The 5k Time Trial + My Intro to BOMF

At the end of my last blog I shared that I was very anxious for the next group run which consisted of a 5k time trial, and that I was going to try to beat anyone and everyone and that this would be my first time getting a real feel for the speed of the individuals in our group. Well, that day has passed and I can report the results...but I will share that at the end of this blog :)

First things first, I really wanted to share a bit about how I got involved with Back on My Feet Chicago. It all began winter of 2016-2017, when my good friend from Spain, Fanny, let me know she was coming to visit me in Chicago! Fanny is an avid runner just like me, so naturally she wanted to do a race during her visit, and not just any quick 5K but a lengthier 10K! The only problem was that she was coming to visit in the month of February...which is not exactly peak race season.

2/25/17

Fanny did her research and found a 10K with a Mardi Gras theme hosted by a nonprofit called "Back on My Feet" that I hadn't ever heard of. I agreed to join her, and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't be unbearably cold on race day. Well, come race day, it was not only unbearably cold, (24 degrees) but it was also windy and big chunks of snow were pelting down on us. I don't ever recall running in less ideal conditions (of course, until the Thanksgiving run with BOMF that came later on in the year!) So the race was tough, but we survived and by far the funniest memory of the day was when Fanny, in a moment of desperation, wore my extra pair of socks as gloves so as to avoid getting her fingers frozen off!

At the race afterparty I learned a bit more about Back on My Feet. I learned about how they engaged members from homeless shelters and used the benefits of running to get these members back to living fully independent lives with their own jobs, apartments, etc. I found their mission to be very respectable, but it did not even cross my mind to consider them as a potential volunteer opportunity for myself;  I simply began to follow them on Facebook left it there.

Fast forward to one month later when I came across a Facebook post saying that BOMF was starting a partnership with a homeless shelter in my neighborhood of Pilsen in Chicago! For months I had been trying to find a worthy cause to support and volunteer for, and everything seemed to align and push me towards becoming a member of BOMF and specifically volunteering at the Pilsen partner shelter.

So, I signed off on the waiver, read through the volunteer handbook, and then paused and gulped when I read that "All runs start at 5:45am, Mon-Wed-Fri." Anyone who knows me well also knows that sleeping in past 11am is definitely in my top 3 favorite past times. Even so, I committed to showing up once a week (definitely not Mondays), and eagerly awaited my first run with the crew!

Never in a million years would I have imagined that:

1. I'd actually be able to sustain the 5:45am schedule for more than two weeks;
2. I'd meet on a weekly basis some of the most inspiring, optimistic, and empowering individuals I've ever met; and
3. I would personally benefit just as much if not more than the BOMF members from the time we spent hitting the pavement and logging some miles together.

I can't wait to share some of these great stories from the people I've met on this team!---
Ah, and for those of you who were still interested in how I did on my 5K trial: of our training group of about 100-150 people, within a wide range of ages (though I may be on the younger side), I finished in 21:43 (7:07/mile-- according to my GPS it was only 3.05 miles, not the full 3.1!), was the first female to finish and I believe the 6th person to finish overall. So unfortunately that timed trial has only fed my running ego and you will have to live through more blogs where I go on about how fast I want to finish my marathon and how hard I will be crossing my fingers that I don't full deplete my energy by mile 10.

108 Days Til Marathon Day!