Warm Your Heart 5k - 2013

January 6, 2013

Third 5k - Warm Your Heart 5k

McCormick Place Chicago, IL

Time: 34:15

  I was a little worried about this race. Because of the super cold weather I had been running at the gym on the treadmill. I HATE running on the treadmill. I can only crank out 2 miles. It's so boring, I cant stand it. I have little tolerance for things that take a long time and go nowhere. The last time I tried to run outside it was about 32 degrees out. The air had a bitter chill. It made me cough a lot.

This race was indoors at McCormick place. Woo hoo 'cuz it was kinds cold out! I took the L into the loop and then the #3 King Drive bus to McCormick place. I got on the bus and saw others with their timing ship on their show so I knew I was on the right bus. One woman was asleep. Good luck to her!

I arrived early, took off one layer of clothing, checked my gear and got stretched out by the pros.

I so did not like the way this course was set up. I felt like a rat trapped in a maze. In one big room of this convention center we ran up and down, slowly moving from one side to the other. It was kind of line a line at an amusement park but with wider aisles. It was never ending. We did almost a mile in the one room. Finally we got out! Across the bridge, past the one mile marker and into a second room with the same up and down deal. Who thought this was a good idea? I hate seeing where I am going. It's too daunting to see the end so far away. Knowing I had to go up and down so many more times and then round another corner of the room to the finish line all the way on the other side of the room was almost enough to make me take a short cut and just end it already. I had to briefly stop twice to talk my self off the ledge. 

To make it worse my Nike app had a bad GPS signal so it was completely inaccurate. It told me i was hitting the mile markers way before I actually did. To hear the voice in my ear tell me I was at two miles and then see the two mile marker 5 minutes later is totally discouraging. According to Nike i ran 3.74 miles in total with a killer pace of 9:14!. A 5k is only 3.1 miles. Oh and all that up and down included a million turns, making my total time 1 second more than my last run. Rubbish!

I tried to zone out but I couldn't. I tried to think of other things but I am not at the point yet where I can just drift off into daydream land while running. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on one thing for 34 minutes? Well, for me, it's super hard what with my undiagnosed ADD and all. 

I finished and that was that. Another 5k under my belt. This race wont discourage me for other races. I was just having a slightly bad run. Chalk it up to a crappy course, and crappy concrete flooring that is way harder on the joints than running outside. 

Afterwards, I chilled out at the Cultural Center and read my book. Then I treated myself to my first pizza in 6 months at Pizanos! Mmmmmmm.... 

During the race I asked my self the usual questions like, "why the hell do I put myself through this?" I also told myself there was no way I was going to be able to do this 8k I had my eye on in March. But then on Tuesday I ran 3 miles outside with ease. Today I went 3.6 with even more ease. I amaze myself. That's why I keep going.