On Thursday evening, my friend Pam and I headed up to Lincoln Park to run the Bastille Day 8K.  The race was part of an entire celebration for the French Independence Day.  We normally don’t run weeknight events.  We never run weeknight events in the city, due to the fact that we live in the far south suburbs.  However, we were up for something different and intrigued by the block party.  🙂

The race was in a good location at the Nature Museum beside the Lincoln Park Zoo.  Plenty of space and the road in front of the museum was closed for the start of the race.  We made it easily in time for the  pre-race blogger meet up. 

Me, Chris, Eric, Jennifer & Maggie:

Then  we headed to the potties start area.  A quick photo of Pam & I.

Then we started just a few seconds after the 7:15 pm start time.

The race started by weaving thru the streets of Lincoln Park and it was kinda cool to me since I’m never up that way but we weren’t on the streets long and then hit the crushed limestone path beside inner Lake Shore Drive.  It was never super busy with runners but we did have added traffic from the area locals who were trying get in an evening workout.  Most were very nice about the added traffic on their path, some weren’t as happy that we came to visit.  Then we wove thru the area a bit more and ran by the marina where some drunk lovely  ladies on an expensive boat heckled us for a while.  I’m surprised none of us fell in the water gawking at the “lovely” ladies. 

The race was chip timed, had 3 (or maybe 4) aid stations over the course of the 4.96 mile course.  There was a timing mat at the half way point.  Lots of weaving around Lincoln Park.  It was cool to see the sites but since I’m not familiar with the area, I couldn’t retrace the route if I tried! 

The block party, which is what I was really interested in, offered us a free beer and a band.  Pretty normal for an after race party.  Not the “block party” that I had imagined with everyone dancing and drinking in the streets. There were several vendors on hand but we drank our free beer and then hit the road since we had an hour drive home.

It was a good race but busy with the added neighborhood traffic.  I heard the 5K course was a bit chaotic but the 8K was okay.  For me though, it was a long way to go for an 8K on a weeknight.  I wouldn’t have even tried if I hadn’t already been downtown for work.  Due to the distance from my house and the weeknight status, this was a one time event for me.  If you are a Lincoln Park local, or live close, this is a fun event that you can easily hit on a weeknight and still be home to get the kids in bed.  Go and have fun!

** Happy Bastille Day ** Amanda – TooTallFritz **