Chicago Marathon - Run

It took approx. 6 minutes for me to make it to the start line after the whistle blew. Better than in 2002 when it took ~10 minutes. I tried not to trip or trip anyone for the first few miles. It began to open up around mile 6 or so. My wife was stationed at mile 2 but we missed each other although she did see our friend from high school. I told her I was wearing a long sleeve white shirt, I don't know how she could've missed me in a crowd of 40,000... I never saw her the entire race, but she said she spotted me at 13 miles and at the finish line. I knew my 5K time was a little faster than what I thought I would be able to sustain. I didn't wear my HR monitor, on purpose, but felt that I might not be able to keep the pace. I took a gel at mile 6, 12, and got a gel at the gel stop on mile 18. I took 2 more endurolytes and 2 tylenol at the halfway point. I knew at mile 6 I was 2 minutes off an 8min/mile pace and tried to hold it. I was still ~2 min off the same pace at the halfway point and actually shaved a minute off by mile 15. I felt fine from a cardiopulmonary standpoint but knew my legs where going to tire. By mile 19 I was back at 2 1/2 minutes off of pace and progressively slowed as the waining miles ensued. I ran through all the water stops and focused on getting water at every stop and gatorade + water at every other stop. This had worked well for me in 2002 and again proved beneficial. I didn't have any cramping issues at all only fatigue. Many runners, especially past the 20 mile mark were evidently cramping. I felt bad for them but was just trying to finish by that point. Overall I felt good and knew that if I kept running I would beat my former time by a pretty big margin. I almost got emotional at mile 15 when I knew I was shaving time off thinking I could get down to 3:30 but I couldn't hold on. I gave it all I had and took comfort in that.

I used a specific training plan this year, something I hadn't done in 2002. I think it helped immensely. For future events, I think trying to stick more closely to the plan I would be able to even better maximize my performance. The only thing holding me back is myself... I only did one 20miler and a few 15+ runs. I think doing more long runs would benefit me in the future, especially from fatigue later in the race. Also, building a base of ~30 miles/week as well would help facilitate that goal too.

I drank 3 20oz. bottles of water and finally urinated ~45 minutes after the race. I stretched quite a bit and tried to keep moving. I felt much better this year post-race than in 2002. We waited for my friend to finish his inaugural marathon. He suffered cramps pretty bad around mile 20 and walked the last 6 miles.


Overall, very, very pleased with my results. Had you asked me pre-race, and as my wife would attest to, I was hoping to simply match my time of 4 hrs from 3 years ago. I never would've thought I could've shaved 20 minutes off. I think that to have performed even better I would've need to do 2-3 20milers and several more 15+ milers and increased my base mileage from 20miles/week to 30. I will work on both of these for my next race and see how she goes...


Great race, well sponsored, I will definitely do this race again.