Chinatown 5k 2013

July 13, 2013

 eigth 5k - Chinatown 5k

Chicago, IL

Time 33:14 Place 19/37 age female; 483/844 overall

Average pace 10:44

About 2 weeks prior to this race I ran about 6.5 miles one Saturday afternoon. I was in training for an 11.5 mile race on 8/25. I am not a proactive stretcher and as a result my body made me pay. I wasn't sure what was the issue with my foot. It hurt. bad. I didn't run for two weeks, did this race and decided I needed to see a doctor. Thankfully it wasn't heel spurs as I suspected. 1 x-ray, 1 cortisone shot, 1 pair of orthodics, a diagnosis of acute plantar fasciitus and $800 later I still have an issue. If I would just sit still I'm sure this would go away.

Anyhoo, this was a pretty good race. These 5ks seems to fly by now with less effort than prior 5ks. Karen and Veronica ran this race with me. We all met on a study abroad trip to Colombia. Veronica was my roommate in our deluxe apartment rental on the trip. She would get up early everyday and run with our other roommate, TQ, along the ocean. I thought they were nuts. It was hot and I thought running was silly. I was so excited for both of them as it was their very first race.

I got to Karen's house at 6:30 am. We got to chatting and realized Vero hadn't shown up. We called her and it went straight to voice mail. Uh-oh. We tried 5 minutes later at 6:55. She answered but had just woken up. Crap! She lives in Vernon Hills! Karen and I left and hoped for the best that Vero would get there on time.

While waiting in Chinatown square Karen realized she left Vero's race bib at home. Luckily the fine folks on the race committee let us get her another bib.

The gun went off and Vero and her husband were still trying to find their way to the starting line. We walked in the opposite direction of the start line to the nearest intersection. She spotted us, jumped out the car and ran over. We handed her the race bib and began running to the start. The race wasnt pretty small so all of the runners had long gone. We had to ask a cop directing traffic which way the runners went.

After that Vero took off like a bat outta hell! She did excellent with an average 10 minute mile. After about 1 minute I let Karen go and ran ahead.

The route was weird. We went down Wentworth and then ended up along the highway with nothing exciting to see. But there was something to smell! I am guessing that from the highway at a certain spot there was a collection of rotting garbage producing quite a stench in the summer sun. Not something you want to experience as your gasping for air to fuel your race.

The turn around was at 34th and then back to Chinatown square. I walked for about 3 seconds through each of the two water stops and that was it! 5ks are becoming so easy now that I might think about working on improving my time. Might.

I waited inside the shoot for Karen to cross the finish line. I gave her a hug and a photog snapped our picture as Vero leaned in from outside the shoot barrier. It's been over 30 days and they have not posted one darn photo. All I have are the three here. The one above Vero got of me coming up to the finish line. She had plenty of time to get her camera ready as I came in over 3 minutes after. 

We waited around after the race to get stretched out and listen for our names in the raffle. Vero hates Chinese food so we headed over one neighborhood to Pilsen for Mexican breakfast.