Lakefront 10

This one is here in Chicago hosted by my local running club that I volunteer for. Even though it was only a couple weeks out from Boston I decided to sign up since it was $26 for us summer group leaders. The weather forecast predicted rain during the race with 35 mph winds and temps in the mid 40F's, yuck. Well as it turned out the rain stopped about 10 minutes before race time and only sprinkled a bit after that so the conditions were decent except for the stiff winds. The nice part about that is it was a tailwind after mile 6 and on the first mile which was kind of weird since the winds were supposed to be NE so I guess they were more due east to SE. Anyhoo, I decided to have a go at around a 6:40 pace and see if I could sustain that. Everything went well except the hat I wore was making me hot so I shed it on mile 3. I pretty much tried to stay on cruise control and felt pretty decent. They incorporated a manmade hill (cricket hill) at about mile 3. I thought according to the race map that we would hit it on the last mile so I kind of held some in reserve and then it didn't. I wasn't too upset (ha, ha) it's really not that long or hard, though. So finished strong with consistent splits with only deviations of a 6:49 on mile 3 & Mile 8 was 6:25. 50th overall, 7th AG 50-54, 1:05:49 total (6:34 ave pace.) This was a PR performance, this being my 3rd at the distance since getting back into competative running in 2008.

Congrats on a nice run, Steven. What, may I ask is a cricket hill? Do they really make you run up/down a ramp or something??

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Congrats on a nice run, Steven. What, may I ask is a cricket hill? Do they really make you run up/down a ramp or something??

Much of the park land on the Chicago lakefront is landfill. In the park at Montrose they shoved a lot of it into a 50 foot pile to make a hill, and given the scarcity of hills in the vicinity, it ended up with a name.

Nicely done! Weird "hill."

Michael Enright wrote:

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Congrats on a nice run, Steven. What, may I ask is a cricket hill? Do they really make you run up/down a ramp or something??

Much of the park land on the Chicago lakefront is landfill. In the park at Montrose they shoved a lot of it into a 50 foot pile to make a hill, and given the scarcity of hills in the vicinity, it ended up with a name.

Thanks Michael, I did not know that. I only recently heard it referred to this way on the race website, still not sure about "cricket" except a couple hops and you're over it maybe?

love that race - it was my first one ever
congrats on the PR!

Congrats on the PR Steve. Sounds like they changed the course from last year, because it definitely did not include Cricket Hill.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote: What, may I ask is a cricket hill? Do they really make you run up/down a ramp or something??

A sledding hill by one of the Harbors on the lakefront. Popular place for hill repeats, site of the local 4k XC race I ran this winter, pictured here. Its short but decently steep.

Steve yet again another nice PR for you! You are a machine keep it going buddy!