Ah… Chicago! Once again, you’ve blessed me with fun opportunities!
It’s Race Day – right in my “backyard” :o)
August 14, 2011
4:30 AM - Time to wake up
I got myself ready to go. I ate a blueberry crisp cliff bar and downed some water. Next, it was time to get the boys ready to go. Nate was easy – it’s just a matter of waking him up and pushing him towards the shower. Miles was quickly walked through his morning routine and sat down to veg in his chair while I packed a bag of snacks and toys.
5:15 AM – Travel
Finally, out the door. Only 15 minutes behind schedule – but no worries – I padded the schedule a lot! We jumped in the car and raced down the express lane of 90/94 to my work parking lot (free-ish for me!). Miles was wired already and excited to cheer me on! He loves race day! Once parked in the ramp, we loaded the goodies and the adorable child into the jogger stroller and trekked one mile (exactly) south to the race start.
Here’s the view as we approached:
6:06 AM – Heading in
My nerves were ramping up a little. We pushed through the crowd towards my starting corral. We looked around for friends who were also running. No such luck. Here are a couple views of large crowd chaos. I was in starting corral 12…
6:25AM – On your mark, Get Set……
Hugs and kisses from my boys and the best wishes for a great race. Thought about jumping the fence for a good position – my competitive spirit was quickly suffocated by nerves and adrenaline.
6:30AM – GO!!
The gunshot rang out right on time, but I wasn’t able to cross the line for another 5-10 minutes.
Click
route to see the map of the run. It was a NEW route – moved entirely to the city streets from previous years where a bulk of the race took place on the lakeshore path. GREAT course!!
Now the time of day starts to get a little fuzzy.
Because of the way the course was set up, I was able to see the boys at Miles 2, 7, and the finish! They were able to stay at Grant Park the whole time. Miles was also always positioned right on top of Nate’s shoulders, making them easy to spot.
I was still feeling great at the 3 mile (5K) mark:
Here’s a picture that Nate got a Mile 7:
Here’s one that the professionals snapped around the same time – you can see that I LOVED seeing them! It’s hard to concentrate on running when the spectators are so adorable!
Nate took this picture (below) near the finish…. not my prettiest moment. I was tired. Where’s the last minute energy boost? I look like I’m walking…. but I am not. I promise!
The bands were GREAT! Yes – there was live, local music every mile! I heard many fantastic covers of high energy music. Of the thirteen or so bands, 3 of them played the blues, while others played Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam, Third Eye Blind, Bon Jovi.. and more. Some of the cover bands take their jobs seriously. For example, the Bon Jovi band had fluorescent leggings, eye liner, crimped mid-back length blonde hair, and sheer shirts. They looked the part and sounded incredible. The music really makes this race a blast!
~
9:00 AM - The finish
As I crossed the finish, they gave us bottled water, ice water soaked towels, a sports drink, bananas, popsicles, energy bars, pretzels and medals! They wouldn’t let us out of the finish corral until we posed for picture.
Again.. not my finest moment. Definitely not a glamour shot – but I am so happy (and tired). The high school version of me used to put up a fight to get out of running the mile for the presidential fitness junk. Now, adult me runs for fun! Weird!
The post race party was supposed to feature Brett Michaels, but he was sick with the flu. We hung out and watched
Dan Evans (biggest loser contestant from Chicago) instead.
Well, until it started to rain, anyway…
…… then we turned around, headed home, showered, and took naps.
Here are the final stats:
Race Splits (from my Nike+ run log):
My run ended with a total distance of 13.44mi in 2:14:40 for an average pace of 10'01"/mi.
My OFFICIAL race stats:
12114
Kelly Klinge
Chicago, IL
Age: 29 | Gender: F
| 10:17 | 30:35 | 1:02:35 | 1:42:03 | 02:14:48 | 02:20:41 |
This race was SOOO much fun! I’m actually looking forward to next year.
Who's in??
Kelly
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