Race Report: Nike+ Human Race

Today was the Nike+ Human Race, which was a 10K really and another chance to hang out inside Soldier Field for a little while. It was also a chance to do an evening race with my friends. I wasn't expecting much from it, mostly because I had run 10 miles yesterday, so I was mostly hoping to finish at a straight forward 10:30 pace. Getting on the train with so many people wearing the exact same thing, was a bit trippy. You'd look at someone, he'd look back at you, and you'd both silently acknowledge each other, and go back to staring at your feet. Before you'd see another person and the pattern would repeat itself.


See? Soldier Field...you can almost smell the tail gating! Well, not anymore really

But, this was going to be an exciting evening in soooo many ways...



Chicago apparently had the highest turn-out over all the USA races...14,000 runners! Apparently Nike had planned for somewhere around 15,000 runners. They could have fooled me though. Unfortunately, it was not well organized. The signs with minutes-per-mile pacings were way to close together for the amount of runners there! We ended up having to wait on the other side of the scansions at the beginning.



In fact, it took us a good 20 minutes nearly to make it to the starting line itself! Yikes! I guess it was going to be one of those races. I took my camera with me, so as to capture the excitement of Chicago's offerings to the Human Race. It was neat to see so many runners wearing the same damn shirt. I would also say that 85% of those runners wore black shorts as well (I know I did!).



The weather was terrible though, and I assumed that the fantastic pace that Jen and I started out with, could not be maintained for long. We were booking it at just above a nine minute mile. So much faster than I'd ever been able to run a 10K before. Anyway, the humidity was disgusting...I was dripping with sweat almost instantly. Also, as you will see, it's harder to take pictures whilst running than you think!




Can't say that I'm Ansel Adams, now can I?

There's was also a lot of craziness from runners, too. Because the route was so narrow, unless you were in the front to begin with, there really was no way you could push the pace, even if you wanted to. And once again, poor race etiquette reigned supreme. A lot of walkers were walking 4 or 5 across. There were also a lot of people who were behaving in an unsafe manner. For instance, a couple were chasing each other when we were under the tunnel at McCormick Place. They'd zig-zag across and in front of people, and try to stop each other or throw the other person off. While this looked fun for them, it was dangerous for other runners. Jen and I finally yelled at them to stop. The man replied with "hey, relax, it's just a fun run!" Fun run it very well might be, but we'll see how "fun" it really is when i sue your ass for making me trip and fall. Douchebag.

However, Jen and I were able to finish under 60 minutes! And I honestly felt great for the whole race. I think that if the field had been smaller (or the route slightly wider) we could have come in around 55 minutes. It was a really exciting moment of possibilities for me.





when you PR, you deserve a beer or two

Everyone had a good race in any case, let alone considering the weather, crowds, and the fact that we'd done 10 miles yesterday!





Being able to see the bright lights of the city, and to be able to stand on the field inside Soldier Field was a great feeling. It was a good day to be a runner.