Chicago, IL
Conditions: Cold with Sleet/Snow Mix (39°F), North Wind
For those of you who have asked the question, how should I not run an 8k, I have the top 10 proven suggestions (in no particular order other than the order of events as I tried them.)
1. Don't do a hard bike workout the day before
2. Don't follow the hard bike ride with a hard 8 mile run
3. Don't go drinking for 12 hours the day before.
4. Don't fuel at Buffalo Wild Wings
5. Don't sleep on a couch
6. Don't wake up in someone else's living room
7. Don't rely on public transportation
8. Don't not read the rules about when to arrive
9. Don't try to scale fences
10. Don't try to run a fast time in a pack of thousands
So after my Brute Force cycling session Saturday morning, I had a pretty good idea the run on Sunday was going to be a little rough. I got home and decided the fastest and most economical method of picking up my packet for the race would be to run to Navy Pier. That ended up being an eight mile run with the first four into a nasty North wind. I got home and my friends Jorgen and Matthew showed up. It was Jorgen's birthday and he had organized a whole day/night of activities. Jorgen is from Norway and lives here in the Chicago area. Matthew lives in Ames, Iowa and drove here just for the weekend. Jorgen went to Journalism school at the University of Missouri so our first item on his agenda was to head to a Lincoln Park bar called "The Spread" to watch Missouri vs. UConn in the NCAA tourney (we won't discuss my bracket.) The Spread is the Missouri Alumni bar and it was packed with excited, youthful, intoxicated alumni. We only stayed until halftime when we decided to move next door to BW3 for the remainder of the game. Several beers and nearly 50 hot wings later we decided to move on. Wisely we went to a movie, The Watchers. Not exactly relaxing cinema but the 3 hour break from drinking wasn't bad. After the movie we took in some late night food and beers at PJ Clarks. I couldn't justify this as carb loading, I was just getting loaded. After that we went to the grocery store and bought beer before returning to the apartment. We stayed at a friend of his 37th floor corporate apartment downtown where we drank more and watched TV. Finally ended the party around 1:30 or 2. I took the couch. I'm sworn to secrecy as to how the other two slept.
I woke up around 7. Didn't feel too bad but was definitely dehydrated. I looked at the window the apartment and said, ah fog. Nope, not fog, snow. Not good snow, wet sloppy snow. I headed out to the Red Line and waited for a good 10 minutes before it came along. I should have noticed the near empty train car and remembered that it usually is for a reason. It was the stinky bumb car. I didn't have to go far so I held my breath. I walked home and proceeded to get ready for the race. I headed out and walked to my office which is only a couple of blocks from the start line. Like the genius I am, I decided to stretch and warmup in the office where it was warm and dry. I headed to the start line about 20 minutes before the start. I got the start about 10 minutes early. I was supposed to meet up with Tanya but I didn't see her. To make matters worse I was being turned away from the starting line. I was seeded in the top 100 starting area, the first group to leave. I wouldn't have thought that I couldn't get in 10 minutes before the start, but I was wrong. Later I read the instructions and it said show up by 9:15 (15 minutes early), corrals will be closed "strictly enforced." They weren't kidding. After they told me to go run in the back, I tried to climb a fence and was pulled down... Forget this!
I went to the open start area with the general population and several other disgruntled upper corral starters. I was at the very front of this group. We started about 15 minutes after the lead pack. I was in the very front of this group so when we were told to go, I went. My usual pace. It became very obvious quite quickly that no one else in this group of 10,000 people had planned to run a 5:20 mile pace. I was 50 meters in front of everyone in about 10 seconds.
It reminded me of the time I ran the Race for the Cure. When they say 'race' they're referring to the fact that there is fixed distance course with timing, but they're really referring to the need to raise money to cure cancer. 4,999 of the participants that day knew that, I did not. So the first mile flew by, somewhere close to 5:15 pace, the second mile was still on pace with a 5:20 mile. But the end was in sight. People from previous start groups were trickling in. It was like the sprinkles that drop right before the rain shower. This was mile two and there were people walking everywhere. I had to question the validity of the start corral system for people who can't run more than 2 miles of and 8k without walking. I'm being cynical now, so back to the rain storm... Oh, and it was still snowing sleety snow! This wasn't really a big to me at this point. By 2.5 miles, it was game over. I kept fighting but it was over. The crowd was massive and I was limited to how fast I could go. I ran on the side of the street and followed a couple of bikers. One really nice girl biked next to me and kept giving me speed updates. I have no idea what my mile splits were from this point on. I just ran as fast as I could until I finished.
At the finish line I saw Tanya finally.
I had figured she was pretty worried since I didn't see her before the race and I'm sure she didn't see me start. I crossed the line and said hello to her. Then I saw Mr. Jerry Cropsey. My good friend and co-Ironman had volunteered at the finish line. I was pretty pumped up to see him. I think he was a little surprised to see me. He said, "what are you doing back here..." I saw several of my fellow well-fitters at the finish too. Tanya spotted our friend Hans and I went and got a beer.
I got an email late Saturday that said "Congratulations on finished the 2009 Shamrock Shuffle in a time of 42:22!" It should have said "Ha ha, you finished in 42:22!!!" But in reality I didn't. I think my time was about 28 to 29 minutes, I'm still learning how to use my watch. I wrote the leprechauns at the shuffle and asked them to kindly remove my time from the results as the timing chip obviously did not register when I started. So that means I can pretend this race never happened.
That's pretty much my story. My toes still hurt and I ruined a whole set of socks. It was a terrible way to start the season, so I'm taking my first mulligan. And in the future I'll read the start time rules.
Average
Total 28 or 29 something...
No idea what place
4. Don't fuel at Buffalo Wild Wings
5. Don't sleep on a couch
6. Don't wake up in someone else's living room
7. Don't rely on public transportation
8. Don't not read the rules about when to arrive
9. Don't try to scale fences
10. Don't try to run a fast time in a pack of thousands
So after my Brute Force cycling session Saturday morning, I had a pretty good idea the run on Sunday was going to be a little rough. I got home and decided the fastest and most economical method of picking up my packet for the race would be to run to Navy Pier. That ended up being an eight mile run with the first four into a nasty North wind. I got home and my friends Jorgen and Matthew showed up. It was Jorgen's birthday and he had organized a whole day/night of activities. Jorgen is from Norway and lives here in the Chicago area. Matthew lives in Ames, Iowa and drove here just for the weekend. Jorgen went to Journalism school at the University of Missouri so our first item on his agenda was to head to a Lincoln Park bar called "The Spread" to watch Missouri vs. UConn in the NCAA tourney (we won't discuss my bracket.) The Spread is the Missouri Alumni bar and it was packed with excited, youthful, intoxicated alumni. We only stayed until halftime when we decided to move next door to BW3 for the remainder of the game. Several beers and nearly 50 hot wings later we decided to move on. Wisely we went to a movie, The Watchers. Not exactly relaxing cinema but the 3 hour break from drinking wasn't bad. After the movie we took in some late night food and beers at PJ Clarks. I couldn't justify this as carb loading, I was just getting loaded. After that we went to the grocery store and bought beer before returning to the apartment. We stayed at a friend of his 37th floor corporate apartment downtown where we drank more and watched TV. Finally ended the party around 1:30 or 2. I took the couch. I'm sworn to secrecy as to how the other two slept.
I woke up around 7. Didn't feel too bad but was definitely dehydrated. I looked at the window the apartment and said, ah fog. Nope, not fog, snow. Not good snow, wet sloppy snow. I headed out to the Red Line and waited for a good 10 minutes before it came along. I should have noticed the near empty train car and remembered that it usually is for a reason. It was the stinky bumb car. I didn't have to go far so I held my breath. I walked home and proceeded to get ready for the race. I headed out and walked to my office which is only a couple of blocks from the start line. Like the genius I am, I decided to stretch and warmup in the office where it was warm and dry. I headed to the start line about 20 minutes before the start. I got the start about 10 minutes early. I was supposed to meet up with Tanya but I didn't see her. To make matters worse I was being turned away from the starting line. I was seeded in the top 100 starting area, the first group to leave. I wouldn't have thought that I couldn't get in 10 minutes before the start, but I was wrong. Later I read the instructions and it said show up by 9:15 (15 minutes early), corrals will be closed "strictly enforced." They weren't kidding. After they told me to go run in the back, I tried to climb a fence and was pulled down... Forget this!
I went to the open start area with the general population and several other disgruntled upper corral starters. I was at the very front of this group. We started about 15 minutes after the lead pack. I was in the very front of this group so when we were told to go, I went. My usual pace. It became very obvious quite quickly that no one else in this group of 10,000 people had planned to run a 5:20 mile pace. I was 50 meters in front of everyone in about 10 seconds.
It reminded me of the time I ran the Race for the Cure. When they say 'race' they're referring to the fact that there is fixed distance course with timing, but they're really referring to the need to raise money to cure cancer. 4,999 of the participants that day knew that, I did not. So the first mile flew by, somewhere close to 5:15 pace, the second mile was still on pace with a 5:20 mile. But the end was in sight. People from previous start groups were trickling in. It was like the sprinkles that drop right before the rain shower. This was mile two and there were people walking everywhere. I had to question the validity of the start corral system for people who can't run more than 2 miles of and 8k without walking. I'm being cynical now, so back to the rain storm... Oh, and it was still snowing sleety snow! This wasn't really a big to me at this point. By 2.5 miles, it was game over. I kept fighting but it was over. The crowd was massive and I was limited to how fast I could go. I ran on the side of the street and followed a couple of bikers. One really nice girl biked next to me and kept giving me speed updates. I have no idea what my mile splits were from this point on. I just ran as fast as I could until I finished.At the finish line I saw Tanya finally.
I had figured she was pretty worried since I didn't see her before the race and I'm sure she didn't see me start. I crossed the line and said hello to her. Then I saw Mr. Jerry Cropsey. My good friend and co-Ironman had volunteered at the finish line. I was pretty pumped up to see him. I think he was a little surprised to see me. He said, "what are you doing back here..." I saw several of my fellow well-fitters at the finish too. Tanya spotted our friend Hans and I went and got a beer.I got an email late Saturday that said "Congratulations on finished the 2009 Shamrock Shuffle in a time of 42:22!" It should have said "Ha ha, you finished in 42:22!!!" But in reality I didn't. I think my time was about 28 to 29 minutes, I'm still learning how to use my watch. I wrote the leprechauns at the shuffle and asked them to kindly remove my time from the results as the timing chip obviously did not register when I started. So that means I can pretend this race never happened.
That's pretty much my story. My toes still hurt and I ruined a whole set of socks. It was a terrible way to start the season, so I'm taking my first mulligan. And in the future I'll read the start time rules.
Average
Total 28 or 29 something...
No idea what place
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