Chicago Distance Classic

Hello fellow runners! I am stoked to bring you this report. I was a little nervous about running this race because all the usual doubts come up, what if I run poorly? What if I can't make the time I want? What if I feel totally discouraged at the end of this race and have to train for the next 8 weeks with it weighing me down? Well, it was all for not. I rocked (my style!). I am overall pleased with my performance. I wanted to finish in 2:15, and I finished in 2:10:34, yea me!

I went to stay the night at my sisters, she just recently moved into the city, yea me again. So, I took the train down just like a big girl and walked over to the Hilton for packet pick up. I must say I was not impressed with the expo, come to think of it I'm usually not impressed with those things. Maybe it was because I got there at 2:00 on Saturday afternoon and they were closing at 6, but they had almost no gels left and that's all I really wanted to scope out. Then after leaving there my sister came and picked me up and took me back to her place. We chilled out awhile and then took a little walk, what a beautiful day in Chicago! The whole weekend couldn't have been better if I would have written it down. We had dinner, I got some pasta and a whole lot of water and then back to her place again. I think I was sleeping by 9:45. I don't know if the rest of you are like this, but a nice added bonus to running is that I can pass out as soon as I put my head down on the pillow.

Got up around 4:30 am and showered just to get going and wake up. Had a little bagel and gatorade and then G(that's my sister's nickname, her name is Margie, but my son couldn't say it when he was little so he called her G and it stuck) drove me to the start. I think this is the latest I've ever arrived at a race, I'm kinda nuts when it comes to getting somewhere early. So I get there a little less than an hour before the race. I found gear check and ran a little to get loose and to see if I could get anything going, if you know what I mean. Made a pit stop at the porta potties and found my way to the start. I got there with about 15 minutes to go, perfect timing all around. The gun went off and we were on our way. I found the 2:15 pacers and kinda just kept them in my view for awhile, but I eventually lost them. I'm not sure if I'm the pacer group kind of a runner, I think I pace myself pretty good. I saw G at about mile 1 and waived, that was cool.

The race itself was not that eventful. I decided on a plan before to stop at pretty much every drink stand. I ran through the first one as it was only at mile 1, and I figured it would be crowded, and it was. I took some gatorade or water or both at every other one except one, and that strategy seemed to work pretty good. The first 5 or 6 miles my legs felt a little tired, but after that it went pretty good. Here's my splits:

Mile 1 10:20
Mile 2 10:19
Mile 3 10:17
Mile 4 10:23
Mile 5 10:02
Mile 6 9:59
Mile 7 9:42
Mile 8 9:53
Mile 9 10:04
Mile 10 9:40
Mile 11 9:38
Mile 12 9:55
Mile 13 9:21
Mile .01 :56

For a grand total of 2:10:34. I also walked through every stop.

I didn't get to see my family, but I know they were there, because my husband took some great pictures, here's one:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h306/CarrieK17/DSCN3223.jpg

I don't know why it's not publishing, I'll try to figure it out later. I want to post other pictures too, so I'll have to try again later. Hope everyone else had good runs today.

Okay, let me see if the picture uploader thing works tonight, I read on someone else's blog that it didn't work for them last night either. Nope, so let me just add another link I guess. My family:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h306/CarrieK17/DSCN3230.jpg

Just another link, oh well.