Home Team Charity Run 10k

I’m at that age where I seemingly have a wedding every other weekend. Britt and I have averaged about 7 weddings per year for the past 4 years, and I doubt that pace will slow. (We’re just really cool I guess.) Anyway, I bring this up only because I always end up missing a race or two because of a wedding conflict. One year I almost had to skip Dances with Dirt, until the wedding reception hall burned down a month prior, causing the wedding to be rescheduled. I swear I had nothing to do with it.

This year a wedding in the Bahamas (I know, I don’t expect you to feel sorry for me) lands the same weekend as the Ravenswood 5k, a fast race held by Fleet Feet. In lieu of that race, I found the Home Team Charity Run 10k, a race that finishes at home plate of US Cellular Field, the home of Chicago’s inferior baseball team. Even better, the top 3 in each age group win 2 tickets to a White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks game. The overall winners receive 4 “VIP” tickets to a Sox game that includes getting on the field pre-game to meet the players and be introduced prior to the first pitch. With such a valuable prize pool, I’m surprised the race doesn’t draw a deeper field.

My workouts the last 2 weeks indicated I am flirting with 10k PR (32:34) fitness. The problem is that with Pittsburgh just two weeks away, I couldn’t afford to taper for this one and deviate from my scheduled last three weeks. Instead, I decided to let the race come to me, see what the lead pack was doing, and go from there.

Within the first half mile the pack was down to 4; by the 1 mile marker, which was hit in 5:21, it was just me and a guy in a Derrick Rose jersey. His stride was much shorter and quicker than mine, but he seemed legit. We hit mile 2 in 5:21 as well, but I thought he seemed to be working much harder than I was. To test this, I put on a few surges to create a slight gap. Each time he would catch up, but his breathing was getting harder each time. At about mile 2.5, I hit the gas for a little longer, split mile 3 in 5:16, and was all alone.

At this point I just wanted to maintain a strong, even effort. Miles 4 and 5 were 5:20 and 5:22. Based on the comments of the spectators, my lead was growing. Still, I didn’t want to slack off in mile 6, both to ensure the win and to test my fitness. Though straight into a decent breeze, mile 6 was 5:17. I was pretty sure at this point that the course was long, and I think we took a different route into the field than originally shown on the course map. Whatever. The last .35 was at a 5:10 pace, as I circled the outfield warning track, turned down the first base line, and crossed home plate.

Officially my time was 33:44. My Garmin has me at 6.35, a 5:19 pace, which equates to a 33:02. That would be my second fastest 10k time. I normally don’t like when people rely on the Garmin for course measurement, so I can’t say for certain if the course was long. There was construction on a half mile stretch that we ran on twice (out and back course) that widened a turn and slightly rerouted the course to the opposite side of the road, so perhaps the discrepancy was just caused by not being able to run the tangents.

Regardless, the race was just what I wanted: On non-tapered legs, I ran slightly faster than goal pace and took home the victory. With a full taper and a deeper field to work with, I think I’m in 1:10-1:11 shape for Pittsburgh. Now the only question is whether to wear a Cubs jersey on May 27th when I’m on US Cellular field.

Sweet victory Dave,
You are on a roll, cool perks with this win! They should have you throw out the first pitch, yeah. Congrats on the win and with no puke this time, yeeeeoooww! Definitely in 1:09 shape, good luck in Pittsburgh, hopefully the snow will be melted by then, ha ha.

The course being a bit long makes sense. I checked out the results and initially thought you did this as a HMP tempo run.

Nicely done and some solid swag from the victory! Looks like things are lining up nicely for you to have a good race in Pittsburgh.

System check....passed. Proceed to Pittsburgh launch! Don't get too bored waiting around at the finish line for me there because I'm going to be waaaay back from what you will run.

The guy in the Rose jeresy probably lost a bet...did you look him up in Athlinks?

That's some pretty serious "prize money." Probably not good form to wear a Cubs jeresy during pre-game intros to players. Downright dangerous if you're going to be intro'd to the fans.

Well played, Dave.

Great job Dave, you look primed for a great race in Pittsburgh!

Great job Dave. You've been kicking butt these past few races. You're looking primed for a great Half.

Reminds me of a race in Jerry's neighboring town several years ago when they put $200 etc for the winner, the 5k course record was down 2 minutes. Poor Jerry was gunning for the top 3 master and didn't show after seeing the prize money.

Oh, nice race and wins, Dave!

Chris M wrote:System check....passed. Proceed to Pittsburgh launch! Don't get too bored waiting around at the finish line for me there because I'm going to be waaaay back from what you will run.

This could be a good chance to see how many beers Dave can put down before you finish. I put the over /under at 5 or slightly under 2 per minute since I know both of you will PR.

Congrats on the win Dave-O!!!

mul21 wrote:The course being a bit long makes sense. I checked out the results and initially thought you did this as a HMP tempo run.

I went to pull the the USATF course certification this morning to cross-reference it with my Garmin....and there is none. So yeah, probably a good sign that it wasn't accurate. Again, no big deal, I accomplished what I set out to.

Diego wrote:
This could be a good chance to see how many beers Dave can put down before you finish. I put the over /under at 5 or slightly under 2 per minute since I know both of you will PR.

After a workout, long run, or even a practice race...maybe. After an all-out race, it takes at least an hour before I can drink a beer.

Martin VW wrote:The guy in the Rose jeresy probably lost a bet...did you look him up in Athlinks?

That's some pretty serious "prize money." Probably not good form to wear a Cubs jeresy during pre-game intros to players. Downright dangerous if you're going to be intro'd to the fans.

Well played, Dave.

I talked to him afterwards. He bought the youth sized Rose jersey - so it fit essentially like a singlet - for this race. So I don't think it was a lost bet. He's a former college runner trying to get back to his college fitness, which was a 32:20 10k runner.

I would never wear the Cubs jersey, total joke. I'll just wear a Nike Fleet Feet jacket, which is black and grey and matches the Sox colors.

Nice job Dave! I almost came out and did that race also wish I had. Looking good going into that Pitt Half!!

By way if you need a jersey to wear I'm sure I can help you out I have nice selection to choose from.

Dave-O wrote:

mul21 wrote:The course being a bit long makes sense. I checked out the results and initially thought you did this as a HMP tempo run.

I went to pull the the USATF course certification this morning to cross-reference it with my Garmin....and there is none. So yeah, probably a good sign that it wasn't accurate. Again, no big deal, I accomplished what I set out to.

And actually, I just mapped it on mapmyrun.com, with what I think it pretty pinpoint accuracy, and it comes out to 6.45 miles. So I have no idea how far it really was.

Schuey wrote:Nice job Dave! I almost came out and did that race also wish I had. Looking good going into that Pitt Half!!

By way if you need a jersey to wear I'm sure I can help you out I have nice selection to choose from.

You should have! It was pretty cool to run onto the field.

Maybe I'll take you up on that jersey offer....Let's come up with some sort of wager. For example, if the Sox are in first place as of May 26th, I'll wear a jersey. Or something like that.

lucky lucky lucky you won bulls tix now wonder you ran so fast aaahhh!! great job ! waht game do you get to see? I hope D Rose is healed and playing by then:bball:

That is awesome Dave - super strong run on non-tapered legs. Heck, super strong run on fresh legs! Things are looking really encouraging for Pittsburgh. It seems like most people have had the chance to run with each other (or at least have met each other) - I'm wondering when my chance to earn an ass whuppin by the infamous Dave will be. I look forward to it! 11 days and 11 hours to Pittsburgh - I really really hope for good things there!

Dave-O,

It never occurred to me until just now, that with those winnings, you are now a "professional racer". I don't think I know too many bi-professionals.

Goodonya, mate!!!

Diego wrote:Dave-O,

It never occurred to me until just now, that with those winnings, you are now a "professional racer". I don't think I know too many bi-professionals.

Goodonya, mate!!!

Shhhhh, Britt doesn't know!

Nice job, Dave! It's annoying that the course was long, but the win - and the prizes - take some of the sting away from an official PR.

Have raced earlier this Spring on non-tapered legs, I'd say you are primed and ready for Pittsburgh. As for a Sox game, sounds like a pretty cool prize that you'll just have to "suffer" through. I mean it could be the Evil empire in town.