Rocking & Rolling on Race Day

Sunday morning...and when I say morning...I mean early enough where to some people it could very well be Saturday night still...the Chicago Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series was to begin! Now I'm used to early race days, but waking up at 4a.m. for a race is never going to happen again. My friend and I had a LOVELY time trying to park in our reserved spot since they basically started closing off the whole fricken Loop hours beforehand. When we finally made it and we lined up in our corrals, it was quite an amazing site to see how many thousands of people participated!

This was behind me...

And this was in front of me!

I'm pretty sure this was the largest race I've ever participated in and it definitely gave me the biggest running high ever. PLUS my friend and I stopped off at Sports Authority the night before and we discovered the best running compression capris EVER. Runners, I was not paid to say this, Under Armour's Women's UA Fly-By Compression Capris are the BEST. The best part is that I didn't even feel like I was wearing any pants and post-race, I was feelin' even better in them. Zero sweat and fuss. Sports Authority only has them for sale in store right now, but feel free to get them on Amazon too for $36.99! A STEAL. But really, new workout/race wear is primo motivation for me.

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Once my friend and I found out how amazing these were, we had to buy another pair. I bought these bad boys in their "Neo Pulse" color. How much win is this? A lot. I'm pretty sure these will most definitely be worn for my 10k coming up in two weeks.

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Okay you can thank me later. Now back to the race! A lot of people felt cheated afterward since there were many reports of the distance being longer than it should have been by half a mile...which if you're a hardcore competitor, that's a bfd. Also, times were off according to some reports. My GPS even tracked it to be a longer distance as well. HOWEVER it was a great race and there were awesome bands playing at each mile marker. The extra motivation was definitely appreciated since I just flippin' came back from vacation...where I did zero training.

I finished and I was able to do my victory pose in the middle of downtown, in the street and lived to tell the tale.

Of course I needed to stuff my face with a bagel too since I absolutely couldn't have eaten anything that early in the morning before the race. Free bagels, free swag...it was a great day. So attractive.

My only regret was that Ace of Base didn't make it to my running playlist in time before the finish. Luckily we all finished before it got really hot out. Grant Park was home to the thousands of finishers where we stretched out and snagged a bunch of free drinks and stuff from all of the sponsors.

I just looked at the "official" race day photos of myself too and yep, I look absolutely ridiculous in 80% of them thus far. So we'll settle for this post-race pic with our cardboard guitars. Because, yes.

I was quite impressed with myself since I didn't stop once and I kept on hauling ass! Not too shabby after all of that drinking and binging on snack food on vacation. Now to look forward to my 10k that's happening in two weeks. Bring it, bitches!

Chicago Polar Vortex Survivor

So retailers and other Fortune 500 companies were closed for today as Chicago experienced what is known as a "polar vortex." If we're throwing around vocab such as that...you'd think my place of business would think, "hey maybe our employees would like to stay home as well since they could suffer severe frostbite for standing outside for more than five minutes?" NOPE. I had to put my big girl panties on (layers of them) and make that hour-long commute to work. The forecast was showing temps of -30 degrees with the wind chill and I just about cried. In case you are wondering what one wears during a polar vortex, I found that the following apparel will help prevent hypothermia, frostbite, your internal organs from freezing over etc...

1. My work trousers and underneath...yes, my Under Armour cold gear running tights that are also featured in this photo below. Nothing gets through these bad boys...and as a runner, I kind of need to keep my legs.

 

2. My new Lululemon Scuba Stretch Hoodie. I'm kind of obsessing over it. It blocks those wicked polar vortex winds and was worth every penny. (Although I scored mine on sale! Zing!)

 

3.  Next is my Calvin Klein Wool Asymmetrical-Zip Trench that I was ever-so-lucky to be spoiled with for Christmas thanks to my lovely 'rents.  I wore this as my final layer over my sweater and Scuba Hoodie. This coat is the best since it's fine to wear just by itself during the normal winter days without it being an ugly, bulky coat. Sorry, those puffer jackets do nothing for me. I don't want to look and/or feel like a giant puff cloud. I'd opt to look like I walked off the set of the Matrix, obviously.

 

4. Burberry Rain Boots. While they aren't the warmest of boots, (opted to wear slipper socks to make sure my toes made it through the day) these are my favorite boots EVER EVER.  They also have monster tread on them to make sure my clumsy blondieness doesn't faceplant in a foot of snow/ice. Winter win once again.

 

5. North Face Etip gloves and my knitted glittens (homemade) were worn together to make sure that my fingers didn't break off. Etips are a huge necessity these days (especially for me) since my phone always seems to ring at the most inconvenient times...and hell if I'm going to take off my gloves during a polar vortex! PFFF.

Luckily my car started (I was doubtful since she's parked outside) and it warmed up nicely so I could actually enjoy bopping my head to Beyonce as best as I could in my many layers. Many of my coworkers weren't so lucky. Cars ended up in ditches, didn't start at all and even had difficulties braking! Eek! It's crazy to think that anything slightly above freezing now would be a heatwave in Chicago right about now.

Overall, I'm pretty proud to say that I survived this polar vortex weather, however my bones just weren't cut out for these fricken arctic temps...soooo summer please? K, thanks. In the meantime, be jealous of this angry, penguin sweater that just about sums up my attitude right now.