Yeah, OK, so I’m a little behind on my blogging and now I
have to backtrack. I guess I should
throw up a quick entry on Soldier Field.
Here’s how it all went down….
I have a friend who was planning on driving so I hitched a
ride with her. It meant getting picked up at 5am, but in the grand scheme of
things that’s not that much earlier than I usually get up to go running anyway.
I ate a piece of peanut butter toast and had a big glass of water and managed
the all-important PRP (pre-race poop).
We parked with no problem in one of the Soldier Field garages and headed to the CES/Fleet Feet Racing Team
compound where we could check our bags (I recently signed up for CES training
and my buddy is a FF Racing Team member). I have to say that whatever you have
to pay to access a VIP compound like this, it’s totally worth it. Tents to keep
you dry or escape the sun, private gear check, tables & chairs to hang out
around and best of all – a private bank of portapotties. I was wearing a pair
of Roadrunner house-brand capris (they chafed me in a spot I have never chafed
before and hope to never chafe again – I will retire these capris from anything
longer than 4 miles in the future), and a short sleeved shirt from this year’s
F3 Half-Marathon. I had originally thought I might wear a long sleeve because
it was a little chilly, but at the last minute I grabbed a short sleeve shirt
off the top of the pile and after looking at what most people were wearing I
chose the short-sleeve and was happy I did.
I was supposed to be in either the blue or purple corral (so
sue me – I don’t remember anymore) but I was enjoying hanging out in the fancy
compound so much that I missed the closing time for my corral – oops. So I
lined up in the orange corral by the 9:00/mile pacers. It turned out to be a
blessing in disguise because I have a horrible tendency to bust out of the gate
too fast and then lose steam later in the race. I hung with those two CES
pacers like white on rice. Luckily I didn’t need a bathroom break and I was
well hydrated enough to not need water during the race. The pacers were spot on
for keeping within 5-10 seconds of a 9:00/mile pace and I was listening to my
usual iPod mix of EDM, remixed pop hits and crappy techno to keep me going and
with about a mile to go I sped up (marginally) and managed to finish about 45
seconds ahead of the pacers.
After the race I got my medal from a cutie army guy and then
grabbed my conveniently pre-packaged food sack and headed out to the compound
to grab my gear and look for my friend. CES was handing out food vouchers to
their members and it bought me a delicious pulled pork sandwich and a salty bag
of chips. I wandered around for awhile and bumped into loads of people I know
before finding my friend. We hung around to watch Soul Asylum for a bit and
left after they played Runaway Train. If I can sound like a crochety old
college DJ for a moment, I remember back when Sould Asylum was a pretty decent
sorta punky band. Sadly they did not
play any of their older stuff despite a request from me on their Facebook page.
Here’s the ‘quicky’ recap:
Cost: I
registered on the very first day that this race opened up so I honestly don’t
remember. I know even than it wasn’t cheap and it only got more expensive the
longer you waited. I know the cost scares off some people and there’s lots of
bitching about how much it costs, but the permitting for this race must be a
holy nightmare to organize. Between shutting down part of Lake Shore Drive, and
negotiating with the Park District to use Soldier Field, and the cost of added
security because of what happened in Boston, I think the cost is pretty justified.
Start Line:
The corrals were very well policed and not too crowded. There was a wave start
with a minute or two between each wave so although the elites started at 7am,
my corral didn’t get going until 7:30.
The course:
Not much deviation from years past – but because of the wave start it wasn’t
too crowded. I don’t usually notice much
when I’m racing and this was no exception.
I pretty much kept my eyes fixed on the eyeball tattoos on the shoulders
of the pacer and didn’t stop.
Post-Race: The
party after the race was pretty nice. Good food offerings to buy and the runner
refreshment bag had decent refuel food – banana, Clif Bar, etc. It was nice to
see Soul Asylum too – they played all their hits and seemed pretty awake for
rock stars up at 10am.
Swag: I
heard some complaints about the women’s shirts, but I like mine. It’s not as long as some shirts but that
means it won’t hug my hips. As I mentioned, the medal was super-nice. There was
no picnic blanket as party of the swag this year – I think the blanket money
went to Soul Asylum.
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