Team Hola America Runs the Men’s Health Urbanathlon

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Men’s Health Magazine along with Dodge Ram hosted a unique event in downtown Chicago on Saturday, Oct.18, 2008.  The Men’s Health Urbanathlon and Festival is a 10.5 mile race that started at Lower Hutchinson, continuing on Lake Shore Drive, through Navy Pier, proceeding to Museum Campus, going through Soldier Field and back under Lake Shore Drive to the finish line.  Participants could either run alone or be on a 3 person relay team.  Hola America was lucky enough to be sponsored by Men’s Health Magazine.  Team Hola America’s racers were, Jose Martinez, Alexandra Jaimes and yours truly.  What separated this race from others was that along with the 10.4 miles there were obstacles placed throughout the course.  Crawling through culverts, crossing monkey bars, marine hurdles, and even climbing the Soldier Field stairs and getting over an 8 foot wall were some of the obstacles the race had in place.  “This year was much harder than last year,” said Ashley Lopez, 29, from Wheaton, Ill.  “It looks like they added more to the obstacles this year and there are definitely more people racing.” 
In its inaugural year there were around 12,000 participants.  This year’s race doubled in the number of participants from the previous year.  After the race, runners and anyone who wanted to participate could take part in a huge festival.  Sponsors such as Redken, BSN and Crunch Fitness were passing out free samples of their products as the sounds of local Chicago band, The Underwater People played on the main stage.  There was even a rock wall put up by Colorado.com testing just how high you could climb.
For Jose and Alexandra, this would be their first competitive race and for those of you who run, picking a 10.4 mile race with obstacles is an impressive debut to the racing world. 
“I really underestimated myself,” said Jose, “but as the race went on I said to myself, go big or go home.” 
Not only did Jose finish his portion of the race but also ran an extra two miles to his starting point after missing the bus that took racers to their start destinations.  Since the race could be run with a relay team, there were three different starting points.  Alexandra was also surprised on how well she did and even wanted more obstacles put in next year. 
“I was happy that I did so well but I wish I would have trained a little more so that I could have got an even better time,” Alexandra said.
As the race is offered in New York and in Chicago, Alexandra talked about knowing what to expect next year will definitely be a help and is even considering doing the New York race. 
“I’m looking forward to doing the race next year and even though it’s Men’s Health, I encourage other young women to do it too,” she said.   
But the biggest winner of the day was not the winner of the Urbanathlon, instead it was the Challenged Athletes Foundation.  The CAF is an organization committed to helping people with physical disabilities pursue active lifestyles through physical fitness and competitive athletics.

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