The Hubs and I took a road trip to Decatur, IL to run a fun 5K. It’s called Penguin in the Park. The Penguin in the Park 5K is hosted by John (the Penguin) Bingham. John is one of the running community’s most recognizable and popular personalities. He was a featured columnist in Runner’s World magazine and Competitor Magazine. John is a graduate of Millikin University so he started this race 12 years ago. Funds from this 5K sponsors a scholarship for students involved in entrepreneurship. And we even got to see one of the recipients receive the scholarship!

This race celebrates the accomplishment of all runners of ALL ABILITIES. Here’s one of my favorite Bingham quotes! “The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

The Race

I couldn’t wait to start running once we picked up our packets the morning of the race. The course was in the beautiful Fairview Park in Decatur. The course was definitely hilly and a really nice challenge. The scenery was beautiful even without the leaves and green grass and the course was well marked and in perfect condition.

This race had everything–

-tons of volunteers
-plenty of port-a-potties
-a water stop
-local first responder support
-an awesome t-shirt
-and at the finish ALL the participants of the race received a beautiful engraved “Penguin” finisher medal.

Awards!

The award ceremony followed the race in the Griswold Gym where delicious bowls of chili, snacks and water were available for all the runners. Then John handed out awards to the top 3 winners of each age group.

Would I recommend this race?

Heck yes! As a matter of fact I already told my run club we need to add this to our field trip runs! I will definitely do this one again next year. Check out their website and add it to your to-do list!