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A 5K in Hyde Park

Day-of packet pick-up moved pretty quickly
Sunday morning I ran the incredibly long-titled University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital RBC Race for the Kids 5K Run. Other races take note: that's a race title. Although really I think they just call it the Comer Race for the Kids 5K (which is still not necessarily a short title - it used to be the Comer Kids Classic). Anyway, the main thing that interested me about this race is that it was in Hyde Park and, more specifically, started and finished on the University of Chicago campus.

I have a special place in my heart for that campus since I worked there for three years and earned my Masters degree there (in fact the starting line was right in front of the Ryerson building where almost all of my nerdy Computer Science classes were held). So, even though it took the better part of 90 minutes to get there (Hyde Park is not exactly easy to access via public transportation) I enjoyed the race and the morning of travel (it was nice to be reminded of the commute I no longer have to make).


As I said in my Newcity review, it was a well-organized, smoothly run race with lots of volunteers. We got to run down 57th where I used to have lunch all the time and take a short turn on the Lakefront Trail - which is actually quite nice this far south (anyone who's run one of the big halfs that starts on the South Side can attest to that).

It stopped raining about half an hour before the race so everything was pretty wet but at least we weren't running in the rain. I had a jacket on at the starting line because I didn't want to check it and stand around feeling cold, but I ended up taking it off before the race even started and carrying it the whole way. Is that hassle better than feeling cold for 10 minutes? I don't know. To me, yes.

Running down 57th (passing Woodlawn)
There were a lot of runners, though only about half as many as they announced (apparently 1600 people registered but only 792 showed up...

I finished the race in 90th place with a 23:53 but I actually would have been slower than that but there was a woman that started at the same time as me and we were continually passing each other throughout the race. Without that competition I think I would have slowed down. Even though I crossed the finish line about half a second in front of her (seriously, I couldn't let her beat me in that final stretch) I think she still ended up beating me because she started probably a second behind me. I'll get you next time lady.

After the race they had plenty of food and drinks - including Garrett Popcorn. I'm not even a huge fan of that place, but caramelized popcorn at the end of a race is pretty great. And so is Hyde Park. And so is walking to a bus to take to a train to another train to get home after a race. Well, that last thing isn't actually that great but at least by that time the sun had come out and it was a nice morning.

Runners and spectators before the race
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  1. Pete BOctober 9, 2013 at 10:47 AM

    Sounds like a cool course through Hyde Park. I didn't even know this race existed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The JudgeOctober 9, 2013 at 12:01 PM

      I didn't either until this year but it's been around for a while and had a pretty big turnout!

      Delete

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