On a relatively cool morning, at least for the Fourth, about 125 runners and walkers from around East Central gathered to take part in this 16th annual 5K and 10K tradition starting near the Millcreek Civic Center in downtown Chesterfield, IN.

I ran a decent race, considering my pre-race preparations (eating ribs and staying out until 1:30am watching the midnight parade!).  My time was 43:05, with my splits being 6:25, 6:26, 7:27, 6:36, 7:26, 7:00, 1:45.  Don’t get too excited about my uneven looking splits.  I was told that the overall race was exactly 6.2 by GPS, but the individual miles weren’t marked correctly.  So those middle couple miles where my times varied by a minute were long, short, and long respectively!

The course overall is pretty flat.  10K runners start with the 5K group, running through Chesterfield and down the hill to the river level.  The 5K group then runs into the Greenhill (?) addition up a hill and turns around.  The 10K proceeds through “Deadman’s curve” before heading up a hill.  The 10K had 3 water stops and a 4th “rouge” stop!  The only other hill of significance is right before the 6 mile mark, although there are some smaller hills leading into that.

The race started approximately on time and was supported well by the Chesterfield Police force. Each mile mark was marked and had someone reading off overall race time, which was appreciated. At the finish there was water and making the short walk back to the Civic Center they had water, bananas, cookies, apples, and WATERMELON to rehydrate and replenish your body!!

Unfortunately, we waited a long time after the completion of the race it was around 10:30 (8:30 start), before the awards started.  This was actually better than last year, so that is encouraging! All winners received plaques.

I haven’t done this for other races, but click here to see a map of the actual course. I’ll post overall results when I get them.