Ditka Dash

Saturday, September 27, 2014 - Second annual Ditka Dash. It was my first time running it. Super fun. There were 13,000 runners. The race was well organized with different waves (8:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.) and with corrals according to pace per mile.

The goodie bag came with two shirts (a white Da Finisher shirt and a navy blue Ditka Dash shirt), aviator shades and a Ditka mustache. There were also a ton of different optional add ons such as sweat bands, Ditka cigars and stickers. I just upgraded my Ditka shirt from cotton to Tech (which was a good move). 

Heading to the Start

Side of Soldier Field

Ditka 'Stache

Friends at the Finish

The only downside to this race was that it was "self timed" which meant you were not tracked and there was no official race clock. I used my Endomondo app to keep my time. So, that worked out.

Endomondo

My time was 27:38 (improved on my time of 28:28 at the Bucktown 5k on September 14). Pretty happy. Not sure I will run anymore the remainder of the year, but my goal is to train harder and get closer to a 26-minute 5k next year.

I would definitely run the Ditka Dash again (unlike the Color Run and Hot Chocolate).