Chicago Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

The race started a bit late, they had problems clearing the streets apparently. With all those people and no corrals it was a mad start and since most runners were delusional about their projected finish time, they ended up blocking everybody else. So the first half hour I ran way below my normal pace, only when we entered Lake Shore Drive it got a bit more open and the pace improved. Since I have only 3 speeds (slow, slower and stop) I couldn't make up the lost time.
I noticed, I also have a tendency to get stuck behind a nice behind and this usually slows me down a bit too. But who cares, I can't win this thing anyway.

Second half got harder as we were on the sunny side of the road and the wind just disapeared. At one point my number fell off and had to stop to pin it back again. The bees came out too, but were only buzzing around and not chasing me so much, no GU this time, only Gatorade.

The last two miles were hard and lots of people were walking, but the spectators were cheering, the band was playing, life was good.

Finally the finish, not a PB, but not bad. Picked up the medal, food, drinks, went to the bike and rode home.

Hey, if we reduced the number of runners to 100, I'd be 36, which is the Front Of the Middle Of the Pack... yeah!


Start closer to the front and not be stuck behind slower people.

13k ride back home.


Lack of specific training, genes, not enough drive, the usual...


Great race, well organized, plenty of support, what can I say... all you need in a big half marathon.