Two 5ks in 2 days! That’s right, I participated in the Glo Run 5k on a Friday night, then the GO! St. Louis Run at the Raceway on Saturday night. The GO! St. Louis Run at the Raceway kicked off a week of racing themed events around the St. Louis metro area as a part of the “St. Louis Speed Festival”. Taking place at Gateway Motorsports Park, the night consisted of a 1 mile run, a 5k, and a Beer Relay. I participated in just the 5k, but had many friends in the various events. There were even challenge medals for competing in multiple events that night.
Covering nearly 200 acres, Gateway Motorsports Park is the largest outdoor entertainment facility in the St Louis region, encompassing a ¼-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip, 1.25-mile superspeedway, 1.6- mile road course, a state-of-the-art Karting facility and a new 14-acre, multi-purpose dirt off-road venue.
Check-in
I arrived at the racetrack as the National Anthem was playing before the 1 mile run, which started at 6pm. The 5k was to start at 7pm, with the beer relay to run in heats starting at 8:30pm. The check-in tent was easy to spot, with NO line! Registration included a racer tank in red, along with a chipped time bib. I immediately ran into some of my friends from Big River Training Team who were waiting for the 5k and beer relay. We also had friends volunteering at the finish line, so chatted with them a bit while we were all waiting.
The Course
The 5k began and finished on the drag strip and included a loop of the racing oval. While advertised that the run would take place at dusk under the lights of the race track, sunset is not until after 8pm, so it was still light for the 7pm 5k and no lights were on. A little disappointing. It was still very cool to run on the race track though and was a little unusual to run on such a high bank at the end of the oval. Being on an IndyCar and drag racing courses, the race was flat.
Finish Line
We finished on the drag strip where we started. There was an announcer saying each of our names as we approached the finish line. Upon crossing the finish line, we were handed a bottle of water. Turning the corner, there was a line up of sports drink, various pretzels (rods, sticks, traditional, nuggets), and bananas. We were then handed our medals.
Conclusion
Participating in various GO! St Louis events before, they are all really well ran. I’d love if this race could be pushed back a little to actually run under the lights. A may have a slight obsession with night races now, with the Glo Run the night before and I just signed up for the Equinox half marathon, a night time race taking place at Westport Plaza in St Louis next month.
Interested in joining a future GO! St Louis event? Check out their website. They have all sorts of challenges you can sign up for by either racing multiple events in the same weekend or the same event at different race weekends. I completed the 5k Challenge last year, running three different 5ks – GO! St Louis in April, All American in June and GO! Halloween in October. I’ll be running the GO! Halloween half marathon this year.
Upcoming GO! St Louis events
- October 22, 2017 – The Great GO! St Louis Halloween Race
- Half marathon, 10k, 5k, 1 mile
- April 6-8, 2018 – GO! St. Louis Marathon & Family Fitness Weekend
- Marathon, half marathon, marathon relay, 7K, 5K run/walk, GO! St. Louis Read, Right & Run Marathon, children’s fun runs and a mature mile
