2013 ZOOMA 10k Race Recap

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you probably know that my two goals going into any race are to finish and to have fun.  I try not to focus too much on my time, because I know I'm a lot slower than a lot of runners, and I don't want to leave a race feeling disappointed and beating myself up.  This isn't to say I don't push myself - I do, but if I don't meet my time goals, it's not the end of the world.  Really.

But I'll admit, I've felt pretty discouraged about my running since completing the Women's Half in June. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome to be able to actually finish it, and I had a really fun time running with Kim, but when I think back to the actual running part of that race?  Ugh. It was really frustrating that I had worked so hard and done everything right to train, and then crappy weather just derailed the entire thing.  It took me a while to really get back into running, but I was starting to feel better about it once I got back into a training plan last week.  Even so, I had a little anxiety going into the ZOOMA 10k this morning, and tried to keep my expectations super low because of how my last race went.  So having a really awesome race, where I felt great from start to finish, was a huge boost!

I got to Montrose Harbor bright and early (well, early for me) at 6:30am to meet up with the Chicago Running Bloggers, and find my running buddy, Katie. I have to love a race at Montrose Harbor, since it's only a couple miles from my apartment,and thus a lot easier to get to than the downtown races (though the down side is that yes, I could just run this course for free on my own).

Photo by Kelly the Culinarian

If you read Katie's blog, you know that she's just getting back into running after taking some time off for an injury earlier this year, so I was more than happy to keep her company on the run.  I knew that, as she's still recovering and not wanting to push herself to the point of getting hurt again, our running plan would be all about doing what's best for her, and following her pace.  Because of that, I didn't really have a set time goal, though I did keep in mind what the McMillan calculator suggested (it said 1:15, and I bumped it up to 1:17).  But even at that, I didn't care all that much about our time.  Focusing on someone else made the run so much easier for me since I didn't really have to think much about it. I was just along to run with Katie!

Lining up at the start line

As we were getting ready to start, Katie said that she'd like to run .9 miles, then walk the last tenth of each mile.  So we mostly did that.  Except that Katie's Garmin was dead, and mine isn't totally accurate, especially at races (since I use a footpod rather than GPS, and it probably needs to be recalibrated).  I'm always a fan of a run/walk strategy, and having a walk break at every mile really helped break up the distance and helped the race to fly by.  Funny thing to note about that though, it seemed like every time we were on a walk break, we saw a race photographer.  So there will probably be plenty of official photos of us walking.

The beach around mile 2

The course was an out-and-back along the lakefront trail, looping up north to Bryn Mawr, down south to the tennis courts just north of Addison, and back to the Harbor area.  We ran along the lake on the trip south from Bryn Mawr to Foster or so, and the rest was on the the trail.  It was somewhat cool out, but really sunny and humid (I think I saw the humidity was around 75% at the start of the race), so I was glad that a lot of the course was at least partially shaded.  Running in direct sun for long periods of time doesn't usually go very well for me (um, see the Women's Half recap).  The miles flew by, and before I knew it, we were finished!  We spotted Lauren at the finish line, which was pretty cool. Our unofficial time was 1:22:28.  Just a few minutes short of my predicted time, and definitely not bad considering I've only done one 6 mile run since June.  Overall I felt really great.  My legs weren't even that tired by the end of it, and I felt like I probably could have gone a little faster and a little further, both of which are good feelings at the end of a race.  I'm really excited to see how I'll do at the Lung Run 10k next month!  I'm also really glad to report that Katie felt good at the end of the race - she did great!

Photo by Katie

The post-race party was awesome!  Katie, Lauren and I hopped in the relatively short massage line, and I got my first post-race massage.  This is definitely a perk to doing the shorter distance at a race - shorter lines! Afterward, we picked up our snack boxes, which was vegetarian focaccia sandwiches and chips, and headed over to the wine garden. Mo found us after finishing the half, and we all hung out for about an hour, chatting and enjoying plenty of pink moscato.

And check out this bling!  All finishers received a super cute necklace.  ZOOMA also gave out personal best medals, to celebrate PRs and PDRs. This was my first official 10k, so I got a PR medal for that.  I've got to say, all of these medals are getting pretty addicting :) How will I ever go back to running races without medals?

The goody bag at packet pick-up was pretty nice too.  It included a tech tee (with accurate ladies sizing - YAY!), a water bottle, yoga mat, and reusable bag.  And they offered it for a day at the Universal Sole store in Lakeview, so I didn't have to trek all the way downtown, which was much appreciated.

All in all, it was a really great race experience!  ZOOMA was pretty well-organized, had plenty of helpful volunteers all over the palce, and all the perks and swag were pretty great.