The Running Obstetrician

UCONN HEALTH SOUTH PARK 5K 2015

September 19, 2015, FARMINGTON, CT.

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    Nothing like a great run for a great cause. The 18th running of the UConn Health South Park 5K was a perfect idea for a post-call morning. I was probably the only person there who had delivered a baby prior to entering the race, but that certainly didn't get me any extra credit as I competed with many of my medical students and faculty. In all seriousness, the event was pretty light and fun, and a great way to raise some money and awareness for one of our medical school's free clinics in Hartford.

     Amazingly this race occurred for all 4 years while I was in medical school, and never once did I make it out to run it. I guess I had spent most of my med school days training for a marathon that would not come to be, mostly due to poor training and injury. Had I stopped to smell the 5K's back then, I may have finished that marathon sooner than it took me!

     The race this year was a perfect early fall day. When I woke up around the hospital at about 5:30AM, there were low clouds all around the Health Center. For a while I thought that we might be running the whole race in fog. This eventually lifted, and it was a perfect cool morning for a race. All in all there was a pretty good showing from many of the students and faculty. I was able to chat up some of my students before the start.

     The race itself started in a parking lot just off of some of the newest construction around the Health Center. It then turned quickly into two loops around the main building, a seriously hilly run if there is one (they don't call it the big hospital on the hill for nothing). The problem with two loops around a hilly course is that you know what is coming for the second loop.

     I was able to get a little kick coming down the final hill into the last 0.5 mile to the finish. I was quite surprised to find how good my time was when I made the last dash for the finish line. Having seen this before, I realized that we probably didn't run a full 3.1 miles, but according to my running app we did get 3.0 miles in, so pretty speedy any which way. That being said, the big finisher was Dr. Jason Ryan pushing his little one the whole 5K in her pink and purple 4-wheeler!

     After the run finished up, we all got a few kind words from a representative from the South Park clinic. Everyone there seemed to have had a good time. All in all it was a great way to start off a post-call morning, and it's definitely a race that I will be looking for next year.

CMM - The Running Obstetrician, September 2015