Just reading some of the posts in this group and seeing that I am not nearly as much of a runner as most here lol. I was wondering if anyone here has done a death by 5K event in the past. I have one coming up (just wanting to see if I can do it) and wondered if anyone here had any experience with it.

never heard of the event, so had to look it up. Some of us have done 4x4x48, which is somewhat similar. Slightly more mileage each run with longer down time, but twice the duration.

Still similar. I didn't think 4x4x48 was very hard, but I'm also an ultra runner and do stupid things for fun.

Death by 5k might start getting to you towards the end since i doubt you are going to get a chance to sleep. At least in 4x4x48 i could sleep for 2.5-3 hours between sessions.

What's the point? Sounds like a sleep deprivation contest with a lot of running.

Just run a 50K and you have the rest of the afternoon and evening instead of spending the whole day running.

As with most things, the point would be to see if I can do it. I am over 50 and have been running for about two years. The longest race I have attempted is a half and I am working towards attempting a full marathon within a year. I know that a 5K isn't much and there are breaks between each one so I believe that I can do this. I mainly just wondered if anyone in the group had done one in the past so I could get an idea of what to expect (how easy to rest between, types of food/drinks provided etc.) I saw an advertisement for one in Tyler last year and thought it sounded interesting so my wife and I signed up for the one coming up next week in Little Rock.

It's not really just a 5k. Sure there are short breaks, but it's 10 5ks. You don't really have time to train for it, but I'd probably train for it much like I'd train for distance running. If you haven't done much distance running, you're going to be hurting.

As for food and stuff, it's probably going to be warm. You need enough electrolytes and salt obviously. I'd just eat whatever looked good to me. You'll need some pre prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner too because you aren't going to have a ton of time in between. I'd personally do mostly carbs with whatever protein I could get in, but that's how I run most of my races.

Holy balls. That sounds awful. Good luck, my man.

We did do a trial run last weekend where we completed 4 5K's on the 2.5 hour interval and it wasn't too bad. I am sure the later ones will be pretty bad with the lack of sleep lol. According to the race site, they provide 4 hot meals and snacks/water/Gatorade but I am planning on taking some things that I usually eat during runs as well (Gu, oranges, banana, fruit chews etc.). I will come back and let y'all know how it was when we finish the race if anyone is interested. Thank you for all of the information.

Please do. Good luck and don't die.

Well we finished the Death by 5K and got our coffins lol. I didn't die but still recovering from the race and drive home. I will give a more detailed reply as to how the event was tomorrow.

As promised, here is my recap of the event.

It was held at Burns park in North Little Rock Arkansas and the area is beautiful! The course is a paved trail so there was not an issue of stepping in holes or getting hung up in branches. The first 5 sessions were pretty good, hot meals provided after the first 5K and every other one after that with different snacks provided at each finish so there was plenty to eat. Once the night time races started, it got much more difficult as my body began to ask me what the he!! I was doing. We were able to get some sleep between races in the car (it got pretty cold and drizzly during the night) and that dreaded alarm was not a welcome sound each race. I got so tired that I did not stretch after the night races (my fault) so that made it even more difficult to get this old body moving again lol. We did finish the 31 miles but I doubt I will attempt it again lol. Still sore today (2 days after the last run) but other than that I feel great! The "medal" for finishing is a coffin with the death by 5K logo burned into the top and a skeleton key chain inside so it is pretty cool to show off. Overall, it was a fun race with people from sub 7 minute miles all the way to people who walked the course (I would guess that about 1/3 did not complete the entire event). It was challenging for me and now I can say that I have finished it! Thanks for the encouragement in this thread and if you see this event near you and want to give it a try, it is overall pretty fun.

Good job!

In my opinion, dirt trails are easier than paved. Pavement is much harder on my body. Unless of course, the dirt trails are all mud.

I have heard that once you start running on trails you will not want to run on pavement again but I have not tried it yet. It is on the bucket list to give it a try. The next goal that my wife and I have is to complete a marathon. The longest we have run so far is a half marathon (I know this one is classified as an ultra due to the total mileage but it is broken up into shorter races over a long time).