Chicago Distance Classic - Run


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
John Bingham Racing
85F / 29C
Sunny
 		Total Time = 1h 58m 27s
Overall Rank = 1703/5056
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 80/397
Pre-race routine:

Bagel with cream cheese 2 hours before. Drove downtown, found parking in the Grant Park garage and walked to the venue. Picked up my race number and had enough time to go back to the car and drop stuff off.
Event warmup:

Gel 30 minutes before. Stretched a little (didn't have anything better to do).
Run
  • 1h 58m 27s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 02s  min/mile
Comments:

Pace groups rule!! Decided that I would try to stick with the 2:00 pace group for as long as I could... figured I could do that for at least half the race, maybe a little more. Kept them in my sight until a little after mile 10.... when I started pulling away. :) Turned in some negative splits over the last 5k and ended pretty strong.

Ended up being a PR by almost 9 minutes. I think I need to stop doing these now. :)
What would you do differently?:

Not a thing. Didn't think I had it in me to do a sub-2 hour half marathon.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked through the finishers chute. Met up with a friend of mine (the only time we see each other seems to be at the end of long races that neither of us know the other will be at!), and both of us had broke the 2-hour mark for the first time. Found some shade and stretched and listened to Underwater People, a band that I enjoy and have seen play a couple of times.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

At this point, getting rid of the extra weight will help. Other than that....

Event comments:

Course was very crowded, especially since I was following a pace group. Other than that, though -- great race. Beautiful running along the lake front. Tons and tons of porta-potties (so many that I was actually the first person to use one of them!). Lots of drink stations. Goody bag was decent. Post-race food and entertainment was good as well.




Last updated: 2005-08-07 12:00 AM
Running
01:58:27 | 13.1 miles | 09m 02s  min/mile
Age Group: 80/397
Overall: 1703/5056
Performance: Good
1 - 9:12 (165) 2 - 8:48 (168) 3/4 - 18:26 (169) 5 - 8:56 (172) 6 - 9:14 (176) 7 - 9:11 (176) 8 - 9:03 (179) 9 - 9:10 (178) 10 - 9:07 (178) 11 - 8:47 (183) 12 - 8:49 (186) 13.1 - 9:42 (187)
Course: Start in Grant Park. Go south to about 55th and then loop back. Most of it was on the Lake Front bike path -- not a good thing with over 5000 runners. On the way out, there were portions where a 6 foot wide path had to accommodate runners who were both going out and coming back. Not a whole lot of run to manuveur.
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4