You mean to open up a Microsoft Word document and write
about the incredible run you just experienced along the lakeshore trail or
maybe you feel like venting after a particularly poorly organized race just
concluded, but then it takes you a long time to get a bus or a cab back to your
apartment and brunch and mimosa sound like a better idea; or the work day on
top of the run took more out of you than you thought and so you open a beer
instead of a text editor.
That’s the kind of mayhem which has been preventing more
frequent postings for some time now and I figured my kind of run, as laid back
and care free as it may be, could stand for a little more discipline when it
comes to following up with a short, written account afterwards of some of what occurred.
This season, I decided to take part in fewer races. MUCH
fewer races. While the past several racing seasons I have run countless races
of varying distances, this season it seemed like a good time to take a step
back and remember that my kind of run isn’t always about training for the next
greatest or longest race I could try, but just because I like being outside
running and being active. I like the sights and sounds of the city or trail
around me, or the wind in my face and the smell of the lake or the food vendors
wafting my way as I listen to last year’s Lolla bands or an audio book from my
iPhone.
After the initial races I signed up for late last year and
early this year for this season, I have signed up for no more so that I will
not be pulled into some training regimen that will numb me to what I actually
enjoy about running. While I enjoy being around a lot of people for races,
mostly it is something I like to do alone to clear my head after a long
day/week/month etc. Granted, Lake Shore Trail is not exactly desolate, but my preferred
way to be alone more times than not, is to be alone around other people. The
whole, ‘alone in a crowded room’ feeling is something I actually greatly enjoy.
While I am not signed up for many races this year, I have
already done a couple. Here’s the quick recap:
Pi Day Pi K: Love
this small, neighborhood race. Been doing it since the first year when
registration was only $10. The price went up this year, but still a fun run. It
is also close to me which is a big plus. They have food afterwards back at
FleetFeet, but I skipped it and grabbed food elsewhere instead. And Pie.
Shamrock Shuffle:
only my second time running this race since I missed out on it the year before
when the race capped out and I waited too long to register. Also a fun race
with A LOT of people, runners and supporters, out to enjoy the weather finally
getting nicer. It is also a blast to run through the streets downtown. That
last hill is a killer with its gradual incline, but if you keep a steady pace
it isn’t really that bad. Make sure to run on the carpets over the bridges if
you wear Vibrams so your toes don’t get caught in the mesh steel grates! Great
race and great crowd.
Chicago Spring Half:
My brother also ran his first Half Marathon last week! The
Chicago Spring half was the first race where I actually spectated
instead of participating for the race itself! Strange that I have never
actually watched a race, so I’m glad I managed to get out and see him come
around the final turn before the finish line! Ended up meeting up with Eric and
Jennifer after the race as well and we all went out for brunch. Good times. It
was a bit difficult finding the finish line. I ran past it down to Millennium Park,
then took a cab back north to where the map said it would be. I got out and
walked around and didn’t see it. Eventually asked the first person I saw who
was wearing a bib where it was and he pointed me to a small clearing down a
long flight of stairs not far from where we were already standing. Ended up being
a nice little park. This also turned out to be a great experience, as it made
for a reason to strap on some running shoes and run down to Millennium Park
from my apartment to get in a run five mile run while I waited for my brother
to finish his half. It felt good to get out and run as a fun form of
entertainment and travel rather than just a planned out course that was part of
a training schedule. Plus it saved me a trip on the CTA.
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Chase Corporate
Challenge:
Yesterday I participated in my first JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge. It turns out that it is difficult to make it downtown from
working in the suburbs to change out of my work clothes and into running
attire, choke down some food because I worked through lunch, and then hop on a
brown line to Grant Park in time for a group photo with my company before the
race. As it turns out, I wasn’t able to even find my company tent before the
race started and it didn’t help that they started closing off sections of the
park and the sidewalk as well as the streets and began filtering people ‘the
long way around’ to the starting chorales in the opposite direction from where
the signs pointed that the starting chorales actually were. Complete pandemonium
turned into crowded herding of cattle as we shuffled along toward what we
hopped was the direction of the starting line. I shuffled through the winding
path they had created for the herd of people to get to their designated
starting areas and eventually wandered around enough parts of Grant Park where I
recalled experiences from past Lolla’s taking place that I found the ‘Yellow’ choral
where I was to begin. It was full and overflowing. We waited outside the actual
chorale until the faster ‘red choral’ runners took off and then filled the
newly empty space and waited our turn to cross the start line.
Shortly after the red group started, we began our run and
off we went. The course wasn’t my favorite, but it was still a fun run. A significant
portion took place in the shadow of the overpasses above us as we zig-zagged
through covered streets and under bridges, but we started and ended the race in
sunlight and it was a nice, cool day for a run. Eventually I found some people
from my company and followed one of them with a headband camera back to our
tent where Jimmy Johns was waiting for us. After I ate, I left pretty quickly
and hopped in a cab back north. On the way back, my cab driver was wondering if
the roads were closed for a race or because Obama was in town. It turned out to
be because a little of both.
Am I glad I ran the race? Sure. Fun run, great weather, nice
people, good food. Would I do it again? I guess we will see next year ;) It definitely
seems like it is geared more as a company outing that happens to involve
running rather than the other way around.
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Journey To The End Of The Night is upon us again and takes
place tomorrow!!! This year I will unfortunately be sitting out, as I have conflicting
plans for a writing duel! Maybe I will do the lesser known version of Journey
later in the year instead.
Since it is getting amazing outside again, The Girl and I have
been doing more walking around town. Last weekend we spent Saturday walking
along the lake towards downtown, stopped for some food and beverage once we
made it, and then headed back up north. Along the way down we made a pit stop
at the Booth School of Business downtown to stop in one of their quick stop
shops for a couple of much needed bottles of water and another pit stop as we
headed back north of the river at the Newberry Library for their bathrooms
after guzzling down my bottle of water. Thank you people of the library for
making the rest of my walk back that much more enjoyable. All and all, we put
about ten miles behind us that day. From the looks of it, we are planning a
similar venture tomorrow only heading north. More adventures on the way!
And even though I don’t foresee training for another
distance race anytime soon, I am still planning another trip to Vegas at the
same time as the Rock & Roll Half Marathon is going on again, so who knows
what could happen…
Until next time dear readers.
