Jingle Bell Run 10k Chicago: Race Recap

I signed up for the Jingle Bell 10k using what turned out to be the last schwaggle.com race deal before schwaggle went out of business. The entry was $22 instead of the standard $45. Even though the entire course is entirely on the Lakefront Trail, I thought it was reasonable enough for a whole 10k this late in the year.

Race Strategy:
Since the race was being held in the middle of December and during my marathon training (i.e. no taper), I decided that I should not expect a wicked fast finish time. I did, however, want to break 40 minutes. Breaking 40 is something I have only done twice before, and I should be in sub-40 shape at the moment. Another reason to not expect a fast time: Looking at the weather the night before, I noticed that it would be raining and that the winds would be blowing out of the south at 20 mph at race time.

Pre-race:

Pre-Race in front of the Nature Museum

The race was held in front of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park.  The parking lot at the Lincoln Park Zoo race was charging $20/car, which would have nearly equaled my entry fee, so I parked about one mile away near Lincoln and Belden. So, after a mile walk by the Lincoln Park row houses, I checked my gear inside the museum and used the porta-potty. I had just enough time to slip into the corral about 30 rows back for the starting gun.

And we were off!

Mile 1: This was a 5k and 10k combined start so everyone sprinted out too fast, including me. I tried to reel myself in, but I noticed that I was running effortlessly. Then I remembered that there was a 20 mph wind coming from the south and we were heading north!  6:23/mile

Mile 2: This pace was so easy with the tailwind. I knew that I might regret running this fast once we turned around and headed back south. We lost the 5k runners and it was just me running stride for stride along a fast female runner. 6:14/mile

Mile 3: We looped around Cricket Hill, home of the place I should be doing some Boston hill training someday in the near future. I started to pull away ever so slightly from the fast female runner. I thought to myself "What place am I in?  Am I winning this thing?" I spotted some runners way ahead, but they may have just be running the trail for fun. We approached an aid station and I got a sip of Gatorade. Fastest mile of the day 6:09/mile.

Mile 4: I completed the turnaround and started heading back home. The 20 mph tailwind became a 20 mph headwind and my lungs really felt it. I had run on this part of the Lakefront Trail a hundred times before with these type of headwinds, just not in a race situation. So, at this point I realized that I would have to back off of my blistering pace or else I would fade dramatically in the final mile. I passed by the runners still heading north. They weren't cheering for me, so I could safely assume the 10k leaders have gone by and I was not one of them! 6:18/mile

Mile 5: My lungs were maxed out as I passed by the 5k turn around, a mile and a half from the finish line. Due to the many many 5k walkers, I had to run through the puddles of water on the gravel "shoulder" of the paved trail. At certain points I even had to run on the grass because the trail was overflowing with 5k walkers. I don't like these combo 5k/10ks for this reason. I really was feeling the "push-back" of the headwind.  6:31/mile

Mile 6: The trail was bursting with 5k walkers and I had to shout so walkers would know I was approaching, although it did not make a bit of difference. Not one walker moved out of the way! Shouting just ended up using up more of my already maxed out lung capacity! I had to narrowly avoid running over a homeless man sleeping under a bridge that goes under LSD.  6:36/mile

Hairpin Turn

Mile 6.2: As I neared the end of 6.2 on my Garmin, I still couldn't see the finish line. I shouted at a volunteer, "Which way? Which way?" and they told me to turnaround! Yes, the finish line was about 100 yards after a hairpin turn around! Not the best way to finish, but at least I got 100 yards of tailwind! 6:03/mile

Race Summary:

• Total Time: 39:58
• Overall Place: 5th out of 143*
• Age Group Place: 1st out of 11

*Since I was 5th, I made the leaderboard on Active.com!

Post  Race:

Post race at the finish line

After the race, I caught my breath for a couple of minutes then grabbed a banana, drank some pomegranate hot tea, and took a video of some of the finishers:

I was ready to go home at 9:45am. However, the race emcee mentioned that the medals were to be given out at 10am. So I decided to wait. However, I did not actually get my medal until almost 11am. They had a delay in getting the results, held a costume contest, a raffle, the 5k awards then another 5 minute wait, then finally the 10k awards. There were only a few of us 10k medal winners waiting around to the bitter end. I should have just gone home when I finished the race like most of the others and saved an hour and 15 minutes!

Race Takeaway: Only 3rd time in my life to go sub-40 for a 10k! However, I need to remember to pull back even more in the first half of the race if there will be a headwind on the 2nd half. Also, this reminds me again that I don't like races where the last 1.5 miles is weaving through walkers!

Next up:
F^3 Lake Half Marathon in January. Some of the same trail sections I ran today will be used for that one.