O'Hare 5K

For some strange reason, I like airplanes.  Mostly because they are a means to get from one place to another - a conference, a race, or a vacation.  Planes are also interesting because they just don't seem as if they "should" be able to fly, and yet they do.  I heard about an opportunity to run a 5K at ORD today and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to try to race again after the wonderful accident that destroyed my AC joint back in July.  Speaking of that, the rehab is going well, still not 100% recovered, but I'm continuing to make progress.  Not only would it be nice to run again, but I would be able to run on an actual runway.  I laughed 2 weeks ago when I landed at O'Hare coming back from Denver on runway 27R, thinking that the next time I would be on the runway would be today...running. 

The day started off somewhat chilly, probably in the mid 40's.  We drove out to ORD and made our way to the start line and waited.

 The horn went off and we started our adventure to get to the taxiway and runways of OHare.  Quickly after making our way onto O'Hare Field I could see the airplane that we were going to be running around...it was a UA 747.

We continued running and with each step we were getting closer to the runway and the airplane, making sure the heed the warnings on the way.

Finally we were close enough to take some pictures with the aircraft in the background.  Seeing as today's run for me was more about fun and enjoying the day, no one really seemed to be bothered by stopping for a few seconds to take a picture or two.

We continued to run around the aircraft, and made our way out onto runway 27R, the 747 is a massive airplane.

Here is Evan preparing to take off.

 Here we are reaching the numbers identifying the runway as 27R, with the UA 747 in the background and the picture perfect clouds above.

 The run course took us about half way down the runway at which point we turned around and headed back to the airplane and then to the finish line.  Seeing people on the runway instead of airplanes is kind of entertaining.

Here was the course that my GPS marked out for the run.  Take a peak in the upper right hand corner and find the red track for my run.  Maybe the whole race was a gimmick because there was probably only around a mile or so that was actually run "on" the runway.  But nonetheless it was cool and a fun adventure.

More importantly, 3.1 miles later I was reaching the finish line and actually felt pretty good.  My shoulder didn't seem to bother me too much.  My foot which has also been slightly irritated during the rehab process (aggravated injury from back in february of this year) seemed to have held up.  Mostly I was just limited by a complete lack of conditioning and minimal training.  My legs feel tiny and my speed is gone.  But, I made it to the finish line, running, smiling, and happy to have reached what will hopefully be the first of many finish lines following my shoulder injury.

I ran the race in 28:15 for a pace of 8:59....which is one of the slowest paces that I can ever remember running a 5k and 2min/mile slower than the last time that I tested in the middle of the season last year for training purposes.  But the reality is that I haven't done much of anything in the past 3 months and with a return to training I suspect that most of the speed will come back.  After an injury, you have to start somewhere.  After the race we boarded some trolley's which took us back out to the runway.  Of course there was the obligatory picture to prove that I was actually where I said I was running today.  I guess the GPS track would prove it as well, but that could have been "borrowed" from someone else.

A couple up close and personal pictures of the airplane were in order as well.  It is such a beautiful airplane and I'm looking forward to flying on it during my next vacation.

And finally, who could resist being ingested by this massive snow blower.

With that, I'm looking forward to the next race that I am going to sign up to do - the NorthShore Turkey trot on thanksgiving.  I've got another month to get from 3.1 miles up to 6.2 miles  Hopefully I can do so injury free and enjoy a nice (probably colder) run with my sister who is coming into town and Evan before spending the rest of the day with family.