At 6:45 AM, we all piled into Laura's amazing old school Lexus (dubbed the Ghetto Sled) and we headed down to Lincoln Park Zoo. A picture of the "Sled". It's pretty amazing.
It was balmy outside (30ish degrees) and the wind was definitely making my feet and hands go numb. I was excited to see how my recovery was going and testing my legs. I was aiming for a 1:45:00 finish and I felt like it was a very realistic goal. This race had pace groups, so I stood between the 1:55:00 and the 1:45:00 pace group. I put on my headphones and we were off!
My legs and feet were hitting the crushed lime stones pretty hard at the start. I think it was a mixture of my feet and shoes being cold and the path being cold. It felt great to stretch my legs and my pace was a 7:30 min/mile. I was getting into a rhythm and felt pretty darn good. The course goes north on the lakefront path up to Wilson and then loops back south. It was a great course, since the loops allowed the runners to see each other, which I love.
At the first aid station, I got a cup of water and kept running through. My legs felt really great and I was excited. I decided to pull back on my pace and stuck to a 8:15 min/mile pace. After 4 miles I really felt warmed up and decided to take off my gloves. I was pushing through the wind and stayed on the non-asphalt section of the Lakefront path. We are very lucky to live in Chicago and have the beautiful Lakefront Path. There were bikers, dog owner, runners and walkers all enjoying the path and cheering the racers on.
I used to run this path all the time a few summers ago and have decided that I will be making more frequent runs along the path this coming year. It's such a great resource that we have and it's so beautiful. After my daydreaming, we were coming up to North Avenue beach and the wind was making its presence known. My face started feeling very hot and I realized I forgot to put moisturizer on it. As I am writing this, my face has that familiar burn of windburn. Lovely! The Lake Michigan waves were magnificent as they crashed on the shore. We made a turn to go on the other side of Lake Shore Drive where we went through a nice little park to turn back around where we came from. This was a nice little section, since we got a break from the wind.
Coming back north on the Lakefront path, I saw Charles and he looked like he was having a great time. He had a nice big smile on his face and was running strong. I got a little "pick me up" when I saw him and saw that big smile. I mean, that's what running is all about. Just enjoying yourself. I looked down at my watch and realized that a 1:45:00 was not going to happen today. My left leg started acting up and I was having a sharp pain going from the top of my hip all the way down my calf. Darn! I had about 4 miles to go. I wanted a sub 2 hour finish and that was still very possible. When there was only 5K left, we were circling back to the finish. I saw Laura (her race was already done with), Bill and our good friend Jeff cheering for me. Jeff lives in the neighborhood and it was great to see him out there. I looked down at my watch and saw I was at 1:50:00 and pushed towards the finish. I crossed the finish in 1:53:00. It was a little bit of a disappointing finish, since I had a goal and really wanted that 1:45:00, but was still happy with my finish and happy to have a post-Rocky race in the bag. They gave everyone a medal for finishing, I grabbed a banana and a cookie. (The cookies were awesome and should be at all post-race events). Bill tapped me on the shoulder and we headed over to Laura and Jeff. Laura finished 3rd in her age category! Her baby got his/her first age group award and I have a hunch him/her will have a gift for running. We waited at the finish for Charles to come through. We spotted him and cheered him to a great finish.
We headed to Fountainhead for a post-race brunch and I got a very well deserved burger with sweet potato chips. Yum!
All in all, it was a great morning. I got to test out my recovery and realized that I might have to schedule a leg massage and be more diligent with using my foam roller to roll out my legs. I got to hang out with some awesome friends and even got a medal. I highly recommend this race for a new or experienced runner. It had a great vibe, a scenic course and it's for a great cause. Next up, a marathon in Indiana next Sunday. I will not have a time goal in mind, but will see how my legs feel this week and just enjoy the run. That's what it's all about! :)
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