Running Around Illinois: White Sox Edition

August 7, 2022

Run Your Sox Off 5K

Chicago: Armour Square (Cook County)

Chip Time: 27:59

The Run Your Sox Off 5K as a route which is both the least interesting, and most interesting, of all available races. You literally just run around parking lots… but then, at the very end, the race finishes on the warning track in right center at The Downs.

“The Downs?” you ask? Yeah. I could just call it Comiskey. Or I could call it by its formal name, Guaranteed Rate Field. But we all know that’s a dumb name. Instead I choose to call it by the symbol they put up: Guaranteed Rate’s big red down arrow. The Downs. You should call it The Downs too.

The forecast was good, good, good, not good, very not good, terrible, and culminated in pretty bad… and then it didn’t rain during race time. It was, however, 78 degrees with about 85 percent humidity. Cloudy - as you can see above - so at least there was that. But the air was thick enough that José Abreu could have punched it into right field.

The forecast was inclement enough that I did something I don’t usually do: I did all of my stretching at home before I left. I decided I was fine running in the rain, but didn’t want to be sitting on the ground doing calf stretches in a downpour.

Well, there was no downpour at race time. What I found instead is that the races were grouped into corrals marked A, B, C, D, and you were supposed to go to the one that matched the green square on your bib. But mine was blank. And I didn’t know if my intended pace would put me in A or B or C… so I decided to try and get to the front of group C. This turned out to be a very good decision.

Group C was probably too slow for me, but there were a small number of people setting a pace somewhere around 8:15 a mile, and then I was back a little further, my initial pace settling into about 8:30. They announced that the water station would be at 1.7 miles and I decided to target maintaining stride until I got to that point, and actually pulled it off. My app says my splits were 8:47 / 9:33 / 9:45 but the first mile was definitely faster than that, and I think when I got to the two mile mark I was at about 17:00.

There is nothing interesting to say about the parking lots.

Toward the end of the race, we wrapped around the stadium a bit, until we got to a tunnel that emptied us into center field. The last 100-200 feet of the race was on the warning track, then a slow line meandered around the dirt off of the right field line. Around home plate, there were photo stations, which is exactly what people want: a photo of them in a very cool place, while looking their absolute worst.

After all that, we emptied up some stadium stairs, spilling out onto the main concourse. Here is where my gripe comes in. I’ve just run 5K, in a fairly pricey race. I want a freaking banana. But no, instead, I could get a free Modelo, or I could go to an open concessions stand and buy a piece of pizza. I don’t want pizza after a race, I want a freaking banana, or a granola bar, like every other damn race. Gripe over.

Although it wasn’t my best time of the year to date, this race actually made me feel fairly confident that I’ll be able to buckle down and do better as the fall rolls around. I ran the same race last year in an unofficial 30:45, on a nicer day for it.

So, I ran this race two Sundays ago. Later that day we went to a Chicago Red Stars match. I had what I thought was a carryover caffeine headache from the day.

Tuesday, I tested positive for Covid.

Which means that… I ran a 5K with Covid. So that’s weird.

Today is the day that according to the latest CDC guidance I’m in the clear, and today is indeed the first day I’d say I feel in the clear.

Obviously I didn’t run this past weekend, and I’m not looking to run this upcoming weekend. But hopefully the following weekend I’ll find a race somewhere. And if not before then, the annual Brookfield Zoo Run is on September 11.

Anyone ever want to meet up at one of these races, or even suggest a far-flung one, speak up! I’m kind of doubtful there are too many META-SPIEL readers also out running but we never know unless we all speak up, right?