Chicago 10 Mile 2018 {Race Recap}

We ran the inaugural Chicago 10 mile yesterday put on by IMF Manufacturing. In June, we ran their Chicago 10k  and had a lot of fun so when we got an email to register for a decent price, we signed up. 

1:13:42***  {more on this below}

1st of 35 AG

4th woman of 202

22nd of 353 overall

We woke up around 5:30 and got ready to head to DuSable harbor for the 8am start. It was a gorgeous day- high 40’s, light wind, low dew point. Basically the racing conditions I’ve dreamt of for a while. 

The boys helped me make sure I had everything. 

We got to the race start and hung out a bit and waited for our MRC friends to show up. The atmosphere was chill as this was going to be a smaller race- less than 400 people. 

L was especially excited to run this race as redemption for the boiling hot solider field 10 in May. 

My “goals” for the race were mainly to: have fun, and keep a steady moderately hard effort. I already had run 33 miles and cycled 2:30 by Saturday morning.  My legs were tired (have been tired for a while, thanks Ironman training!) so I didn’t want to hold myself to an unrealistic pace expectation. My 10 Mile PR from the solider field 10 in 2013 was 1:17:33- avg 7:45 pace and I thought it would be nice  to beat that if possible. 

I lined up at the front. There were a few fast guys and a couple of fast women- and I thought for a second that I’d possibly have a shot at top 3 (and an award!). This field was definitely not as deep as most other Chicago races. 

Soon it was go time and I took off. First mile around 7;00. Oops. I backed off slightly to be around 7:3x 

I haven’t done any consistent speedwork the past 18 weeks- just a couple of workouts including 800’s and balls out miles with Ze on the path- so I knew 7:0x was a completely unrealistic pace to maintain. 

I was top 3 woman until around mile 3 when a girl passed me. I trailed her by about 20 seconds until Mile 6, and then she kicked it into overdrive and I just stayed at my effort. I didn’t want to over do it with 2 weeks to go until the Ironman. 

I had a lot of fun running out on the path- it was less congested than I thought it would be due to the marathon groups and cyclists. I actually found myself running by myself for most of the race. It spread out nicely. 

Or squad rolls deep. 🍻🖤

At the turnaround I thought about picking up the pace a little, but decided to stay at the effort I had set earlier- I was completely happy running 7:3x’s and getting a PR, and feeling good. 

It was awesome seeing friends from runclub and giving side fives to them on the course. 

It was also cool to hear multiple people tell me “congrats you’re in 4th and not far behind 3rd.”

Yeah-3rd place took off at some point and I never saw her again. Ha. 

I stopped to walk through water stations so I could drink water from the plastic cups. I didn’t bring a bottle like I usually do, and I was thirsty AF. 

As I was approaching the finish, I knew the course would likely be short***  I trotted into the finish, lapped my garmin (9.75 Miles)*** got my medal, grabbed a water and did what any other crazy runner would do- I  did a quick cooldown around the field to reach 10 miles. 

We stayed and spectated and cheered for all of our runners to finish. 

Everyone seemed to have a great day! L smashed his PB*** by a ton. Averaging 8:30’s!!

We decided to get tacos at Cruz Blanca post race. Easy enough, right? Just walk to the green line, then walk to tacos. We waited 7 min for the train, and then got stuck at lake/LaSalle due to bridges being up, a sick passenger, and construction. An hour later (on a trip that should have taken 25 minutes) we arrived at Cruz Blanca to find the entire block had lost power. 

They were able to pour beers while we waited for them to get their systems back up and running. 

It wasn’t long before we had food along with our drinks. 

We went to Ballast Point for more beers and had a good time talking with friends. 

*** on my 1:13:42 (avg pace 7:22) 

The first mile marker measured .9 to my garmin. And while I know the garmin is a tool, and not a be all end all, it is usually accurate enough on the lakefront due to not having many obstructions. 

Each mile came up short vs my garmin. And the gap grew by the later miles in the race where it was measuring close to .25 short. I had hoped there would be a loop or something near the end to compensate , but sadly there wasn’t. 

I crossed the finish with a smile despite it being .25ish short. I figured the recent construction on the path probably contributed to the course being short since they had to change it shortly before race day. 

So yeah. I ran a PR effort-  basically 7:33 pace for 9.75 miles. Which I’m quite happy with given that I’m fatigued and not been doing any speed work. (I’m really excited to start pushing myself again post IM Lou!)I know that averaging low 7:30’s was more plausible than low 7:20’s at my current fitness level.  

I had a lot of fun with friends and running in gorgeous weather to be too upset about the course. I’d probably do this race again next year since I like the medal and shirt design. 

Housekeeping:

Strawberry fruit bar an hour pre race

SiS berry caffeine gel at start, mile 4

What’s next?

Spectating the Chicago marathon next weekend. 

Becoming an Ironman x2 in 2 weeks at Ironman Louisville.