Racing with the Stars 5k- Westminster

The only negative to this race was the cold weather. The was a first class event that I highly encourage runners of all abilities to compete in. The Westin provides a top shelf location for the staging area with indoor restrooms and spacious hallways to stretch (in case of cold weather like this year’s race).

The 5k course is an out and back. Even though the course has some concrete sections, these sections are mixed in with pavement and trail running. The course has several turns, so it is not super fast. Don’t look to set a pb here. Some out and back courses have problems with walkers meandering on all parts of the course but this was not a problem at Racing with the Stars. All of the runners kept to the proper side of the trail, which was a welcomed after several races this year where I saw different.

What is so novel about Racing with the Stars is the number of world class and National class “pacers”. Runners choose a projected finish, in my case 21 minutes, and then run with a professional athlete over the course. This unique idea worked out well, even if we did run a tad fast for the first mile. The pace groups are structured for all levels even runners under 16 minutes for 5k. Since the gaps are one minute, I recommend choosing the higher minute interval (if you run a 19.20, you choose a 20 minute pacer). My logic here is that having a pro pacer will force you to manage your run and leave you feeling strong for a spectacular kick. You will easily breeze past your pacer and reach the finish line in glory—if only all races could be like Racing with the Stars.

There are other aspects of this event that give it a superior rating. The post race food is plentiful. Mostly breakfast fare but lots of sports drinks to sample too. The shirt was a long sleeve, which came in handy for a lot of the runners due to the weather. There were also Racing with the Stars cowbells, drinking glasses and socks. It was an impressive array of freebies, the best I have seen this season.

I did not sample the post race expo due to a prior commitment. I wish that I would have had more time to do so as there were many booths I would have liked to visit. Racing with the Stars is also an event and race director’s dream with lots of information sessions on how to run a race. All aspects of event planning are covered. The range of speakers looked impressive but again, I was not able to attend any sessions due to previous commitments. I hope to contact the sponsors next year and provide a more detailed report on the entire three day session.

With all the positives, one might wonder why there were so few runners (80 or so for this race). A couple of thoughts jumped out at me in reflecting on this. The first is that the race is at the end of the season and away from a major holiday (such as a Turkey trot). The race is also later in the season, where many runners, myself included, are either taking time off, or in my case, building their base for next year. It’s a long season and thus one more race is not as appealing now as it was in July. Additionally, with most races event promoters can count on a healthy walk up registration. Since the weather was suspect, with clouds, wind and snow lurking, weekend runners are more likely to stay home. Finally, I suspect that some runners and I include myself in this group, like to view a history of a particular event before running in it. Details such as number of runners, race times an course commentary have helped me choose a particular event over simply going out on another training run.

As I reflect back on this particular race, smaller is larger. It was a real treat to have not one but two world class pacers for a group of three runners! Also, it might be much harder to get professional athletes to commit to this race if it occurred during the season.

I eagerly await the details for next years Racing with Stars. I will be adding it to my calendar for sure!

Thomas Denning