A little race report -- Midway Airport

A week from today I'm running the Omaha marathon!

What better way to rest up for the race than to run a 5k race? OK, not the wisest idea, but what the hell. Sometimes common sense is overrated.

I decided to run the Midway 5k last-minute. Why? My last job was a spokeswoman for both Midway and O'Hare, so there was that. I absolutely adore the two women who run Midway, colleagues I hold in high regard. So, there's that. And the race was raising money for the Special Olympics, which I'm more than happy to support. And it's running. Which is just awesome.

When I woke up this morning to low 60s and cloud cover, I  knew this was a good day for a little race.

Midway is an interesting airport. It's only one square mile, less than one-twentieth the size of its big brother to the north, O'Hare. It's a major hub for Southwest Airlines, which has more than 90 percent of the flights there. On an average weekday, it handles more than 800 flight operations (landings and takeoffs) -- each day. Drive along streets that border Midway to the north and west and facing the airfield are houses, many of them classic Chicago bungalows. It's crazy to think of the residents who live there having an airfield handling nearly 20 million passengers a year located practically on their front lawns. No one would design an airport that way today, so close to commercial and residential properties.

I got to the Southwest hangar in plenty of time to go through security. What other race would you have a TSA agent wand you? By this time the rain was coming down pretty good, which made having the race registration and porta-potties inside pretty awesome. Also, what race gives you airfield-quality earplugs (below)? As a mom of two kids under the age of 5, these could be handy.

I said hi to lots of former aviation colleagues, who warmly greeted me with hugs. It was really great. Soon it was time to head to the start line, where the rain had largely tapered off. It was cool and damp and felt great.

In the first mile, I saw Rep. Dan Lipinski widening his lead ahead of the pack. Man, he is fast! I managed a modest 8:12 minute-mile pace for the first mile, and was pleasantly surprised. I kept telling myself don't race, don't screw up your marathon in a week, but I just felt good. And airports are so flat, how can you not race a bit?

The next two miles I did something I've never done -- I managed to run sub-8-minute miles, 7:50 and 7:55. Woot!

I finished at 25:02, an average pace of 8:02. I placed second in my age group (women 45-49) out of seven. I'll take it.

Two miles of the course are on airside access roads, with nearly a mile outside on a city street -- so there's no actual running on a runway, but you could see planes landing and taking off. I never cease to be in awe of airports and planes, from when I was a little kid growing up on Air Force bases. It was a lot of fun (and, with no sun beating down on us, pretty bearable). Special Olympics staffed the water station midway through the race, and it was fun to see kids of many ages watching the runners, handing out water, and just smiling or laughing. It made me want to stop and hug some of them.

So, it was a great race. I'm feeling pretty confident as I head into my last week of taper for the marathon. This week I will run very little and much slower. And if Midway repeats this race again? I'd totally recommend it.