Chicago's Perfect 10 - A very late race recap

Its been a week and a half since I ran the inaugural "Chicago's Perfect 10". Its been a rough 10 days or so, with sick kids and every free minute working on my dissertation proposal. I actually have 10 whole free minutes right now. Not enough time to crack open the proposal, so I figured I'd get into the race report instead.

The race had the typical novice race type feel. Not a lot of participants. Sloppy communication. Poor crowd control. But, I ran a good race, had a good time, and would likely do it again.

First off, only a couple of days prior an email blast goes out that the race time had been changed from 8AM to 7AM. It threw a wrench in some plans, and also seemed like a pretty big last minute change. During the race we could tell not everyone got that email ... because people were just starting out as we were rolling back in. Honestly, I would be furious to show up and realize the race had started an hour earlier. In fact, furious enough I likely would not have even ran that race ... so I do give those people some props ;)

The race started and ended on Navy Pier, which was actually pretty cool. Most Chicago races start on some random city street, or on a path near a park. This one started next to the lake, surrounded with tall ships and a ferris wheel. It seemed pretty crowded as we all stood inside the building waiting for the start (it was pretty cold!) but as everyone went to line up at the start line the crowd seemed a lot smaller. In fact, there were 959 runners in the 10K and 1322 10 mile runners. Thats actually really small for a Chicago race. Despite that fact, the course was pretty messy in the beginning. We ran along a path, so the width of the course was not much. The course did a turn-around, meaning the 10K runners ran 5K out and literally turned around and came back (same with 10 milers). The fast 10K runners were on their way back as I was still on my way out, but the crowd would not move to the side. So, those people trying to run for the finish (and actually WIN) had to run against the crowd and weave in an out to get through. There wasnt a single race official there to tell people to "move to the right" and let the runners pass. Pretty poor control. Again, if I wanted to win that race, I would have been steaming mad. In fact, I bet you wouldnt see me run that race again. But, I wasnt going to win and I just felt sorry for the other runners. My race was still a-ok ;)

Here I am, thinking I am all fast, trying to kick it into the finish.

I am so fast, I leave my sister (meanjean) trailing behind me ... eating my dust.

Unfortunately, I couldnt have been going that fast cuz the guy next to me looks like he is out for casual stroll.

I felt pretty good the whole race and finished 1:03:22 with a 10:14 pace. Considering I havent run 6 miles in over a year, I did surprisingly well. With more training I think I could have done even better, but beggars cant be choosers I guess. I was a little sad to realize the last time I ran a 10K was in 2009 and that my finish time was 1:03:01. I honestly couldnt have put in any more at the finish, but if I had known how close I was to beating that time I would have found a few seconds here and there throughout the race. At least I am consistent!


I havent run since the race (Saturday 11/12) because I honestly have not had the time. Despite that, I just did a last minute sign-up for an 8K Turkey Trot on Thursday. Not sure if that was a good idea, but it was the only way to force myself to allocate time for decent run ;)