Commitment Day 5k 2014

January 1, 2014 

Fourteenth 5k - Commitment Day 5k

Chicago, IL

Twenty One degrees!

Time: not sure; this wasn't a timed event

My GPS said 3.38 miles in 35:06 minutes with an avg. pace of 10:24

I finally had a real excuse for staying home on New Years Eve! I had to get up early the next morning  for a race. Wow, things have changed!!! New Years Eve felt like any other day. New Years Day felt weird. It was crappy weather; snowy, icy, dreary, no one was out. 

I didn't plan my timing out correctly. I realized I wasn't going to make it to Grant Park by bus in time for the 9 am start time. So I walked east on Devon and hailed a cab. I so love being able to hail a cab practically outside my front door. I gratefully hopped into the cab and asked the driver to take me to Grant Park. He replies, "Grant Park? The one down town?" hum, yeah. He asked me two more times. Exactly how many Grant Parks are there in Chicago?

Thank God this cab was equipped with a credit card machine. 3/4 of the way down Lake Shore drive the meter hit $20, which was all I had with me in cash. my total ride was just over $30! What the ????

I learned my lesson from the Santa Hustle where my extremities nearly froze off so I bought those hand warmer packets. Except those were for the feet. They were made to go under the toes but I wasn't sure how running on them was going to go so I put them over my toes inside the shoes. I'd like to give the inventor of this product a big fat kiss! 

This was race was brutal but at least my feet were warm. The snow was coming down icy and angry. My face mask was filling up with snot and spit. It was lovely. The best part about this race was that even though it wasn't timed it was serious. People don't come out at 9 am on New Years Day in the cold and snow to fart around on the course. Of course some people were declaring a commitment to a healthy life and just beginning to run so they walked a bit but I can appreciate that.

I ran my first mile at an average pace of 9:38! I was determined to get this done as fast as I could. As much as I love snow and cold and running, I only wanted to get back on the couch next to the space heater and under my down throw and watch Breaking Bad. 

I loaded up on post race goodies and got my officially photo taken, chugged some free hot chocolate and headed on out! Notice in the photo above the woman behind me had her legs showing. Crazy!