Chicago Monster Dash Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

This was a Halloween run and I didn't want to be one of the only ones not to dress up so my brother and I found something functional that wouldn't slow us down. So, we wore huge diapers lol! We got so many laughs out of it, people we didn't know asked us to take pictures with them! I wore tri shorts underneath to tuck in the excess parts of the diaper and that worked well along with some bodyglide.

I really had to pee before the start but we were running so late I didn't have time to wait in the line! We got to the start and I got a spot much further back than I like close to the 9min/mi pacers, but there were so many people I couldn't just budge through. The race ended up starting a little over 10min late and I still haven't visited the john so I was a little worried about it. As soon as I started running, though, I forgot all about it.

It was somewhat of a slow start since it was so crowded in the beginning being in the middle of all the racers but I managed getting off to the side sometimes to make up some time. Once it opened up I found a pace I felt comfortable with and didn't leave me breathing too hard (I forgot my Garmin at home and had no way to gauge my pace!).

I passed by miler marker 1 & 2 feeling good and was looking for mile 3. I was thinking "wow, this mile is really long!" and realized at some point I either must have missed it or there wasn't one. So, I started looking for mile 4 and to my surprise I was passing the mile 5 marker! It was tough trying to keep a steady pace since I didn't have my Garmin and no mile markers, but I kept on doing what I felt was good for me.

Somewhere in the middle of mile 6 and 7 I felt the diaper start to slightly bother me. I didn't want that to turn into a problem so I ripped it off, tossed it in the garbage and fixed my tri shorts...I'm sure I lost a little time here. The rest of the run went well as it was on the lakefront path, my home turf! I did start feeling it around mile 8-9, now my mental race began but I kept my pace.

I started a kick with what I thought was a mile left since there was no "1 mile to go" sign or anything like that. Yeah, that hurt, and keeping that pace was tough but was still able to get a final kick in the last 200-300yds.

The race results that were posted showed a stat I've never seen anywhere else:
-People you passed - 635
-People who passed you - 0
I'm sure it was from having a spot way in the back at the start, but yeah...didn't notice anyone pass me haha!



I didn't train specifically for this race except for this past month. I'll be racing another half in February and I'd like to mainly focus on running for now.

I Just hit the the recovery area stuff and did a little walking around. I was getting some really bad cramps in my quads so I stopped walking and just waited for my brother and friends to finish.


It would have been nice if I was able to use the john before the race! I don't think I'd wear anything again if I do another Halloween run since only a few of the runner I ran around near the front had costumes.


I didn't mind the race not starting on time since we were running late anyway. It was an awesome race but I give it a 4 since it wasn't perfect. I won't hesitate to run it again if choosing a hm at this time of year.