This race has 3500 runners. On a side street in Chicago. So you can imagine how crowded it was. First mile was so crowded I was running over 8:00 the whole time. A few times, I went up onto the side walk to get into a decent stride. It never happened.

Second mile was a little more open, and I could go a little faster, but then my calf started to tighten up just a bit. Which worried me. I kept the turnover going and it didn't get any better, BUT it didn't get any worse.

Third mile was just holding on. I knew it wasn't going to be a good run. And it wasn't. Probably my worst this year, outside of the one earlier when I had food poisoning.

Still, placed 474th out of 3500. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. Know I could have done better had I been healthy and in shape.

Not take almost 2 weeks off! I know that had a HUGE impact. And I feel it in the run the most.

Walked around, and found Beth. Changed out of my jersey into my long sleeve top. Grabbed some of the snacks and walked back to the car, via the store to see if they were open. They weren't.


Nice race, but friggen huge for a 5k.