Monday's Featured 5k of the Week - Herscher Hare & Tortoise 5k

The Herscher Hare & Tortoise, obviously takes place in Herscher, which is in Illinois, quite a bit south of I-80. The event features a 5k run and a 2 mile walk. This race is traditionally held on Labor Day Weekend Sunday around 6:00pm. This past year, the evening start was nice as the daytime temps were in the 90s plus high humidity.

The course begins and ends on the outskirts of town at Herscher High School. The course is basically an out-and-back style course, with a few areas unique based on the direction you are heading. More than half of the course is on tree-lined village streets allowing for wide running areas and some shade. Towards the half-way point the course heads out towards some farm fields and back into the sun – at one point, running directly into the setting sun before turning around. The course then sort of follows the same route back with a little split here and there. My favorite portion of the course is the final quarter-mile, as the route takes the runners on to the high school track to run about one lap on the track to the finish line. This course provides some nice old-town small-town scenery (nothing wrong with that at all) and a fast completely flat course with some long straight-aways throughout the village. The course is clearly marked and water station and cross-street volunteers can be found throughout and are helpful and friendly.

The Kankakee River Running Club is where information can be found on the Upcoming Races section of their webpage as the race draws closer.

Arrive early and enjoy a small-town carnival as well, only a few blocks from the race.

 KRRC Upcoming Races Link