As part of Pride month this run is scheduled the same weekend as the Pride parade. The days that prior to race day was filled with a lot of rain and cold weather, I was a bit worried that we would be running in non-ideal weather. To our surprise and relief the rain blew over and the sun was trying to break through the grey clouds.
By the time we arrived at Montrose Harbor the sun was coming out and the lake breeze made it quite comfortable to start the race. They did have an announcement in the beginning that they had to re-route part of the course because of construction around the park and also since it rained a lot in the past couple of days to be aware of the course where there are big puddles and to run cautiously.
As we lined up, the 10K runners were first, then the 5K run/walk participants. After the national anthem was sun they released us and sent us up north towards Foster. At Foster the route had us take a right and looped us back down south along the lakefront path.
Just before Wilson we took a right and made our way towards the path closest to Lake Shore Drive and brought us down to Belmont Harbor. Just before Belmont Ave, they looped us around and routed us back north towards the finish.
The re-routing they did, had us running in grassy areas which I was careful where my feet landed. I am prone to landing my feet in trails that results in sprains. Luckily it didn’t happen during this run. There was just one confusion area that I was following this one runner, but then I saw the 5K walkers on a different path. I saw another 10K runner join that path, so I cut across the grass and asked if this was the correct way, and she confirmed that it was. The areas that was majorly flooded was an underpass, which we had to go single line to cross, and the course just before the finish line that usually goes towards the beach path. Instead they routed us on the path that was closer to the street, which wasn’t a big difference.
I finished the course in 1hr 13min 53sec. This is the first race that I ran with my new Hoka shoes, they felt good and my feet did not hurt after, and my recovery time was pretty low. Another Proud to Run 10K done, and again a great way to start the Pride weekend festivities with.
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