Magellan Spring 10K

Overcast skies in cold and wet weather. Running conditions like these are not unusual in Chicago this time of the year. Not only did we get dreary and wet weather on race day, we had extreme wind conditions blowing uninhibitedly against our direction during the entire second half of the race. This is by far the most brutal race I've ran because of the unforgiving wind. Running the Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle 8K race during a blizzard in 2009 was not even as physically challenging as last week's uninhibited wind. It felt like the more we pushed, the harder the wind came upon us. When it comes to forces of nature, there is nothing runners can do but to push on physically and mentally. At least at the end of it all, we get mentally tougher.

The entire race course was along beautiful Lake Michigan as we ran along the lakefront path. The path was quite tight which made maneuvering through other runners a little challenging especially at the first few miles. Around the second mile mark, the uninhibited winds came and this time created a huge wave of water splashing onto the shores of Lake Michigan sending the high waves splashing above the heads of the runners right in front of me. This is a race to remember. T came in at 51:07 and I came in a little later at 1:02:24. Can't say that I was very stoked about my time but considering the harsh weather conditions I'm glad we got out of bed, headed to the start line in the rain, and ran with our faces against the wind. That was worth some self-satisfaction.


Photos below taken by Action Sports International