Fit-Pic: Why We Run Soldier Field 10

You ran 10 miles. You finished those miles on the 50-yard line at Chicago's Soldier Field. You did it all on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. So it only seems fitting at an event that celebrates those who've served our country during a pre-race ceremony to see more military honors at the race's end. Uniformed officers lined the concourse at Soldier Field to hand out this year's Soldier Field 10 finisher medals--and they were thanking runners for their accomplishments. Maybe I missed something but shouldn't I have been the one thanking them for their service? And why don't I remember receiving my medal from such an honorable group the last few times I've run this race?

QuickFit: The Short But Sweet Workout

So many machines tackle in so little time!

Tabata taught me that quality workouts don’t have to mimic the long, enduring suffer fests of Ironman training. The strength training intensity at Hard Pressed (and its predecessor) showed me how to exhaust my muscles with weight—and a lot of it. But still, my Ironman-affected brain couldn't completely grasp the idea of a workout that was as long as a short pool swim but maybe as intense as the feeling that flows through my body on grueling bike days. That is, until I met QuickFit.

Thanks to a promotion between Lateral Fitness and lululemon, I tried QuickFit last week. It was a break away from my desk, it was the featured class of the week, it was free with a lululemon code and it was taught by Lateral’s co-owner Erik Marthaler. Erik had already kicked my butt once—the first 15 minutes of his Recruit class are no joke—so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with another one of his workouts. And if I didn’t like it (Me not like a workout? Not in Chicago.), it was only 30 minutes wasted.

The Lateral-Lululemon Connection

A look inside Lateral Fitness

I've walked past lululemon athletica locations enough times to note that each shop chooses a local yoga instructor to teach their weekly community classes. I've taken enough group fitness classes--and maybe even cyber-stalked the local lululemon page--to find some of their workout favorites (they'd flock to ambassador Gideon Akande's Breakfast of Champions and Shockwave classes when he was still a trainer at Equinox). Not that I wouldn't expect the lululemon employees to find the latest and greatest workouts, instructors and trainers in the city, but their studio selection for the month of May has me dancing at my desk.

Lululemon chose Lateral Fitness, the posh River North boutique gym that opened in February and would easily land on my Top Gyms list if I were to create one. Lululemon not only named them the 'studio of the month' but the 'studio of the quarter' meaning Lateral will be highlighted from now until July and their yoga instructors will be leading the free Sunday yoga class at lulu's 900 N. Michigan location.

Fit-Pic: Skyline Plunge

Now that's how you see Chicago...taking the Respiratory Health Association's Skyline Plunge and rappelling down theWit hotel. It's nerve-wracking, it's exhilarating, and it's an experience you're surely not going to forget any time soon. And I did it along with 80 or so others this weekend. But come back tomorrow to hear more about the adventure...I'm still floating on cloud nine.

Top Workout Songs to Sweat to: May 2013

Credit

Who's workout playlist needs some refreshing? Mine! I might have a hard time changing my playlist on a regular basis--I'm still running to songs I couldn't run without in 2006--but a cross-country road trip signaled it was time to retire this one, or at least add some new songs. At the time, it seemed like a good idea at the time to play it on repeat, but now I'd rather snooze than sweat through Of Monsters and Men's Little Talks or Fun.'s Some Nights. Not good when your favorite songs start to remind you of Nebraska's flatlands and not intense workouts.

But enough about me. I'm just lucky that Run Hundred, the web's most popular workout music blog, came to the rescue, again, with its top music highlights for May. It's only 10 songs but it includes some workout favorites, new material and previews from upcoming albums. Sounds like a good mix to get me back in the gym this month--and learn my lesson for the next road trip and create a separate playlist just for that.

Here's the full list, according to votes placed at Run Hundred.

Ash - Arcadia - 151 BPM

Krewella - Alive - 128 BPM

The Band Perry - Done - 102 BPM

Daft Punk & Pharrell - Get Lucky - 116 BPM

Alex Gaudino & Mario - Beautiful - 128 BPM

Jonas Brothers - Pom Poms - 148 BPM

Will.I.Am & Justin Bieber - #thatPOWER - 129 BPM

Avril Lavigne - Here's to Never Growing Up - 83 BPM

Paramore - Still into You - 137 BPM

Carly Rae Jepsen - Tonight I'm Getting over You - 126 BPM

Want more workout songs? Check out the free database at RunHundred.com where you can browse the song selections by genre, tempo, and era to find music that best fits your workout routine.

What songs are firing up your workouts? Have any songs that you need to hear during a sweat session?

Photo grabbed from remysharp at flickr.