Ok, so now that's out of the way....
Day before the race
I laid out everything I needed for the race.
I don't leave things to chance in the morning because I know my head is thinking about other things, like the race.
Race morning
Walked over to grant park around 6:15 from my place and went straight for the BOA access area. If you had a BOA account the people at the boa booth at the expo gave you a couple of rubber wristbands to access the area and a nice steel water bottle. there was NO ONE in this area pre race. OMG! Best decision ever!!
The port o let line in the BOA area 30 minutes before the race. It. Was. Awesome!!!! (and free!)
Then we headed to the corral to get our spot near the 3:50 group.
We waited for the start. And I was sad I left my iPod at home by accident :(
I was pretty anxious because my training was sidelined by an injury the first weeks of training and i wasn't sure what exactly was going to happen in the later miles, in the warmer than (my) ideal temps, and what my legs had in them to give for the day.
The first 5 miles I stayed with my dad and the 3:50 group. Then I started trailing little by little until they were out of sight. I was having some side stitch issues. WTF!?! And that was causing me to slow a little too. I'm used to running half marathons at a faster pace than 8:46 and haven't experienced that before. Can't figure out why it was happening so early in the race.
Miles 6-12 I was averaging sub 9/ slightly over 9 minute miles. By this time because of all the water i was dumping on my head and neck to stay cool, my shoes were getting wet and consequently causing my feet to feel as if there were blisters on the bottom of every toe and the ball of my foot. Not good.
Got to the half in 1:57
(cool pace tattoo!!)
The next 10 miles ranged from 9:14 to 10:40. The side stitch problem and the blisters did not help, and welcome the new addition: right hip pain. I believe this started around mile 15. It was a dull ache in the butt part of the hip. Not fun. Never had this problem before. And currently 7 hours post race, it's gone. As my best friend said to me tonight, I might have been altering my stride because of the one and only blister on my right small toe (massive blister on the bottom of it)
During the miles 14-24 I reflected on my training,feelings from other races, and the fear (through the 14-18 miles) of what would happen during the last 4.5 miles of the race. Again, my longest runs topped out at 15 miles this cycle, but pretty much after all my "long" days, I'd go for a decent paced run the next day of at least 5 miles. I was confident I'd make it to 22ish miles before hitting the wall..
My splits for 22-26.2:
22- 9:24
23- 9:57
24- 9:47
25- 9:26
26- 9.02
.2- 1:45 (7:41 pace)
I kept waiting for when id crash into the wall, but it never happened. I started walking for about 20 seconds through the water stations during the last 10 miles because I inhaled Gatorade and water up my nose too many times to count.
When I was getting towards the last 2 miles I started pushing more and more. I must have passed 356 people in the last 4 miles. It seemed like 75% of the people around me were walking during this time. I motored up the small hill about 800 meters from the finish and passed more people. Then it was a straight shot through a loud awesome mass of spectators to the finish. I ran as fast as I could at this point to beat the clock from going to the next minute.
Once I finished, I turned my phone back on so I could get the txt updates with my time and my dads. When the txt came with his finishing time I was shocked! He ran a 3:45 and got a BQ -9 minutes!!! He said he felt really good and just took off from the pace group. Considering his marathon training was about 6 weeks long (he had been focusing on 5ks during the hot FL summer before he won the chicago marathon entry from Arctic Ease) this was an amazing accomplishment!!
Some thoughts:
-this was my first Chicago and it was amazing! I just wish the weather would be more predictable this time of year. Especially when you have to register in February.
- I got tripped in the first quarter mile of the race. (luckily i was caught) It is still tightly packed with runners during the first few miles until things thin out. I released a tirade of curse words at the person. Seriously? Is cutting through people so early in the course worth it? News flash: hey
- it was nice running through all the neighborhoods that make up Chicago. From lady gaga drag queens in boystown, to a Korean drum line, to Chinese dragons, to live bands and cheerleaders, the course was not short on entertainment and neighborhood flavor.
- the crowds were awesome! I didn't miss my headphones because there wasn't really a spot devoid of spectators during the entire race.
- the volunteers were great. Smiling faces and words of encouragement. So awesome.
-the wall of cheers during the last .25 mile. Fabulous!
What I learned
-to trust myself and my training
-a gu w/caffeine and a salt tab every 5 miles works really well for me. (along with drinking at nearly all aid stations and dumping water and sponges on my head and neck)
- that the temperature was not as bad as I thought it would be. Start was around 58, for my finish it was in the low 70's. Low humidity rocks!
-I need to do more strength and core training.
-overall I'd call it a HUGE success even though I really wanted to break 4. This race felt right and everything fell into place. And I didn't bonk. :)
Big congrats to everyone who ran it out today in less than ideal conditions. You all seriously have some major guts!
And thanks to Running Nina for spectating and adding my name to an awesome poster- which I spotted in the crowd at mile 2!!
-Xaar
