Last night was graduation for my No Boundaries runners. Their target for the previous 9 weeks was to train for the Jim Gibbons 5K. We had about 20 in our program, and of that about 12 ran the race last night. While I was happy for my folks, it was a bittersweet night, as Mark could not run after the seizure he had the other day. He went to cheer folks on, but it was obvious how sad he was.
I promised to pace a group of the women. Once the race start off we went. Our pace was a 4:00 run/1:00 minute walk. I ean with Rosie, Kathy, Colleen and Jen. Jen was Mark's running buddy during this program, and he was so worried she would have no one to run with. Are you kidding? She was our timer. :-)
It was a humid warm night, so we did not go at a blazing speed. The course is in Grant Park, and along Lake Michigan. If you have not run along Lake Michigan in Chicago, you should. The city makes an ideal back drop for any run.
For the most part the race was fine. Rosie was the motivational gal. Kathy was just wanting to finish. Colleen was a bit ahead of us. Jen was the determined one. I was talking with all of them, and making sure they were ok.
As we got to the last 1/4 mile, we ran into the walkers. I wish there had been better markings so runners did not have to weave through the walkers. Rosie kept yelling, "Runners on the left....move please!"
I told them my first 5K was in 45:00, and hoped we would beat that. We did....we crossed the line in 43:30! Jen hugged me as soon as we crossed the line. There were high fives from the other gals. When we got back to our tent, the rest of the runners were there, and they were all so happy. Josh was most pleased. He finished in 30:01. His goal was to run in under 10:00/mile and he did. He was the guy who told us at the start he wanted to run so he could out run zombies. I believe he made that!
This No Boundaries was an incredible experience. I loved training these folks and getting them ready. How many will keep running will be interesting to see.
Charlie
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