Of course it's about running.

Not so much a race as a "fun run" (no timing chips), the Nike Run Hit Remix was a 5-mile run starting at 9pm in Grant Park. The main reason for doing it, and what brought out a zillion casual runners, was the half-dozen musical acts along the course. The ones you know were Young MC, Digital Underground, and the headline concert afterwards by De La Soul. (We were far enough back in the field that they had probably sung their hits well before we passed by.) Also along the course were a local U2 cover band, another local 90s cover band, plus an Elvis impersonator, bagpipes, a mariachi band and one of those Asian/Japanese drum groups that I think was entirely comprised of women.

The music brought out a ton of much more casual runners on a somewhat narrow course (we had to walk a lot of the first mile before things began to spread out), and since I was still recovering from the Distance Classic, I ran with Mark the whole way with a time of 56:31. Not too bad given the field and course, plus it was nice to go out and not be concerned with my pace the whole way. I would have liked to better the 55:45 I ran (with a cold) at the "Rudolph Ramble" 5 mile last December, but a 14:02 first mile took care of that. Plus I enjoyed running with Mark.

The rest of the weekend was more recovery, with 11.25 miles on Sunday (at an 8:53 pace). Now that the CDC and its recovery week are over I'm back on track for the Chicago Marathon, which is now less than 9 weeks away. I hope it's not too early to get excited.