Fort 2 Base 10 Nautical Miles

I found this race when we went to the Chicago Spring Half Marathon and was admiring the medal. Then we started talking to one of the organizers and I became interested in the race. They offered at 3 or a 10 Nautical Mile course and I signed up for the 10 Nautical Mile which is approximately 11.5 miles. Rick got me a Captain America tech shirt for my birthday and when I got it I knew I wanted to wear it for this race.

We started at Fort Sheridan at 7:00 AM. We went around the Fort area for about 1.5 miles and then exited and followed the running path towards the Naval Base.

Today was another humid day, but luckily the path was had tree cover so we were in the shade for awhile. Humidity is my nemesis, so I took advantage of all the refreshment stations. And as usual I had to take a bathroom break a couple of times. The path between the fort and the base was quite level, so I was able to keep a steady pace.

Many of the volunteers were members of the armed forces, you could totally see the support of the race by the different sections of the armed forces, you could tell that the Army, Navy and the Marines were present, but I heard that the Air Force and Special Forces were there as well.

Once we got into the Navy Base it took us down to the lake front and then brought us to the “hill” that everyone was talking about. It came around mile 10 and it was steep! I took a steady pace going up but I got winded when I got to the top. There were Navy personnel there and one ran up to me and said Come on Captain America you can do this, which motivated me to start running and he ran with me for a bit and the told me to finish strong and left me to run the rest of the way.

Once I saw the finish line I picked up the pace, saw Rick and my sign and finished the race in 2hrs 14min 31sec.

We got our medals awarded by men and women of the armed forces, which was a nice touch. Once we got to the food station I was handed a box. They had a lot of stuff they were giving away and I filled up my box! I have never gotten this much stuff from a race before so we took a picture of it.

After the race we met a couple of pacers and hung out with them for awhile. They will be running the Chicago Marathon too so maybe I’ll see them there, or out on the lakefront during a training run.

This was a fun race, even with the hill that they called Hero Hill, I would run this again.