Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon

I honestly had no idea what was going to happen to me on this run. Left to my own devices or in the company of saner people, I might have bagged on the whole thing. I separated my shoulder about three weeks ago, right before my two longest planned runs. It was super mild, but the injury really hurt when I ran (oddly not so much on my bike which is what I fell off of to begin with). THEN, as my shoulder was healing I had a cold which turned into a little bit of a cough which turned into COUGHAGEDDON!

Seriously, I caught pertussis. That's Whooping Cough, y'all. And once you catch this nasty m*#$#F*&er you are in for the long haul. I took a five day course of antibiotics, but all that does is make me non-contagious. I still get what they call "paroxysmal" coughing fits every couple of hours...and those fits often end up with me vomiting until there's nothin' left. It's AWESOME!

I ran, maybe, 10 miles total in the three weeks leading up to the race, plus the effects of the injury and illness were still lingering. So, I decided just to start and see what happened. I put a 20 in my key pocket for a cab or a train ticket and went for broke. Well not really broke...I went out at a super conservative pace...

Basically the plan was to continue until some sort of major systems failure. Either a coughing fit that I couldn't recover from. The other possibility was shoulder pain, as I noticed I started to hurt around the 5-6 mile point and had no idea if it would get worse as I continued on. I brought some ibuprofen along just in case that happened. I also had figured out a modified arm swing that didn't hurt as much as my normal running posture, so I had that going for me. The final scenario was a complete collapse in will to continue and/or a major bad attitude attack.

I told myself that starting the Marathon in a huge hole would simulate feeling awful and tired at the beginning of the IMOO marathon and I was practicing for the coming mental battle of ironman marathon. So that's what I did.

My legs hurt almost right away, but I expected that because of my lack of recent running. My legs are gonna be screaming at IMOO. Shut up legs.

Early on, I found myself worrying about the enormity of the distance left...I tried to think about potato chips instead.

I had a bathroom issue which burned up about 5 minutes according to my Timex...I didn't allow myself to freak out about losing time...it will probably happen at IMOO.

I started to chunk miles...when I would get to a mile marker, I would decide if I was going to keep on going...

I walked while drinking at aid stations.

I actually started to think I was going to make it around mile 17...I hadn't had a coughing fit and even though my shoulder started hurting around the 1/2 mary point (this was great as I was expecting it much sooner) I took the ibuprofen, and it kicked in and I felt much better by 17.

Instead of descending into the late race pit of despair, I actually felt optimistic, maybe because I was surprised to be there. Then, it was so cool, because my friend, Oriolepwr (Dave), ran right up next to me at mile 20! So I told him my plan and he was all about it (walk during gatorade, then seek and destroy the next mile marker). So we kind of worked together and BAM! it was over. It made such a huge difference to have someone to run with...otherwise I don't think I would have finished quite that strong! It made my day! Thanks Dave!

No Whooping Cough. No AC Separation. No projectile vomiting morning of race. Eat more Gu and drink a little less water...that's kind of a problem for me...I think I get water starved and then drink too much and my tummy doesn't cope well. Overall though, going into the race in a calorie deficit wasn't as bad as I had feared...I just took gatorade at nearly every station and tried to do enough gu's...I felt hungry but never bonked, so that was good.

Stagger around and collect various liquid refreshments. Hang out with Dave until I managed to finally find my husband. Go home. Eat Chips. Drink Beer.


I think we all get the point.


I have nothing else to compare it to, but I've done it twice and for a ginormous race, it's pretty smooth with minor glitches here and there. The course is truly a sightseeing bonanza if you can enjoy it. A lot of people try to qual for Boston here, but I am not sure this is the best race for it...it's flat, yes, but the course is so clobbered with people that unless you are in the A or B corrals, you are going to be severely hindered for at least the first 6-8 miles or so. You have been warned.