Since we are training for the Badgerland Strikers Ice Age 50 miler coming up on May 14, 2011, we went for it. We registered on Wednesday, and ran on Saturday, March 26, 2011 in the Chicago Sprint Lakefront 50k Ultra Marathon.
Last week the Chicagoland weather was amazing – warm temps, sunny skies, low wind. On race day, we experienced real Chicago
We did the Chicago Fall Lakefront 50/50 last October, and we really liked the chillness of the race and the runners. No surprises for this race. The race was low-key, the runners mostly friendly, and the crews caring and supportive. The sign-in is very simple, and for a runner who hasn’t done this before, there is no rush to get there super early since in our experience there hasn’t been a line, and everyone gets signed in rather quickly.
We waited in our car with the heat on high, and our hand warmers activated so when we went back out in the cold for the race start we would be as warm as we could. As the announcer directed us to start the race, we were off.
The course consisted of 3 loops of just over 10 miles each (about 5 miles out and back) on mostly limestone trails with some paved paths. There were beautiful stretches right along the beach, we went through park areas, and ran up to several of the lakefront paths beach houses (they were closed still for the off season, so no open bathrooms there). There are no real hills, climbs, or anything technical on this course, it is a pretty consistent stretch of path. The course had an aid station every 2.5 miles or so, which was amazing. There was one at the start, halfway through the 5+ mile stretch, then at the turnaround. Also, plenty of water, Gatorade, chips, peanuts, candy, cookies, bananas – they never ran out! And there were port-a-potties at each of the three stations with little or no wait.
Team LERIC got the first loop done in just under 2 hours. After pounding Starbuck’s Double Shots, and Eric scarfing down his Jimmy John’s slim we were off – feeling great. As you leave the start/stop area, the wind really lets you know it is there! The sun was shining on us so brightly at times, making us energized, and the wind and cold really hammered us at times which made it challenging to push through. We were discussing the night after the race whether our faces are red from sun burn or wind burn!
Just before we came up to the half point turnaround, we saw the first place leader heading back on his final loop. It looked like he was paced to finish around 3:15, which is amazing. There were many strong ultra marathoners out on the course, which was amazing for us to see.
We started to slow our pace down after we hit the half way point. Our Mississippi Ultra was just 3 weeks ago, and we were still battling some soreness. Also, we needed to take it easy here since this we were using this race as a training run for our upcoming 50 miler in May. We made it back to the start/finish line after 20+ miles continuing with our strategy of running 20 minutes and walking 5 minutes. This works for us, especially on such a flat course where there are no hills to walk up. We made it to the last turnaround, and only had about 5 miles to go. This was when we decided that we had to walk more than run. We ran into the aid station which we knew meant we only had about 2.5 miles to go. We walked most of the remaining miles, and were able to run our way into the finish zone! It was such a great feeling to get this race done, earn our medals, and eat some red beans and rice. What a treat. We took some pictures and jumped into the car with the heat on full blast, and headed over to Cozymel’s for some fajitas, chips and salsa, and some drinks – which were all well deserved!
This was a great run together. We are getting closer in terms of training and days to the next race, Badgerland Strikers Ice Age 50 miler.
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