Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon

I felt great to start, but then who doesn't after ten days of tapering?! The miles were ticking off and I was right on pace, just rolling along. Alternated Gatorade and water at the stops, just a mouthful, but kept on top of it. GU at 45 min. Electrolyte pill every 30 min or so. Felt very good through the half, although the first warning sign came shortly after when I passed Joan Benoit-Samuelson. Should have respected my elders. After the half the course got more open, less shade and much warmer. I was still under 6:20s as I went through 30k but I passed a bank with an electronic sign reading 82 degrees and I had a sinking feeling. The last 8 miles were very exposed, my HR went to the moon and all the water over my head was causing wet socks & blisters on my right foot. The wheels started to come off slowly, then suddenly. Had to walk some to try and get the HR down, stopped to adjust the sock. When Joan came back past me around 24 it was all I could do to give her a nod and a cheer. What a woman.
Anyway, run/walked the last 10k as my times crept up to 6:40s, 7:00s, finally 7:15s. The hill after mile 26 was probably smaller than the curb outside my house, but I almost cried when I turned the corner and saw it!
Realised I wouldn't break 2:50 unless I HTFU so pushed it up the hill, round the corner and down the finish straight. Phew.

Hard to say. I had a plan and I stuck to it for 30k. Should I have changed the plan knowing the forecast? But then I would have been out there longer. A friend said the same bank showed 86 when he went by...
It was a PR for me, wasn't the PR I'd hoped and trained for, but what can you do?
I shot for the moon and hit the stars. The sun just got in the way.

There was no warming down! It was a scorcher by the time I finished. Was this really mid-October in Chicago?! Got a cold beer, some gatorades and water and lay down on the heat blanket(!) that they were handing out.
The warm-down came much later in an ice bath, which felt great!


Me. I couldn't handle the heat.


Chicago is a lovely city to run a marathon in. Lots of crowd support, very flat, quality field, you're never alone. The course is nice too with some good variety of park, highway, downtown, suburbs etc. Well marked with miles and kilos.
But the overall organisation of the race left something to be desired. The corral system definitely needs to be reviewed, especially the bathroom situation. I saw a guy dropping the kids off in the A corral, actually in the corral! And from the finish line it was at least a half mile walk to anywhere you could sit down, which was painful.
I don't blame them for the weather though. In 2007 it was in the 90s, last year in the 30s, you play the hand you're dealt..