Oh, hello there Music Monday, it's been a while...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
St Paddy's Day 5k
This past Saturday, my friend Mary and I ran the inagural St Paddy's Day 5k race in Naperville, IL. Nearly 2,000 people signed up and ran!
The race started at 8am, and we arrived in Naperville around 7:30. We drove from the northwest side of Chicago, but it only took about 25 minutes to drive there. The race is in downtown Naperville, so there is plenty of parking available and we found a spot right away. Weather wise it was warm, but windy, so that made it a little cold. Being the crazy person Mary is, she ran in shorts, but I opted for crops and a fleece lined pullover.
We ran to the start line and got there with about 10 minutes to spare so we hopped around and weaseled our way into a big crowd of people so they would take all the wind. 8am hit and we were off! ...and we immediately lost each other! I kept her in my sight for about the first quarter mile, then she was gone, only to be seen 2 times at the turn arounds.
The course goes north, then turns and comes back south, then turns, then turns again, then turns around, turn, turn, turn, finish. However, with only 2,000 it wasn't a crowded course, and I was in the front of the pack more than anything.
Mary finished in just under 24 minutes (she's a fast one) and I came in about 4 minutes behind her at 27:52.
*there are no photos because my race photos are HORRIBLE. i look like death, so those are staying off the interwebz.
Overall it was a fun little race. It was the first one so there were some bumps, mainly with shirts and giving people whatever size they wanted rather than giving them the size they noted when they registered. However, as far as I could tell, that was about the only issue. We couldn't find the post race party either...turns out we somehow managed to pass right by it (it was inside some building near the finish line.)
I'd do it again!
The race started at 8am, and we arrived in Naperville around 7:30. We drove from the northwest side of Chicago, but it only took about 25 minutes to drive there. The race is in downtown Naperville, so there is plenty of parking available and we found a spot right away. Weather wise it was warm, but windy, so that made it a little cold. Being the crazy person Mary is, she ran in shorts, but I opted for crops and a fleece lined pullover.
We ran to the start line and got there with about 10 minutes to spare so we hopped around and weaseled our way into a big crowd of people so they would take all the wind. 8am hit and we were off! ...and we immediately lost each other! I kept her in my sight for about the first quarter mile, then she was gone, only to be seen 2 times at the turn arounds.
The course goes north, then turns and comes back south, then turns, then turns again, then turns around, turn, turn, turn, finish. However, with only 2,000 it wasn't a crowded course, and I was in the front of the pack more than anything.
Mary finished in just under 24 minutes (she's a fast one) and I came in about 4 minutes behind her at 27:52.
*there are no photos because my race photos are HORRIBLE. i look like death, so those are staying off the interwebz.
Overall it was a fun little race. It was the first one so there were some bumps, mainly with shirts and giving people whatever size they wanted rather than giving them the size they noted when they registered. However, as far as I could tell, that was about the only issue. We couldn't find the post race party either...turns out we somehow managed to pass right by it (it was inside some building near the finish line.)
I'd do it again!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Race Recap: Hustle Up the Hancock 2011
My place of work decided to put together a team and participate in the Hustle Up the Hancock, which is a stair race, 94 flights, up to the top of the John Hancock building.
Our wave time was 9:30am and we decided to meet at 8am at the hotel across the street where gear check and the post race party was. Once we checked gear we headed over to the Hancock to check our coats, take our team picture, and get situated. This was all done by 8:45am so we had 45 minutes to stand around, amongst thousands of other people in what I would describe as chaos. People everywhere. Lines everywhere. Crazy shirts and crazy pants, too. Once wave 10 (we were in wave 11) lined up and started to go the area right in front of the line up got flooded with wave 11ers who were all eager to go.
Finally at 9:30 we got lined up, waited. Got upstairs, waited. And waited a little more. (It wasn't really that long to start, only about 10 minutes but after standing around not moving it felt like a long time.) We got to the stairwell and about every 5 to 8 seconds another climber was released to hustle those stairs. I got started and within 5 flights I was tired! I guess I should have practiced running up stairs.
My plan of attack was to not stop, and I didn't stop once! It was great, felt like 10 minutes rather than 22 minutes. There were plenty of people in the stairwell, both 'motivators' and medical assistance, also plenty of water. The information packet stated there was only going to be water on 40 and 72, but there was water just before starting and on at least 7 floors. I've never seen so many Fiji bottles in my life. Now, these 'motivators', also known as 'teenagers', were not super motivating. Some handed out high fives and muttered some words of encouragement. Some even just sat on the landing, texting on their phone to their BFF a few floors away about how much it sucks they couldn't sleep in (or something). However, that is not to say all of them were so lacking in their motivating skills. On one floor some guys were super enthusiastic and really into cheering people on. And the best floor, floor 84 had 3 guys dropping beats and singing "10 mo' flo'! 10 mo' flo'!"
Finally, after the worst 22 minutes of my exercising life I got to the top where I was heartly greeted by an elderly gentleman and a booming voice on a microphone announcing my name (incorrectly, damn German last name) and that I finished. I grabbed my medal, a banana, and a bottle of water and found my teammates. Once we all finished we found the line for the elevator...then found where it ended...and waited in line to go down longer than it took to walk up the stairs.
So, we went down the elevator, picked up our coats, and headed to the post race party, which was...boring. I grabbed a bagel, my goodie bag, and left as soon as I could. The room wasn't big enough and there weren't nearly enough seats.
Overall, I'd do it again, but only as part of a team. It would be incredibly boring by yourself and I don't think any fun. But you do get a pretty sweet medal....
Our wave time was 9:30am and we decided to meet at 8am at the hotel across the street where gear check and the post race party was. Once we checked gear we headed over to the Hancock to check our coats, take our team picture, and get situated. This was all done by 8:45am so we had 45 minutes to stand around, amongst thousands of other people in what I would describe as chaos. People everywhere. Lines everywhere. Crazy shirts and crazy pants, too. Once wave 10 (we were in wave 11) lined up and started to go the area right in front of the line up got flooded with wave 11ers who were all eager to go.
Finally at 9:30 we got lined up, waited. Got upstairs, waited. And waited a little more. (It wasn't really that long to start, only about 10 minutes but after standing around not moving it felt like a long time.) We got to the stairwell and about every 5 to 8 seconds another climber was released to hustle those stairs. I got started and within 5 flights I was tired! I guess I should have practiced running up stairs.
My plan of attack was to not stop, and I didn't stop once! It was great, felt like 10 minutes rather than 22 minutes. There were plenty of people in the stairwell, both 'motivators' and medical assistance, also plenty of water. The information packet stated there was only going to be water on 40 and 72, but there was water just before starting and on at least 7 floors. I've never seen so many Fiji bottles in my life. Now, these 'motivators', also known as 'teenagers', were not super motivating. Some handed out high fives and muttered some words of encouragement. Some even just sat on the landing, texting on their phone to their BFF a few floors away about how much it sucks they couldn't sleep in (or something). However, that is not to say all of them were so lacking in their motivating skills. On one floor some guys were super enthusiastic and really into cheering people on. And the best floor, floor 84 had 3 guys dropping beats and singing "10 mo' flo'! 10 mo' flo'!"
Finally, after the worst 22 minutes of my exercising life I got to the top where I was heartly greeted by an elderly gentleman and a booming voice on a microphone announcing my name (incorrectly, damn German last name) and that I finished. I grabbed my medal, a banana, and a bottle of water and found my teammates. Once we all finished we found the line for the elevator...then found where it ended...and waited in line to go down longer than it took to walk up the stairs.
So, we went down the elevator, picked up our coats, and headed to the post race party, which was...boring. I grabbed a bagel, my goodie bag, and left as soon as I could. The room wasn't big enough and there weren't nearly enough seats.
Overall, I'd do it again, but only as part of a team. It would be incredibly boring by yourself and I don't think any fun. But you do get a pretty sweet medal....
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Half & Half & Half
Sunday night I signed up for the Rock n Roll Chicago Half Marathon! (haha...i just typed 'marathong'!) I'm super excited for it and I can't wait until August. Hopefully it won't be too hot this summer...
I am still looking for another race of sorts to run, and I came across the Naperville Trail Half Marathon. It's on September 11th, in a suburb that isn't too far away. It's a whopping $50, limited to 900 people, and starts at 8:30am, which isn't too bad (especially since I'll be driving there that morning.) It's also great because I don't have to sign up now, I can wait until August...or the morning of to sign up if I want. It's great!
Last week I started training for the I-Challenge Half Marathon. I did two 3 mile runs on the treadmill, the first was 28:07 and the second was 27:41. Pretty darn good if I do say so myself! I skipped the 4 mile run because I was lazy and had a hurty tummy, but I did hustle up 94 flights of stairs on Sunday morning so that makes up for it. (Not really but I can pretend.)
Race report coming up tomorrow on the Hustle. Best word to describe it: chaos.
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