F3 Lake Half Marathon

This race officially introduced me to the best part of my grad school: the Chicago Booth Running Club.

Joining the BRC

I was in my second quarter at Chicago Booth when I joined the school's running club, the Booth Running Club (BRC). The club president promoted this race on our Slack channel, and I thought it was interesting there was a half marathon specifically meant to take place during a notorious Chicago winter.

Without thinking too much of it, I signed up, pre-booked parking, and counted down the days, excited to meet other runners from the club. The race would start at Soldier Field on Lake Shore Drive. I got there roughly two hours early (mainly to make sure of parking, even though I'd pre-booked it). The moment I stepped out at the stadium, I started to wonder if I had enough layers — the cold was brutal. After meeting a few BRC members, I got ready for the race.

The Race

The race started right outside Soldier Field, and within a mile we were on the Lake Shore Trail, heading south. Like the rest of the route, this stretch was flat — the only hurdle was the icy patches and not slipping on them.

Between three and six miles, we passed McCormick Place and the beach on 31st Street, still on the Lake Shore Trail. After the sixth mile marker, we made it to the South Shore area and were close to the turnaround point, near the eighth mile marker. The way back was pretty much a reverse image of the route out. After some effort battling the cold, I eventually finished the race and celebrated the medal at a nearby bar with my new group of friends.

Overall Impression

This was the first race where I was legitimately concerned I wouldn't be able to finish. Aside from losing an AirPod ten minutes in, the cold started to settle into my body after the eighth mile. Even with gloves on, I felt numbness slowly creep down my fingers. Eventually it wouldn't have mattered if I had gloves or not — I'd lost all feeling in my fingers, with three miles still to go. I decided to walk, thinking I could at least spare my legs the extra pain.

Eventually I crossed the finish line back at Soldier Field, but I couldn't properly enjoy it: my fingers were still numb, I couldn't take my phone out for a picture, I gathered my post-race snacks but couldn't open them, and the entrance to the stadium was still a twenty-minute walk. I finally made it inside and spent the next ten minutes blowing warm air into my hands.

At that moment, I wasn't sure I wanted to do another race like this again (spoiler: I ran at least four more F3 Halfs in a row), but I also realized just how important the right apparel is, especially in winter.