Sunday double-header!

After the Run to Remember yesterday, today was a double-header, starting off with the 4-mile C4 Miles at 8 this morning in front of Peggy Notebaert and wrapping up with the 5-mile Cinco de Miler at 9:30 in Montrose Harbor. I was a little nervous about being able to make it to both, but I ended up with time to spare (thanks to the help of a cab that dropped me off at the packed turn-off to Montrose Harbor). Biking from the first race to the second would have been ideal... but I don't have a bike. And I wasn't about to run the three miles between the races carrying my gear check bag.

Turn-off at Montrose Harbor

Anyway, my complete reviews of both races are up on Newcity.com:

• C4 Miles review
• Cinco de Miler review

The races really couldn't have been more different:

Starting line at Cinco de Miler

C4 Miles was a quiet, relatively casual event, with probably around 350 participants (half running/half walking) and no pace groups. Since runners quickly got spread out, other runners on the trail sometimes seemed confused about what I was doing running with a bib. Two guys running together even asked me what I was running (before blowing past me). Still, it was kind of refreshing to run with so few people and I ended up getting 12th place! Overall it was a chill race with a nice vibe and I really liked the energy from the volunteers.

The Cinco de Miler was a change of pace. A lot louder, a lot bigger - around 5000 runners, divided into 10 waves (lettered A-J) - and a lot more competitive! A new wave started every 90 seconds, which allowed the course to easily accommodate everyone without ever feeling crowded. As part of the Media Team for this race I was thankfully given a distinctive blue shirt to wear during the race (which was nice considering that I was still wearing the same sweaty shirt from C4 Miles!)

RAM Racing Media Team

The Cinco de Mayo theme was perfectly played throughout the event - not overdone but definitely incorporated. Having a live mariachi band performing along the course was a great addition and I was happy I was able to snap a picture of them the second time they appeared.

Post-race beer!

And then there was the beer (Modelo) after the race! I used to think beer after a race was a little weird, but it's been growing on me this year. And after finishing both races, and digging into two breakfast burritos I was definitely ready for some beer today. I did find out that Chicago has an ordinance that doesn't allow you to serve beer at an event before 10:30 in the morning. Interesting and arbitrary... but I'm originally from Texas where you can't even BUY alcohol on Sundays, so this doesn't really strike me as heavy-handed.

One of the coolest parts of today was meeting another guy (Curtis) who also ran the trifecta of runs this weekend (Run to Remember, C4 Miles and Cinco de Miler). I met him before C4 Miles, where I was wearing my Run to Remember shirt. He asked if I ran it yesterday and then asked if I was planning to run Cinco de Miler afterwards. We high-fived our over-indulgence. I saw him again after the Cinco de Miler and found out he'll also be at the Spring Half next weekend! Hopefully I'll see him there.

Anyone else running next weekend?