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Magnificent Mile Chicago Women’s 5K: The aftermath guide to race recovery

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The whole running process and prep for a race is like the dreaded 5 paragraph essay.  Yes let’s school you since we’re back to school n’ all.  There’s an intro (lots of hooping and hollering and sweating and prepping for the race), your 3 body paragraphs, known as running your race, which includes topics such as “Why am I doing this?”, “Oh dang, this isn’t so bad”, “No really, I’m going to passout” and your conclusion.

We, being baby runners, didn’t know all the cool stuff you can do after a race to make sure your next race is even more kick a#*!  (We don’t like to swear…for the kids ya’ know).  But for the Magnificent Mile Chicago Women’s 5K, we had a guardian race angel, Terra Castro, retired triathlete and Luna Chix Pro, guiding our journey.  If you missed our previous post on Terra’s pre-race tips read it here.   Before the race, pro athlete, Lauren Fleshman, got us pumping with a motivational warm-up.

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During our race, we took her advice and took a warm up walk from the car to the start line (cheap parking in the Chi is rough).  We took advantage of all the CLIF Shot Bloks (yumm caffeine in a fruit chewy form) that Luna shared with us and downed a bit of water to give us the get up and race energy we needed.  Kate’s fave is the Tropical Punch because of the hit of caffeine and gummy bear flavor.

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Snack sized Luna Bars (mmm Chocolate Covered Coconut) were also on hand at the Mag Mile race for any racers lacking a pep in their step.

As we amped our way to the start line, we found our corral and prepped to run.  The weather was perfect and as we began, we jaunted past Wildberry cafe, smelling the delicious brunchy scents of bacon and waffles as we jogged down Randolph.  The best part of the Mag Mile run was the view on Michigan Avenue.  Friendly onlookers urged us on with signs promising us free snacks at the finish line.

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And somehow, we made it to the end!  And the end was awesome.  There were angelic gentlemen handing us dark chocolate covered frozen bananas from Diana’s Bananas.  There were free juice samples from Naked Juice.  We also got free sport massages from Athletico staff and had our first experience with compression boots.

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Ok, so they look like the moon boots of the 80s but what these puppies do is tighten around your legs like a blood pressure cuff and move all your lactic acid (bad stuff that makes you super sore) up towards the fattier tissues in your pelvis area to reduce the amount of oww you feel the next day.

What else can you do after a run?  Let’s hear it from our LunaChix Pro and expert running coach, Terra Castro.

POST RACE:

-refuel with protein/carb- helps you recover (Dark chocolate covered banana! CHECK!)
– cool down if just a light walk to loosen up body (We wandered all over the post race area to stretch it out. CHECK!!)
– remember a change of clothes/dry clothes so that you can GO CELEBRATE AT BRUNCH!
And now looking forward to your next race.  How do you improve?
POST RACE EVALUATION:
Once you have completed your 5k, you can visit www.mcmillianrunning.com and plug in your race time to calculate training paces to improve your fitness level/ability to reach a personal best at your next race.  It will give you paces for easy runs, long runs, and intervals etc.  Love using this for my athletes and I even bought the app for my iPad.
And Boy Oh Boy do we need to think about improving our fitness level!  Kate has lost her mind and decided to take on a 10k in a month.  Monica will provide her with nursing care afterwards.  Are you inspired to try your first 5k?  Get off that couch and get out there!  You can keep your pjs on if you like.
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LUNA FEST Recap

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At LUNAFEST in Chicago

Thursday night, we mosied on over to check out 13th Annual LUNAFEST, benefiting the Step Up Woman’s Network and the Breast Cancer Fund, at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in the heart of River North. Surprisingly, we found parking right next to Glazed and Infused (darn it was closed) and ran in a little late to find food lines off the chain!  Our trusty friend, Melissa gave us the run down.  Apparently, LYFE Kitchen had the best veggie goods but their table was all out of food.  Sadness.

We squeezed our way over to the RA Sushi table and managed to grab a small plate of garlic chili edamame and then stood in the cheese line which ended with…no cheese.  The lights flickered and we made our way over to prep for the films and finally scarfed down the SkinnyPop popcorn provided on our seats (yay food!!).  After a couple of amazing speeches from leaders in the Step Up Women’s Network, the short films began!

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Although all of them were unique and inspiring in their own way, we certainly had our VIP picks.

Kate:  I adored “Flying Anne“.  We are often encouraged to celebrate differences but are not always sure how to put this into practice.  The main character of this short film has Tourette Syndrome and is learning how to manage in the sometimes unforgiving world of elementary school.  Touching and inspiring, it’s a reminder that girls are so much more than their labels.

Monica:  “Running Dry” made me smile brightly despite the harsh life circumstances such as the economic crises in Athens, Greece.  The lead actress struggled financially and still gave her few precious euros to meet other people’s needs as she walked through the city.  At the end, even though she had no more cash, she was full of grins and gratification.

After the show ended, we managed to grab tiny chocolate raspberry chia parfaits from LYFE Kitchen and then were treated with the pick of the litter of a 3 pack of LUNA Bars.  Perhaps we dug a little for the Chocolate Dipped Coconut…perhaps.

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Missed LUNAFEST?  You can still catch the tour in several cities and archived LUNAFEST films are available here.

Luna Fest Ticket Giveaway: Celebrate Womanhood with your Lady Friends and Luna Bar

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Now that Valentine’s Day has passed in all it’s choco heart shaped romance filled blaze of glory, we think it’s about time you show a little non-stereotypical love to your lady friends.  How do you do this, you ask?  Take them to LUNA Fest (coming to Chicago on Thursday, February 27th), the perfect opportunity to grab your gals for a night out that you can feel good about.

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Luna Fest gives 100% of ticket proceeds back to the community.

  • 85% of proceeds will be provided to Step Up Women’s Network, a Chicago based organization that promotes success for young women from often ignored communities.
  • 15% of proceeds will be provided to the Breast Cancer Fund, a national organization that seeks to identify and eliminate environmental contributors to breast cancer.

So what will you be doing at this awesome event?

LUNA Bar and Style Chicago will be your hosts for the Chicago premiere of LUNAFEST and kick it off with a cocktail reception featuring wines from Clif Family Winery, PERONI beer, specialty LUNAFEST cocktails and local foods from LYFE Kitchen, RA Sushi and Tesori.  Oh and we know from experience there will be tons of Luna Bars there to sample!  We can’t wait to snag the chocolate dipped coconut ones.

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The fest highlights nine inspiring short films by women filmmakers, for women, which may cause the following reactions as you may possibly be…a woman:

  • Raucous laughter
  • Intense conversation and serious debate
  • Extra huggy behavior from your friends
  • Tears (bring some tissue)

Or maybe a more meaningful symptom such as:

  • A call to community action

To win a ticket for you and a friend, either comment on our Facebook page or this blog post about the friend you would bring to LUNAFEST and what makes her Luna-worthy.  The winner must provide names of both guests and email addresses for ticket confirmation.  The giveaway ends February 20th at 5 p.m.

What if you don’t win?  Well, you can still come!

LUNAFEST Chicago takes place, Thursday, February 27, 2014 at the Museum of Broadcast Communications – 360 N. State St., Chicago

Cocktail Reception: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Showtime: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Tickets: $25

5 dolla dolla bills off when using the code: LUNA5.  Tickets must be purchased in advance here.

Happy commenting and may lady luck shine upon you!