R and J in the USA

August 24, 2024

It was a sunny Saturday morning in Skokie, Illinois. The day would end up being a 90 degree scorcher, but was a manageable 75 degree simmer at the 8:30 AM start time of the Backlot Dash 5K.

The Backlot Dash 5K was part of Skokie’s annual Backlot Bash, a three-day festival that includes live music, a carnival, and a number of other street festival-type things. The festival’s name pays homage to the black and white silent film era, when Skokie served as the back lot for many Chicago film studio movies. A full century on, the Backlot Dash had the full color palette of a bustling village morning and the tinny sound of the bullhorn-armed race director counting down to the start.

“Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”

At the end of the countdown the mass coil of runners ready to spring forward…did nothing. The front of the pack runners and the race director looked at each other for a few confused seconds. The race director seemed to expect the runners to start at the end of the countdown. The runners seem to expect a more definitive command than a zero. Finally, after three seconds that seemed like thirty, the director shouted, “Go!”

And we went, all 280 of us. Along the flat, fast, nine-turn course. Past businesses. Past parks. Through tunnels of trees and houses. Back to the finish line on the edge of the Village Green.

The overall winner finished in 18:09, a 5:50 per mile pace. He was one of three runners averaging below a 6:00 per mile pace. The top female runner, finishing 7^th overall, came in at 20:02, a 6:28 per mile pace. She demolished the women’s field, finishing more than three minutes ahead of the 2^nd place female runner. (Full results here.)

Farther back in the pack, Julie scored another age group win, finishing 1^st of 15 in her age group and 51^st of 280 overall. Ryan claimed 3^rd place out of 15 in his age group, and finished 25^th overall.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

Julie came into Illinois race DETERMINED with one goal on her mind: negative splits. After seeing the same pattern play out in each race with her running what felt easy at the beginning and then struggling to hold on for mile 3, Julie was determined to run a first mile that she knew she could improve upon in mile 2 and mile 3. If there is any hope of Julie eventually improving upon her times, she knows she’s gotta nail this down and stop pushing herself to the edge early in the race. In Skokie, Illinois, she succeeded. 

She decided to psych herself up for the challenge by starting in the way back. She knew she would have trouble reigning in the urge to start fast with the crowd if she started further up. Even when she is specifically focusing on avoiding it, she often falls prey to giving in to the adrenaline. So, she started in the back of the crowd, where the starting times would be slower than where she wanted to be. The strategy worked. Even though she was passing folks for the first 1st mile, it was at a nice and easy pace of 8:49. Then, for mile 2, she picked up the pace just a touch and dropped down to 8:41. So far, so great. Then, with mile 3, she just pushed it a little more down to an 8:22. And her average heart rate for this little experiment was only 138. Julie considered it a win, and still delivered a time that was sometimes a time she had to fight for. 

As for Ryan, he continued to deliver on expectations of both race pattern and continuous improvement. He started out near the front of the crowd with a 7:45 mile 1, dropping down to a 7:40 in mile 2, and then a 7:20 in mile 3, finishing with an overall time of 23:15. He was working hard and definitely racing at this point, but also holding steady. Julie’s prediction stands, as he dropped nearly a full minute from our Iowa race the weekend before. 

Both Ryan and Julie took home medals again. Julie was 1st in her age group and Ryan 3rd in his, a reflection that the 50-59 year old males are commonly performing higher than the 40-49 year old females. But since Julie can no longer beat Ryan in a race, she enjoys being able to beat him on their respective podiums. Ryan, however, did one better. When he looked down at his medal, he saw he had taken home the 2nd place medal for 50-59 year old FEMALES. Pretty impressive. He realized that he did not qualify for this group and returned his medal. It turns out the race organizers got a little confused in their medal arrangement, so someone out there has Ryan’s medal. He’s not losing too much sleep over it.