Nathan and I signed up for a SUMMER 5K, something I haven’t done in YEARS. Honestly, super hot and humid races are not a favorite for me and I can never do my best. So, I decided to run this one for fun! We have had a REALLY hot summer here in St. Louis and it was 84 degrees at the race start. The St. Louis area had been under a heat advisory for weeks, so I was glad the race started early. I ran a mile to warm up and to get my heart rate up and I knew then that this race wasn’t going to be fun even at a moderate pace. But, it was beautiful, for a good cause (ALS) and the boxed lunch afterwards was delicious. Nathan’s old schoolmate from high school (and they work together now!) and his sister and parents came along for the race. It was fun to get a group together and we may do a Turkey Trot next!
The race was in Kimmswick, MO, which isn’t too far outside St. Louis County. It was maybe a 15-20 minute drive from our house. There are a lot of cute restaurants and shops in Kimmswick, MO. The race was hosted by Blue Owl Bakery, which is my favorite restaurant in Kimmswick!
The Blue Owl is famous for its Levee High Apple Pie, a marvel with over a dozen layers of apples, praised by Forbes and featured as one of Oprah’s Favorite Things. They had some pies wrapped up for prizes and they all looked delicious!
The course was pretty nice and made up for the heat! We ran through historic Kimmswick, along the Mississippi River, the Anheuser Estate, and the Windsor Harbor Bridge—the oldest known wrought iron bridge in Missouri.
I finished at 30:10 at a 9:43 pace. I’ll take it, it was HOT and I was really just running it for fun! It is crazy how much your heart rate will go up for SUPER hot runs! I feel some people push it too much and there were a lot of people getting sick on the course and having breathing issues! I was so glad when they greeted everyone with an ice cold bottle of water and a towel at the finish line!
They took a professional photo of Nathan and me before the race. We are all sweaty before even running!
The Blue Owl gave everyone a boxed lunch after the race. It was a smallish turkey sandwich with Lays potato chips and a gooey butter cookie. I think every race should end with a boxed lunch! It was still breakfast, but I gobbled it down!
Here is the race shirt and the 5K medal. I love the color of the shirt! I did pay extra for the medal, but I like to have a medal for each race I do. I would do this race again, but probably not every year. It was just TOO hot!!
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