Zach Runs Chicago

Every year Newcity releases its annual Top 5 of Everything issue . There are lists for film, theater, design, music, nonsense and pretty much anything else we feel like throwing in there. And every year I include a few running lists. This year I threw in three (listed below). The issue hit newsstands last week but it's still available if you want a physical copy. Otherwise, check out the full list at the link above and here are my running lists: Top 5 Chicago Running Stores Fleet Feet Sports - Lincoln Square Fleet Feet Sports - Old Town New Balance - Lincoln Park Nike Running - Bucktown Universal Sole - Lakeview Top 5 Chicago 5K Races of 2014 Chi-Town Big Game 5K (February 2) Ravenswood Run (April 27) Run to Remember (May 3) Energizer Night Race (June 7) Oktoberfest 5K (September 18) Top 5 Chicago Races Longer Than a 5K of 2014 Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle (March 30) Chi Town Half Marathon & 10K (April 6) Soldier Field 10 Mi...

Runners delaying the inevitable Saturday morning before the Chinatown 5K If you were running on Saturday morning, you may have noticed that it rained a little bit. That's a bit of an understatement. It rained like Darren Aronofsky was in charge of the weather . Luckily, I didn't see Russell Crowe walking around with crazy eyes anywhere. But I did see a lot of runners who did not seem to give an eff about inclement weather - they signed up for a race and by god they were going to run it (hey, I was one of those people too). When I got to Chinatown around 7:30 on Saturday morning, I thought I might find a sparsely attended (and possibly cancelled 5K), but what I found instead was a hidden village of dedicated runners hidden under every bit of shelter throughout Chinatown Square like little runner Easter eggs. The race announcer made some pretty good jokes about the weather and about the race not being cancelled and, with around 10 minutes to go before start time,...

Dave Zimmer and Dave Kappas trade quips before the race starts Last weekend I ran Fleet Feet's latest race creation, The Original 5K , a 70s-themed race meant to take you "back to the 70s when American distance runners stood atop the podiums of the world’s most famous races." As I said in my Newcity review , it definitely made good on the 70s theme and was a good, fun race to boot (especially for only $19.72). There was a good deal of facial hair and a lot of headbands and an especially large contingent of striped tube socks of varying colors (mostly because the race packet included a pair of these socks rather than a race shirt). Overall, a great morning for running and a really solid debut for a new race, especially one that was only announced a few months ago. Basecamp for the inaugural Original 5K The best I could do for 70s theme was to throw on an old bowling shirt, but I think it was 70s enough for this race, though not the most comfortable shirt to ...

Post-race and post-hose down. Two years ago, after reading about the growing popularity of mud runs, I signed up for the Warrior Dash . And while I ended up being disappointed at the relative easiness of the course, I also ended up having a great time and getting a clearer understanding of why these races are so popular: they're so much fun. This weekend I headed out to Richmond, Illinois for the Tough Mudder Chicago (no, it's not in Chicago... or even Chicagoland). I was joined by my friend Logan, who decided to take a break from doing easy sports all the time to try a sport that actually requires some intense training and skill: running.* *Immediate follow-up to anyone who does jiu jitsu: I am joking. Please don't hurt me. Anyway, we met up with our other team members in a Super 8 parking lot and made all kinds of pre-race plans, including how we were going to get to the race, meet each other and check in and whatnot... did a team circle hand-raise thing and...

Unfortunately, this photo cuts off my sweet race hair On Saturday, I did another double-race 10K (two 5Ks in a row), though it didn't have the same continuity as the previous one . This one coupled two very different races that started almost exactly twelve hours apart: the 10th Annual Run to Remember at 8 in the morning and the Glo Run at 8:15 at night. For the Run to Remember, I got to Soldier Field early Saturday morning and met up with Kate from fit-ink and after stretching we headed over to the starting line. The pre-race announcements were very heartfelt (this race is to benefit Chicago police officers killed in the line of duty) and after a really impressive fly-over by a police helicopter during the National Anthem the race started. The helicopter swooped over the course a few more times during the race - sometimes with the siren going - which was always cool. CPD helicopter passing over the course It was a great day for running and I liked this race even b...

Yesterday Newcity released its annual Top 5 of Everything issue . And like last year I have a few running lists in there. There are also a number of other good lists in this issue (it is an issue of lists after all) so either check it out at a newstand or local shop near you (maybe this distribution map will help) over the next few weeks or view the complete list online via the link above.  Last year I made a semi-resolution to run 52 races this year (after running 45 in 2012) but I fell pretty far short of that goal after my IT band injury... so maybe I'll move that goal forward and try again in 2014.  Anyway, here are my running lists: Top 5 Chicago 5K Races of 2013 Chi-Town Big Game 5K (February 3) Ridge Run Challenge (May 27) Chinatown 5K (July 13) Terrapin 5K & Music Festival (August 8) Carrera de los Muertos (November 2) Top 5 Chicago Half Marathons of 2013 F^3 Lake Half (January 26) Chicago 13.1 Marathon (June 8) Chi...

It's that time of year again - the Newcity Best of Chicago issue is out! So go grab a physical paper somewhere! (All the items are also available on Newcity's Best of Chicago site .) This year I wrote a lot more of them but now that I'm the Assistant Theater Editor most of them were theater-based (like Best place to see comedy , Best theatrical illness , Best portrayal of hipsters and Best apology for interrupting an opening-night performance , among others). Still, I managed to slip in one running-related item: Best basecamp for a running event Nice job Chi-Town Big Game 5/10K - don't let me down and get a different basecamp next year! Anyway, looking forward to the Carrera de los Muertos this weekend after almost a month of no races. Hope it's as good as last year !

The bike transition for the North Shore Triathlon So, as I said in my Newcity review of the North Shore Triathlon , the triathlon is its own special animal - one part swimming, one part biking and one part running. And being good at any of those does not mean you'll even be competent at the triathlon as a whole. I definitely found that out yesterday morning when I competed in my first triathlon. Well, maybe "competed" is a strong word. Let's just say I participated in it. Obviously, being so involved in the running world I have heard a good deal about triathlons. A number of my friends do them and tell me how fun they are. But there's just never been a pull in that direction for me. I like to run and I don't really want to have to swim and bike before I can do it. Still, the triathlon concept is something that has been on the periphery for a while now and when a friend suggested I sign up a few weeks ago, I figured "Why not?" It's a fir...

Last year I really enjoyed the Chinatown 5K (and even called it the Best Neighborhood 5K in Newcity's "Best of" issue), so I was excited to run it again this year. Race directors made it especially enticing when they offered the race for only $17 on Groupon, which is a steal for a 5K these days. Because of the Red Line being down south of Roosevelt, I was worried it would take me longer than usual to get to Chinatown... which translated to me getting to Chinatown an hour before the race started - I don't know how quick it is to get farther south than Chinatown but the buses running between Roosevelt and Chinatown Square were super fast and convenient.

Last year was the first year I ran the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle and it was a great experience . But I think that this year was even better. Maybe because I knew what to expect, maybe because I haven't been getting to run as much lately and this was a welcome reminder of how much I love it... I'm not sure. My Newcity review has more on that. Anyway, here's the starting line: First off: Since I found out about the Media Challenge last year as well (which my team didn't win), I was looking forward to getting a second chance at this. The Media Challenge is a little competition that the race organizers do, pitting local media outlets against each other for a $2500 prize (which will be donated to the charity of the winning team's choice). Since Newcity doesn't have enough runners to comprise a team, I joined my friend Dina Bair's WGN team (I was also on her team last year). The team with the fastest average pace for the first four runners wins....

This cougar was eying me... innuendo joke fail? The several inches of snow that we got Thursday night (or early Friday morning, I guess) provided a perfect set-up for a trail race through the woods yesterday. You can read more about the Fox Valley Winter Challenge Trail Series Trail Race #2 (I swear that's what it's called) in my Newcity review . Last year, I ran the inaugural version of this race (I say "version" only because it was a 5K last year and this year not only is it an 8K but the name is different and it's part of a three-race series ) and had a surprisingly good time, given that I had no idea what to expect from a snowy trail race and that I still wasn't that familiar with outdoor running in the cold. Up until this point I had spent most of my winters in Chicago either running on a treadmill or just giving up running completely and waiting for spring to come around. This 5K was also one of the first races that I reviewed for Newcity ( last y...

Right now I'm working (along with everyone else at Newcity) on the twentieth anniversary edition of Newcity's Best of Chicago issue and there are a two running-related questions that you Chicago runners should weigh in on to give us the best reader data we can get (you don't want some race you thought was lame being voted the best do you??!). Anyway, here are the categories you should check out: Best Race Other Than the Marathon Best Running Store You can vote on these (along with a ton of other Best of Chicago questions) at Newcity Best of Chicago .

Saturday morning, Brynn and I woke up at 4:30 to get ready for the Chicago 13.1 Marathon half marathon. (sidenote: as I mentioned in my Newcity review that "13.1 Marathon" title is a clever bit of misdirection - obviously you could argue that it's just the title of the race series, but to me it seems to give the impression that this is a "marathon" rather than an event that includes a half marathon and a 5K.) We got to Millennium Park around 5:20 and got in line with the rest of the runners heading south. It was a lengthy line, stretching down Michigan for a while, but volunteers were loading us on buses pretty quickly and we were heading south by 5:40.   Once we got to the South Shore Cultural Center we headed over to the VIP area and checked in. What was especially sweet about this VIP tent was that it was located right at the finish line, which made it super easy to get to after finishing and gave us a direct view of the finish line. W...

This morning my wife and I woke up around 6:20, and not just to get the most hours out of our 6th anniversary. We were celebrating by running the United Run for the Zoo together. She's been pretty busy with school over the last several months so this is the first run she's been able to do with me, which was pretty exciting. We took a bus to the starting line and walked around the zoo for a little while - we had plenty of spare time since packet pickup was so well-organized. We were going to walk over and see the polar bear (I pretty much always say hi to the polar bear, the sun bear and the lions when I run through the zoo in the morning), but instead we just said hi to this big pacing cat. He really seemed like he wanted to take part in the run:   ...or maybe he was just weirded out by how many people were walking around so early in the morning.  After getting our bibs and race shirts (which are pretty impressive, by the way) we checked a bag and then headed over ...

Obviously I couldn't cover every bit of amazingness that is the Lakefront Trail, but I wrote a little guide to running on the lakefront during the summer for this week's issue of Newcity - the Summer Guide issue (appropriate right?). Grab a copy at any of the newsstands - there are also a bunch of other really great summer-related articles! My write-up covers Montrose Harbor, North Avenue Beach, Oak Street Beach, Northerly Island, the hill at 47th Street and Promontory Point Park. My favorite is still Northerly Island. I've had some great runs there, though I guess they weren't really isolated runs, they were more like mini-runs within a longer run - after all, you have to get to Northerly Island somehow. Anyway here are two of my favorites: In 2008 I was training for my first marathon (Chicago) and one of my long runs happened to coincide with the Air & Water Show. Since it was my first summer in Chicago I didn't know what a big deal the show ...

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 go...

Nissan Leaf pace car Had a great time at the 5K for Earth Day this morning - first race I've done in Humboldt Park and I really liked spending some time walking around the park before and after (I haven't spent much - or any - time there before today). The race had a really "green" theme (appropriately) and all the runners seemed really into it. For such a small race they had a ton of partners too - including a Nissan Leaf pace car, water from Green Planet Water (I'm not clear on why all companies don't start using their bottles!), GOBI Energy (who supplied the electricity via a solar-powered DJ truck called SolarBeatz ), the Illinois Lottery (scratch tickets in the goodie bag and each mile marker was a person dressed as a Powerball). Solarbeatz truck. The sign says "DANGER BLASTING SOLAR BEATS" QR Code on the top right Anyway it was a really great (small) race and everyone there was having a great time. It felt like a mix between a t...

A little over a week ago I hooked up with City Running Tours of Chicago and ran all three of their 5K Social Runs over the course of a few days: Grant Park 5K Run Chicago River/Navy Pier 5K Run Chicago Tragic Events 5K Run All three were enlightening (both historically and in a discovering-cool-places-to-run-in-the-morning kind of way) and gave me plenty of time to talk to the Chicago manager (Marlin Keesler) and two of the assistant tour guides as well. The story I wrote about the tours for Newcity should be published in tomorrow's issue (so go grab a paper if you're in Chicago!) but it's also online now . For anyone that's thought about signing up for one of these tours but hasn't done it yet, I would definitely recommend checking at least one of them out. Each 5K is only $25 and you get to see the city from a new perspective by running through historical areas early in the morning (before most people are even heading into work). Since taking the tours...

Starting line this morning (looking forward and backwards): Got to start with the elites this morning as part of the Bank of America Media Challenge, which was a pretty incredible way to run the Shamrock Shuffle for the first time! But it also meant that even though I ran a PR (37:34) I literally did not pass one person the entire time... which was equal parts humbling and inspiring. I did, though, get passed by a joggler , a leprechaun and a guy in a green man suit. In the VIP tent afterwards I got to see Abdelaaziz Atmani and Julia Lucas announced as the male and female winners of the race: And unfortunately, my media team didn't end up winning the media challenge (as tweeted earlier by a fellow media member): Well-played Nina and Team Lead Stories, but we shall meet again. Meanwhile, check out my race review for NewCity! Also here's my favorite picture from right after the finish line - a giant wall of bananas: