Shape Up Montana "Virtual" 5K Fun Run Review

For the fourth consecutive year, my Montana family and I are participating in Shape Up Montana. It's a three-month fitness and nutrition program offered through Big Sky State Games. Each team member earns points for their team based on the activity they do. Teams compete against each other based on an average points-per-person comparison. This year, in addition to participating on my own team, I also helped organize and coordinate three teams at the school where I work. All of our teams are having a lot of fun getting in shape through friendly competition.

Registered Shape Up Montana participants receive a t-shirt and a printable bib to wear for the Fun Run.

Each week, Shape Up Montana issues a different Weekly Challenge. The week of March 21-27, the challenge was to participate in a Virtual 5K Run/Walk. In the past, my family team has done this together on the farm. This year, I thought it would be cool to organize a fun run on a slightly larger scale and invite anyone from any of our area teams to join. So, I organized a very informal "All-Comers 5K Fun Run/Walk," which was held this past Saturday of Easter weekend. It was a free, un-timed event for anyone to come and do, whether they are in Shape Up or not. No t-shirts, no race bibs, no swag, no post-race snacks. Just fitness and community.

With 36 people participating in Shape Up Montana on our four local teams, I thought there'd be a decent chance that some people would want to come and do it together, but I didn't really know what to expect for turnout.

Jeff and I arrived in town a little past 9:00 a.m. and marked the course with orange spray paint for the run/walk, which would start at 10:00. Around 9:15 or so, the first participants began to show up. You may recall that I'm one of the Track and Field coaches for our High School team. As coaches, we decided that the student-athletes could participate in the Fun Run as a optional track practice-- these were the first attendees to arrive. I ended up having eight High School and two Junior High tracksters participate in the Fun Run, which I thought was pretty cool.

Here's the route. We started in front of the school and went around the block once, then around "The Loop" once before finishing back in front of the school. 

We warmed up as a team in the gym, and as it began to approach 10:00 a.m., other community members, Shape Up Montana participants, family, and friends began to trickle in. I didn't count, but I'd estimate we had a turnout of 35-40 people. I consider that to be pretty successful. It was about 35 degrees outside with a little bit of wind, so I don't know whether that affected anyone's decision to come out or not, but overall, I thought that was pretty good weather for this time of year.

I gathered everyone at the start/finish line a little before 10, thanked them for coming, explained what Shape Up Montana is and described the route we'd be taking, and then we were off!

Jeff and I ran very close to the same pace, and Harvey ran with us, too. We decided this time to keep him off-leash and see how he would do. He stayed near both of us the entire race, and he had the good sense to do "his business" out in a farm field where we wouldn't have to pick it up. Harvey was a little nervous with all the people gathered around at the start of the race, but once we started running, he seemed to enjoy himself. If we continue to take him to fun runs, I'm hoping we can continue to do it off-leash. After the race, Harvey enjoyed lots of pets and scratches from the track kids and other race participants. And, he was the First Place Dog (aka only dog)- I think that sealed the deal for him having a nice time!

As far as my own "race," well, I struggled to catch my wind and the whole three mile run really felt like it took more effort than normal. I timed myself using my Strava app and I finished in 28:51, which is on the slower side for me. To be fair, I didn't really warm up adequately, and I had slept very poorly the night before, so maybe that's why I didn't run that fast. Either way, the event was more about other people having a good time than it was for me to get a PR or anything like that, so it didn't bother me too much.

Jeff was really happy with his time, which was about five seconds behind mine. He has been working really hard to bring his 5K times down, and has had a lot of success on the treadmill that hasn't translated outside. This "race" was a good confidence booster for him, and a new outdoor PR!

Jeff and I waited around the finish line for other people to reel it in. I cheered especially loud for my track athletes as they crossed the line. Our season has just begun, and many of them are not really in shape to run 3.1 miles yet, but their performances really impressed me. We even had a few throwers who came and ran and did very well. As soon as all the track kids came in, we went back in the gym to static stretch as a team and I congratulated them on a job well done.

Then, I headed back outside to watch more people finish and cheer on family members- Tom and Carol both walked it. Afterwards, Jeff and I joined them and another group of walkers at the Cafe for some post-race fueling.

All in all, I consider the event to be a great success. I organized it with minimal effort and tagged it as a Free, All-Comers Fun Run/Walk. No goody bags, no t-shirts, no bibs, no awards or prizes, no post-race snacks-- just fitness and community. I am really pleased with the turnout on a cool day with minimal advertising. All in all, the numbers were pretty good. As I said, we had 10 track athletes, plus 9 or 10 Shape Up Montana participants, and many other community members. Most of all, everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves and to be glad they had come out. To me, that is the most satisfying feeling- that I helped organize an event to build community through fitness and exercises. Mission: accomplished!

Getting ready for the start of the run!