Diade los Muertos 5K- A Historic Experience

 

"The secret to change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old but building the new." -Socrates

After my last triathlon in August, I did some evaluation.  I need to better my 5 K run time.  I made some changes to my training routine.  Different run workouts and more strength work.

I know from the best racing is also a great way to make imporvements. I push myself much harder in a race than I do in a workout.  Chasing down the competition is a great way to drive performance and improvement.

So while looking for a 5K I had two choices on October 24 in my local area. One was a race offering carmel apples and hot cider after the race.  Sounds good, but I am trying to stay away from eathing sugar.

My other choice was the race I picked in Forest Home Cemetary.  This is a historic Milwaukee cemetary. The place is filled with rich and famous citizens from the beginning of the city to the present day. I have lived near this cemetary and driven past it many times, but I have never been inside.
The cemetary is also well known for its collection of beautiful trees.
There is a section just for the beer barons incluing Miller, Pabst, Blatz, and Best.  The monuments are really intersting.

The promient spared no expense and there was competition among families for the biggest markers.

In early Victorian times, there was a craze for Egyptian culture and history. So you will see the long, narrow monuments that copy Egyptian obelisks.

The weather was perfect for a fall day. The trees' fall colors were at their peak. The 5K course would wind through the most historic parts of the cemetery.  The name of the race translates to Day of the Dead. Rather appropriate, I would say.  There were also lots of runners in costumes. That is one of the best parts of a Halloween race.  

There was also a 1K kids race. It is so much fun to see the kiddos, and in some cases their parents line up at the start line.

I was going to try something new in this race. Normally, I alternate two minutes of fast running with two minutes of rest.  This is the kind of thing I do in speed workouts.

In this race, I was going to treat it like a tempo run. I would spend the first 10 minutes warming up, then push the pace as much as I could for the rest of the race, then do a 10-minute cooldown.

The course was pretty flat. There were 800  participants between the run and walk. It was fairly crowded in the roads. A woman near me seemed a bit faster, but she was doing a run-and-walk. I upped my pace a bit and passed her for good. The rest of the race was pretty routine. I enjoyed the run through the cemetery and seeing a bit of Milwaukee history.

I finished the race in 36:12. That is 3 minutes faster than the split from the 5K run of my last triathlon. It is 4 minutes faster than my last 5K race.   I finished 4th. If I had run the other race, I would have placed 2nd in my age group.

Next time, I am going to warm up before the race and push the pace the entire race; I think I can shave a couple more minutes off of my time. It gives me something to work on.

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Chris Wodke
Founder Team CMT
www.run4cmt.com

Chris is a triathlete, Nordic skier, and long-distance runner. She is a three-time participant in the Boston Marathon.  In 2012, she finished 2nd at Boston in the Mobility Impaired Division. She was on the course in 2013 when the bombs exploded.

She has appeared three times at the Paratriathlon National Triathlon Sprint Championship. She was the 2012 and 2014 National Champion, Paratriathlon Open Division Champion.

She has won national championships as a physically challenged athlete in Aqualon, Duathlon, Aqua bike, and Winter Triathlon. She was the national champion in her age group in 2023 for gravel duathlon.

 In 2014, she represented the U.S. as a Paratriathlete at the Pan-American Triathlon Championship in Dallas, Texas.  

She was the 2023 Gravel Duathlon National Champion in the 65-69 age group.

She has won state championships as an age-group athlete in cycling and triathlon. She has represented America as an age-group athlete at world championships in Chicago, Denmark, Cozumel, and Norway. She earned a bronze medal at the Winter Duathlon World Championship in 2023 in Norway.

In 2020, she was named a National Ski Patrol Subaru Ambassador and a USA Triathlon Foundation Ambassador.

She travels around the country raising awareness of CMT.

She is the author of the book “Running for My Life,” which details her experience as a CMT-affected athlete, and the book “Soup Sundays, A Journey Toward Healthy Eating”.

http://www.henschelhausbooks.com/catalog/memoir-biography/215-running-for-my-life-winning-for-cmt-9781595982827.html

You may visit her author page at:
http://www.amazon.com/Christine-Wodke/e/B00IJ02HX6

Team CMT is a group of athletes and supporters working to raise awareness and find a cure for CMT. We currently have 257 athletes in 43 states. We also have members in Australia, Canada, England, Finland, Vietnam, Iran, Scotland, France, Turkey, Poland, Norway, Mexico, Wales, Ireland, and Sweden! If you wish to join us, visit our website: www.run4cmt.com or www.hnf-cure.org

CMT or Charcot-Marie-Tooth is the most commonly inherited peripheral neuropathy. It affects over 155,000 Americans (as many as MS).  It is a disease of the nerves that control the muscles. It is slowly progressive, causing loss of normal function and or sensation in the lower legs/feet and arms/hands.

Symptoms include: muscle wasting in the lower legs and feet leading to foot drop, poor balance, and gait problems. Atrophy in the hands causes difficulty with manual dexterity.

Structural foot deformities such as high arches and hammer toes are common.

Poor tolerance for cool or cold temperatures, and many people have chronically cold hands and feet. 

Additional symptoms may include fatigue, sleep apnea, breathing difficulties, and hearing loss.

 

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