Soldier Field 10 Miler

I somehow procured part of this weekend off because I was originally planning on going to a Bachelorette Party that ended up being moved to a different date. I was fine with that because there was a cool race yesterday that I had been wanting to run anyway. The store that I get most of my running gear from is called Fleet Feet Sports and they, along with Adidas, were sponsoring a ten mile race that ended inside of Soldier Field (which is where the Bears play). Bazan and his family were also planning to run. We got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the field.

Our entire group before the start...


I started in the 11 minute mile corral because I think it's better, for my race ego, to pass people than the be passed during a race. There were a lot of people running and the race got crowded at times but it wasn't too bad. It was sort of frustrating because I think the 10 mile distance fools a lot of people into thinking that they can do it without any prior training, maybe becuase it's a little less daunting than a half-marathon? But I still think most people would need to either be super athletic or do at least a little training to be able to run that distance and if you are going to start in the 9 minute mile corral, please don't start walking at the one mile marker. (ok... mini-race rant over)

It was a beautiful day and we were running on part of Lakeshore Drive and the south portion of the Lakefront Trail. I wanted to finish in 1:45 and I DID! Woo hoo. My chip time was 1:48:01 but I had a 4 minute bathroom break in the middle of the race. As always, I learned a lot. Namely, not to forget to bring something (gel, race jelly beans, shot blox) for after the 1 hour mark. I think that is kind of my threshold for needing more fuel. I also ran in an Under Armour wicking shirt, which was fabulous for me but not so much for Adam, who couldn't find me at the finish line. I need to have a wicking shirt made from the BCI sponsored transfer so that I can be visible again.
The finish area was pretty cool. It just went by so fast because I was very concerned about finding the banana area and getting something in my system.

Outside the stadium after we finally found each other. Thanks to a random lady who let me use her cell phone!


Coach Amy was in the cheering section for this race.


We got sweet medals! All in all, I'd say it was a success and I'd do it again.