Chicago 5K and other running stuff

Hi there!

Things have been busy, which is apparently my new normal.  Lovely!

This past weekend was the Chicago Marathon, which I’m sure you already knew.  It was also the International Chicago 5K!

I flew to Chicago on Friday morning.  We picked up our bibs (5k for me, marathon for my sis) and hit up the Expo.

May I say a word about Expos? I get that maybe if you forgot something they are a great spot to pick it up.  But if you really want to expose people to your brand, offer a freaking deal.  Balega was there, which was great, but their pricing was exactly the same as at every running store I can go to locally.  If you offer me a deal I can get only at the Expo, I WILL BUY MORE!!  OK, i’m through 🙂

Saturday morning I went out for a couple of shakeout miles with my sister.  While we’ve done a few races together, we’ve never actually run together as she is FAST and I am not.  But for these miles we stayed together and were around a 9:30 mile.  I don’t run at that pace but found that I was able to, so I was pumped.  I decided then that in the 5K, I’d push myself a bit more than usual since apparently I could run 2 miles at a roughly 9:30 pace.

The 5K was self seeded, which is never good.  I would have gone to the 10:00, but then my sister said to go to the 9:00, but then I was with a friend who told me to go lower as “we don’t want to be running with the people with the selfie sticks”.  A truer statement had never been muttered.  So I was closer to the 7:00, which I had to photograph because to me it was funny.  I can’t run 7:00 for much more than 30 seconds.

The race started and I conveniently forgot that GPS watches don’t work in downtown Chicago.  I kept looking at my watching feeling like I was really moving but seeing a slower pace.  It was odd, but I persevered.  Around 1.5 I was a little deflated that I couldn’t get below a 10:00, so imagine my surprise when I hit the 2 mile sign and the clock said 19:xx.  I figured it too was likely wrong.

This part of the race was right along the water with a lovely headwind.  That wind was tiring.  I was ready to be done.  We turned into the park and just had a sprint to go.  I picked up my pace and finished with my watch telling me I ran less than 3 miles.  Hmmm.  Oh yes, the GPS issue!

(just grabbed this gem and it’s too funny to not share)

I had to wait for them to put official results up, but I was pretty psyched to see:

FINISHED: 29:42 (average pace of 9:34).  WHAT???

My fastest 5K prior to this was the BAA 5K, and that was a 31:51, which puts me at a PR of more than 2 minutes!  Hooray!  It was a great way to start my Saturday!

After the race we went over to Cloud Gate and took the obligatory photos.

Then it was Sunday and marathon day.  I obviously can’t go into much detail because I wasn’t the runner, but it will say it was a great race to spectate.  We were able to see my sister 4 times! (mile 2+, mile 12+, mile 21+, mile 25+).  So great!

She also KILLED it and nailed her goal of 3:10.  Insane.  I can’t even maintain that pace for a minute.  AMAZING!  One proud sis here!

So we enjoyed the rest of a lovely day in Chicago and then I flew home Monday morning.

My half is Saturday!  I’m feeling good coming off the 5K, but haven’t run in a few days and will be taking it easy since all the walking in Chicago (+10 miles/day) took a toll on my poor feet.

Will recap for you next week!