Apologies to Jeremy for jumping into a race with a degree of Running Room sponsorship, but I figured that the good karma associated with supporting a great cause - clean water projects in Ethiopia - would buy me some slack. Having fellow BVH member, Mark Fewster, on the 10km start line, with Mark and my families to follow in the 5km event, added to the fun.
As I suspect is the case for all Chicago Mararthon Project members (including honorary CMPer, Ryan Twa who is training for Victoria on the same weekend), my effort this weekend was undertaken with an eye towards the upcoming marathon. That said, the plan was to go out at a tempo pace and evaluate as the race progressed. Doing so, running the first 5km at 3:30-3:35 pace, resulted in being left in the dust by the leader, Jordan Brydon. So much for any hopes of drafting off of the 6'5" guy. Nathan Kendrick spared me a further beat down by arriving at the start line with an hour plus of hard running under his belt. Thanks, Nathan. In an effort to end the agony as soon as possible, I picked up the pace a bit on the way home and managed to sneak in a decent finish only "marginally" shorter and, I suspect, slower than Blaine and Jeremy's monster tempo the day before, and Duncan and Ryan's hilly half in the day to follow. Mark threw in a gutsy effort in spite of dealing with injury issues, a recurring theme for fellow BVHers in the midst of CMP training.
All told, it was a great day for a run with friends and family: great weather; better cause; and most importantly, all 4-7 year olds from the Fewster and Draude households surveyed post-race gave positive endorsements relative to the finish line bouncy tent ("bouncy, but not too bouncy"), and post race snacks (salt 'n vinegar potato chips narrowly eclipsing hamburgers as the favorite).
Jody is too humble. He forgot to mention that he won the race. Not bad for a guy who hammered 6 miles at the track 3 days earlier...
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