The packet pickup at Fleet Feet Sports in Old Town went very smoothly. As opposed to the usual 2 day window for pick up, they had it available for 5 days! That was awesome! Made it very easy to get in and get out with your packet if that was your goal. I stopped and had a gait analysis and shoe fitting done( Thank you Colin). The men's t-shirts ran big this year, which they were very helpful with in providing a t-shirt exchange at both the packet pickup and the race.
The race day itself went off without a hitch. I chose to park at my building about a mile away from the start at Soldier Field, however, they did offer free parking at the stadium. I did not do the gear check, although one was offered. Plenty of port-o-potties were available, which if you have ever been to a race that only had a few you can appreciate having enough to accommodate all racers. I was assigned to Corral #5 in the Blue wave. They had an ample number of announcements for corral closings. The Purple wave, which was first, had a hard close time. Meaning they closed the Corrals at 6:45 and if you were not in them, you had to move back to the Blue wave. The Blue wave Corrals had a soft close time, which meant they closed at 6:45 but were still allowing people in. My favorite part of the corral setup was that they had volunteers at each corral entrance to make sure that only people that were assigned to that corral got in. Too often you see people trying to sneak into earlier corrals.
There was a very nice starting ceremony where there was a moment of silence to remember all of the fallen veterans and for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and tornado in Moor, OK the previous week. They called out the names of many members of the Military, both retired and active duty, that were running the race.
Before you knew it the horn blew and the purple wave took off. These were the elite runners that were trying to win it. While they took off and we waited for the next start, they played Sweet Caroline which got a lot of crowd reaction. Then they blew the horn and the Blue wave started and I took off.
I won't bore you with extensive details of the route itself, but it was a wonderful route. It was the same as the previous year. I was quite happy with my pace and time. I managed to run almost the entire race, only stopping at a few of the aid stations for a drink. Towards the end of the race with only about 3/4 of a mile left, my legs were burning and lungs were on fire, I began to pull off to the side to stop for a moment when a man came from behind and put his arm around me and gave me a friendly shove and told me to keep going and that we were almost to the finish line. I managed to grit my teeth and keep going. After a few moments all pain died away and I went numb. I managed to push harder and cross the finish line in 1:33:07! That time was almost 7 minutes faster than last year. I managed to find the man that helped me and thank him for his support.
The post race party was very nice. They had Soul Asylum as the band playing and many vendors offering freebies. I helped myself to a few of the freebies, passing on the beer. I hung out with a few friends for a little while and then headed back to my car, which was about a mile away, but felt like 20 miles at that point.
If you ever get a chance to run the Soldier Field 10 mile, I would very much recommend it. It is one of my favorite races to do.
