On Sat, Sept 26 I raced in the Chicagoland Komen Race for the Cure. It was an amazing day. I got down there around 7am, checked out all the booths, dropped off the donation checks I got, and wrote out my "In Memory of..." sheets for my dad and Linda.
Then I cried for a good 10 minutes. Not exactly the warm-up I was hoping for! Suddenly it was ten after 8 and the race was starting in 5 minutes. I hurried to the porta-potty and made it to the start line just in time. I was at the back of the pack - where I stayed for the entire race. I hadn't warmed up enough, and the first few miles I was stiff and achey. For you Chicagoans - the race started heading south on Columbus then went west on Roosevelt and north on Michigan. We ran north on Michigan until Randolph, where we headed east to the lake. Then we ran north to Navy Pier, circled around, and back south to the Museum Campus. Then we looped around and came back home. Around mile 3 I found my groove (as usual), and met up with a nice woman named Gita who kept up a nice conversation for miles 3 and 4. Near the end of mile 4, I met up with Kelli Palm, who runs a LOT faster than I do! She pushed me through the last mile and a half, which got my heart rate up to about 188 beats per minute. Not exactly healthy, but I didn't puke, which is good.
I crossed the finish line at 1 hour, 19 minutes and 30 seconds. There were 1007 finishers and I finished 959th. SIGH. Coming in almost-last definitely does not make me happy, but it gives me something to strive for. It puts the fire in my belly to get me out of bed, turn off The View, and go for a heart-pumping run. I DO NOT like losing! The 500th person did it in one hour and some change, which is a 10 minute mile. That has always been my goal. I just need to work so much harder for it than I have been!
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