If anyone out there knows where Villa Ridge, Illinois is, give yourself a hand. There can't be that many people who do. I traveled to this unincorporated village in Pulaski County today to run in the 3rd annual Strawberry Day 5k.
This was my first time in Villa Ridge and Pulaski County, but this race was special for me for another reason. I ran it with my 8-year-old son, making this the first time he and I have done a race together.
I ran this race because it is the only race in Pulaski County, a tiny county on the Ohio River a good four hour drive from Springfield.
My wife had to work all week-end, so my son and I turned this into a male-bonding event. We left Springfield around noon on Friday and meandered our way down to southern Illinois. We spent the night in Marion, then in the morning drove the 40 minutes to Villa Ridge for the 9 a.m. race.
The race is small, maybe 40 runners and walkers. The course is simple: up a road, around a bend to a pretty church, and back down the road. The course had a few hills but other than the church it wasn't very scenic. However, it was a beautiful day for a run, so I found it very enjoyable.
Strawberry Day itself is also pretty small. I bought some strawberries, which were delicious, but we didn't partake in the free pancake breakfast. The people putting on this race were all very nice and they did a good job putting on the event. They had popsicle stick scoring, which meant no race numbers, but they also had a professional clock at the end of the race. The shirts for the event were high quality and attractive. I really applaud the people who put on this race for a job well done.
My son and I ran together on the course and he had to walk a lot. Still, we ended up with a time of 30:30 for him and 30:38 for me. After having to walk parts of the race, he sprinted at the end and dusted me (I am not a sprinter), even passing another runner. He wound up finishing tenth overall and I got 12th. I might have been top three or four, had I been able to run my own race, but it was better this way.
We had an enjoyable drive back, after Ben picked up his medal for finishing first in his age group. I finished second in my three-person age group, which also garnered me a medal.
This race makes Pulaski County the 61st county I have run a race in as I seek to run a race in all 102 Illinois counties. All in all, a very special race.