront.  made it seem colder than it was for sure.  thankfully we now only live a 6min freeway drive from the lake so it wasn't much of an issue to go home and get another shirt.

arrived with plenty of time to get a great parking spot in veteran's park right by the kite dealer.  trip to the bathroom and a little warm up then back to the car.  waited there for a bit to stay out of the wind and then back to the bathroom to kill some time.  that's when i saw josh doing his warm-up so naturally i screamed his name.  we chatted for a minute and then i let him get back to it and i peed.

i got in my corral (yes a corral for a 5K)... and waited to run.  the first corral took off.  there were staggered starts and then my corral took off.  i thought i was going SO SLOW!  people were passing me like it was nothing.  all ho hum and jelly rum... just whizzing past me.  i was behind (what i assumed was) a dad and daughter team.  the dad yells to the daughter, cuz you know headphones, that they have to slow down... so i just stay behind them.  i stay behind them because frankly i'm happy they are going slower.  i'm already straining and feeling like a turtle.  i didn't look at my watch this whole time because i didn't want to be disappointed in my pace... i felt like i was moving so slowly and everyone was passing me by.

so the mile marker beeps and the dad man yells (cuz headphones) "that was a 7:30"  now i'm all... DAMN! i am running too flippin' fast!  there is no way i can maintain that pace for the duration.  mentally this man's blurt fucks me.  i start to slow down.  i realize how very hard that was to run that mile and already i'm going slower and slower and more and more people are passing me.  i should have turned my headphones up WAY louder!

so that dream team pulls away from me and i never see them again.  that's ok tho' cuz i'm just basically trying to stay alive and breath through this.

i am now looking at my watch every 4 to 5 seconds to see how much farther i have to keep this up.  i realize i have a littler over half way more to go and i keep plodding along.  i feel like a clydesdale.

little kids are passing me now... skipping along and playing tag.  well, ok... not really playing tag but there were kids who passed me.  small ones too!

finally i see i have about half a mile left to go and i look at my watch again... i'm running a damn 9 minute mile!  i am so sad... i really just want to lay down right there on the goose poop layered concrete next to the lovely lake... but i keep plodding along cuz... half a mile.  relentless forward movement.  right?  just keep moving.

finally i see the turn to the finish and i sprint... although, it might have just FELT like a sprint and not ACTUALLY been a sprint... i can't be sure.

i was just happy to be done.

the course was great.  flat, well marked, and lovely.  went around the lagoon, along the lakefront, and through veteran's park.  it's a nice little jaunt.  i can't really speak on the stuff after... i didn't stay.  they had bananas and oddly give out a finisher's medal which is weird for a 5K.  they were well organized and if this race weren't at the same time as beartrax at lapham i would probably do it again.  however, this race is always the same weekend as beartrax and i prefer trail races so i likely won't get to do this one again.  i recommend it if you like a fast and flat 5K.