On Sunday morning, my friend J and I were up bright and early to run the Cinco de Miler 5 mile race at Montrose Beach, the largest in the city. It looked like a beautiful morning on the lake but it was chilly, in the 40s and windy. This was my first time running the Cinco de Miler, and I give this race five stars. What better way to actively celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

There are 28 miles of man-made lakefront shore in the city, with 24 beaches. We had plenty of time to check out the water before the race. Thank goodness the snow and ice is gone. Can it be 80 degrees now please? Montrose Beach looks so inviting.

The Cinco de Miler is operated by RAM Racing and very well organized. There were over 3,200 finishers. For Chicago this is a smaller race, but I loved it. It was easy to find everything, a fairly quick corral start staggered in 3-minute intervals, and short porta potty lines {obviously this is key}.

The National Anthem and Mexican National Anthem started things off. The first half of the race was through Lincoln Park’s paved roads and paths, and the second half along the lakefront path.

The result: a PR for me! J ran ahead in the last mile, and I finished in 49:00, with a 9:48 per mile pace. The best part was the post-race fiesta, where runners were given churros with warm chocolate sauce, chips and salsa. The warm chocolate was perfect for the cold morning.

I asked J to pose.

For Cinco de Mayo, of course the Mexican beers couldn’t be left out. I hope you find your own beer and churros tonight to celebrate!