Lakefront 10 miler 2015

April 18, 2015

1st 10 Miler - Lakefront 10 Miler, Chicago, IL

Time: 1:53:31; Pace: 11:22

Place: 960/1115 overall; 471/581 women; age grade 45.55%

I need to get rid of these sunglasses. They make me look horrible.

I didn't really want to do this race in the first place. Why should I pay to run along the lake when I can run for free any time....and I do. But I did and I was happy about my decision. I had three Lagunitas beers afterwards and the registration fee went to CARA Road Scholars program.

I actually enjoyed the course. Usually when I run on my own or when I group lead it's pretty much out and back. The only exciting part of the route is going over the North Ave bridge. This race course had a lot of cool turns and went under some underpass I had never been to before. It even took us up and over Cricket Hill. I was super worried about this as I hate hills and this was the steepest by far I had ever run. Once I got to the top and saw that awesome view I was amazed and glad I made it up the hill.  There was a photographer there but I can't find the photo.

With each race I try to meet a goal; something different that tests myself. I feel like a race is a place to test your potential otherwise it's just another run. The goal for this race was to run the whole thing without stopping. I met my goal! This was the longest distance I had run thus far without stopping. I walked for about 30 second through the water stops but I'm not counting that!

I got stretched out afterwards and met up with Emily and Molly. Then we headed into the Lagunitas area. We spent so long chatting with everyone they took down the fencing around us. Everyone in the race got a free beer ticket. I got another from someone else and then Lagunitas was giving it away. Im not the drinker I used to be so these three beers had quite the affect on me. Plus, all I had to eat was oatmeal and walnuts for breakfast plus half a bagel and two small cookies post race. 

It was a real challenge riding my bike home. It was windy and I felt like I was going in slo-mo. I stopped at Metropolis Cafe on the ride home to use the bathroom, some coffee and a spinach and feta hand pie. I may have sent a few drunk texts too.