Upcoming Race # 1 The Chicago Women's 10 Mile on 10/5/19
I was definitely looking for a next race that ticked a couple of boxes and this is kind of the order of priority of why I picked it.
A) must have a course or theme or something special that would be really motivating. Aka I needed to really want to do it. Not because I felt I had to do a race, but because I wanted to a specific race.
B) I needed it to be far enough in the future that I could actually put in the right training. But not so far away that I wouldn't start up immediately. Hence why I didn't do the Rock n Roll races in Chicago this July.
C) be a goal I'd take seriously enough but not one that felt like biting off more than I could chew
D) macarons
Ok, so I'm exaggerating about that last one...but after I found a race advertisement in my inbox from a company I'd done other races with...well you let me know how you'd react to this pic! It did make me click on the website link pretty fast to see what it was all about.
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Yep, all race finishers get a box of macarons!!!
So I looked into what this race was about and it's kind of got my name written all over it.
It's a women themed race in early October in the area where I prefer to start my races and run them (course deets below) and it's got gooooood girly swag. They were offering a 5k and 10 mile on same morning or a challenge where you need to complete the 5k prior to the start of the 10 miler and then complete that too for 13.1. Even though three medals would be nice I was trying to do that whole "don't bite off more than you can chew" thing. I'd be capable of it but I just kind of didn't need to do it.
Here's the basic race details from the race website.
Distances
5K (3.1 miles)
10 Mile (10 miles)
Half Marathon Challenge (5K + 10 Mile = Half Marathon / 13.1 miles)
Half Marathon Challenge participants will first complete the 5K (starting at 7:45 a.m.) and then complete the 10 Mile (starting at 8:30 a.m.). All participants who register and complete the Half Marathon Challenge will triple their bling and earn 3 amazing rose gold finisher medals.
Start Location
Grant Park – DuSable Harbor
Timing
The race will feature the B-Tag Chronotrack timing system. All participants will receive a B-Tag timing device with their bib number.
Course Time Limit
All participants must maintain a 15:00 minute per mile pace or faster.
Course Map
Coming soon.
Here's the medals...the actual medals and ribbons are dual-sided.
10 mile medal I will get is SO PRETTY! My kind of colors for sure. And rose-gold too!
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The 5k is pretty similar. Also dual-sided
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And here's the challenge medal. If it was more "spectacular" maybe I'd have thought harder on doing the challenge.
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The race shirt is really cute too. Women's cut and cotton. You could pay $5 more to make it a tech shirt but I decided not to because I have so many tech shirts and I don't mind having one I'd wear for everyday use. I like the rose gold "finisher" on the booty.
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And then this is a silly thing but if you do the 10 mile or challenge you get a Baggu. It's cute and I like the colors and I'll actually use that more than a drawstring backpack.
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I did pay the $10 fee to have race-day packet pickup since this is a Saturday run. Throwing money around left and right
So my goal currently for this race is just to train well for it. And have my best effort. That's a very gray area statement. But I'm less concerned about my finish time (I say that now) than I am about putting in the work so I can enjoy the race. My current predicted finish time by Coach B is 1:42 and change. I'm confident that I can work hard enough to be in that ballpark.
My training plan leads up to this race and then goes right into a few weeks later when I run a 15k which I will post about next