Roxymama's 5k to Marathon, Time to Collect Another Castle



Rock n Roll Chicago Race weekend recap part 1:
Saturday 7/15 5k

Back in the late summer or fall of last year I had decided that running the Rock N Roll 5k and 10k was so much fun that I wanted to keep it on my list of races for 2017. Two years ago the RnR Chicago 5k was my first "big event" city race and so I've kind of just become emotionally attached to it. I think I'll almost always try to save a spot for the Shamrock Shuff, RnR Chicago and the Hot Chocolate if I can each year. Just feel like I've started a baby legacy might as well keep it going?
So I wasn't sure which distance 5k, 10k, half or challenge I'd be doing. My good friend Alexis wanted to run the 5k with me so I signed up for that in a flash. And then the remix medals came out and I just got lured in by the bling. Since I already had a spring and fall half marathon on the schedule for the season I just didn't think I'd want to jump back in to that distance during July (also I just knew it could be soooo hot and didn't want to take the chance with the weather.) So 5k & 10k it was.
Unfortunately my friend had a change in life plans - newly married and possibly moving soon (yay! and boo!) And hubby just did his olympic tri last weekend so in a recovery week. It was just going to be me.
I've ran plenty of races by myself, but I don't think I've ever driven myself to a race and walked there and done it all totally alone. Since the 5k was at 7:30am and 10k at 6:30am next day, Hubby said he would drive me (along with kiddo) for the 5k and cheer me on and then we got the bonus of his dad wanting to come along to be another "cheerer"! But then the next day I was totally gonna be on my own.

So wake up, get dressed (yes I tried on like every single shirt I own with my ice cream skirt the night before and hated everything on myself...because I'm still learning this whole self-love thing) and eventually just landed on my official race shirt saying "eh I don't care if it doesn't match" I was able to stomach half a bagel and half a granola bar, so nerves weren't totally terrible. Still not great.
We picked up grandpa on the way, parked really easily in the lot underneath Maggie Daley park and made the very short walk to the corrals.
Here's kiddo with grandpa..best buddies
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Weather was in the 60's, it wasn't very humid, and the sky was sunny yet the shade felt pretty perfect.
You gotta love how Chicago looks on blue sky summer days! This here is the art museum (I think?) and where our corrals were located. Also how is my kiddo so tall already?
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It wasn't long before we got to the corral area that a very familiar face was approaching me and before he could get out "are you.." I was excitedly saying "hey @opusone and giving Brett a big hug" Another dis-board member met at a race...my collection is growing! :) It was really nice talking with you and your daughter and I'm still super impressed with her first 5k! When's the first rundisney father-daughter race? In hindsight I should have gotten a pic, but I'm always half-brained before a race start. Maybe we'll have to run into each other again at another race.
Hubby was on the ball and at least got pics (most of these are his.)
I noted how the corrals this year were much smaller, but more than twice the number of them. No huge start line arches for the 5k.
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I was in corral 4 because I'd used a predicted finish of 28:30 I believe way back whenever I actually signed up. They don't ask for proof at RnR so its all on the honor system. I probably used a dartboard at the time.
Ok, I'm being long winded. Let's talk about the race finally!
They let off corral 1 & 2 together and 3 & 4 together. Hubby said they stopped that at 5 and went one corral at a time from that point on. The first mile was different from last year in that instead of going north and up a gradual incline and onto the path closest to the lake we'd be going south first IN THE SHADE! Opusone mentioned that we'd have some sunny miles at the end of the race and boy was he right, so I had that nugget in my head when I decided to just go for it in mile 1 when my body was happy and see how I felt at 2+. It was really the shade at the start that helped me to decide to race today...that and the people around me were a bit fast and although I stuck to the right I still had the crowd adrenaline pushing me.
It was hard to tell if I was getting chomped or chomping people during mile 1 because it was a bit crowded but by the time I made the turnaround near the first rock band (well, only band, we went past them twice) the route really opened up. I was feeling pretty good and my garmin was drunk-ish (it clocked my first mile like .2ish after the marker) my clock time was definitely in the very high 8's for pace. The sun was in my face and shade was totally gone at this point as we headed back north. A lot of big potholey' crags in the path (which I'm used to now but still don't like as I feel like it stops up my momentum) so there was a bit of dodgem all around during this second mile. This course was kind of an out and back and out and back situation, so at some point before we hit the second mile marker I could see people heading towards the finish and just starting out, so it gave me the motivation to just keep pushing because I wanted to be where the finishing people were. I 100% for sure saw the police bike and the lead guy heading past Buckingham Fountain at some point here. 16 something was his time and lead woman was 18 something. My husband said that when they interviewed her she mentioned she was doing this as a warm up run to the Ironman in Racine the next day and that she wanted to come back next year to really push and pick off more of the guys. Well, ok then!
Ok back to me now. I really settled into more of a 9:10 ish pace for a lot of the remaining race but I did try to take water at the one aid station and I just couldn't coordinate the run + paper cup and stopped and walked to drink it down. I was thirsty. My middle mile was my slowest and I think that is why...it took me a teeny bit to get my legs back to that comfy place. My garmin data looked a bit like a camel hump. But I was very happy with my mile 3 considering my less than stellar sunny day runs lately. I was back in that 9:10 to 9:15 range anytime I'd take a watch peak. I probably could have put on the final big push sooner as I had gas for it, but I ended up doing it at like .25 to go and really pushed hard because of course I noticed I was under 29 minutes and thought how lovely to keep it there. Also I wanted to look speedy for my family watching #truestory.
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I wanted to catch that blonde lady so badly but she had more kick.
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I did see the fam as I passed and smiled but was going too fast for me to move over for a high five. Kiddo reminded me of this at least 4 times that she didn't get her high five. Oops! I'll give up a few seconds next time to get her a proper one.
I forgot to hit stop on my garmin until I was already getting my medal so I guessed at 28:40 to 28:50 and my official time was 28:48.. I'll take that!!! I own less than a handful of 5ks under 29 minutes and it's exciting whenever they happen.
I'm sorry there's not much more information here about things I was thinking or race strategy. This was basically me listening to really up tempo running dance mixes while pushing hard literally the whole time and just thinking "still feeling alright?...not die-ing?...ok keep moving" And so it wasn't the cleanest strategized race but it worked out. Helped it was pretty flat save for a few gradual inclines or tiny downhills and helped I could literally see where people the miles ahead of me and my brain decided to be motivated by that instead of defeated by it. I'd say I chomped a healthy # of people in the middle, but got super chomped by some real speed demons at the end. That's ok, it's a big race, gonna happen.
I felt like I was working really hard but not like I was on the verge of not having breath or pain, etc. Except when I finally stopped I did get a little loopy light headed for a second...cause I did sprint a little way hard there at the very end.
Take a look at this beauty!
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Then we walked to Maggy Daley park to let the kiddo expend her pent up energy! And steal my bling.
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If you are ever in Chicago on a nice summer day please go explore this park because it is really awesome. And we had the bonus of it being early so it was just us and like only 10 other families that all had at least one runner with them.
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Once kiddo starting tuckering out we got the car and checked the open table app for brunches with reservations and ended up going to Luxebar in the Gold Coast area and scored the last patio table (and it was mostly shady!!) We were being fancy.
Yay tiny coke bottle! And feel free to notice kiddo's fancy nail polish I had done this week.
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I was kinda sorta healthy with a mushroom and kale omelette. And a lethal amount of white cheddar cheese. So that probably gave me every calorie back that I burned that morning.
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Before we sat down to eat I did change into dry clothes so as not to be too offensive (and kinda crazy looking in my ice cream skirt.) But on the way to the bathroom a very well dressed women said "OH HONEY I just love your tennis skirt"
I just smiled and said thank you and imagined a life where I played tennis at some fancy downtown raquet club :)

So that's my wrapup of the RnR 5k. I'll be back with part 2's 10k recap.

OFFICIAL RACE STATS:
Time 28:48
Overall 672/2939 22%
Gender 281/1853 15%
Division 41/297 13%!!!
(I realize a lot of people were taking this race easy because of tomorrow's races, but I'm still gonna be happy about those percentages)

 
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Love Roxykiddo's fancy nail polish and your RUNNING skirt.

I always think it's hilarious when you encounter the people that are so fast and so whatever the word is for doing a 5k the day before an Ironman. it reminds me of one of my running buddies noticed two super fit guys in her corral (~10min/mi) who were wearing shirts that were from a 100k or 100 miler... something that was 100. So she spoke to them and asked when they had done that and they were like "Yesterday. We saw this half marathon and thought it would be a great cool down." And no. It wouldn't. If I ran 100 miles I think I'd be done for several months. Please stop. That's how I feel about competitive racing the day before an Ironman. Please stop.

Sounds like your speed and pacing were good and that bling is nice! Can't wait to hear about day two.
 


Love Roxykiddo's fancy nail polish and your RUNNING skirt.

I always think it's hilarious when you encounter the people that are so fast and so whatever the word is for doing a 5k the day before an Ironman. it reminds me of one of my running buddies noticed two super fit guys in her corral (~10min/mi) who were wearing shirts that were from a 100k or 100 miler... something that was 100. So she spoke to them and asked when they had done that and they were like "Yesterday. We saw this half marathon and thought it would be a great cool down." And no. It wouldn't. If I ran 100 miles I think I'd be done for several months. Please stop. That's how I feel about competitive racing the day before an Ironman. Please stop.

Sounds like your speed and pacing were good and that bling is nice! Can't wait to hear about day two.

If I ever SURVIVED a 100 anything; I'd demand that I be carried around the full next week and refuse to walk anywhere. So yes, they are doing it wrong :)
(then again ask roxymama circa 2015 if running a 10k the day after a 5k was disturbing and she'd say yes)
 
It was really nice talking with you and your daughter and I'm still super impressed with her first 5k! When's the first rundisney father-daughter race? In hindsight I should have gotten a pic, but I'm always half-brained before a race start. Maybe we'll have to run into each other again at another race.

It was great talking to you as well! Regarding runDisney, my daughter has already asked about this... even before the race when we were on a training run. I told her that first we needed to finish this 5k, then if she kept it up, I would definitely take her to a rD event. I only had one caveat for her: it must be at least a 10k. I also didn't think about taking a picture until after we were already in the corrals. Definitely next time!

They let off corral 1 & 2 together and 3 & 4 together. Hubby said they stopped that at 5 and went one corral at a time from that point on.

Actually, they continued to start two corrals at a time. We started with 7 & 8 together.

my garmin was drunk-ish (it clocked my first mile like .2ish after the marker)

I don't think it was your Garmin; I think the first mile marker wasn't placed properly. Both of our Garmins also auto-lapped well past the first marker, but they were right on for the second and third miles.
 
It was great talking to you as well! Regarding runDisney, my daughter has already asked about this... even before the race when we were on a training run. I told her that first we needed to finish this 5k, then if she kept it up, I would definitely take her to a rD event. I only had one caveat for her: it must be at least a 10k. I also didn't think about taking a picture until after we were already in the corrals. Definitely next time!



Actually, then continued to start two corrals at a time. We started with 7 & 8 together.



I don't think it was your Garmin; I think the first mile marker wasn't placed properly. Both of our Garmins also auto-lapped well past the first marker, but they were right on for the second and third miles.

Aha! So this makes so much sense now because I didn't "feel" like I was running an 8 something first mile, but just chalked it up to adrenaline. It very much felt more like my lower 9ish pace which sounds like it probably was.

I think 10k is a perfect disney distance. Especially since they almost all have a ton of park time if not the majority. My one wish was my first rundisney was was the 10k instead of the 5. I would have gotten an official time (I like getting times) and double the amount of time actually running around the parks.
 
Love the 5K recap and great job on your race. It sounds like such a good time and love that you just went for it and felt good doing it. And in answer to this:

You gotta love how Chicago looks on blue sky summer days!

Absolutely! Chicago in the summer on a gorgeous day is just the best. Can't wait to read about the 10K.
 
Nice job on the 5K! Sounds like you had a good time and I love that you just went for it as long as you felt okay. Strategies and plans are awesome, but sometimes you just gotta run whatever feels right.
 
Love the 5K recap and great job on your race. It sounds like such a good time and love that you just went for it and felt good doing it. And in answer to this:

You gotta love how Chicago looks on blue sky summer days!

Absolutely! Chicago in the summer on a gorgeous day is just the best. Can't wait to read about the 10K.

Thanks!

And as long as it's not Winter, or early Spring or late Fall I can be a pretty good Chicago salesperson :)

Nice job on the 5K! Sounds like you had a good time and I love that you just went for it as long as you felt okay. Strategies and plans are awesome, but sometimes you just gotta run whatever feels right.

Thanks! I definitely want a better strategy though for my next two big races but I agree that sometimes when you don't care (until you're actually there and start caring) it's good to just see what happens.
 
Rock n Roll Chicago Recap Part 2:
Sunday 7/16 10k (and remix challenge)
I stayed up probably later than I should have the night before. And I ate pizza for dinner (albeit not that much, only a few pieces) and so already I think I had written off the next day as "just a fun run" in an effort to calm down any "going to a race all by myself" nerves, etc. I think because I attacked the 5k and was proud of that I was ok not attacking the 10k quite so hard.
But I still was a ball of nerves when I woke up. I got ready fairly quickly but was having a real hard time eating. So I tried to force down my water and brought sports beans with me to take in the car, and packed more water and gatorade and granola bars just in case.
I had planned on rocking my shortie short shorts along with my new Inknburn "Betty" shirt. (ignore massive toy pile and towels in the open linen closet, thanks)
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And although I was feeling myself in that picture, I am still self-conscious and defaulted to my 6" longer shorts for the race.
I left the house at just after 5, knowing the course would be blocking off roads at 5:30am but I had a game plan to park in a garage by my in-laws condo next to Michigan Ave but not on it. Good thing because Michigan was already blocked off by the time I got there. It took me 5 tries to get a parking space I was confident to park in. That garage is tight. Managed to fit what I wanted in my armband and just carried that and my water bottle. It felt weird not having stuff and walking down Michigan by myself at least until I hit mob of a bazillion bib wearing runners.
I located the porta potties and waited in line as 6:15ish approached. Start time was 6:30 and I was ok not standing in the corral that long. I hadn't done a warmup so I just told myself to ease into the pace off the start.
One cool thing....FREE BANANAS BEFORE THE RACE! And free bottles of water. Nice RnR, you get a :banana:
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I ate a banana and finished my water (stupidly too close to start to be putting water in me, but it was humid out at this point and I felt thirsty.)
Made my way to corral 9 which was led by the 2:00 half pacer. I had put 1:00 as my estimated time way back when I was feeling lucky. Instead of being up front in my corral like I usually do...I hung out way in the back. And I side crab-walked gradually to the right as the corrals moved up, because the announcer kept saying 10k to the right, the split comes quick.
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Eventually we were off! I didn't download my race to my garmin app and my watch is at home, so this recap may get edited tonight to include my real times per mile. But I have kind of a good idea.
The course was identical to last year. It started going north and turning (all a gradual up hill) and at the end of the turn the half folks veer left to explore the city and the 10k folks veer right to run on the lakefront. I'd say I was hovering around a solid 10 min mile (garmin really doesn't like the under the road thing we do at the start of this race so???) I for sure was not pushing super hard to start but I also wasn't running an "easy pace" either.
It was noticeably humid. And at least 76 at the race start. Sweat came right off the bat. T+D was not great. (too bad the afternoon ended up cooling way off!)
There was a ton of runner movement this first mile. Passing and being passed and re-passing people who passed me, etc etc.
The whole rest of mile 2, 3, and most of 4 were lake front. I did get to do my favorite thing in the world (I have a lot of favorite things in the world)...run around the Shedd Aqauarium and see the whole city and lakefront behind me. Dude behind must have thought I was staring at him :) And luckily we got hit with some solid clowd cover during my "happy time."
I'd for sure say that I was feeling very "tempo paced" at this point. Not race pace, not strength pace, but solid "tempo-ey-ish." I had walked a water station and dumped a cup down my back (I was feeling hot) and that cooled me off a bit. There was a second "not quite a water station" that just had giant barrels and cups with no volunteers. I stopped at that too and up until now my bladder was feeling really really really heavy and annoying. When a girl jumped out of a porta potty at the moment that I was passing it, I just on shear instinct jumped in. And it was GROSS in there. I probably spent too long trying not to touch anything than I should have. Should have just endured the gross for the sake of more seconds off my time, right??? Errrr???? Ugh, maybe not.
Anyways I felt majorly better after that. Remind me to be smarter about my pre-race fluid intake timing next race.
Ok so I knew at the 5k marker that I wasn't on any sub-hour kind of pace but I wasn't feeling too down on myself for how I was doing. I'll have to look at what garmin said for 3 miles, but there was a timing mat at 3.7 and RnR lists me as 35:88 with 9:44 pace at that point. I FEEL like it was closer to 3.5 miles when I crossed it, but I could be wrong. So I mean...that's pretty solid as if I'd just kept it up I would have been just over an hour.
But as I rounded the curve to head back into the city for the final 2.5 miles...well my body decided it didn't want to go as fast even though I felt like I was working hard. I felt like I had to push harder than before and yet was getting slower output. But I felt at that point like hanging in there and so I was running at my new "feels like tempo, but slower output" effort. I'd dumped two more cups of water on me at this point so I was quite drenched down my neck and back, but I needed it.
Still love running under McCormick place because I'm part Vampire. At this point last year the lead runner for the half passed me and same thing happened this year. Was my first indicator that I'd probably be running an identical race if I didn't push harder. But I didn't have it in me so I just kept going. I'm pretty sure I was over 10:30 for a lot of the remainder. Never 11, never long run pace of 10:52, but right around the 10:30ish. I endured the yucky on ramp to Lake Shore drive and another hill-type on-ramp situation and never WALKED! I felt better about my hill going ability this time than last year so that's something.
Since we had merged up with the half runners at this point we got a lot more bands and spectators and signs and djs since we were glomming off that course :)
I think it helped me push, but alas, still couldn't fire the engines faster.
I got a shout out from a female lead singer "YOU ROCK, I WANT YOUR SHIRT" or something. And a "YES!" from another singer who lifted the "rock on sign" with his her hand and then pointed to her own shirt. I also got complimented by a water person and the medal person and a cowbell person, so the shirt was well received :)
Mile 6 was hard because the "finisher chute" lasted a long time. They had us split back side by side half vs 10k and I knew the finish line wasn't going to be where it normally is for big Chicago races, it had to be further down because we hadn't even hit the 6 mile or 13 mile marker yet. It's tough to smile for marathonfoto people for that long when you are pushing hard to give it your all and it's hard to know when to give the final push. Poor kid (younger than me, probably 18 or 20 or 15?) near me was sprinting and then death-walking and sprinting and then death-walking and I kept passing him and then he'd take off, etc, etc.
Hey but I got lots of pics...pretend like the durpy ones don't exist.
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I had been majorly watch stalking this whole last push because I knew my PR was 1:05 something from last years race and I was determined all of a sudden not to have 1:06+. And I got close but no cigar. 1:05:51 (PR is 1:05:30 even though I've ran 1:01 as a split in a longer race before.)
I have a bunch of post race pictures I'll need to add in a Part 3 this evening.
But here are my stats.

1:05:51 10:36 avg pace
720/2206 Overall (32%)
399/1522 Gender (26%)
60/248 Division (24%)

I'll have my final thoughts on this race and the weekend along with those final pics. But until then I will leave you with the greatest post race treat of all time.
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Take in the glory of it! I had a pink one and yes it was wonderful.
 

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Well done, you!! I'd say only missing a PR by 21 seconds is pretty awesome. You look great and happy in your pics. Great job!
 
Love all the pics and enjoyed reading the recaps! Congrats on both of your races!

(PS: I hope they bring the ice pops to the RnR Philly Half in Sept...I guess it has the potential to be on the cooler side in Sept, but I'd still eat it.)
 

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