Lakeshore Running

In Chicago this weekend to visit my sister, and having an amazing time thus far :) After work on Friday, headed up north on the Amtrak train for my weekend excursion. Train ride was pretty smooth and very fast – was in Chi by 8:30, and enjoyed a nice, laidback evening with Anne. Both of us were pretty tired from the crazy work week, so just stayed in for the evening, watching playoff basketball and hockey.

This morning, woke up pretty early to meet up with the New Balance Running Club, conveniently located one block away from Anne’s home. Met a great group of runners (~10-15) and headed out on a beautiful morning on the Lakeshore Drive trail, my most favorite place to run in the world thus far. Weather was cool and sunny with a nice breeze, about 65-70 degrees. Sooooo many runners outside, it was absolutely amazing!!! Started out with a warmup mile, then separated with a couple of the faster runners heading north on Lakeshore. The two runners (John and Jack) I ran with were previous marathon veterans, and didn’t take long to engage in some fun story-telling about previous races and current training, as well as Chicago sports. Pace was decent and felt so easy, and it was awesome to run with those guys - the conversation made the run go by waaaay too fast. John was only doing 9 miles, so headed back after a bit, but Jack and I kept going a little further then turned around. About 4 miles out, conversation died down a bit, and we ended up dropping the hammer down the home stretch. Legs were a little tired at the end, but overall felt awesome. Total Mileage with warmup/cooldown: ~12 miles – splits were 8:17, 7:54, 7:48, 7:38, 7:36, 7:38, 7:26, 7:21, 7:05, 7:02, 6:53. Quick observation – Lakeshore is overall pretty flat, but on a few of the minor hills towards the end, definitely felt tired so maybe need to incorporate more hilly runs in preparation for the upcoming 10K, which is pretty hilly.

Afterwards, had breakfast with the group, and enjoyed great conversation with everyone before heading back. I definitely will be joining this group run every time I am up in Chicago, and was even invited to participate in a team race in Utah later this August! I totally wish that St. Louis had running groups like this one, and am happy to know that I don’t have to worry about missing future long runs when headed to Chi on later trips this year. My parents ended up coming up for a day to do some shopping and hang out, so has turned into a nice family day.

Anne and I headed to the New Balance store after lunch to look at shoes/apparel. Anne was getting fitted for a new pair so started talking with one of the sales associate, telling her about my mess of a story with holabird sports. On Thursday, I called holabird sports and ended up ending my dilemma by ordering 2 of the 904’s – after talking to the New Balance associate, she agreed that the 903’s were a better shoe, and went out of her way to see if there were any available in the Chicago area, since they were completely discontinued. She actually found a pair in the Oak Brook store, so purchased those as well as a pair of racing socks (can’t wait to try these out!), and my shoe inventory for the summer/fall are set!

Tomorrow, supposed to be a pace run, but will probably take it a little easier since today’s workout was pretty aggressive. Just finished some Chicago style pizza at Lou Malnatti’s, my favorite pizza place!!!