I wasn’t planning on running another 5k so soon, however, my teammates of “Dat High Hat Doe” have convinced me to keep the running going. What was the convincing factor? Check out this banner from the official Chicago Bears 5k website:

To quote their website: “Finish on the field – legendary Soldier Field. BEAR DOWN for the PNC Chicago Bears 5K (3.10 mile) race and you’ll finish where the action happens. Plus, every participant gets their own Nike Dri-FIT shirt and a custom-designed championship finisher medal. Once inside the stadium, runners will be broadcast on the videoboard as they cross the finish line, a perfect reason to get fierce, show some teeth, and finish strong.”

For some of the teammates, the promise of beer was enough. Others thought the shirt was cool. For me, running through the tunnel and onto Soldier Field being shown on the videoboard was the first and only selling point. Then seeing I actually get a medal made me even more excited!

This one seems to split the difference between Bucktown and Night Nation Run, while there still is a party afterward, they asked for our pace time. Receiving medals also brings another factor that it’s a more “serious” run, which I feel is more my style, so there you go! I have 6 weeks to get into it!

I think my goals are going to be the same as they were going into Bucktown:

1. Pie in the sky goal – run the whole thing
2. Push goal – finish in under 45 minutes (although thinking more, I think I would have to run the whole thing to complete this goal…..)
3. Doable goal – survive uninjured and have fun and don’t give up. Don’t get frustrated in the moment if it’s a struggle and realize this is just a step in the long journey, so enjoy it!

I think I need to try and find a better Doable goal, just surviving was funny for a first time 5k, but this time around it should be a given, so I’ll think about that. Maybe keep the spirit, but word it more aggressively. In fact, I’ll fix that now

What needs to happen between now and then: I need to actually train, in 6 weeks I can get a better grasp of my pace and be more confident in what speed will keep me jogging for the long haul. I really feel that going non-stop at a slower pace will give me a quicker time than running at a faster pace but having to take walk breaks.

As a benchmark, I ran the “Week 6, Day 1” course of the Couch to 5k app (C25K), and here was my splits:

That last portion was slow because the workout ended about a half mile from my apartment, so factor in the rest of the walk home into that slower pace. The first mile also includes a 5 minute walking warm-up.

6 weeks away and I’m not in horrible shape. To make goal #2 I’m going to have to increase the pace to below 15 min/mile, so that’s good to know moving forward. I feel that increasing the duration running and decreasing walking might do the trick on its own, but hopefully I’ll also be able to increase my speed as well.

Comparing that to my best run ever just before Bucktown last year, here’s the post I wrote about it, it holds its own. Obviously it’s a shorter run since I ran a shorter workout, but averaging everything out, today’s pace was only about 0:30 min/mile slower.

Overall, this is very encouraging and my goals seem very attainable as long as I keep putting in the work and staying disciplined.

I’m very excited for this 5k, and as a warning, the hoodies in the swag bag for Bucktown look sweet, so September might have a 4th race to report. But for now, let’s just focus on this one.