Hot Chocolate 15k race report

Good news is that I think I'm getting out of my running funk. Before I get into my race report yesterday, I should say that even though I put on a happy face, I was not feeling my best about my running since my marathon. It disappointed me moreso than I care to let on. My friends and you fellow bloggers & commenters were quite nice & helpful with your comments but this was just something that I had to work out myself. While I didn't go so far to fall out of love with it, I was just not that into running anymore. Which is probably why it's a good thing I did sign up for these races; to keep me going. The pace race at Pumpkinfest helped me feel better. I crossed the line with no problems breathing, I felt great. Granted I was going slow but it gave me a boost of confidence helping someone. And then this race yesterday, I raced it and gave it my all and came away very much happy with my time and how I felt at the end. I may not be all the way back in the game but I'm getting there. I think the true test will be January when I start marathon training again.

Yesterday I had my very first 15k race and my very first race in Chicago.

It was a good race in that the weather was lovely and I did great in my time. But the crowds... not so much. The final times only say that 4100 ran the 5k and 4400 ran the 15k but it just seemed like a lot more than that.

Met up with my NITRO running group and a friend so we could carpool together. We left Sycamore at 5:20a. I ate breakfast around 4:30a. Way too early and I should have brought something with me to the race. By the time we got to the start, I was STARVING. I was so afraid I was going to bonk. I didn't bring anything to eat on the run either.

The 5kers left at 8am and they just kept on going and going and going and going it seemed. Some were crossing 15 minutes after the start. They finally allowed us 15kers to line up and it only took me 3:35 or so to cross the starting line.

I had worn my jacket, pullover and pants over my running outfit. I took off my jacket & pullover and just had my mittens & longsleeved shirt on and I was fine with that. I was utterly confused with the pants though. I know my core warms up pretty well. But last minute as I was standing in the line for gear check, I decided to take off my warmup pants and run in shorts. I also had originally planned on running with my iPod but before the start, I found out that died after we checked the gear so I ran with it the entire time but wasn't listening to anything.

First mile ran with a guy who recognised my St. Jude Marathon shirt and we talked about that. 2-4 miles I ran behind 3 girls who I was using as my pace group. Then one of the girls started to fade and I had to run past them. There were people all over the race course. I was constantly have to divide and conquer them. Not too happy.

I wanted to run the first half slower than the second half. First half was average of 9:13 min/mi.

Just after 4 miles, my friend was on mile 7 and we were able to pass each other. He was near the front of the race. I never did see anyone else in the race but I found out that another couple was behind me by 3 minutes.

I lost all sort of direction half way through the race, I didn't even know the course so I didn't know where we were going or anything. I also lost track of mile 5 and maybe 6. I don't remember much of them.

Oh and if you wanna know why I don't have any pictures up is because I forgot my camera. Yep, first race in Chicago, along the lakeshore and I forgot my camera. Lucky me.

Mile 7, I was happy with my pace and decided to try to start pushing myself at mile 8 and then on to mile 9 and finish strong and with nothing left. I was feeling like I had way too much energy left in me at this time. My goal is to always leave everything out on the course. If I don't feel like dying at the end, I didn't give it my all. by this time I was averaging 9:08 and was hoping that I could knock off 8 seconds in the last 2 miles but didn't know if I could.

Around mile 8.5, a guy wearing a Pumpkinfest 10k shirt from this year passed me. I tried keeping up with him and did for the most part but his calves were way too big and strong for me to do that. Lost him around mile 9. I saw my friend standing along the course just before mile 9, I think. I made him start running with me with our gear check. I was asking him about his time and how he was feeling. I don't know why I was talking. But he eventually got off the course and I got passed by 3 people blazing by and I tried kicking it strong and I think I did. My Garmin said I ran 9.42 miles (all the dodging and snakes I was doing added up the milage) for an average pace of 9:02 min/mi overall.

The whole point of this race was the Hot Chocolate & free chocolate everything post-race. Weeeeeell, the Hot Chocolate sucked. Yes I did ask for it without marshmallows. I threw half of it away. The chocolate fondue looked pretty good (which was just melted Hersey Kisses -- I feel sorry for the guys peeling the tin foil from the kisses). Banana, apple slice, marshmallow, graham cracker and a pretzel rod. I gave my marshmallow & apple slice away. Took one bite from my pretzel rod (too salty) but totally loved the banana with the melted chocolate.

My only picture from the day

They also had lovely people walking around with bags and bags of free mini chocolate bars. I grabbed quite a few of those. We all met up at our designated tree and left around noon. We stopped for a bite to eat at Red Robin (my suggestion :-)

Got back home and the results were posted online! My friend came in 21st overall and smoked his goal time. I came in at 1:25:09 and was quite happy about that (anything under 1:29 I would have been happy with). And the others in our NITRO group did exactly what they were hoping for. Like I said, it was just an awesome day for a race & a run! Everything turned out to be just like I hoped it would.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 587 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 11/01/09 Up/Downhill: [+239/-242] Time: 08:33 AM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 47 F temp; 51% humidity 47 F heat index; winds SW 7 Performance Distance: 9.42 miles Time: 1:25:12 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 03 /mi Calories: 997 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 02 -0' 01 6.6 +0.0 -6 ft 2 9' 29 +0' 26 6.3 -0.3 +4 ft 3 9' 14 +0' 11 6.5 -0.1 0 ft 4 9' 05 +0' 02 6.6 -0.0 0 ft 5 9' 19 +0' 16 6.4 -0.2 -6 ft 6 9' 01 -0' 02 6.7 +0.0 0 ft 7 9' 03 +0' 00 6.6 -0.0 +10 ft 8 8' 42 -0' 21 6.9 +0.3 -10 ft 9 8' 52 -0' 11 6.8 +0.1 +10 ft end 8' 02 -1' 01 7.5 +0.8 -3 ft Versus average of 9' 03 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 9.3 miles, Chicago Lakefront, Hot Chocolate 15k, races

Long time, no see

Hi there. It's been a while. Two weeks to be exact.

What have you been up to? Any running? I've done a little running. Emphasis on the little.

I had 2 weeks off of running. Not on purpose. I had the week after my marathon off and then meant to run the following week but alas, I chickened out cause of the cold. I just wasn't ready to run in the cold in the middle of October.

So then I started running last week with only 7 days to prepare for my 10k. 3.1 miles on Sunday, 2.75 miles on Monday (speed workout since I ran them around 8:30 pace--totally didn't mean to), and then 6.2 on Wednesday in just under an hour. That was it.

Ran the 10k yesterday with a few friends. One ran a PR and beat my previous best time by 4 minutes. All in jeans no less. Another friend ran in under 40 minutes and came in 3rd place in his age group and 26th overall out of 1300 runners. And I paced the final friend to his first 10k in 1:05:20, 5 minutes faster than his goal time!

I have a 15k now to train for next Sunday on the 1st. 9.3 miles that I should finish in an hohur and a half. I want to do an hour and a half run sometime this week. But we'll see. It's gonna be interesting; life is getting in the way this week.

Tonight I ran another 60 minutes at 9:31 pace for 6.29 miles. All on the treadmill at work. That was my first time using that gym. I also did a few weight machines for my quads, hamstrings & glutes.

Shouldn't run on Tuesday since my muscles are a bit sore. Wednesday I work until 5p and then I am having a board game night with a few friends at 6:30pm. So won't be able to squeeze in the 1.5 hour run. Thursday I have dinner & a concert with a friend. And then Friday will be a Halloween party. I'm open on Saturday but won't be doing an hour and a half run on the day before the 15k race!

So I may run like 3 miles on Wednesday morning and then Wednesday after work. I can't run at lunch since I have a meeting at 2:30 pm. And maybe I can squeeze in another 3 on Thursday before the dinner/concert??

What's gonna happen is that I'm gonna run as many miles in a week as possible but never the full distance at one time. Gosh. This is NOT going to be a good race. From what I heard it's gonna be about 10,000 where last year's race was only 3500 runners. The packet pickup was crazy insane. Took me an hour to pick it up! So maybe I'll be forced to run it nice and slow. I'll be really tired too. A bunch of us are carpooling together at 5:30a that morning. This Sunday is gonna hurt!

Categories: Hot Chocolate 15k, Pumpkinfest 10k

Love of running

I am a runner. How do I know this? Even after what I think is bad run, in which I lost all bets mentally in my marathon, I have signed up for 3 more races this year. And they will be fun ones. I will INSIST that I enjoy and have a great time (not talking pace!). I still love & want to run.

Pumpkinfest 10k

Sunday, October 25, 9 am, Sycamore, IL

This one is a race that I've done since 2006. It was my first 10k and I love the start time, 9am. Totally excellent! It's held during Sycamore's Pumpkinfest so many people come out for it to support the runners while in Sycamore. Out in the country it can get a little lonely but you're never alone with runners always with ya. It's on CARA's race circuit so a lot of runners from Chicago come out for it. Pack's usually around 1100 or so. I'm pacing a friend this year. He doesn't really have a goal in mind but I think he can do an hour. He ran a 7k with a 10 min/mi pace so yea, no problemo! It'll be my first pace race, just need to keep him slow and encourage him when he wants to stop!

Hot Chocolate 15k

Sunday, November 1st, 8 am, Chicago, IL

This is my first time doing A) a race in Chicago 2) a 15k, which is 9.3 miles. I'm excited about this one. It was expensive but the swag is neat-o. Except since I signed up late, I don't get a jacket that fits me, I get a Large. :( But I also get a drawstring bag & a wicking hat. A few in NITRO is running this one so I think we're gonna car pool in to Chicago together. It's starts at Montrose Harbour. Afterwards, get this, Hot Chocolate all around. Chocolate Fountains for bananas, strawberries, etc. Chocolate mini candy bars! Sounds like a dream come true! The start time SUCKS for November 1st though. Come on! It's gonna chilly!!

Gobbler Gallop 5k

Saturday, November 21st, 9 am, Waterman, IL

A co-worker is the race director of this 5k. She wanted me to do it last year but I couldn't. I was training for my marathon and I didn't want to run 3 miles after a long run. She's run the Chicago Marathon in 2005, the one year it was actually nice! She won't do another marathon but she's been asking about all of mine. So while it's a bit of a drive for me, I think it'll still be a fun run. Maybe I'll tell the guy I'm running with in Pumpkinfest and see if he wants to do this one too.

Now I haven't started running yet. By Wednesday all pain was gone from my muscles but I still wanted to take the rest of the week off. I got out of work on Tuesday and wanted to run. It had rained earlier and the sun was shining and it was actually pretty warm and it was so windy. But I held back. I instead sat on my couch watching The Biggest Loser new season.

I will start this week though. I was going to have 2 weeks off but since I'm not exactly injured in this race like I was with my last marathon, I can start running sooner. I have to breakout my winter running clothes now. We had frost last night and there's a freeze warning for tonight. I will start with a few maintenance miles to see how the legs & lungs are holding up. Go for a long run on Saturday. Probably just 6 miles for that first try. Just enough to test out the 10k distance. Then I'll work my way up to 9 miles. I can't imagine that I lost that much endurance in a week but you never know.

Speaking of tomorrow morning, I'll be in cheering for the Chicago Marathoners again. It starts a half hour earlier this year, so I won't have a chance of seeing Jesse cross at halfway, like I tried to do last year. But I also need to dress very warmly. I will be arriving in Chicago at the same time as last year, 9:46 am, but I won't be running around like the rest of the fools out there (just kidding!) so I won't have as much body heat. There'll still be lots of sleeveless tanks and shorts though.

I started running (for the 2nd time in my life), a few weeks AFTER the 2005 Chicago Marathon. So in the years that I've been a runner, I've also paid attention to the Chicago Marathon (even before I knew I wanted to run a marathon!) and the weather. 2006: cold, rainy and the elite winner fell as he crossed the finish line. 2007: HOT, so much so, they called the race. 2008: again very warm 85 degrees but didn't run out of water this time. 2009: Cold, 30's at start, mid-50's for a high all day sometime. I'm hoping for some sun though. We need another year like 2005, I guess!! Maybe next year?

So I still love running. It is still a part of who I am. As this article on Runner's World said, "We need terrible runs in order to have terrific ones." Ain't that the truth.

Categories: Chicago Marathon, Gobbler Gallop 5k, Hot Chocolate 15k, Pumpkinfest 10k, races