Valparaiso 5K9 Race Recap

Taking it easy — or at least trying to. 😄

This was never meant to be a race. Two days out from the Chicago Spring Half Marathon, the Valparaiso 5K9 was on the schedule as a shakeout run to help keep the legs moving and stay loose. I almost did not even make it to the start line. But we got there, we ran, and somehow the one time I was not trying was the one time I could have won my age group.

Getting there was an adventure

The race start was already pushed back 30 minutes because of other events in town causing traffic. No big deal, we had the extra time. Or so we thought. About ten minutes into the drive, we realized we had left our bibs sitting at home. Full turnaround, back to the house, grabbed the bibs, back on the road. By the time we found parking and made it to the start line, we had maybe five minutes to spare.

Not exactly the calm, relaxed shakeout warmup I had pictured. But we made it. And honestly the chaos of getting there probably helped shake off any pre-race nerves before the one that actually mattered on Sunday.

About the course

The Valparaiso 5K9 does not let you ease in. The race kicks off with a big climb right out of the gate! Calves immediately awake, whether you want them to be or not and continues rolling through smaller hills throughout. It is not a flat, fast course, which was completely fine given that flat and fast was not the goal today. The weather was warm but nothing unbearable, and since I was keeping the effort genuinely easy it was not much of a factor.

Running in the new shoes

I wore my Nova Blast 5s again, the same pair that had my legs feeling unexpectedly achy during the last couple of runs in taper week. This is my third pair of this exact shoe, which is what made the achiness so strange. I know this shoe. I have put a lot of miles in it. So I wanted to give them one more run before deciding whether they were coming with me to the half on Sunday.

Honest verdict: hard to tell. When the course starts with a big uphill, your calves are going to protest no matter what is on your feet. I could not get a clean read on how the shoes were actually feeling when the terrain was already doing its own thing. I filed it away and decided I would sort it out Sunday morning.

How the run went

Really good, actually. Easy effort, comfortable pace, just moving through the miles without chasing anything. That is exactly what a shakeout is supposed to feel like. I was not watching my splits, I was not racing anyone, and I crossed the finish feeling like I had done something good for my legs instead of something that was going to cost me two days later.

And then I checked my stats. Based on who had come in before me, my normal sub 30 time could have placed me first in my age group. Of course it could have. The one time I am not going for it is the one time it would have counted. I laughed, took the compliment from the universe, and reminded myself that Sunday was what we actually trained for.

Post-race reward

Ice cream. Obviously.

Shakeout complete. Ice cream absolutely earned. 🍦

What is next

Sunday. The Chicago Spring Half Marathon. Everything we have been building toward since January. This race was the final tune-up, and it did exactly what it was supposed to. It kept me moving, kept me loose, and sent me into the weekend feeling good. You can follow the full training journey on my Training & Progress page, and the half marathon recap will be up shortly after Sunday.