Chase Corporate Challenge Bandit (Race Report)

 

I totally brought scissors to our team tent and turned my t-shirt into a tank top.

My employer pays for a large number of us to run the Chase Corporate Challenge.  However, you have to sign up in February.  Since at that time I didn’t know if I’d be able to run in May or not, I didn’t sign up.

But I’ve run Chase every year since I started at my current employer so when I realized that I would be able to run I started sniffing around for a bib.

Hey, it’s already paid for, right?  My work would just be wasting that money if I didn’t use an unused bib!

Turns out my coworker got a migraine and went home to sit in a dark room.  Which left me her bib.  So, I used it.

And promptly ran my slowest Chase Corporate Challenge ever.  31:30 for 3.5 miles.  On the plus side, I think that will go down as one of her fastest times.  Glad I could do that for her!

They changed up the course this year and it was basically a lot of running through what are essentially tunnels.  Combined with the crowds, the temperature and the humidity I think everyone ran slower than they wanted.  Plus, since I didn’t bother to study the course map I didn’t know when to pick it up towards the end.  My Garmin was all messed up from the tunnels and then suddenly the finish line was right in front of me!

Could I have run faster?  Maybe.  But I did tell myself to hold back a bit.  No point in running faster and aggravating my hip any more than I already did.  Yes, it was kind of sore and stiff afterward.  Bummer.

Still, it was a gorgeous night to enjoy the city and I’m glad I got the chance to run.  It’s taken me a few days to come to terms with the fact that I’m not as fast as I was in the past two years but life is not always about the speed.  Sometimes it’s just about the opportunity.

 

Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5 Race Report

First, let me say I am not in that photo above. Don't bother looking for me. Actually, I'd love for the Chase Corporate Challenge people to tell me why they even bother having photographers at the event when they only bother to post 20 photos of the whole thing!

Anyway, there are lots of reasons to not run the Chase Corporate Challenge (crowded course, people who have no race etiquette, unpredictable weather, course with multiple hairpin turns) but for the third year in a row I decided to do it. Why?

1. No race entry fee for me! Okay!

2. Free t-shirt (although this year they didn't do women's sizes which bummed me out).

3. An excuse to hang out with my coworkers who I actually like.

4. Free beer and food in our post-race tent.

This year the weather decided to ignore the fact that it's almost June and hover around 45^o with 20 mile an hour winds blowing in off Lake Michigan. The actual race itself was fine and I was almost too warm in my capris, short sleeved shirt, and arm warmers. But the pre- and post-race festivities? So.Cold. At least the beer was nice and icy?

Anyway, several people from my lunch time running group were doing the race as were several other people from my office. In fact, it was my new(ish) employee's first race ever! He did really well and managed to beat his time goal by almost 6 minutes.

The Chase Corporate Challenge is notorious for being crowded and full of walkers and slower runners who start at the front. This year they tried to combat that by assigning people to "waves" based on whether or not they entered a predicted finish time when they registered. There were three waves. Red was for competitive runners, yellow was for non-competitive runners and white was for walkers. I was in the "red" (aka first) wave but by the time I got to the starting area there was no way I could elbow my way to that one. So I started in the "yellow" (second) wave. Of course, people totally ignored the fact that if they had a white bib maybe they shouldn't be standing at the front.

The plus side to having the slow people in front of you and all those hairpin turns? This is probably the only race all year where I will easily run negative splits. Just ignore the fact that my Garmin freaked in the tunnel during mile 2 and thought I was going 75 MPH.

In the end, my official time was 28:09 for an average pace of 8:02. Thirty-two seconds faster than last year and just a hair slower than my current 5K PR pace and, I admit, I wasn't even trying that hard during the first mile. Pretty cool.

(Nope, not in that photo, either)

Chase Corporate Challenge 2011 by snmnstrz21 at Garmin Connect - Details

Chase Corporate Challenge Take 2

Long time readers may remember last year's running of the Chase Corporate Challenge. For those that don't, here's a refresher: 3.5 mile race that benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository and encourages Chicago area companies to get their employees up and moving. Almost 20,000 people run and walk the race and the top runners have a chance to go to the international championship.

Last year's race was a total clusterf*ck for many reasons. The biggest issue I had with the race was that due to the lack of chip timing and the sheer size of the race there was no way that the clock time was an accurate representation of anyone except the winner's time.

This year, though, the race organizers were able to take advantage of the new B-Chip timing. This seriously cut down on the number of slower people who had put themselves towards the front of the crowd.

Another issue I had last year was the inability to find our group's company tent. I solved that dilemma this year by getting my bib early and walking over on my own. Unfortunately this meant I missed the group photo! I figured they'd take it once they got to the tent. Turns out they took one there, too, but I was in line for the port-a-potty so I missed it again! I guess this year I'm Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Race. At least in the group photo.

However, since Holly was visiting she was able to get a few photos of me at the start. I hope these give you an idea of just how crowded the start gets at this race.





I positioned myself near the 8 minute mile sign and hoped for the best. I hadn't run since Sunday so I figured my legs should be nice and fresh. All I had to do was keep my fingers crossed I didn't spend the entire race dodging people.

Once the horn sounded it took a few minutes to get across the start line. There was definitely some dodging going on but it didn't feel quite as horrible as last year. Maybe some of that was the weather. Last year as hot and humid. This year was lovely. Now, if the race organizers would do something about the course. It seems to be the same every year. Sort of a "P" shape with two hairpin turns. Who thinks it's a good idea to have hairpin turns in a race with 20,000 participants? Apparently these people. And, just like last year, if you ran the tangents you had to slow to a walk at the first hairpin. Frustrating.

My Garmin freaked out a bit in some of the tunnel-like areas we had to run through and I'm pretty sure the 2 mile marker was in the wrong place. Regardless, I wasn't spending a lot of time looking at my Garmin. I was just running. And it felt GOOOOD. Since I knew I wouldn't be "racing" my 10 miler on Saturday I decided to push it as hard as I could during this race. As I rounded the last hairpin turn at mile 3 I started to feel that familiar queasy feeling I get when I'm running hard. But, instead of slowing down I just kept pushing.

And it paid off! My official time (and my Garmin time) had me at 28:41! That's an average pace of 8:11 and change. WAY better than last year. Plus, my best 5K time was at this pace and this race was even longer and had more dodging. I'm pretty sure this indicates that if I ran another 5K in the near future I'd have a good chance of hitting yet another 5K PR.

Amazingly, I wasn't even that worn out afterward. I easily enjoyed the beer and food provided by work and chatted it up with some people from our lunch time running group. Holly and I hung around for awhile before declaring ourselves cold (!) and heading home around 9PM. All in all it was a great evening and, other than missing the group photo, definitely better than last year.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 591 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/27/10 Up/Downhill: [+68/-68] Time: 07:13 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.50 miles Time: 0:28:41 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 12 /mi Calories: 411 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 38 +0' 26 6.9 -0.4 -10 ft 2 8' 17 +0' 05 7.2 -0.1 -10 ft 3 8' 09 -0' 03 7.3 +0.0 0 ft end 7' 44 -0' 28 7.8 +0.4 +19 ft Versus average of 8' 12 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5 Mile Race

Click to see larger


I know you were all holding your breath waiting for this post, right?

I'm going to sum up the race in one word: Irritating

Was it fun? Well, sure, I love to race. I love running. I don't even mind the heat or humidity that much (and it sure was both last night!) What I don't love is wandering around for almost half an hour trying to find where I was supposed to be. I don't love people who walk during a race positioning themselves near the front of the pack. I don't love people who have no race etiquette. And, as I suspected, this race was full of them.

Yes, I am happy that over 17,000 people got off their duffs and came out to support both their companies and the Greater Chicago Food Depository. I just wish that there was some kind of mandatory race etiquette class everyone had to take before participating in an event this large.

Every runner I've talked to was irritated at the walkers who started near the front. For example, I started at the end of the 9 minute mile group and just before the 10 minute mile group. Why, then, was I passing people during the first mile who were wearing jeans and chatting as if they were out for a leisurely walk without 17,000 people surrounding them?

Holly, I really should have taken your advice and started much, much farther up. Next time I'm starting with the 7 minute mile people!

Of course, some of my irritation may be caused by the fact that I wandered around for 30 minutes trying to find our team tent among over 500 other tents. Jason and I were on the phone as we tried to find each other and the stinking tent. I was following part of our team but they had no idea where they were going either. For some reason the sign on our team tent was facing AWAY from the sidewalk so it was very easy to pass right by and we were sort of hidden behind the announcer's stage. I was starting to panic and think I'd never find it!

So, yeah, not the best calm, centering environment for race prep. By the time I found the tent, ascertained that Jason would not be staying until after the race, got in on the group photo and filled up my water bottle I had about 20 minutes to hit the port-a-potty. And, yep, that line took about 15 of those 20 minutes! And somewhere in that whole mess I managed to misplace my sunglasses.

Once the race finally started it took me almost 6 minutes to cross what I thought was the start line. I spent the first 2.5 miles dodging walkers and slower runners. Every time the course made a turn we would come to a grinding halt and shuffle along for a few seconds. I wanted to yell at the walkers to get out of the way. I wanted to scream at people to stop slowing down on what passes for hills around here. All in all, those first 2.5 miles were VERY frustrating.

And then we hit the first water station and the course cleared. This is why I love to have my own fluids. I get to take advantage of the openness ahead of me when everyone else stops for water.

You can totally see in my pace chart how crowded the course was for the first 2.5 miles. I mean, look at mile 2.5-3.5. Smooth sailing except for the mile 3 marker where the course had a hairpin turn.

Pace (min/mile)

Posted from bimactive.com

So, how did I do overall? I've been so spoiled by chip timed races. Thank goodness for my Garmin or I'd be in tears about my time. The clock time I had to officially report was 36:12. In other words, just a tad bit faster than my first 5K time in September 2007. Ouch. However, my friend the Garmin indicated I finished 3.45 miles (I started it a little late) in 30:50. That's an average pace of 8:55 minutes per mile! Check out my splits:



Look at how my time dropped as the course thinned out. Now just imagine how well I could have done if the course hadn't been so crowded at the beginning! Of course, the big questions is, how did I do with my goals? As a refresher, they were:

A Goal: Under 31 minutes (that's an 8:51 minute per mile pace)
B Goal: 31:30 minutes (that's a 9:00 pace)
C Goal: Under 35 minutes (10:00 pace)

Well, if you take my official clock time then I didn't make any of them. :-( If only I had started farther up in the pack! But if you take my Garmin time and extrapolate it out to the actual 3.5 miles, then I made Goal B! I finished in under 31:30. 31:12.5 to be exact. Let's go with that :-)

Many people I talked to about this race said the best part is the food and the beer in our team tent afterward. I couldn't really understand that since I'm rarely interested in barbecue and beer after running a hard race. But I have to admit, after a nice cool-down, some super cold Gatorade, and a few potato chips, that 312 beer and that barbecued pork sandwich were mighty tasty!

I also enjoyed learning which of the other university faculty and staff were runners. Turns out there's a group of people who run at lunch every Tuesday and Thursday. They're a little faster than me in that they typically run 9 minute miles. And, as I've stated before, I don't know if I can run at lunch and then go back to work. Especially now that summer is here. But I suppose if I don't have any afternoon meetings I might be able to join them here and there. Running with faster people is only going to be good for me, right?

Will I do this race again next year? Hmmmm. The Soldier Field 10-miler is usually a few days later and I wouldn't want to do them both. So, maybe I'll alternate. This is the second large race that I've run and now I'm concerned that I can't handle the aggravation that goes along with such a large race. That may not bode well for any future plans to run the Chicago Marathon. Me and 40,000 of my fellow runners? I don't know. I'll just have to hope that if you're running a marathon I won't have to pass you in your jeans.

Eventually there will be a group photo of our whole team posted, but till then here's a close-up of the above photo. And, of course, the rest of the stats.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 592 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: +4 ft Date: 05/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+82/-78] Time: 07:15 PM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   82 F temp; 30% humidity   80 F heat index; winds SW 9 G 20 Performance Distance: 3.45 miles Time: 0:30:51 Speed: 6.7 mph Pace: 8' 57 /mi Calories: 349 Map   Elevation (ft)

Posted from bimactive.com