Happy Memorial Day Weekend Everyone! My holiday started with the Soldier Field 10 Mile race. A bunch of us from my run clubs ran it. It was my 8th time running this race and I have to give a shout-out to BibRave for letting me run it for them. It has got to be one of my favorite races.

It’s always an early morning wake-up for this race – 3am! But I was glad that is was a 7am race start. The weather was really muggy already that early in the morning. As a matter of fact, Soldier Field was sending out weather alerts the day before the race.

After a very early breakfast of a scrambled egg and half of an avocado, I was in the car with my friend John and we heading into the city. We made record time since NO ONE is up at 4:30 on a Saturday! FREE Parking was wonderful at the stadium. You never see that in the city!

We took the traditional picture on the stairs, wished each other good luck and then heading to our corrals. We hit one more bathroom stop before we walked onto the field. I love that they had port-a-potties inside the stadium.

One of the great thing about this race is you get to start AND finish in Soldier Field.

We had to be in our corral by 6:45 and they weren’t kidding. They locked up corrals right on time and some people had to start a corral behind because they were late. There were a lot of people dressed up in red, white and blue or carrying a flag!

After a lovely Memorial Day ceremony we started the race.

Nuun was the hydration on the course and they had all their flavors out along with tables of water and ice about every 2 miles. I love this course since you get a perfect view of the lake with a nice breeze every once in a while.

The volunteers were amazing at each station and the speaker at the turn around did a great job cheering all the runners and motivating them to finish safely. I love the last 5 miles because it’s a fantastic view of the city.

It was warm and I stopped at each water table to drink half the water and dump the rest on my head. The city of Chicago was there supporting this race with ton of volunteers, police officers and ambulances.

During the last quarter mile you can hear the music blaring from the stadium and it’s definitely fun finishing on the 50 yard line. I tried to see myself on the jumbotron but that wasn’t happening without my glasses.

At the finish, I grabbed my medal and a water bottle from a volunteer and enjoyed the stadium for a few minutes before they corralled me out. The volunteers did a good job with “asking nicely” to exit the field. I guess with 8,000 runners you can’t stay in there forever.Soldier Field 10 Miler Recap

Afterwards we all met one more time at the post-race party and enjoyed sitting on the grass watching the finishers come into the stadium. And the cold beer was delicious.

Helpful Tips!
Be sure to get to your corral on time.
Carry your own hydration. You never know what the Chicago weather will do.
Smile at the photographers… you get free pictures.
Enjoy the view!!!
Be sure to check out the post-party. The beer and band were fantastic.