The other night, I ran the 40th JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge (thanks to JPM for the free bib, all opinions etc are my own) for the second time.
I last run it in ’14 with my coworkers and chose to sit it out last year since it’s such a crowded race. But when JPM reached out to me…I had a hard time saying no to a free race, not gonna lie.
PLUS running has been such a struggle for me lately that I was really hopeful that a short race (it’s 3.2 miles long) could help bring back that loving feeling. (And, OK fine, they tempted me with the VIP party tent after.)
I talked Jordan (work wife/BRF/favorite person) into running with me. “It’s, um, a little crowded,” I’d told her in advance. There’s 15,000 runners EACH NIGHT (of two nights) and so things get a little insane. It’s kind of controlled chaos, but some chaos nonetheless.
I have no idea how one would ever PR at this “race,” but I wanted to run as well as I could. Generally, the corrals are by company, not pace, so it’s hard to run your own pace at the beginning. My biggest frustration was that the walkers walked smack dab in the middle of the course, so it was difficult to maneuver around them. That said, I was trying my best to keep a positive mindset, so I reframed this to think “well, I’m really glad there’s so many people out here for what’s probably their first race.”
The race started at 7, but we didn’t start until around 7:20. The course started right around the Boathouse and then turned across the 103rd transverse, and then ended around 72nd on the west side (best side.)
By some miracle, Jordan and I ran ridiculously even splits: 8:29, 8:30, 8:31, for a total time of 27:23 (OK fine I beat her by 4 seconds.)
We went back to the VIP tent to meet up with people and to drink some celebratory bubbles. I’ll start marathon training in late July, so I’m happy to be getting some more of my running confidence back.
Because I was #endorphinwasted, y’all. Finally. Bring on the summer running!
