Running pic

Running pic
Yup, that's me!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Chicago's Perfect 10 recap

Too bad the Perfect 10 race wasn’t as good as I hoped.  I finished the Soldier Field 10-miler back in May in 1:27:XX and I was hoping to finish the Perfect 10 in 1:20:XX  or less.  Not so insane when you consider that my Hot Chocolate time was 1:18:XX – I was hoping I could squeak out the extra .7 miles more in 1.5 minutes or so.  Or not.  I finished in 1:25:XX.  Oh well. A new PR, but not what I’d hoped for and my nemesis beat me by ~45 seconds.  Grrrrr.  I wonder if I’m her nemesis?  Or if she even cares? Eh. I’ll probably never know.
I was already irritated because the race director changed the start time from 8am to 7am which would mean that I’d have to get up at freaking 4am to get down to the start at Navy Pier  and have time to check gear and hit the head at least once.  A friend from college came down to run the race with me and she was likewise less than thrilled at the time change.   We were bleary eyed at 4am but we persevered, downed our coffee, ate our breakfast of champions (frosted sugar cookies), hit the head, and hit the bus to Navy Pier.  It was pretty cold out and the first race of the year that I wore my tights (black Nike purchased for ~$8 at the outlet from the sale rack). I rounded out the outfit with an Icebreaker ¼ zip top, Brooks glycerin bra, thin Nike gloves, my pink Newtons, and a pink Oiselle fleece hat that makes me look a bit like a cancer patient but keeps my ears warm and was free to boot. Needless to say pictures from this race are fah-bulous – or not.  Runners were allowed to wait inside Navy Pier until the start which was really nice because it was cold and windy. The start was sort of disorganized since we had to run west on the pier to get to the lakefront path and then head south.  I could pretty much tell this wasn’t going to be an A race for me.  I was tired and had a little bit of the lead-leg going on.  When we hit the 10K turnaround ~3 miles in I was pretty sorry that I’d signed up for the 10-mile.  You have to know that when the dude in the cargo shorts passes you, and then you see the guy with his arm in a sling already headed back that it’s not going to be a great race.  It was pretty much only the thought of the fabulous breakfast I had planned that kept me going. After the race I had to get my gear and find my friend who finished about 10 minutes ahead of me (7th in her AG!), and then we went out for a much deserved breakfast complete with a.m. cocktail and then home for a nap.  Lesson learned – no more races at 7am unless they’re outside my front door.
As a PS in case anyone cares what I wore to the Hot Chocolate race it was as follows: long-sleeved grey Saucony Fleet Feet Chick’s Night reward shirt, Brooks Glycerin bra, my grey Layer 8 shorts (still the best buy ever from Marshalls/TJ Maxx), Sensah lavender calf compression sleeves, pink Newtons, and Nike gloves.  No chafing despite the pretty dumb choice to wear a brand new shirt.

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