Soldier Field 10 Miler

This is my 4th year running this and this year had it’s ups and downs. For the past few days we have been having torrential downpours and I was worried that we would have a rainy morning for the race. Luckily the weather cooperated, it drizzled a bit while I was getting ready, but once we got to the car it was clear.

We arrived at Soldier Field early and they had free parking this year. We had plenty of time before they closed the corrals, so we ventured around the booths and checked out the finish line inside the stadium. When we went into the stadium we were surprised by our first disappointment of the day. They scheduled the Beyoncé concert the same weekend, so all her concert stuff occupied majority of the field. We would not be finishing on the green, which is one of the highlights of this race. Well, I was thinking if she was going to ruin our experience of running on the field, she should of came out and sing for us!

Before they sang the national anthem they thanked those who have served and currently serving in the armed forces and they got a big round of applause. Then eye played Taps for those that have fallen in the line of duty and those veterans who have passed away, this part have always pulled some emotional strings, because Rick’s dad served in the Navy and he passed a few years ago. A woman sang the national anthem and she did very well, once she was done they started the race.
I was positioned in corral G which was part of the first wave. They released the corrals pretty quickly so I didn’t have to wait too long. When they released our corral we headed south, went through the tunnel of McCormick place and lead us Lake Shore Drive. We ran the drive down to 53rd street. The turnaround brought us to the lakeshore path and then we headed back north.

Although it didn’t rain, the humidity was very high. When we started the warning level was at yellow, when I got to the turnaround the warning level went to red. I kept myself well hydrated, I took  couple of waters at the aid station, one to drink and one to douse myself to cool down. I also slowed down my pace just so I wouldn’t over exert myself.

When we entered Soldier Field, instead of running in the parking area they routed us through the side corridor and had us enter the field on the side. As mentioned earlier the had all the concert stuff on the field and they covered the field with the metal flooring. It was a short distance to the finish line, I finished in 2hrs 11min 58sec.

When I exited the stadium the passed out the refreshments, this year the did not give out the reusable bags as they did in the past. So that was a bummer. But they had a slip and slide which I took advantage of, which felt really good after running in the humid weather. We didn’t stay too long because we were hungry.

I still like this race, even though it had it’s ups and downs, because of the whole theme of the event and it always has great volunteers. Under Armour was one of the sponsors this year and provided the participant shirt which was nicely designed, and they redesigned the medal this year which was pretty good. It was a great way to start our memorial weekend.

Chicago Spring Half Marathon

Spring has finally come and the Chicago Spring Half marathon turned out to be a beautiful day for running. I was totally undertrained for this run, it has been about a week and a half since I even did a training run. So I was a bit nervous about this run.

When we arrived at the area they already started announcing that the corrals were going to close for the half marathon. So we made our way to the lakefront and found my corral “G” which there were 2 more corrals behind me. So at least there was that buffer. The race started at 7, but it took awhile for our corral to start. Once we started we went south along the sidewalk right by Lake Shore Drive. When we got to the museum campus we started following the lakefront path. We passed the Shedd Aquarium and McCormack Place, then it was just through the path to the parks on the south side. We ran all the way down to 47th street where we turned around and made our way back north. I felt good after the halfway mark and thought I could do this!

This year they introduced the 10k and their bibs were yellow. When I went north I saw a few people on the other direction with yellow bins, and I thought that they missed the turnaround, but when they got closer I saw that it was just a sign that said that they were slow runners in the back of the pack. Going south it was really warm, but going north it was very windy and there was a bit cold, but it was manageable.

The last 3 miles were tough, that when the non-training started to kick in. My upper leg muscles were getting tight, my feet started aching, which could be from my inserts, and I was getting tired. So I took a small breaks every 1/2 mile.

Well, I achieved my goal, to finish. I finished at 2hrs, 58min and 49 sec. At least I was below 3 hrs. I picked up my plants that they were giving out and we hung around for a bit. This has always been an enjoyable race, a nice course along the lake, weather is usually good, and a nice swag.