You can read my more succinct review here.
The Run Mag Mile 10k was held on Saturday, September 9 in Grant Park at 7am. I had attempted to pre-pay for parking at the Millenium Garages, but for whatever reason, SpotHero was saying all of the spots were gone. So we ended up at Soldier Field. A little bit of a walk, but that was fine. At the start, temps were about 58 with 76% humidity and when I finished it was in the mid-60s. Sunny most of the way.
I wasn't able to make packet pickup, so my mom grabbed our stuff on Friday morning at Fleet Feet Old Town. She said it was easy, though for some reason they didn't give her the right goodie bag. I guess if you registered before a certain date you got the sweatshirt and then after a certain date you received the same long-sleeve as last year, but branded with this years info. We found this out later. She had been excited for the sweatshirt, so I told her to email them to find out what happened. That's when we found out about some people getting something while the others got something else. Anywho - she had registered early enough that she was supposed to get the sweatshirt and they emailed her back quickly saying it was a mistake and they would have the sweatshirt waiting for her at the info tent at the race. That was cool of them (not only to fix the problem, but also how quickly they responded – some folks don't even respond to their emails). She returned her other shirt in the morning when we got there and then gear checked her new sweatshirt.
We got to the race around 6:15, I met up with my friend Angela (a fellow Oiselle Volée) and Zenaida (fellow Volée and BibRave Pro), and then we got into our corral (which was E, it went up to F). They released corrals every 5 minutes or so. I ran on my own rather than with my mom, because getting close to marathon day, I needed to work on my own run/walk intervals (especially after being in Disneyland and running wacky intervals for photos, the heat, etc). Since we were pretty familiar with the route, I knew she'd be ok on her own. 5k and 10 runners all started together.
The course started on Columbus heading south (if you were corral maybe C–F you lined up facing east on Jackson), then it sort of bottle necked on the east side while then curving west to go down Congress Parkway, around the curve to go north on Michigan, turn around right before Chicago, east on Randolph, south on the lower LFP, down to the end before it goes around Shedd where you turned to go on the middle path until Balbo, which you then went to the upper path next to LSD, back down to Randolph to head west, then south on Columbus to the finish line. Here's the map if you're a visual person:
Thanks to being on the streets the first few miles, runners have some time and space to spread out before getting on the LFP where it can get a bit crowded (especially since it's still open to the public – so beware of cyclists and other runners; maintain etiquette by running or walking only 2 across and let people know when you are going from a run to a walk). I enjoyed the course – it's nice not having the entire thing on the LFP and getting some different sights made it more interesting.
There were four aid stations along the course with water and Nuun. I decided not to run with my own hydration since it wasn't going to be TOO hot out and it was a shorter distance. There ended up not being quite enough volunteers to meet the demand of the high volume of runners. I felt bad for them as they were trying to pour and hand out as quick as they could, but couldn't quite keep up. I ended up grabbing off a table most of the time since luckily they had poured a lot of cups and that seemed better than having to stop and wait to be handed a cup.
I also love the few out and backs where you have a chance to cheer on other runners. As I was going down Randolph, I caught Angela heading towards mile 6 and cheered for her as she ran past (and she actually heard/saw me and waved - yay!).
I ran 75 seconds and walked 15 seconds and felt pretty good the whole way. The course was clearly marked and plenty of volunteers to warn the 5k to split and head to the finish line while the 10k was to keep heading east to the LFP.
I finished with a good for me time, not a PR, but pretty close I think. 12:34 pace, which I was happy to see. I wasn't happy that I forgot to put my watch on Manual Laps, and my watch was off by about a mile. Once it got to be a full mile ahead, it helped to know my pace, but generally I was just going by feel, because I can't do math when running to decipher my pace per mile in correlation with my time elapsed haha. It's why pace bands or tattoos are something I like. So I really had no idea if I was going too hard or not, but just listened to my body and that seemed to work out well for me.
When I finished I grabbed my medal, bottled water, Luna bars, and then I met up with a new friend (and another volée member) Nora. She was such a sweetheart to hang around at the finish area waiting for me to finish. We then chatted a bit, met up with my mom, and then grabbed our brunch. She's a vegan, and she said they were very nice when she asked not to have eggs or sausage in her container (and offered her an extra bagel, which she declined). The post-race brunch consisted of Parm Crisps, Dole mixed fruit cup, Piroucrisps, plain bagel, grape jelly, ketchup packet, sausage, and eggs, along with a packet of utensils, napkin and a wet nap. Pretty awesome. Beverage options were some Revolution Brewing brews (I think Oktoberfest and Cross of Gold) or a Moscow Mule. I've never had a Moscow Mule and was intrigued, so grabbed one of those, while my mom grabbed a CoG. Very much appreciate the race partnering with a local craft brewery. Thank you! Tickets for drinks and brunch were on your bib.
The race kept everyone up to date on race details with frequent (but not annoying) emails, and afterwards they sent out a post-race survey, link to results, and photos. Photos were FREE and I actually had more than one. Hooray! Not to mention they were ready about two hours after the race. Super quick.
I enjoyed this race and would recommend it for anyone looking for a September 5 or 10k. RAM just about always comes through with unique swag and medal designs. Registration is already open for next year if you're interested.
