It's been a full day since my 5k and I've finished sleeping in and napping so I can now recap it.
I'm so glad that I picked up my packet the day before the race. There were thousands of people heading to the race and it was actually less intimidating than I thought it would be. Having so many people made it feel very much like "we are all in it together." We got there about 30 min before the race. My in laws, husband and daughter were there to cheer me on. I didn't know how early to get in the corral so I just waited in the shade along the side until 10 min to start. There were 12 corrals and I was in 7. They let off the first three corrals every 15 sec but then did more min between the others. Corral 6 had so many people in it (maybe people were going to run with friends from other corrals) that they did two waves of that corral. I was off after about the 10:00 mark.
So how did my race go?
Mile 1 was great. Nice and shady with lots of trees. Running along the lake shore drive bike/jog path towards the Field Museum. Everyone running around my level, not too much dodging or weaving. My music went off at .91 miles and I couldn't see my iPhone screen to fix it. So no music on my ears, uh oh. Mile 1 I was just under 10 min. Like 9:40 something. My Nike app kicked off during some panic messing with my app. I just shut my phone totally off and concentrated on running and breathing.
Mile 1 was completely straight, no turns.
Mile 2 had more turns and interest. We went past a rock band playing Jesse's Girl! Went under a bridge, up a hill, around grant park, etc. I passed a lot of people who had slowed down. But I was feeling the heat at this point. I decided once I hit the water table Id drink and then try to get my radio going. I figured out that I had muted it somehow and got it going. I was just above 10 min pace at this point. Official clock was at 29:29 so I was at chip time of 19:29.
And that's when we hit mile 3...aka the toughest run challenge I've ever faced. I should have known by the ominous hard rock band playing as we turned onto the lake path back towards the finish.
There was zero shade. This was a straight mile in full sunshine in what felt like 100 degrees with the sun coming straight at us. It was pothole city as the winter was not kind to the path. And it was a sea of people starting to walk/run. Myself included. I kept jogging staring at the ground trying to avoid the potholes and trying to dodge walkers while not cutting off faster runners. I hit a mental wall about half way and told myself I'd just walk from one streetlight pole to another. At one point I found myself walking what felt like 5 min, but was in reality probably only 2. I just was really really hot. The straight shot made it seem like the next goal was so far away. I finally snapped myself out of it and started just doing bursts of running with little speed walks. There was one hill at the end. A girl next to me said. Almost there, let's race. She got ahead of me but I caught her by a small margin at the end. We are both waving to the camera in sync so I hope I get that pic.
My final result was 32:58 with a 10:37 pace. I was thrilled. I didn't beat my "under 30" goal, but I had a pace I was very proud of for what was my most challenging run to date. That last mile was something. And it took a while to recover from it. I ended up 39% overall. I won't even spend more than a second wondering the "what if" I just kept running instead of taking all those walk breaks at the end. I was just happy I kept moving forward.
I'll work towards my under 30 goal for the cooler fall.
Some nice things to say about the race...very well organized, very encouraging and nice volunteers and nice post race set up. They couldn't help it was the hottest and most humid day of the year. If that sun wasn't pounding at the end it could have been my best race. The scenery downtown was so pretty. I heard a woman won the 10k overall and that's inspiring. I hope everyone survived their own runs this weekend. Stay hydrated and in the shade my friends.
I don't have an August race but am going to try for two in Sept. One in Oct and one in Nov.
My new goals: beat the mile three mental walk block. Try to run through it. Doesn't have to be super fast.
And just keep up the three times a week thing.
And figure out a better setting up my music and app race situation.
I ended my night having sushi with friends and watching Taylor Swift concert at Soldier Field. So ended my night Shaking it Off. My feet may fall off now, but was a great day. Good runDisney practice too
Thanks for reading my ramblings! I'm not running again til Tuesday.
