A little wind and cold weather never stops a runner. On Saturday morning, the La Porte Family YMCA hosted their 13th Annual 5K/10K run/walk at La Porte’s gorgeous Soldiers Memorial Park. The race gathered hundreds of experienced and new runners and walkers alike to kick of Northwest Indiana’s “racing season” and to bring together the La Porte community to exercise after a long winter.
The race, which is the YMCA’s first outside athletic event of the year with their annual triathlon coming up in August, is held in early March to give the YMCA enough space between the events and to help start the region’s busy racing season. Elizabeth Downs, race director and Healthy Living Director for the YMCA, stated that the race is a good way for people to get moving.
“This time of the year works out great for us, it helps us coordinate with the Calumet Striders, gives us a space to prepare for the triathlon, and really gets the runners started on their year. The attendance has been increasing every year, and it’s been a good event for us," Downs explained. “This 5K/10K walk/run gives us a chance to reach out to different people in the community. Triathlons tend to be intimidating and more for the serious athlete, but this gives us a chance to host something that really lets families and people of all ages take the morning to exercise and feel a little bit better about their day.”
Experienced runners, families, friends and co-workers all ran or walked the course together with everyone having a unique reason to take on the 5K/10K challenge. Anna Marie Jones, who ran the 5k with two of her co-workers from the Indiana Department of Transportation, stated that she came to the race to start getting her friends on a healthy start to the year.
“I’m the wellness champion for La Porte’s INDOT district, and I try to promote activities for all of us to do together that helps us do something good outside of work. Today’s race was a good first one to start on after the winter,” Jones stated. “My goal was to walk, run, or exercise outside because I plowed all winter and this was the first 5K I’ve done since 2010. It was a great run, we finished with a good time, and this park is absolutely beautiful - I’ve never been to it before but it’s really one of the best-looking races I’ve done.”
At the time most of the athletes had finished the race and were inside Cummings Lodge rehydrating, Patricia Day and her grandson were finishing the 5K. Day, who noted that the 5K was her first in over 70 years, said that she took on the challenge of “briskly walking” the course because she wanted to make memories for her grandchildren.
“My son runs marathons, qualifies for the Boston Marathon, runs ultra-marathons and I thought this would be a good memory for my grandkids that their "Grammy" too can finish a 5k. I think I came in last, but I started and I finished that’s what matters,” Day stated. “The weather was nice and cool, and that made everything a little easier. If the walk was about two and quarter miles, I would’ve been fine, but that last mile my grandson was walking the course with me backwards and helped me get through. This won’t be my last 5k, though. You’ll see me out there again.”
Next year the La Porte Family YMCA will host their 5K/10K for more families and first-timers, but this year’s run truly gave the La Porte community a chance to do something to kick of a healthier and brighter time of the year. It’s never too early to get a run in, and the participants of the race proved that no matter what, the challenge of a 5k or a 10k is really worth taking.