Nike Plus Human Race Chicago

Last night I ran the Nike Plus Human Race in Chicago. It's a worldwide event that was going for setting a record on the number of runners in a one-day event. They had about 500,000 which is pretty amazing, 15,000 of which were in Chicago.

I took the train/el down there and got to the stadium about an hour before the race. Gatorade and Ice Mountain were sponsors, so there was plenty of water to hydrate with which is good since it was still about 87 degrees outside. Gear Check was inside soldier field and super-organized. Nike really knows how to put on a race!

The start corrals were a bit packed while we were all waiting for the race to start. There were a lot of last minute sign ups and they didn't quite realize how many people would be there. After Wayne Messmer sang the anthem, and the US top finisher in the olympic marathon wished us good luck, we were off!

The course followed LSD down to Oakwood (about 40th st) st and then came back on the lake front path. I went out a bit fast, but really wanted to try to set a PR on the race which I knew would be hard after my awesome napa-sonoma 10k time. I hit the first few miles at 8:30 pace which I knew I couldn't sustain, but also knew that I only needed a 9:00 pace to hit my goal. Around the halfway point I was just so hot and not feeling extremely well but kept going on. My last few miles were around a 9:30 pace, so all averaged out well in the end. As I turned the final corner, I knew I could make it and set a new PR with a time of 56:08, 9 seconds better than my old PR.


After the race there was the usual gatorade, water, etc. but following that was a Fall Out Boy concert in Soldier Field. They put plastic mats on the grass and all 15,000 of us made our way onto the field for a great concert! So much fun!