The weather reports on Fox News the night before the race had called for a “wintery mix.” “What the hell is a wintery mix,” I thought to myself? Unfortunately, I would find that answer out soon enough.
You ever wonder what it’s like to run in the Iditarod? This past Sunday I ran my very first Shamrock Shuffle in Chicago, which is probably as close as I’ll ever get to the Iditarod. Why do I liken it to the Iditarod? Well, this year’s race just happened to take place in blizzard-like conditions.
Of the 32,000 people that registered for the race, just over 13,000 brave (crazy?) souls showed up to run. I was one of the crazies. To make it more fun, I ran it in a banana costume.
photo courtesy of John Curtis
So...apparently by “wintery mix” the genius meteorologist at Fox News meant the PERFECT STORM because when I woke up at 7:00 AM and looked out my window, it was not only snowing, but snowing sideways. WTF?? I desperately wanted to skip the race and retreat into the warm confines of my bed, but I was running as part of GiveForward.org’s “Run for a Reason” charity team so I felt a sense of obligation to get out there and run the race. I’m glad I made it to the race. The shamrock Shuffle was a blast!!
For those of you who don’t know, the Shamrock Shuffle is Chicago’s annual rite of spring and the kickoff to the spring and summer running seasons in Chicago. It’s also one of the craziest road races in America -- like St. Patty’s day all over again but with a little running thrown into the mix. In other words, lots of fun, lots of costumes, lots of post-race drunktivities...not too many people setting Olympic record times.
To make the race a little more meaningful, I ran with GiveForward.org’s “Run for a Reason” Charity Team
Members of the GiveForward.org Team
The idea behind GiveForward’s “Run for a Reason” campaign is to get young people involved in running for good. There were about twenty-five members of the team, and unlike most charity running teams where everyone runs for the same cause, with “Run for a Reason” everyone was running for the cause or charity that was most important to them.
GiveForward.org Team Runner, Elise Waisbren, runs for National MS Society
Some of the more notable fundraisers included one group of runners raising money so underprivileged high school juniors in the East Village Youth Program could go on a college tour this spring. Another group raised money to re-build a house for at-risk teenage mothers in Phoenix Arizona called Maggie's Place. One of my favorites was a group called Keiran Conway’s Running Roadies, who were rising money to give directly to their friend battling cancer to help cover medical expenses.
Banana cannablism? After the race I volunteered with the Whole Foods Crew to hand out bananas to potassium starved runners.
Despite the crazy weather, the GiveForward Team raised over $8,500 for their various charities and causes. Next year, I’ll be running for the Hot Chocolate Fund...
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