I do realize it is far from ideal to start racing again soon after a marathon. The body does need time to recover before pushing it to it's limits again by racing. You should listen to your body and wait till you feel fully recovered before you start training seriously again. I know that. All the advice you hear over and over again about rest, and cold baths after the race, and message etc. is true.
The problem is that I hear what my body is telling me (ouch!), but I don't agree with the answer. So, hey, it's been a month since Boston, and that's long enough. And, as I mentioned last week, I had two races on the schedule over the last couple days. They both sounded like a lot of fun, and I vowed to give it a pretty good effort in both.
Thursday, there was a group of us from ABC-7 who ran as a team in the Chase Corporate Challenge. Pictured from left (front row) are Carrie Walker, Idalis Mercado, Michelle Gallardo, (back row) Stacey Baca, myself, and Blanca Rios. The race is an odd distance, 3.5 miles, but it's a good opportunity to run a little faster that I have been in training for a marathon. So I started out running even, and passed the mile at about 6:45. It felt comfortable, so I tried to keep that pace. It was a beautiful evening for running through downtown Chicago, and that probably helped me to finish is 23:39. I figure that translates to about a 20 minute 5k. And that, for me, means I gave a good effort.
But that was just the warm-up. A day and a half later, Saturday morning, pride was on the line as a large group of my running friends lined up for what has become our spring tradition. The Soldier Field 10 mile race has become the run we point to all winter. And for our former High School coach, Rick Staback, who won or placed in lots of local races in the 80's, it's about the only race he enters all year. So, even though my focus for the winter training was on the marathon, this was a race I could not miss, and had to try to run well in.
Suffice to say, noone ran as well as Jeff Jonaitis, who won easily in 49:58, which I'm told is a new course record. Since the course is 'out and back', I saw Jeff and the other leaders passing the 6 mile mark well before I came to the 5 mile mark. I also saw some of my group a little way back including Mark Wojciewkowski, who ran about 1:02, and Greg Sanchez, who was 30 seconds behind Mark.
I struggled along trying to keep a 7:10 pace for as long as I could. My sore hamstring bothered me the last couple miles, but I managed to finish in 1:12. That's only about three minutes slower than my best time on that course a couple years ago, so I have no complaints. I got to see lots of friends along the course and at the finish, and I can tell you most people had smiles on their faces. It was a good day. And our friend Tom celebrated the one year anniversary of tearing his achilles tendon, by running well, and finishing just about three minutes slower than last year, about 1:18. He's made an amazing recovery!
The race itself was the best it's been since they started it six years ago. Every year, the people at Fleet Feet Sports (which puts it on) tweak it a little, and make some improvements. This year they started the 8,000 runners in two waves to lessen the congestion on the path. They also added a marching band near the entrance to Soldier Field. They were about a half mile from the finish, and added to the festive stadium atmosphere. Runners entered the stadium from the Tunnel on the northeast corner of the park, and ran under the stands to enter the field at the northwest corner, before the sprint around the field to the 50 yard line! I enjoyed it. So did lots of the runners who were taking part to honor veterans on the Memorial Day weekend. And there were a few high profile runners, like White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, secret service officer in tow, who jumped into the race the last couple miles to finish with relatives. And Jenny Spangler, the former Olympic marathoner also won her age division.
It was a great day for the race, and a nice couple of days for me. Suffice to say, I took Sunday off! But the racing season is heating up, and there will be much more to talk about in the coming weeks.
See you on the roads....
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