Run #86 Bucktown 5K Race Report

Let's try this one again...and so much hassle for a rather "eh" performance!
Date: Sunday October 5th at 8:30am
Place: Bucktown Neighborhood on the near north side of Chicago, and I suppose it was somewhere in the upper 50s when the race started?
Mileage: 3.1
Time It Took: 36:52
Pace: 11:52
Miles this week (last week now): A pitiful 5.1
Miles this month: 3.1
2008 Goal shot to he**: 492.07/1000

Thoughts/Comments: Now when I wrote this yesterday afternoon, I had lots to say. Now, at 11:43pm Monday night while watching today's rerun of Oprah? Not so much. My hubby had to be at church early, so I had to rely on my friend-o-pal and fellow runner Annah to help me out. So race morning involved getting myself ready AND the girls. So I leave my house on the south side at 7:48am...and still had to pick up my chip! Yikes!

We got to the race area by 8:10, thanks to the only time there is no traffic in Chicago. I hopped out the car and let Annah do the parking work, so that was a nice trade-off. Got my chip, and then met up with Nicole, a friend from work, and Celia. If you obsessively read my old posts, you will recall that Celia was my pace leader for the first half of my marathon training with Chicago Endurance Sports. This was her FIRST RACE since the 2007 Chicago Distance Classic half marathon! (don't be alarmed! She had a baby, and that lil one is now 6 months old.) Anyway, YAY for Celia! We tried to catch up with Jaime, but she didn't answer her phone. (turns out she forgot it at home.)

Now I ran this race once or twice before when it started further north at Holstein Park. But this course in particular I really like because it's very close to my job. Bustling commercial corridors and narrow residential streets are the norm, and be able to run down the middle of them without fear of a CTA bus, cars or renegade cyclists running me down was an irresistable notion. That, and this race is known the city wide for its awesome schwag. (And not to be disappointed, we got a really nice sweatshirt. It's so soft and cuddly.)

But the race itself? Eh. Started off too quickly. Was BLAZING HOT in my long sleeve tech shirt (what was I thinking?!). At around Mile 1, Celia decided to drop back. At Mile 1.5, I took a 1-minute walking break and Nicole surged ahead. With about a 1/4 mile to go, I hear a horn blaring as we cross a street that was blocked by police. There was Annah and my two sweet cherubs. (Turns out Zoe had soaked her pants through and I hadn't packed any spares.)

I rounded the corner and saw the finish line up ahead. Looked from side to side and back a bit to see if I could see Celia...then I turned my eyes back towards the finish line and saw Celia right in front of me! So she finished, with me right behind her. I tapped her shoulder and she was surprised to see me behind her (I think.) She finished in 36:50, me at 36:52.

So that's it.....next race up? Well I'm running with Lou at the marathon...I mean, since I have a bib number and all, why not put it to use. So she and I will arrange where I will run with her on Sunday. It will be towards the end, I'm just not sure of the starting point.