Race Recap: Charity Chase 5K

Hey guys! Yesterday morning I ran the Charity Chase in Mobile, AL.

The Charity Run is an organization that raises funds and increases awareness for nonprofit organizations across the United States. They partner with charities to help them achieve their fundraising goals through our 5K race series, The Charity Chase.

Runners choose the local charity of their choice and compete to win money for their charity. The selected charity receives part of your registration fee and the charity that the overall male and female winners run for got 10% of all of the registration fees. Such a neat concept!

This race was kind of a last-minute addition to my schedule. A week or so ago my friend Jill (who works for Ransom Ministries) asked if I would be interested in running for them. Of course! I loved the idea and I had one goal … to WIN.

Jessica ran the race too, so we met and rode across the bay together. We got to the race around 7 and had plenty of time to get in a good warm up and hit the (nice, warm, indoor) bathrooms (twice). The race took place in Mobile on the campus of the University of South AL. The 5K started at 8:20 a.m. There was also a fun run that started at 8:00 a.m.

It was a pretty chilly morning (mid-40s) and I had a hard time figuring out the proper layering. I went back and forth between my singlet and arm warmers or the long sleeve shirt under the singlet (which is what I went with). I probably would’ve been fine even with just the singlet, but sometimes it’s just hard to decide! Running should be so simple and yet, somehow it gets complicated sometimes. ‘Tis life.

It was fun to run a 5K without any specific time goals. Usually I have some sort of goal range in mind going into a race, but I didn’t for this race. I just wanted to do whatever it took to win and bring home the monies for Ransom! Rock N Roll New Orleans half is NEXT WEEKEND and I did my regular workouts this week. We made a slight adjustment to my schedule to change my long run to mid-week and replaced the tempo run that was supposed to be mid-week with this 5K.

The course had a few rolling hills, but was otherwise wonderful! After the first quarter to half mile or so I was leading for the females. I came through mile 1 in 6:08. There were probably about 10 or so guys in front of me through the first mile. I was happy with 6:08 and felt good. I started slowly picking guys off during the second mile. I came through mile 2 in 5:58. At this point, I was in 5th overall, which is where I stayed for the rest of the race.

The last mile was definitely the toughest mile. Those rolling hills that I mentioned happened to all be placed in mile 3 (at least it seemed that way). I was in no man’s land the entire mile, which also made it tougher. I could see Young Daniel and Brandon ahead of me, but there was no way I was going to catch them (b-t-dubs Young Daniel ran a PR! (18:39)). I came through mile 3 in 6:17 and finished with a time of 19:17.

Jessica, Daniel and I ran the course again as a cool down after the race and we actually missed the awards. They were super efficient! I guess having the fun run before the 5K made it easier to get the awards done quickly.

All in all, it was a fun race and one that I would definitely do again. I am so happy to help raise a little bit of money for Ransom Ministries. I’ve said it many times, but our primary goal is to glorify God with our running. The Charity Chase was an awesome opportunity to do just that! Every day that I run I am thankful for the opportunity and ability to run.