Chicago 5k

I finished up my race season with a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. I had mixed expectations for the race. I wanted to break that 25 minute mark, but I'm also pretty beat up. My knee is still being treated by a chiro and my right Achilles has been sore for a couple of weeks now. The Boyfriend and I signed up for this race after another 5k race at the airport that didn't quite go as planned. We thought it was a small 5k, and since it started near my house, it was really convenient. When we showed up, the area was packed. Definitely not the small little race we anticipated. The temperature was 24 degrees, with that terrible windchill, not good racing weather. We did a tiny warmup, but it didn't actually warm either of us up. Since we planned to just show up and run, we walked right to the corral. I started with the 8:00 pace group and The Boyfriend went to the 6:00. The announcer said 6,000 people were running. Whaaaa?! We thought we were weirdos for racing on a holiday; clearly we live near lots of weirdos. The first mile (7:48) went okay. I started in the back of the 8:00 group, since lets be real, I barely belong in the group. The race course actually had us running on Lake Shore Drive, which was awesome. Way too many people to run on the nearby lake path. My lungs were burning during the entire first mile. It was so cold and every breath felt like I sucking in needles. At mile 2 (8:03) a lot of people started to slow down. Either the cold was getting to people or a lot of folks wanted to be in a faster pace corral than their abilities allowed. I spent a lot of time and energy weaving in and out of people. I saw The Boyfriend on his way back to the finish. He cruised by and waved acting like he was out for a stroll, even though I knew he was running at a low 6 something pace. Jerk. Mile 3 (7:47) was running back south into the wind. It wasn't awful, but I reached that point of feeling like my legs might fall off. The last tenth mile was run at a 6:47 pace. The Boyfriend had finished (way) before me. He went back to the 3 mile mark to run with me through to the finish on the other side of the barrier. My watch didn't synch well with the mile markers, and when I finished I couldn't stop the watch with my gloves on, so I knew my watch time was off. I did know I was below the 25 minute mark though!! Official results weren't posted for more than 24 hours after the race! 24:39 I did it!!! This 5k had such a fast crowd that I finished like 130+ female. Regardless, I beat my PR by 32 seconds in crappy conditions. I remember when I first started running and running a sub 30 minute 5k seemed hard. Running 3 miles was hard. A coworker made a flippant comment about I was running too slow and I should be running a 24 minute 5k. It seemed impossible. It was impossible, for about two years. He wouldn't even remember making the comment, but it stuck with me. One of my favorite things about running is how hard work is almost quantifiable. You practice enough, and race times drop. It's not easy, but it's worth it. Right now, I'm taking a break from racing. I'm on my usual December hiatus: no racing, no biking, and only running 3x a week. I've been doing my PT and new PT-like exercises from the chiro. That's going well and something I plan to do in earnest. I'm still trying to get my race schedule figured out for 2014.