Let's Get Wacky!

I had never run the Wacky 5K before but a co-worker of mine, Jim, had signed up to run and I decided to join him. Plus it looked like it might be kind of fun to collect all the food goodies after the race.

This was to be my first race of 2008. I wasn’t sure what sort of shape I was in for a 5K since I had been focusing mostly on longer (slower) runs – didn’t know whether those fast twitch muscles could warm up fast enough to run close to my PR times from last year. In addition, I had gained about 7 lbs. since my last 5K at Bucktown (although I did drop a couple of lbs. over the last two weeks).

In any event the previous week’s running mileage had been rather pitiful, at 11 miles total, so I needed to step it up the week of the race. During the week I’m generally stuck running on a treadmill because of the snow. Concrete sidewalks have no appeal, even when shoveled, and the streets around me are too busy for me to feel comfortable running on.

My dislike for the treadmill results in an ongoing mental challenge for me to start and complete my training runs. For this week I decided to change it up a bit and run a variation of Kelly’s current training schedule, which involved running half the distance of my regular six mile runs on consecutive days. That seemed to work for me and on one of the days I ran tempo for a 5K to find out where I was at speed-wise.

By race day (Sunday), I’d had a good week of preparation and felt pretty good. I headed out to the west side of Chicago where the race was to take place. The race starts out on Washington, just a few blocks east of Ashland Ave. I noticed that this particular race course is just a bit north of the Bastille Day 5K race course that I run every year during the summer.

I spotted Jim at packet pick-up, which was at Plumbers’ Union Hall on Washington St, and also was the starting and finishing location of the race. We chatted for bit and then lined up for the race. Jim asked me what pace I had planned on running and I told him I was going to shoot for 8 mpm. He said he didn’t think he would be running anywhere near that fast…but I wasn’t going to fall for the “unintentional sandbag” routine since his pace is close to mine and over the last three races he’s kind of hung just behind me, leaving me wondering what he had planned for the end…which is usually my strongest part of the race. ;-)

He said that he had to run eight miles later in the day for his half-marathon training. I told him that I had run my 12-mile pre-5K warm-up the previous day at the Morton Aboretum, thinking that might make him feel better. (Psych) ;-)

As the horn sounded to start the race we took off east on Washington. Actually my mental compass was totally off as I felt as if we were running south. Of course it didn’t make any difference since all I had to do was follow the runners in front of me. However, it did matter later during my drive home when I found myself heading northwest on 90/94 instead of west on the Eisenhower Expressway. ;-)

After a half block on Washington (yes heading east), we turned left on Ada St. and headed north. It was very congested at this point with a mixture of slower and faster runners. I was passing slower runners and I was also a slower runner with faster runners passing me. After a block on Ada we turned right on to W. Randolph St. heading east. The crowd of runners began to break up a bit and I didn’t have much difficulty sustaining my pace, which bounced around between a seven and low eight mpm pace. There were a few chunks of ice and snow on the road so you had to be careful where you were running.

I didn’t notice whether Jim was behind me and I didn’t look. I though that I might have lost him during the initial runner shuffle at the start.

We ran about five blocks down Randolph and I continued to maintain a sub eight minute pace. I had to keep an eye on my Garmin GPS watch since I’m not very good at figuring out my pace by feel. We made a right turn on to Green St and headed south. The one thing I noticed was that the runners were very quiet – those around me were all very focused and running a good pace. I could hear one runner behind me who was breathing rather hard but he was actually catching up to me and eventually passed me.

Half way down the Green St. leg we approached the one mile sign. It read 8:13. My Garmin had me at 7:56 - so far so good.

I continued to maintain my pace and even picked it up a little. I still felt good but was a little apprehensive since I hadn’t run a 5K in a while. We took a right on to W. Van Buren St. and headed west. Two blocks later a right heading north on Aberdeen and then a block later another right on to W. Jackson heading east. We were in a bit of a zig-zag as we turned left on N. Peoria St. heading north again after a block and then another left on to W. Adams St. heading west again.

The two-mile mark was at the Peoria/Adams intersection. I didn’t see the mile marker sign but I checked my Garmin and my second mile completed in 7:52. OK, I thought to myself, this is going better than I had expected. But I still wasn’t sure how much I had in the tank for a good finish.

As we headed down Adams, I was checking my Garmin a bit more frequently. I was beginning to tire just a little bit. My legs were good, but I could feel my wind going away a bit more. Speaking of wind, it seemed like every direction we ran, except east, there was a bit of a headwind.

I was determined not to let my pace drop, run my last mile a little conservatively but still maintain the sub eight pace for as long as possible. Half way down the Adams leg (shortly before the 2.5 mile mark) I heard someone running just a little behind me. I took a quick glance, slightly to the right, and realized it was Jim. At the same time I noted the sound of his pace (his shoes made) so I knew where he would be as we continued towards the finish of the race.

Jim continued to run just a little bit behind me. I wasn’t sure how much energy he had left but he made no effort to pass. It was a bit more difficult to hear his breathing since he was hanging back a bit. But now I had some additional motivation to maintain my pace, or step it up a little to see if he would continue to hang with me.

I continued my pace, watching my Garmin judiciously, as we took a right on S. Laflin St. from Adams heading north. I thought that Jim might have been dropping back a little at that point since I had difficulty hearing the sound of his pace.

At W. Madison we made a right turn heading east and then a short block later a quick left turn on to Bishop heading north. There would be one more long block before returning to Washington for the finish of the race.

I had picked up my pace ever so slightly during the last half mile but wasn’t sure how much energy I would have left for my traditional “sprint to the finish”.

A few (younger) runners passed me but stayed within sight. Two young women, running together, passed and I decided to match their pace. As we approached the final (right) turn on to Washington a couple of runners ran by me.

This was starting to suck. I usually don’t get passed at the end of a 5K. But I didn’t panic. I matched their pace and just waited until about a block and a half from the finish and then when into sprint mode.

Not only did I pass those runners that had just passed me but I had enough left to pass other runners slowing down at the finish. I could hear one runner trying to catch back up to me but I kept him behind me. Heh heh heh. That felt gooooood!

WOO HOO! Now that was an awesome finish! Did anyone video record that? ;-)

No official race time as I log this but my Garmin has me at 24:41, which is close to my 5K PR. Well it probably would be a PR if the race had been exactly 3.1 miles. Garmin shows 3.17. All three miles were under 8 mpm, with the last mile the fastest at 7:49 and the final .17 at 6:07.

Jim finished well, probably about 15 seconds behind me. I think he ran a little faster than he “pretended” he would. ;-)

After the race, we grabbed our goodies…um, that would be the food I was referring to earlier. They had boxes of cereal, cookies, gum, pizza, various Fuze smoothies or whatever they are (I don’t drink that stuff - yuck).

Overall I was quite pleased with my finish in this race. Now I know that my speed has carried over from last year (or I’ve recovered it). Next up is the March Madness Half Marathon - which will be a much bigger challenge and good indicator of whether I’ve made any progress running a hill race.