I woke up this morning at 7 and panicked because my race was at 9 in the city. While I was rushing around, throwing on clothes and popping a muffin in the toaster to take on the road, I discovered it was only 6 and I had plenty of time. My friend organized the race for colon cancer research (she lost her fiancee to colon cancer 6 years ago. He was only 24). It was in beautiful Lincoln Park, right along the lake front. My drive was nice, but parking was stressful. I definitely don't miss city driving. I ran from my car to the site--just a little over a mile. Then I waited for another friend I had recruited to run. She ended up being late, so I warmed up another 1.5 miles by myself. It started to pour about 15 minutes before the race. My friend actually ended up running in the pouring rain from the el (they got off at the wrong stop) and made it just 3 minutes before the start. The rain miraculously stopped right before the gun. We were pretty far back when they started, but it was okay. My first two miles I was on 7:25 pace. I always struggle the last mile, but I just kept telling myself, "I have a cramp; I'm fighting through it" and "This wind really sucks, but I'm so close to the end." I know I slowed down (my last 1.1 averaged 7:48 pace), but I'll work on it. I did a lot of passing, and I was passed by only 1 woman and 1 man. That ain't bad. My friend and I cooled down back to the car. Reeeeeeaaaally slooooooooow. She is not fast.
My time was 23:26. I'm happy. There were 236 runners (although some of the times listed as runners had to have walked it). And I was the 7th female! That makes me feel good.
Then my son bruised my nose (accident) and my mom forced me to go on a zoo death march. I'm exhausted. And my nose hurts.
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