My wife and I kicked off our 2013 race year with the Team Ortho Foundation Get Lucky 7k in Chicago. It was a cold morning, barely above freezing, and windy along the Chicago lakefront. The starting line for the race was just outside Soldier's Field, where several thousand people waited to start the 7k race. About 30 minutes earlier the Half Marathon had taken off. Considering the cold, there was a pretty good turnout for the race. My wife runs about an 11 minute mile average usually but we were unable to get to the correct starting position because of the number of people. Unfortunately, a lot of walkers lined up towards the front and were therefore taking the spots other runners should have had and severely gridlocked the start of the race.
There was very little ceremony for the start. In fact, I didn't even know the race had started until I saw the crowd moving. The crowd inched toward the start line slowly at first but eventually picked up the pace. It took around 3:30 for us to actually get to the start line and we were off.
Coming off the start line was slow at first. Like I said before,many walkers had lined up at the front of the crowd, instead of at the end like they were supposed to. This caused a bad delay for the first half mile or so, especially since many of the walkers did not move over to the right, but instead chose to walk side by side down the middle of the path, which wasn't wide to begin with.
About a mile in the path opened up considerably and we were able to move more smoothly through the crowd. Raquel at this point was stripping off her gloves and unzipping her sweatshirt, she always wears too much and then gets hot. I spent the rest of the race carrying her gloves for her. We kept a good pace for the first half of the race heading South along the lakefront. Once we made the turn to come back North the wind picked up a lot and it started to sleet/snow a little. This made the second half of the race much slower and more miserable.
The view along the lakefront, which I usually enjoy, was mitigated by the wind and stinging sleet coming down. Raquel pushed on through it and refused to give up. Once we got back to McCormick Place, I was able to reassure her that the finish line was near. We pushed on for the last mile and ended up finishing with a time of 53:34. Not bad for her first 7k and the longest road race she has run to date.
My next race will be the Shamrock Shuffle on April 7th and our next race together is the Indiana Spartan Sprint on April 27th. All in all, this race was a nice start to the year and will make us thankful for nicer race weather and prepare us for worse in the coming months.
Ron
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
2013 Race Season: The Journey Continues
So Raquel and I added a new race to our schedule for the year. It's the Get Lucky 7k in Chicago on March 16th. It probably wasn't the smartest idea since a few days before signing up I strained my right calf muscle and have barely been able to run since. Yesterday was the first time I have actually run in a week and a half, and it was only a mile of off and on running and walking with stretches. Raquel and I will be running this race together and I wanted to be able to do this with her since she only has a few races scheduled this year.
This will be her longest road race to date, but not her longest overall. I am very proud of her for putting in so much work over the past 2 years to get physically fit enough to compete in races and actually enjoy it instead of just wanting it to be over. As much as I have helped her to improve her fitness, she has inspired me to keep going with my own. She works so hard in the gym and is far more dedicated than I when it comes to diet and it shows. She is literally half the woman she was when we got married and together we have come to far to quit. She is now training to start the 2013 race season and is committed to getting faster and being able to run farther. I have no doubt that one day she will be running Half-Marathons and the longer OCR's with me and I couldn't be prouder.
Here is a quick look at some of the progress Raquel and I have made in our fitness journey. The first pic is of us on our Honeymoon in 2009. The rest are all pics from different races in 2012.
This will be her longest road race to date, but not her longest overall. I am very proud of her for putting in so much work over the past 2 years to get physically fit enough to compete in races and actually enjoy it instead of just wanting it to be over. As much as I have helped her to improve her fitness, she has inspired me to keep going with my own. She works so hard in the gym and is far more dedicated than I when it comes to diet and it shows. She is literally half the woman she was when we got married and together we have come to far to quit. She is now training to start the 2013 race season and is committed to getting faster and being able to run farther. I have no doubt that one day she will be running Half-Marathons and the longer OCR's with me and I couldn't be prouder.
Here is a quick look at some of the progress Raquel and I have made in our fitness journey. The first pic is of us on our Honeymoon in 2009. The rest are all pics from different races in 2012.
Honeymoon
Nov 2009
Polar Dash
Jan 2012
Muddy Buddy
July 2012
Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon Expo
Sept 2012
Carolina Spartan Beast (on the way home)
Oct 2012
Monster Dash
Oct 2012
These are only the pics I could find of us together. Some races we didn't get a chance to take pics together. Stand by for pics from our 2013 race season. Thank you for taking the time to share our journey with us.
Ron
Complete list of races Raquel and I have run together...
2011 Santa Hustle (not pictured)
2012 Polar Dash
2012 Indiana Spartan Sprint (Not Pictured)
2012 Muddy Buddy
2012 Monster dash
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