Let me preface this by saying that I am a HUGE Green Bay Packers fan. I only paid money to do this race because I lost a bet to my brother in-law (a Bears fan). In fact, I'm pretty sure the Bears shirt we got was slightly burning my skin over the duration of the evening... Not really. Maybe kind of.
Like any race held near Soldier Field, parking cost much more than one would want to pay, but I guess it comes with the territory. We walked out of the parking garage to this scene:
As you can see, there was orange and blue everywhere. Ick. We arrived MUCH too early, so we decided to walk around the perimeter of Soldier Field. I wasn't terribly excited about that decision since I wanted to be on my feet as little as possible leading up to the race, but we did it anyway. During our pre-race walk, I actually ran into two, brave souls decked out in full-on Packers gear. I gave them a huge "Go Pack!" and explained that I lost a bet, but truly was a Packers fan. They gave me a high five and said they were sorry I was in my predicament. I'm sure they caught an ample amount of crap throughout the night. I hope they made it out unscathed.
As you can see, they had huge "BEAR DOWN" letters displayed on the grounds, but the rest of the area wasn't too impressive. They had an inflatable game where you could kick field goals, a DJ playing music, a selfie station (isn't that what your iPhone is for?) and a concession truck for 'beverages.' The Bears drumline was a nice touch. I didn't see Nick Cannon though...
As we all lined up for the race, the racers got a quick pep talk from local FOX sportscaster Lou Canellis. The emcee asked him why the Bears were going to beat the Packers this weekend, and he - no lie - dodged the question and talked about how the team would grow over the next, few years under their new head coach. I had a nice chuckle at that one. As the starting horn sounded, a Bears hype video appeared on a screen set up by the start line, and fireworks shot off as the runners headed out onto the course. But I was already immersed in my Dave Matthews Band playlist by that point.
Going into this race, I decided that I wasn't going to start off by seeing how far I could run without stopping. That's what I did during my last 5k and it came back to bite me. This time around, I decided to voluntarily alternate between running and walking, so I could make sure there was some left in the tank for a strong finish.
Along the route, there were activities set up for the runners that mimicked NFL practice drills. You could run through a gauntlet of tackling dummies, high-step through a row of tires or do some cone drills. They also had a handful of large banners set up for you to take selfies with some of the Bears players. Unsurprisingly, Jay Cutler was not one of the banners featured.
In the end, my strategy paid off and I was able to "sprint" the last leg of the race to finish three and a half minutes better than my time back in late-July! Since I trained just as much as the last one, I'm thinking that whatever weight I've lost so far during Whole30 may be to thank for getting me to the finish line faster. Or maybe the fact that I just wanted to get away from all the Bears fans A.S.A.P. Here's my time, I managed to finish 2,001st out of 2,600 or so.
In the end, I got another medal to add to my collection, but I never plan on wearing the Bears shirt again. In related news, congrats to my wife in receiving a new shirt! Let me just wash it first... All in all, it was a fun night with my brother in-law, and I'm glad the only photo he got of me was a blurry one. Go Pack Go!
Did you participate in this race too? What'd you think? Which 5k should I look into doing next?
