Operation FINALLY Home 5K

May 27, 2023 - Menomonee Falls, WI

Very crowded on a thin park pathway, but a great group of people and a good cause. Came in 3rd in my age group! Finally not the last of the finishers! This was a fairly last minute race that I signed up for, with it originally being a rest and relaxation weekend to actually be recovered before my second year doing the Lake Mills Triathlon the following weekend. I decided rest is for the dead and signed up, they promised a paved trail run and an included t-shirt! Both of those things were true and the start/finish area was nestled up to the Menomonee River, quite possibly THE Menomonee Fells! The water was calm and peaceful with a great amount of shade in the start/finish area, the registration and packet pickup process was well organized and painless, Silver Circle Sports Events does a great job at this and is always full of excellent people running the event.

The Run

I was sporting one of my many Team RWB performance shirts for the run, GORE Ultimate 2in1 running shorts, Swiftwick Flite XT socks, and On Cloudsurfer 7s; I was set and ready to look fast and run moderately quicker than a walk! I lined up in a spot about 3/4th of the way back in the pack, where I thought my fellow "almost runner" would be and kept my dynamic wiggling going to maybe be properly warmed up for the coming run. The gun went off, clock began, I pushed start on my Garmin Forerunner 965, and we were off! A little bit of an airborne shuffle through the thin corridor passed the "luxury apartments" and the festival that was still setting up the trail opened up to a scenic route through the old lime kilns, I started passing people. This felt really good because I was feeling fresh, fast, and like I could really do great on this run... maybe set a new PR? No. The trail squeezed back into a tight, wooded trail that cold comfortable be 3 or 4 people wide in total, not including those with stroller or wide gaits, the wide arm swingers or the wobblers. There was no room to pass and no room to run, I was trapped in a cage of people for the foreseeable few minutes. This was fine, but also crippled my excitement from the initial speed of the opening 1 kilometer, slowing my pace quite a bit and limiting the Cloudsurfers from doing what they're great at, launching you forward on a wave of cushion. This hurt, like, actually hurt. My legs were still clearly fatigued from the previous weekend's Pewaukee Duathlon and only the slow shuffle of a large crowd of runners on a thin trail could make that clear to me, the worst was we were barely over 20% through the route! I pushed onward, slowing to a fast walking pace when shuffling forward was too inefficient, which was often, trying to run when the opportunity presented itself. Luckily I gained a huge appreciation for the "run walk run" method that Garmin run coach Jeff Galloway likes to include in his run plans, I was about 12 weeks into a Coach Galloway 10k plan and had gained an incredible appreciation for "run walk run" long run days. just after the second kilometer, I was about to cross a footbridge over a stream and I saw a family shape. A red shirt bearing an eagle and seven letters, it was another Team RWB member directing runners into an opening toward the half-way point and aid station! I picked up my pace as though we were lifelong best friends, I had met him before, mostly over the Milwaukee chapter Zoom meetings the previous years. He sees me, wearing the same shirt but in white and yells to me "Hey Eagle! You've got this buddy, cool water up ahead! Great work!" and stretches his arm and hand out for a high-five, I gleefully reach out to grant that high-five! This was a new wind, I tell myself to not stop running until I reach the aid station and it's sure to be refreshing water. This is exactly what I did, ran until I got to that aid station! There were prefilled paper cups and a large cooler with a spout, I went the spout route as I almost always run with a water bottle, filled my bottle up, thanked the folks running the aid station, and continued back on the path I just ran there on, remember how thin I said this path was, it gets worse. I was still in the middle of the pack and was about to head into a swarm of uncomfortably tight path condition. I made it back to my fellow Eagle, over the bridge and back into the woods. This is where the thin trail really showed it's flaws in a larger group run, I was heading back, others were heading out, some were just stopped, so many strollers! Just another challenge for the run but I was making my way back to the finish line. I powered onward, walking when needed, the fast breakaway at the beginning of the run made me forget that it was also downhill. The old lime kilns we passed on the way out were perched atop a hill, by the falls... the Menomonee Falls. I walked most of this hill, I was gassed. Between the heat and all of the speed up, slow down, run on grass/mud, back to trails was exhausting, but I knew this would open up to the festival that was still setting up and shortly after the finish line at the park! I could hear the bells and crowd, that was the exactly the boost I needed to get my feet moving faster. Still low to the ground but at a higher cadence, another Coach Galloway drill staple, speed up to a run and use that momentum to coast a bit. I turned onto the path in front of the luxury apartments and hit the gas... I was not going to finish with a walk, I would finish with everything I've got! I pushed toward the finish, saw the clock, the timing mat, the banners, DONE! I wanted to stop right there, but I could feel I was lightheaded, a little dizzy even. Ali came up to me to congratulate me on finishing, I said "lets just, just, lets just keep walking to that shade over there." She helped by grabbing my bottle and guiding me for a short cool down walk. We then took a seat, I stretched out and cheered on the rest of the finishers. For grins, I checked my placement in my age group, 30-34, usually a pretty large and competitive groups. I got 3rd place! Incredible! When I heard my name called for a placement medal, I still couldn't believe it! I walked up, got my medal, and took a picture with the organizers. After returning to the table that Ali and I had taken refuge at, a man walks up and reminds me that we met at the Vet's Day 5k last Veteran's Day. He is one of the organizers for Operation Finally Home, a non-profit that builds homes for veteran's and their families. We had spoken in November about a project where they were planning to build a number of tiny homes for homeless veteran's and were partnering with one of my work's sister companies to develop and build them. We chatted for a bit until he was pulled away, being one of the event sponsors and organizers, he was quite busy.

Final Thoughts

All in all, this was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning and a great way to show support for those military and veteran's who have paid the ultimate price for freedom. This was the second event I've done that was put on by Silver Circle and I'll be sure to look at the other events they have going on, they've always been well organized with the conditions given and seem to draw a good crowd, both in size and comradery. Genuinely nice people and a fun event, even if the path did get very crowded for a while there. Thank you for reading my story and taking the time to look at my content. I like doing these activities to continue my path toward being more physically fit and engaging with others in the community. If you'd like to join me for one of these events, I try to keep them updated on my Bitly links and I'm probably going to start listing them here on a new page of my website, as well. If you'd like to support me, check out my affiliate links, my YouTube, and Instagram. I earn a small commission from things purchased through my links and get about $25 worth of ad revenue from YouTube a month, small but almost enough to offset some of the 5k entry fees! Thank again and have a wonderful day!