St Paddy’s Day 5K

A nice spring road race to get the legs moving again. A lot of enthusiastic participants, which makes the event fun, but also makes the course a bit congested. Packet pickup was well organized. Plenty of parking. Nice tech tee. Course is not pancake flat, but also not overly hilly.
Note: Comments are based on participation in 2014.

Very fun and well organized. The course is a bit too crowded with tight turns that slow it down even more. I will run again though.

I wasn’t a participant OR a supporter. I thought I might come down a bit early, perhaps sell some gloves and scarves, but everyone was already prepared. Walked from the start of the race, up to the high school (where the parade began), around the school parking lot a couple times, BACK down to downtown where the race began and the parade ended, and up and down downtown WITH about 50 lbs. of beads, hats, gloves and scarves on my back.
All in all, I walked MORE than the 5k’ers…not as quickly, but lugging around merchandise, so I think I did even better than the runners!
Next year, if you see a lady with a suitcase and a bag of stuff (me) buy a scarf or something to help me out! :)

This was a sentimental run for me. My first race after having knee surgery. I was terriffied. I had been kind to my knee by cushioning my runs with a treadmill but taking it out on the open road was a different story.
I was very excited to see a fun 5K in the burbs. It’s such a pain to trek downtown on early Sunday mornings and pay $ 20 to park for an hour.
Registration ran me $ 30 and included a dri-​fit race shirt (fit was pretty true to size). Packet pick up was incredibly easy at the Naperville Running Company and workers there were incredibly friendly.
Off to the race…
First off, it was COLD! Thankfully two blocks away from the start line was some sort of park district building where racers could warm up and go potty (there were also a handful of port-​o-​potties at gear check) before lining up the start line.
Loved that the course weaved in and out of downtown Naperville (I did a little window shopping as I ran past the stores). Mile markers were a bit difficult to see since they were just staked in the ground but volunteers along the course would update you on your progress. Some unexpected inclines but otherwise a mostly flat course.
Water station workers were amazing and efficient. No stopping to pick up a cup of H20, they were ready and waiting for portable consumption in the volunteers hands. I’m pretty convinced that I have them to thank for breaking my personal record for a 5K!
I can’t comment on the post race party since I didn’t attend, but maybe next year!

Congested. Squeezy. Fun… Race! Whew! I have to agree with Ericka A. about the incredibly narrow running paths we were led through, but all in all, it was a great race. Having been really sick the past few days while subsiding on meals of water, Imodium A-​D, crackers, aspirin and Pepto-​Bismol, sweating it all out was a real dizzying treat.
The t-​shirts were nice and the goody bags weren’t too full of junk. The Kashi granola bars and water were spot on, too. FREE parking all around was a win and the start/​finish line was close enough to everything you could possibly want after a race. That meant no skippin’ on on Bikram class following the race.

2011 marked the first year of the St. Paddy’s Day 5K. It was put together by the Rotary Club of Naperville Sunrise, in cooperation with West Suburban Irish, and proceeds from the event went to the Meals-​on-​Wheels program. Like most other races, they made it incredibly easy to sign up online and gave the option to pick up packets at Naperville Running Company or on-​site on the day of the race.
The 5K is held in the morning, mid-​march in Historic Downtown Naperville. The race, run and walk kick off the Naperville St. Patrick’s Day Parade. I didn’t stay for the parade, but I really liked the majority of the race. You go up and down Mill Street for about 2 miles and finish the last mile on Jefferson and Main. For the most part, the roads are flat. There were a few low-​grade inclines, but not even enough to be called hills.
Certain parts of the race were less than desirable. On-​site packet pickup was chaotic, many volunteers seemed to have no clue what was going on, and the actual event pre/​post-​area was small. Nothing glaringly horrible, though. There were about 1700 participants and we were confined to 2-​lane streets. Sometimes the roads narrowed and made it difficult to pass at certain areas. I also attribute that to people not having the common courtesy to do as Ludacris sings, «Move *****, get out the way!»