Saturday, May 5, 2012

Race recap: 8th annual Run to Remember 5K


Time: 23:34  (My 2nd fastest 5K ever! and Fastest 5K in 2012!)
AG 12/261 (4.5%)
Women: 27/ 1271 (2.1%)
Overall: 189/ 2569 (7.3%)

I signed up for this race almost a month ago after hearing the shocking news that my cousin's husband had been shot in the line of duty up in New Hampshire. I thought it would be fitting to "dedicate" this race to Jerry. He is expected to recover fully thank God. A really nice article about him is here.


I went down to the Chicago Police academy/ Station on Thursday to pick up my race goodies. I really liked the shirt design, bib, and bag for this race.


Ive run 5 weeks consistently now and was thinking a 23:30 was in reach for this 5k. I havent been doing much speed work faster than 7:30 pace, until this past week where I was dabbling into some 7 minute mile 800's just to see if my hip would explode. I am still scared that something will trigger the awful hip flexor to breakdown again.


Saturday morning was the race, and I purposely left my house late to get to the start with about 10 minutes to spare. It was a nice 2 mile warmup to get to Soldier field, where I did some strides to get my heart rate up before getting into the start chute. Then the race announced that the start was pushed back 10 minutes! ehh, so I ran over to the portapotty, did some hip exercises, and then did some more strides to keep my heart pumping fast. Soon we were off!


It was a super foggy day in the low 50's, perfect race weather! So I wore my lulu shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt. During the race I actually felt a little warm, but I think I wore an acceptable outfit for the weather. (This is something I struggle with here in Chicago- overdressing for runs.)


My splits for the race were: 7:29, 7:32, 7:33, last .15 @ 6:51 pace. Somehow this short race managed to incorporate all of the "hills" in Chicago! First mile had a downhill, which was quickly made up for with a longer up hill to get up to lakeshore drive. Then another nice hill past the Shedd Aquarium after the Solidarity Drive tunnel- near the finish in front of Soldier Field on the path. My goal was to run around 7:30 a mile which I accomplished. I took advantage of the small downhills, and pushed up the hills.


This was part of the final up hill towards the finish. The photos were of all the Chicago Police officers who had lost their lives in the line of duty.

I feel like I ran a smart race, and really feel like I could have run a little faster. But, considering all that has happened with this injury, and my solid month of training,  I am very happy with how everything turned out. Im confident that breaking my PR of 22:18 will come soon enough.


I would recommend this race because it was well organized (considering the size 2500+ participants), the course was nice and a little challenging, and the cause is a good one- to raise money for the families of the fallen CPD officers. The post race area had loads of amenities such as muscle milk, water, Gatorade and other vendors handing out frisbees and other things. There was also a post race party at a local restaurant which I didn't attend.


I'm on cloud 9 after this race and am super excited to see where this year takes me!  I am so ecstatic to be running injury free, I'm a happy runner!

- xaar

8 comments:

  1. Congratulations on running such a great race! You were definitely smart for not trying to push too hard. You have plenty of time to break your PR in the future, for sure - no need to rush anything. In the meantime, this race must have been such a confidence booster for you! Running pain free really is the BEST feeling ever after recovering from an injury. ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!!!

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    1. Love this comment! I'm savoring every step because January-march was pretty difficult for me.

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  2. Woohoo! Congrats on your race! I bet it felt so good. So happy for you to be back to running pain free and running good!

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  3. Sounds like a great race! Your % placing is really high across all the categories! I like the cause of the race too.

    And it has been gorgeous in the bay area recently. I did do a run/walk today, it seemed to go okay, it is always hard to judge how much I should be doing or what I should be doing because of my injury. I guess my doctor might give me advice when I see him on Thurs.

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    1. I was pretty surprised at the percentages in this race too! Loads of fast chicks in the 25-29 AG which I will be graduating from later this year. Whoo hoo!

      Take it slow with your injury. You'll be stronger than before- I speak from experience! ;)

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  4. Congratulations on a fantastic race, speedy!

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  5. Congratulations!!! Always good to have a good race and pain-free. Although, I don't know if graduating from 25-29 is a good thing. I'm turning 30 this year too and I've been scoping out that AG and they seem faster! Or, there are just more of them. Or maybe just more of them in the races I do (because I'm in the suburbs). Either way, I think it's going to be harder for me to place when I turn 30.

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  6. Wah! Congrats Char! Glad that you can run without your hip getting in the way. And that speedy time, holy crap!

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