Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon

I train hard for my silly totally arbitrary goals (in this case, a sub-3:20). On the one hand, I know my training is solid. On the other, I count on things like race effect and tapering to lead to those brief, sweet (but dangerous!) moments during a race where I feel like I'm flying and even a low 7 min/mile feels easy.

Welp, that didn't happen this race. Not once.

From the moment I hit start on my Garmin and crossed over that first timing mat, I knew, I just KNEW every step of this marathon was gonna be work.

I never found my stride. Not really once in the entire 26.2 miles did I think, "I got this, I'm just coasting here." I worked for every step. I couldn't even explain why. I didn't have GI issues, I wasn't particularly tired or sore. I just felt like I had to concentrate on my pace the entire time. It was just...work, in a way that a race has never felt like work for me. No "run to 20 and then start digging in." It was "dig in. Now, or you'll never see that 3:19:XX on the clock." So yeah. That part of the race really sucked!

Anyway, my plan was to hang with the 3:20 pacer, Eddie, who was annoying as all get out. He was speedy, of course, to be a 3:20 pacer, so he'd occasionally sprint (or skip -- sprint or SKIP, people) ahead of the group and wave his arms wildly at the crowds, yelling, "C'mon, give it up for the 3:20 runners!!!!!!!!!!" It was supremely annoying, but I was also so very grateful to him because he kept me on pace. And also, when the crowds were dead, it was sort of nice of him to get them going.

Mile 1: 7:35
Mile 2: 7:45

Mile 2, I hit stop instead of split on my watch. I think I corrected the mistake relatively quickly, but now in my mind, my watch is at least :15 off the actual chip time. (It wasn't, it was like, :03).

Mile 3: 7:23
Mile 4: 7:26
Mile 5: 7:34
Mile 6: 7:44
Mile 7: 7:34
Mile 8: 7:42
Mile 9: 7:35
Mile 10: 7:44
Mile 11: 7:46

Somewhere in those miles, I came up behind a friend who was shooting for the same goal, either in Chicago or in Philly later this year. I ran with her for a bit, but I'm also pretty antisocial when it comes to running. And she is a really talented runner who has negative split every race she does So she was holding back a bit before she decided what she wanted to do. I can't do that. I have positive split EVERY race -- from marathon down to 1 miler -- and I was trying to nail even splits for this race. So after a couple 7:40-somethings popped up on my Garmin, I told her I was gonna take off. It was so great seeing her, though. It was a boost to not feel so alone out there. And those handful of miles may have helped save some energy for later on.

I also couldn't get a bead on whether I was on pace, as my Garmin had lost its signal under one of the bridges early in the race. I was just hitting splits at the mile markers, and hoping for the best. But after mile 9, I was really starting to feel like I was pushing.


Mile 12: 7:31
Mile 13: 7:29
Mile 14: 7:33
Mile 15: 7:36

Eddie would get out of my sight, then I'd realize the group had pulled ahead and I'd dig in and catch up again. I'm so glad he was there, because I think my perceived effort was definitely off at this point. I would run alongside him occasionally and ask how we were doing. I couldn't remember where we were relative to each other when we crossed the starting mat, but I was pretty sure we were close. My Garmin was useless for average pace, because it'd hit that glitch under the bridge -- and I was still pretty sure I'd lost some time when I hit the "stop" button by accident. So I was calculating everything based on what Eddie was doing. He told me at this point we were :30 under a 3:20 finish and to stick with him, he'd get me there. I trusted him and kept him in my sights.

It was hot and I was pouring cups of water over my head to cool down. I was doing pretty good on nutrition, except for the messy factor. My new thing is to nurse a GU gel while I run, eating slowly so it's easier to swallow -- but then not realizing my hand is squeezing the tube and ending up with chocolate gunk all over my hands. Nice.

Mile 16: 7:34
Mile 17: 7:47 (gah!)

At this point, I was reaching for my next GU gel and couldn't find it. I determined I had dropped it somewhere along the way, but marathon brain was keeping that information from processing properly and I spent the good part of that mile poking around in my shorts for the missing gel. Never found it and realized I only had ONE left -- my final GU for the final push. Dammit.

So I figured I'd just suck it up, take some Gatorade at the aid station and see if I could hold off on taking the final gel until mile 21 or 22.

Mile 18: 7:41
Mile 19: 7:26
Mile 20: 7:34
Mile 21: 7:48

Work, work, work. A rough mile as I ended up doubling back when I spotted a volunteer with orange slices. Something about orange slices at a race always hits the spot. The sweet and sour, the texture. I LOVE it. So as I raced past, I realized I'd missed the last tray and stupidly (I'll admit) doubled back upstream into the throng of runners and grabbed two and gobbled them up. Delicious and totally worth almost being run over by some angry and tired marathoners. Ooops.

Mile 22: 7:39

Finally ate my last GU gel with the extra boost of caffeine in it. I pulled up alongside Eddie who was busy yelling things like, "FIGHT THE PAIN. FIGHT THE PAIN." Ugh. Worst mantra ever. Stop drawing attention to the pain, Eddie!! I asked again, "So, how's it looking?"

Eddie: Still :30 under. We're golden.
Me: When do you think I should pull ahead?
Eddie: I'll tell you when. Don't drop the hammer until 26. There's that annoying hill there, you don't want to blow up before then.
Me: I know. OK, I'll hang here until you tell me.
Eddie: (moments later) Actually, you should probably start digging in now.
Me: (scared) What? Really?
Eddie: Yeah. Don't go crazy, but start pulling ahead. Drop us.
Me: (ugh) OK.
Eddie: You got this.

I pulled ahead, thinking "I don't ever want to see that pace group again" (in a nice way!).

Mile 23: 7:33
Mile 24: 7:34

Now it was just a matter of hanging on. I was feeling this (like I'd felt it the whole race), but with renewed focus, I vowed not to go over 7:35 again. I could see the Sears Tower in the distance. It looked so far away! But I knew I was running to the finish line. Oh, and that tailwind we were promised in the forecast? Never materialized. In fact, I got a little breeze in my face on this final stretch (though it's hard to complain, because it was so hot, it FELT good).

Mile 25: 7:32

I felt like I was starting to sprint, but I figured I had nothing to lose. I couldn't do the math anymore, though I thought I was in the pocket. My pace bracelet said it was OK, but I somehow didn't believe it. At all. Garmin signal + watch stop = Mirjam's brain: "I'm probably running a 3:40 right now."

So I dropped the pace and began running faster.

Mile 26: 7:08

Yeah, maybe I had more left in the tank than I originally thought. Saw the turn in the distance onto the bridge. I began climbing the "hill" -- not that bad, but mostly I wanted to see how far I had to go once I made the left turn to the finish. Then I'd know for certain if I was going to make it. (Isn't it strange, even with only the 0.2 miles to go, I wasn't sure if I had this).

Over the bridge, made the turn, saw the distance to the finish line. Looked at my watch. I knew I could do this in under a minute, and dropped into a dead sprint with an actual smile on my face. NOW I finally believed it.

Mile 0.2: 1:42 (6:40 min/mile)

Final time: 3:19:04

Oh and look at that -- a 1:39:44 first half, which means a 1:39:20 for the second half -- a negative split. ;)

Run on a day when it wasn't gonna hit 80? Ha, just kidding. (Sort of).

Maybe look up once in a while and enjoy the scenery. I think I was looking at my watch, my pace band or Eddie's back the entire time. I briefly remember entering Chinatown and seeing the gay drill team performers for :02. But otherwise, I think I missed a lot of the course. Heh.

Oh yes, and that missing GU gel? I found it later that afternoon when I was packing up my stuff -- at the start of the race, I'd discovered, to my great delight, an ADDITIONAL pocket in my racing shorts! Perfect, I though, tucking in an extra GU gel there. That way the other pockets didn't feel as bulky and it wouldn't slip out.

Sigh. So yeah. Maybe not do anything new on race day -- especially something that requires me to remember something with very little oxygen getting to my brain...

Walked through the finish line area, got my banana (AND A BEER -- BLESS YOU CHICAGO MARATHON), got my stuff and then sniffled and snotted a little over this silly goal I'd achieved. I was proud, but was also a little taken aback by how little confidence I'd had in myself for the entire race. Did a pretty wimpy attempt at stretching (ha), but mostly just changed into a dry shirt and walked back to the hotel (stopping by the Bean on the way back! I love that thing!).

Showered, packed and then headed out for drinks and fries with some other speedy runner friends before flying back to NYC. Where I then rushed downtown to a dance party, because I think that's my preferred way of dealing with sore legs post-marathon. Dancing.


I more or less nailed what I wanted to here, even with feeling crappy during the race.

The most limiting thing for me in training was the lack of miles at marathon pace. I did some number of them, but I think more would have been better. And also more running on flat areas that mimic the race course could have been useful, though the hills in Central Park probably made me stronger in the long run, too.

If I ever thought it was feasible, I'd have added more overall mileage. I peaked at 61 miles, with another 58 mile week and a handful of 50's. But that felt pretty solid, considering I also avoided injury, too.

Overall I'm pretty stoked with the result. I've been saying this was both my best AND worst race ever. I got the result I wanted, but it never felt easy.


Great race. Chicago is really a fantastic town. Lots of fun sight-seeing (with seated options, like the totally fantastic Architecture Boat Tour!) for everyone, great restaurants, etc. The race is flat as a pancake with good crowd support. Definitely coming back to do this one again in the future.