The BV Memorial 5K+1 is a special race put on by friends, Linda and Stan Valley in memory of their son Brian to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities of Arkansas. You can read more about Brian’s story here. The race distance is actually 4.1 miles as Brian would have wanted us to go the extra mile for Ronald McDonald House!

When the Valleys started this race in 2012 their goal was to put on the race for 10 years or until they raised $100,000. As of this writing, they are very close to their fundraising goal and 2020 will be the last running of the BV Memorial 5K+1!

Even though this is a small race, the Valleys do everything in a BIG way! The race goody bags are packed full of fun and useful items, the t-shirts are cute, and there is lots of food for the runners and volunteers to enjoy after the race.

Storms and torrential rains threatened this year’s race. But God was good, and the rain eased up before the start of the race and the storms and heavy rains held off until later in the day. Pretty sure the heavy rains prior to race affected attendance, but that also meant everyone who showed up was almost guaranteed an award!

This race took place on Saturday, April 13th, two weeks following the Run Bentonville Half Marathon. I still had not bounced back from that race. My legs felt heavy and tired. I also did not heed my own advice and had not planned my meals or eaten as well the week of this race so I’m sure this affected how I felt as well as my recovery from the half.

My plan for this race was just to enjoy the run in the rain and have fun while supporting the Valleys. There is a long gradual uphill in the first and third mile and a pretty nice down hill in the final mile. I wanted to run between 8 and 8:30 on the uphill miles and closer to 8 on the downhill miles. My splits were 8:06, 8:05, 8:58, and 8:15. After the first half mile, I ran the remainder of the race in 4th place female. I won my age group with a final time of 34:24. Race results can be found here.

The last two miles of this race felt really hard. I could not make my legs go any faster in that third mile. And I was really surprised that I couldn’t gain any more momentum than I did on the downhill of the last mile. However, despite having tired legs, I was pleased with my effort. I certainly didn’t push as hard has I had at Bentonville, but I also gave myself permission mid race to back off.

This race helped me see that I need to be diligent with my diet in the recovery phase of a hard race. It also helped me in picking a goal for my next half marathon in two weeks. I had thought I would spend April working on getting faster, however, April has been more about taking care of myself and awareness of what my body needs physically, mentally and emotionally.

That being said, I have big plans to redeem myself next year and run the final BV Memorial 5K+1 in under 30 minutes!

A special shout out to my team of recruiters from Career Staffing Services and their families for working the first water stop! They did a great job and I appreciate the cheers and high fives.