1999 Cornfest 10k

Cornfext 10k
DeKalb, IL
August 28, 1999

Last Saturday I ran the Cornfest 10k in DeKalb, IL. I had two plans for this race. If, after about 2-3 miles I felt good, I would make a strong effort and try to PR; if I felt that it wasn't going well, I would slow down and take it easy. The next day I would be running an 18 mile LSD, so if the race wasn't going well, I would then not trash myself for the LSD. My goal was sub-59:48, which is my current PR.

On Saturday morning I made the 45 mile trek to DeKalb-a pretty boring drive on country roads through corn fields. I made it to Christie's apartment by 7:20am, and we left for the race shortly after that. The weather was probably in the mid-70's with high humidity. Not good race conditions. Christie and I ran about a ½ mile for a warmup and the 8:30am starting time came fast and we were off. Christie went ahead (we ran together last year, but she's gotten a bit faster and I've gotten a little slower), and I stayed behind, trying to aim for a 9:45-9:50 mpm for the first few miles.

Well, by the third mile, which was 10:08 and actually felt like a 9:45 mile, I decided to take it easy the rest of the race to conserve my legs for the LSD. It was just too dang hot. I swear it felt like the temp was near 80 degrees or more, but I could have been imagining it because of the high humidity and the blazing sun. Lots of people were walking, which is always infectious when conditions are not good. Though, I really like this race for its community support which was evident during the race this year-I think I saw at least 10 sprinklers set up along the way so we runners could cool down, and some residents were out cheering. During the last mile I was blessed with the presence of local speedster Penguin/Dead Tom Soliday, who ran with me for a few minutes-thanks, Tom! Also, I know I saw ChiADead Chrys Knight during the race-we were close to each other throughout the entire race, but I didn't want to bother her because she was wearing headphones and looked like she was "in the zone," as we all were, just trying to survive!

When I saw the high school, near the finish, I sped up a little, leaving some space between myself and the person in front of me so that ChiADead Ken Wilson (who was working the finish line) could spot me ;-), and finished in 1:44:44 (1:44:49 clock), which is a few seconds faster than my PW. As I was finishing, Ken announced "And there's #52, Chicago Area Dead Kelly Roe, who ran the Bird Attack 10k two weeks ago!" Cool! Thanks, Ken!

I found Christie after the race-she also was about 3-4 minutes off her goal time-and we chowed on the post-race goomies. I also saw Tom Soliday again and we chatted for a little bit, and went over to the finish line again to chat with Ken. All in all, despite the really poor performance, I had fun.

After the race, Christie and I spruced up and then headed over to the Cornfest, and ate some free corn and walked around. It was definitely not a good day for racing-even while we were standing around I was sweating like crazy. I spent a little over an hour there and then headed home. Yep, the race was a bomb, but I had fun anyway. :-)

1999 ChiADead Bird Attack 10k

Bird Attack 10k
Evanston, IL
August 15, 1999

Yep, this is late, but I wanted to report on the great 1st Annual Bird Attack 10k/ChiADead Very Local Conference I that I participated in last Sunday with the ChiADeads. First of all, I want to say THANKS! to Prescott and his family for putting on such a great event. The course and post-race swim, food, and fun was great!

I had no real goals for this race except to have fun and finish standing, since I was running an LSD the day before. I did run 15.6 miles on Saturday, and it went really well, considering the fact that I had not run long since the Distance Classic 20k (7/11!). I woke up on Sunday morning with no soreness, drove to Evanston and met up with the ChiADeads, finally was able to meet some I haven't met before.

The race started and most everyone else ran ahead, while Rebecca and I ran together for the first couple of k's (as others have mentioned, the course was marked in kilometers, not miles-something I wish more metric races would do) until Rebecca had to make a trip to the bathroom. I went on ahead, aiming for about a 6:00/k pace, so that I might be able to finish under an hour-I was actually thinking that anything under 65:00 would be fine with me because of the prior day's run, but for some strange reason my legs felt pretty good. I stayed pretty much on pace, even through the horrible swarm of gnats that were hard to get through without choking some down. Ugh! Other than that, the course was beautiful, right along Lake Michigan, with the other runners, walkers, and cyclists, it seemed like a much larger race than our 12 participants.

I saw the lead bicycle, Prescott's son PJ, the front runners, the RD Prescott himself, and Melita close behind, and then everyone else-all of us waving and shouting encouraging words. The turn-around point was on the street, and I made my way back, Bob and Rebecca close behind. The sun was starting to bug me a little, but I maintained a 5:50-5:55/k pace until the last k, where I actually did speed up but took a wrong turn, backtracked, and aimed for the finish with a 6:24 last k (ugh!), and an overall finish time of 1:00:05. I'm pretty darned satisfied with that, since my PR is actually 59:48, and, if I had not made the wrong turn, I would have certainly PR'ed at this race, the day after a long run! 8-)

Well, after everyone finished, a few of us went swimming in the lake-actually I waded in the cool water up to my thighs-boy, was that refreshing! And then we all met up again at Prescott's house (thanks showing me the way, Ian! Rebecca and I were in the strange red car following you. ;-) ) The food, already mentioned, was FABULOUS, and I really love the race T-shirt, too. Thanks, again, Prescott and Tina for being such great hosts!

I've got another 10k on August 28, (Cornfest 10k in DeKalb, IL), and I'll just have to see if I can PR, since I won't be running an LSD the day before, it's a pretty good possibility!

Happy running,

Kelly

1999 Chase Corporate Challenge

Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5mi
Chicago, IL
August 5, 1999

I ran the Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5mi last Thursday. I had set a modest goal of sub-35:00, thinking that, with the weather nice and "cool" by this summer's standards, I would have no problem with that. I had not run for more than a mile or two in the 1 ½ weeks prior to the race, so I also assumed that my legs would be sluggish. Unfortunately, I had also come to this race with negativity-partly due to how my running has been going, and a lot because this race is critically disorganized, mainly because of the vast amount of inexperienced participants.

Luckily I was able to spot ChiADead Rebecca before the race looming near where I was meeting my coworkers. We chatted for a while and she took a picture of my corporate team (thanks, Rebecca!), then left to go back to her team meeting place. At 6:45 the first wave of runners started, and the walkers in my team decided to jump in to the race after all of first start people had passed, so they would be able to finish at a reasonable time. I lined up for the 7:10 start with two of my team members and chatted with them until the race started.

The start horn went off, and it took me about 21 seconds to get to the start line, which wasn't too bad. But, because there were many walkers who had lined up before me, I was dodging and weaving, getting pissed off that most of these people were walking four and five abreast and it was difficult to find a gap to run through. After the first mile, which was a labored 10:11, it got a little bit better. I swear I must have added .1 mile to the first mile just weaving. 8-0 After the aggravation of having to maneuver subsided, I felt that I was doing pretty well considering the circumstances under which I had put myself; my legs did not feel dead.

The second mile passed in a disappointing 10:01. I thought I was going faster than that. Oh well, need to pick it up a little bit if I want to break 35:00. The third mile was not very fun, because for some reason I started to feel nauseous. I don't usually feel that way during a race, and I'm not quite sure what caused it. I try to ignore the feeling and try to maintain the pace. Mile 3 passes by in 9:48. At this point I am very glad that I only have .5mi to go.

Before the straightaway the course goes uphill, and it's not that long, but I really felt like walking the dang thing. I decided against that because I really wanted to salvage this race. Then, on to Columbus for the final stretch. I can't do what I'd like and go all out because I still felt the nausea, but I try to speed up as much as I can. I finished the last .5mi in 4:24, for a watch time of 34:24 (clock time 34:45). I had accomplished the goal I set for myself, but I was still disappointed. It wasn't a PW, it was just slower than last year by about 3 ½ minutes.

After the race I picked up my finisher's t-shirt and chatted with the few coworkers who had stuck around, looked at my watch and decided I needed to hurry to get back to my office to pick up my stuff and make the 8:30 train back home. I ended up running back to work, adding another 1+ mile to my log for the day, picked up my stuff and got to the train with over 5 minutes to spare. On the train, sweaty, red-faced (I think I would've won the red-face contest!), and freezing because the AC was cranked up, I wondered why I do this race. I don't think I'll ever come up with a good reason. Maybe because I like to torture myself every once in a while. 8-)

Happy running,

Kelly