soldier field 10 mile race

It’s funny to me that waking up at 4:30 on a weekday seems normal to me, but being rudely awoken to an alarm at 4:00 on a weekend just seems wrong and unfair. Luckily, I had good reason to be awake, and I was up and at ‘em quickly out of excitement.

Today, I was one of 15,000 participants of Fleet Feet’s Soldier Field 10 Mile Race in Chicago.

When I woke up, I quickly had an “oh crap” moment as I forgot to charge my iPod last night. Thankfully, I had about an hour before I left, so that was rectified soon after. I set out all my clothes last night and packed a bag of clothes to change into after the race. I also woke up to give myself time to eat before the race. I never ever evverrrr run races without eating. You’ve probably heard this from other runners before, but I will never “experiment” with breakfasts on days of races. I stick to plain banana oatmeal with peanut butter. That way, my stomach won’t act funny during the race.

My number one supporter (aka Mom) joined me this morning and happily (ha!) drove us downtown. I was greeted by a swarm of people.

 
Out of 15,000 people, I actually found one of my old co-workers who I have raced with before in the corrals. I was glad to have a running buddy, and we amused ourselves for the 45 minutes we were waiting to start running. Who knew having a plastic baggie full of dates down your sports bra could be so funny? (That was me, by the way).

Before we knew it, it was almost time to begin. But not until after honoring the service men and women in honor of Memorial Day weekend.

 

Once the national anthem was sung, the first of the racers were off!

Unfortunately, we were pretty far back in the corrals, so we didn’t get started until about 15 minutes after the first runner began. We started off really strong, averaging a little under 9 minute miles.

I’m here to tell you that was a mistake. I never go out fast – I usually run negative splits (get faster with each mile) or close to it. I have to start slow to find a good pace and keep it there. We were rocking it for the first 6 miles, coming in just under 53 minutes (8:50 pace). Just around this time, I began to get really horrible side cramps. I tried to keep up with my running buddy, but had to take a few walking breaks. I told her to go on without me while I tried to recover.

I have been getting side cramps a lot while running lately, and I don’t know what to attribute it to. Has anyone ever had this problem? What has helped you?

The last two miles were really hard for me – and I struggled – a lot. Next time I will definitely go out slower and not let my adrenaline get to me!

I came in at 1:32:44 – which was a 9:16 pace – not too shabby! My goal was 1:30, and I totally could have gotten that if I hadn’t had to stop to walk a few times.

 
I was laughing at myself though – the last two miles, I kept thinking: “uggh why am I doing this? I haateeee this right nowwww!!!” and the second I finished, I thought: “I can’t wait for my next long race! This was amazing!”

The most amazing part of this race? Finishing on the 50 yard line of Soldier Field and watching myself on the Jumbo-tron! Unfortunately, I was one out of 5,000 tall blondes wearing black, so my mom couldn’t find me in the crowd to get a good picture of me finishing.

 
After the race, my mom and I wanted to stay downtown for a while, so I had to pull out her secret weapon after running: baby wipes. When us kids were younger, we went on a lot of missionary trips for church, and my mom would go running in the mornings. There were no showers available until the afternoons, so my mom would “sponge bathe” with baby wipes until the afternoon. Not ideal, but it works.

I have to tell you, I’m kind of a stickler on hygiene, so this kind of freaked me out a little bit. There was no way I was going to feel comfortable changing into normal clothes after running 1o miles without showering. You know what? It did the trick for a few hours.

All I know is my salad was about 1.5 pounds and I ate almost every last delicious bite.

I also discovered a DIY trail mix bar at this Whole Foods where I made myself a delicious blend to snack on this afternoon – it was fabulous.

We spent the next few hours browsing and shopping on North Avenue until I could barely walk or keep my eyes open anymore. I promptly fell asleep within about five minutes on the way home.

Let me tell you – taking a shower never felt so good when I arrived home this evening. Sitting on my butt on the couch is my next and only priority for the rest of the night – right along with eating my body weight in granola.

Someone may need to carry me to bed later – and I don’t think Charlie will be able to lift me. This may be a problem.

Question: What is the last thing you accomplished that you were proud of? Have you ever used the baby wipes trick?

Tagged as: baby wipes after running, chicago, fleet feet, lincoln park, long distance running, race, soldier field, soldier field 10 mile run, Whole Foods