Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon

Ran pretty strong until mile 16 or 17. The heat started to get to me and I really never felt like I was able to get cool after that. I ended up walking through most of the water stations from mile 20 on.

Slow down a bit at the start. I would also probably throw in one run above 20 miles prior to the race.

went to the park and met up with the family. It was pretty slow going and talked with a nice fellow who was walking at my same pace. Hung out with my family in the park for a while and then walked back to the Hilton. Grabbed a shower and relaxed for a while. Met up with them at the bar late in the afternoon where we had a beer or two. Off to an early dinner.


The heat mostly.


This was my first marathon and was very impressed by the crowds. It did get hot toward the back half of the race.

There was a bit of a scary moment before the race started. They had closed off the walkway (when they said they were going to) and many people were on the wrong side of the fenced off area to get to their start corral. People started climbing over the barriers (6 foot high chain link fencing). I thought people were going to fall and hurt themselves. All I can say is people need to be more prepared and get to the race earlier.

There was also some corral jumping going on, but I expected that. Some people....

Anyway great race and will be doing it again in 2009 with my wife and several of her friends