Gold-star performance

I did something exciting this morning -- I ran in the Soldier Field 10-Miler. The race starts outside of Soldier Field, goes south along the Lake, then loops back north to the stadium. At the end, runners go through the tunnel that "Da Bears" use when coming onto the field, and the race ends at the 50-yard line. I could even watch myself come through the tunnel on the jumbotron in the stadium. It was fun. I've done some distance running before. When I was in Germany, two girlfriends and I did a 5k and 10k in Wuerzburg where we were studying and then a 30-k in the Swiss Alps. It was breathtaking -- literally and figuratively. I even managed to do a sprint triathalon on an army base while I was there. I grew up as a swimmer, not a runner. My short and wide stature do not lend themselves to running (nor, though, do they really lend themselves to swimming, either). But I like the challenge, and it's good for me. The women in my family have to keep their weight in check, or it piles on easily. I've lost 10-12 pounds just in the last three months since I started working out regularly at the gym. My weight has always fluctuated like that when I'm not consistent about maintaining a good diet and exercise routine. So I like running, too, because it gives me a reason to exercise beyond the whole "good health" mish-mosh. Part of what I love about running, or at least the way I run, is how, when you finally get into shape, you can let your body just take over. Your legs just know what to do without you thinking about it. It's the way I am when I swim, except that I was a sprinter, so it was really focused, balls-out swimming. When I run, the goal is just to run farther, not necessarily much faster. I get tired, certainly, but I can let my mind drift quite a bit while I do it.

The course today was crowded, to say the least. They had around 3,000 runners, and the path was not wide enough to accomodate everyone. It's one thing to be tripping over people at the beginning of a race, but quite another to still be smooshed when you're around mile 7. I didn't train for this race. I've been working out -- usually 30 minute cardio, and 30 minutes weights or flexibility training, and I've also been riding my bike everywhere I go -- so it's not like I'm out of shape. I just wasn't in shape to run 10 miles. So I was a little nervous to do this. My mind frame going in was that I could stop whenever I wanted and just come home, but I was going to try and run the whole thing. I didn't have a time frame in mind, but I know that I can comfortably maintain a 10-minute mile. And that's just what I did. For the first half of the race, I just tried to get to mile 5. And then I tried to get to mile 6. And then to mile 7. And then I knew I could run three more miles. So I did. I had to focus more and push my legs a little at the end of maintain the pace, but I made it. I ran right around a 1:37:00. It breaks down to a 9:42-mile pace, so I was happy with that. Plenty of people finish before me (more than half, I'm pretty sure), but given that I wasn't really ready for it, I was pleased. It told me that I am in decent shape, reminded me how much I like doing road races, and showed me that I could keep a reasonable pace if I prepared more. I was so proud that I awarded myself a silver star for working out today plus a gold star for such dedication :)

I'm signed up to run a half and full marathon later this year. Chicago races fill up really early, so you have to decide early if you're interested. Nothing says you have to go. These races usually pay for themselves or go to charity, so I don't feel too bad if I end up not running, though I don't register if I'm not really planning on running (don't want to take the spot from another runner). So I'll be doing some more running this summer -- once I can feel my legs again, that is.

Update: My official chip time was 1:37.41, which was a 9:47 pace. I ended up 1701 out of about 3000 runners.