My First Real Race

I did it!!  Got up at the ungodly hour of 5AM yesterday to head downtown before the sun had even risen to run 15k through the streets of Chicago.  It was chilly in the beginning but standing in a corral full of people actually helped keep me warm until the official start.

My overall time was 1:34:09 which means a pace of 10:07
I came in 8375 overall. 745 out of 1657 for my age group, and 4932 out of 11258 women.

I'm pleased with my time and happy that I beat my previous "training" time of the same distance.  I thought the crowds would slow me down, but actually I think they helped me stay on pace.  The course was fun running mostly along Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive.  There were some brief parts where we were running under the bottom of McCormick Place which was a little dark, but when you're surrounded by other runners nothing's going to happen. 

Not too shabby for my first race.  My husband and my kids met me at the finish line holding the signs they had made at the expo and cheering for me.  Then we went and got our big mug of chocolate goodies.  Yes, I run for chocolate, and I'd do it again.

I'm still a little sore today so I'm taking a rest day, and after that I'll take the running day by day.  I hope to continue at least 2 times a week through the winter but since I really prefer running outside over treadmills, I'm not sure how realistic that is through the Chicago winters.