Zach Runs Chicago

Over the years I've had mixed reactions ( bad , good ) to the Bastille Day 5K & 8K Run,Walk & Block Party (starting with that lengthy title), but it has been around longer than I have (this will be it's 34th year!) and it remains a popular summer race in Chicago. I skipped it last year, but I'm ready to head back next month to check it out again. This year the race is in front of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum again and takes place on Thursday, July 9th with the 8K kicking off at 7:15pm and the 5K kicking off 15 minutes later. One thing this race - which, according to the Special Events Management website "commemorates the French Revolution" - always has going for it is cool race shirt design ( the 2013 race shirt was my 2nd favorite of the year ) so I have high hopes for the event in that area. And this year promises an indoor post-race block party, which should be nice in mid-July. So without further pontificating, here is a code, good for ...

Well, well well. Tonight was the Bastille Day 5k/8k Run/Walk & Block Party in Lincoln Park (just north of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum). I was originally registered for the 8K but, worrying about my IT band, I dropped down to the 5K just before the race (this change took all of 60 seconds at the registration table which was pretty impressive, especially since my time registered correctly afterwards). Anyway, before the race, the set-up looked good. Beautiful weather, lots of outdoor space, a good live band and lots of runners. I even tweeted about how promising it all was. And as I lined up on a blocked off Cannon Drive for the 5K with 943 other runners I still felt that way. I mean, these guys blocked off Cannon Drive, part of Fullerton and a big chunk of Stockton Drive. This was clearly nothing like last year's race .

So... the lengthily titled Bastille Day 5K/8K Run/Walk & Block Party happened last night. I think I hit the high points (or low points, as the case may be) in my NewCity review , but it wasn't a very well-organized event. But here's some additional observations and complaints: Because the 8K course was an out-and-back it took up both lanes on the Lakefront Trail for a while. There were several bikers riding down the middle of the trail, between the two lanes of runners. I've never seen that before. At the entrance to Belmont Harbor, there was a long line of cars backed up in either direction. When I ran past, the woman in the front car was standing beside her vehicle yelling at the guy stopping traffic, "HOW IS THIS NOT AVOIDABLE??!?!?" I don't know what she meant by that, but she was super-pissed and I almost wanted to stop running just so I could listen to an amazing (and most likely nonsensical) rant. The 5K and 8K courses rejoined at the end a...

At the finish line of the St. Paddy's Day 8K on Sunday there was no shortage of people handing out flyers for future races. I've almost always found the Mitch Hedberg joke about flyers to be absolutely true: "When someone tries to hand me out a flyer, it’s kinda like they’re saying, 'Here—you throw this away'" but this old-school form of advertising actually worked on me this weekend... ...possibly because I was high from just finishing an 8K and two of the races (namely C4Miles and Bastille Day 8K ) will be taking place in the exact same place as the race I had just finished (in front of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum). So now I'm registered for the C4Miles and thinking about the Bastille Day 8K as well. Not sure what's up with the Bastille Day 8K site, though: it looks like they might have launched their old-school flyer campaign before getting their new-school website up and running properly. But I guess the thing I realized is that so...