Chicago Rock n Roll 2013

Even though I’ve participated in runs this year I felt that this run is the start of my half marathon season, because the Rock n Roll half last year was my first half marathon. This year is the fifth year that the Chicago RnR has been running so there was a bunch of legacy runners.

I took the day off to go to the expo and good thing we did because we spent almost 4hrs there. When going in it didn’t look like they had as much vendors as last year but we spent a lot of time. I got my early b-day present there, a Bluetooth headset for running. What got me hooked was the lifetime warranty for damage from sweat, which is a huge problem with me, I can’t tell you how many headphones I trashed because it shorted out from my sweat! Plus they had a big discount for the expo. I used the headset for he run and it worked perfectly.

I haven’t been feeling well since Thursday and I’ve been taking sinus meds since then to get it out of my system. When I woke up on Sunday morning I felt much better but not 100%. So I decided that I would take my time and take more walking breaks. Also this last week we’ve been n the upper 90’s and the humidity was really high so I was worried that the weather would not be bearable. But luckily the rainstorm on Friday cooled down and the weather was sunny and he lower 80’s on race day.

As usual I had a hard time sleeping the night before, and got up at 4:00 to get ready. We took the CTA downtown and got to the starting area around 5:45. My corral was 22 so it would take some time to start, the waves started fairly quick so I only waited about 20 min. Then we were off.

Some notable bands were a couple tribute bands that played 80’s music,a drum band I am assuming from Chinatown, and in the McCormick place tunnel they had a DJ and had lights o it seemed like a club in there.

The course made some slight changes this year which made us go through different parts of downtown which I liked. At mile 9 I found Dave Mari and said hello. By the last half of the run it tarted to get hot and I started to get drained, so I took more breaks and walked more.

I finished at 2hrs. 57min. 23sec. Not my best time, but considering I wasn’t feeling well I thought I did pretty good.

This year I signed up for 2 Rock n Roll races so I will be getting the Encore medal…so Vegas here I come!

L.A.T.E. Ride 2013

I know that this isn’t running, but it is an activity that I consider part of my training.

This wad my 4th year participating in this 25 mile bike ride around the city of Chicago. It started off at 1:00 am at grant park and goes though the city. The areas that the route went through was south loop, Chinatown, Greektown, humboldt park, wicker park, the lakefront. The ride took us about 3 hrs to complete. It isn’t a race, but a leisurely ride around the city at night.

We met up with our friend John, which was his 2nd year riding with us. The ride was fun as usual, but there was a different management team and new sponsors, so you can see the difference, by the facilities and snacks at the pit stop at Horner park. One highlight was meeting up with our friend Sharon who was out honking her alien horn with her broth Andrew and her cousin.

The ride benefitted the Friends of the Parks, so it went to a good cause. It only drizzled a little bit and it was a little chilly, but it was manageable and we had a fun time.

If you enjoy biking and like to see the city at night you should join next year.