A few weeks ago I ran my 4th race for this year.  The last time I ran this race was in 2012 and I set a PR.  In 2013 I went to Boston for the Run to Remember Half Marathon but cannot remember why I did not run it last year.

I was excited and looking forward to the race this year.  It was my 3rd 10 mile race and I was hoping that it would be a much better race experience that the last two, Live Grit 10 Miler and Quarryman Challenge 10 Mile.

I was up at 5am on race day.  I arrived at Soldier Field around 5:45, parked my car, used the bathroom (twice) and waited for the race to start.  It was cool in the morning and I debated wearing a thin jacket.  I didn’t and am so glad because the sun came out and it was HOT.

Finally it was time to run.  I tried not to start off too fast.  I think I did OK based on my splits. There were two runners that were talking nonstop and it was driving me crazy.  One of my running pet peeves is runners that talk nonstop throughout the race.  Anyway, I would pass them up and then they would catch up to me.  Well, towards the end I “lost” them.

The course was flat and part of the route going south was on Lake Shore Drive.  The turnaround was before mile 5.  I felt great till mile 7 and then my legs began to hurt.  I wished I had an ibuprofen to take for the pain.  Instead, I sucked it up and kept running.

I looked at my watch after mile 9 and realized that I could probably PR.  I wasn’t sure by how much but I just knew it would be a PR.  That last mile was difficult for me.  I remember I stopped for a few seconds right before entering the stadium for the finish line.  Finish time is 1:41:56 for an almost two minutes PR (Finish time in 2012 was 1:43:49).  Definitely a happy moment!

Afterwards, I got a bottle of Muscle Milk, my goodie bag and sat down to rest, enjoy my beer, and wait for friends.  I couldn’t stop smiling.

I hung out with two other friends and then we went to The Weather Mark to eat.  It was delicious! I was tired but also very hungry.  The service wasn’t that great since we waited almost an hour for our food.  It wasn’t busy so Icouldn’t  understand why it took so long.  But I ate, it was delicious, and I was happy.

Once at home I took a shower and a long nap.  Then I ate again.