Saturday morning, the alarm went off at 4:30am – it’s time to get up and get going for the Soldier Field, Memorial Day Weekend, 10 Mile race! The race starts at 7:30am, and we planned to arrive at the field around 6:15 or so.
The morning was fairly smooth. We ended up leaving about 15 minutes after we had hoped and needed to fuel up on the way to the field. No worries, traffic was quite light and we arrived around 6:30 in the morning.
Prior to the race, I ate a banana and drank a bottle of water with a Nuun cap tossed in to make sure my electrolytes were nicely loaded up prior to the race. My plan was to use a bottle of perpetuem rather than gels for the race simply because my long run training has all been longer than 10 miles, and I use perpetuem on those runs! When we arrived to the field, I mixed up my bottle, tossed on my Bikila’s and Polar gear, then my wife, son, and I headed out to get loose and get into place.
My wife did the 2 mile walk, so she was able to be a great supporter before and after the race. We walked around the field looking for a restroom that didn’t have a mile long line. Luckily, we found one and took care of business before the race. She headed off to get the camera ready, and I headed off to the 10:30 pace corral.
The race was VERY well organized. Pace flags were set out and everyone seemed to line up in the appropriate spot. The horn fired at 7:30 am, and of course in the 10:30 pace open corral, we didn’t move at all 
The race warning system was set to Yellow prior to the start…
17 minutes later, we passed the starting line and began to run a wonderful course. From the field, we made a quick right turn, then a left into the tunnel at McCormick place, shortly thereafter we hit mile 1. We headed another 3.7 miles or so south on Lake Shore Drive with plenty of support (Gatorade / Water) along the way. I stuck to my plan of sipping on the perpetuem bottle and grabbing a water cup every now and then. We made the turn around north at approx 4.7 miles into the race. Heading back up north, there was a nice breeze that helped to cut the humidity and rising heat. By the time I arrived at mile 7, they were switching out the Yellow warning flags for Red as the heat and humidity started to rise.
After 5 miles or beautiful lakeshore, we approached the field, preparing to head inside for a finish on the 50 yard line!
My plan for the race was simple. Run it like a training run, just a little harder (manage my HR, not my pace). This was my first major race, so I didn’t want to go to hard, and I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. I started out at a slightly higher HR that I had hoped, although I wasn’t surprised due to the excitement of the race and the adrenaline that I’m sure was pumping through my blood. I ended up switching out programs on my watch after about 1 mile in to simplify things, and to widen out my HR zones a bit. From the start, I was limiting my HR to stay in my aerobic zone, ensuring that my body warmed into the 10 miles nicely, at the turn (4.7ish miles) I opened up the gates to going full out anaerobic, and at 9 miles I was ready to go flat out.
As planned, I turned up the heat during the last mile, and continued to increase my speed as we approached the field. After making the turn into the stadium, I kicked it into high gear so that I was basically in a full sprint by the time I hit the turf! Coming out of the tunnel, finishing on the 50 yard line with my picture up on the jumbo tron…
My overall time was 1:45:24, or a 10:33 pace. Not to bad as I lined up in the 10:30 corral, and I’m still a whopping 250 pounds… I ended up passing a ton of people during the race… After about mile 6, I was in constant passing mode; it was pretty fun!
Splits:
- 10:36, surprisingly fast given that it was the first mile, I didn’t intend to keep this pace up for every mile, so I decided it was time to turn down the engine and run my race… I’ll pass everyone later
- 11:28, ah the first aid station… I slowed down quite a bit and kept my tempo in check for this mile. I was also messing with my watch changing programs and what not.
- 10:54 – better, and on track
- 11:03 – good, second aid station, I grabbed another cup of water
- 10:51 – great, time to pick it up
- 10:21 – I opened up my limits on my monitor and started to pass everyone
- 10:20
- 10:08
- 10:14 – Last aid station, time to send some texts to Megan and hit the last mile
- 9:05 – Yeah, cutting more than a minute means that I left a little to much on the course I think…
I was able to run Negative splits nicely, but I think I left quite a bit of time out there. I’m fairly certain I can cut 5-10 minutes from this race without any problem if I was to do it again next week.
After the race finished we headed out to the vendor area, and left shortly thereafter. There wasn’t much that interested me there, and with a pregnant wife and a toddler, it was time to go home!
I finished the day with 18 holes of golf, just to make sure I was nice and cooled down. That was probably not the best idea, as the warning system at the race switched to Black and they recommended everyone walk in about 10-15 minutes after I finished… then they canceled it shortly thereafter! I walked the first 9, then grabbed a cart… I was tired.
I ran in my Bikila’s, and they performed perfectly! I had quite a few questions about the VFFs as usual, they are quite the conversation piece.
Overall, this was a wonderful race. If we are still in the Chicago area this time next year, I’ll be running it again.
