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Comments: We were SO lucky. The weather was beautiful, Lisa and I had a good plan for the run, and the race was incredibly well organized. All we had to do was show up and RUN. We agreed to run about a 12 min mile and walk through the aid stations, and adjust our plan on the second half of the run if we needed to. My nutrition plan was pretty simple - take Gatorade and water at every station, eat the chews at Mile 14, and that's it. This is exactly what we did. The first 15 miles were almost easy with this plan. Great weather, lots of spectators, DJs, entertainment keeping us going. Monica ran a chunk of this with us and having these girls to run with REALLY helped make the race day go by. Saw my husband 2 or 3 times on the sidelines. We made only one bathroom break around Mile 7. Around 18, we started to slow down a bunch, and the fans started to disappear. I knew I could finish at this point, but it wasn't feeling that great. As we came back into the South Loop, the fans became NONSTOP. Once we got to 22 miles, it was EASY. I stopped taking gatorade, just water at this point because the sweetness was starting to upset my stomach. We got our groove back, made a friend running for Lisa's charity, and chatted and worked together all the way through "mount Roosevelt." The finishing chute is only 200m, so I said goodbye to Lisa and strided it in...it felt SO GREAT! Our strategy worked, beautifully, and I had a great time doing it. I am really surprised how well this went, how great we did, and how I felt quite good after. A perfect first (and only) marathon, truly! Secretly - I would run one again if I didn't have to train for it...but the training is just not worth it for me. The race itself...awesome. What would you do differently?: Better training, maybe, but given my training it was a perfectly executed race. I should have bought new shoes in the last few weeks of training - my feet hurt from the first step of the run on.  Post race
Warm down: About a half-mile of secured finisher only area - just kept on moving, grabbed water, snacks, beer, took a finishers picture, and went out to Butler Field to find mr. meh. Walked to walgreens to buy some flip flops, my feet were feeling FAT, then back to the hotel for a shower and a nap. Had a deep dish pizza to help the recovery along. What limited your ability to perform faster: I am a slow runner! It's OK!!! Event comments: This is the Chicago Marathon. These guys know what they are doing. I have nothing to say here, even with new security measures in place it was FLAWLESS. Profile Album Last updated: 2013-02-20 12:00 AM
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United States
Chicago Marathon
60F / 16C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 32331/
Age Group = 30-34 F
Age Group Rank = 2605/
We flew to Chicago early Friday morning. The weather was gorgeous and our hotel room wasn't ready so we wandered over to the Navy Pier to play tourist. Friday night we met up for din and drinks with the goggses, cheri chapstick, and lisac.
Saturday we went to the expo early, relaxed on a river cruise in the afternoon, and ate lots of pasta and got to bed early.
Sunday morning my routine was similar to most races - wake up early, eat a light breakfast, drink some coffee, and get to it.
Walked about 1.5 miles down Michigan Ave from the hotel to Grant Park with my husband. Waited about 15 minutes for a potty, found some water, then walked over to the start corrals to find Lisa.