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I was fortunate enough to get into the 2017Chicago Marathon. There was also an option to join a 5k as part of the celebrations and a chance to see other runners from other countries. My friend Roland and I decided that since we were going to most likely run around 5 miles anyway why not join the 5k and run if for fun as a pre-race shake out run and a prep for the morning routine for the event the next day. Originally I thought that it was not going to be many runners since it was going to be one corral and everyone will figure out their pace at the start. To my surprise, there were over 6,000 runners from several countries, many of them sporting the colors of their respective nations. It was awesome to see that many and ready for a friendly run.

The starting line was packed, I lined up with the 9:00 pace sign. There I talked to a few runners about the event and the preparations for tomorrow. After a moment of silence in respect to the tragedies from Las Vegas shooting and the Hurricane damage to Texas, Florida and my little island of Puerto Rico we were ready to go. My Garmin was unable to pick the GPS due to the tall building until we got close to mile 1 when we got close to the lakeshore. It was amazing to see the runners and be part of this event. I did not do anything crazy, I held my marathon pace for the duration of the event. I notice right away that navigating between the runners was going to be a bit challenging. Some flashbacks from when I ran the events at Disney. Also, I realized that I was going to need to pay more attention to the road conditions as there were potholes and some cases uneven areas.

Running along the shore was great, the breeze was awesome and the people cheering alongside was great to experience too. At the finish line, there was plenty of goodies with fruit, snacks, and water. As a race souvenir, they were handing out a really nice scarf. Tons of people and great atmosphere. Roland did pretty well too, holding a great pace. If this was just a small sample of what awaits for tomorrow, I can wait for tomorrow’s main event.

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{f1}Month/Year;;;{f1}Event;;;{f1}Location;;;{f1}Type;;;{f1}Time;nn;
Oct-17;;;Chicago Inaugural Internation 5k;;;IL;;;5k;;;26:36;nn;
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Event Highlight & Learning Points;nn;Highlights:

Course: Great start/finish. Great ample road right of the start. Very flat with a single turnaround. The water station setup and distance was good. Very scenic. Great route, takes you around some of nice building and architertural highlights of the city and finishing running along the lakeshore.

Venue: Great music and very well organized.

Expo: Outstanding Expo, large area with many vendors and goodies. Very well organized.

Weather: Overcast and a bit warm, 68º with 78% humidity at the start.

T1D: Remained stable during the event.

Fueling: Pre-Race: 1 serving Hot Cereal, Latte and banana.

Race: Water at the only water station.

Post: Tons of water and snacks.

Learning Points:

• Large event with lots of runners, I had to be very patience navigating with the different paces.
  
• The big city roads are not smooth need to be very careful while paying attention to runners and the running surface.

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