Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon

My goal was sub 4, or sub 9 minute miles. I knew my body hadn't recovered enough from IM Wisconsin to put a whole effort out, but my fitness is still pretty good. My run has been strong all year, just not marathon mileage, so I knew it would be a matter of pacing correctly and hanging on when the wheels fell off. 'Cause they were going to fall off.

I was pacing pretty well at about 8:40 when I got caught by the 3:50 group. I thought that was weird but I also thought it might be interesting to run with them for a while. Turns out they had screwed up their pacing as about a mile later, the 3:45 group came blazing by and their pacer yelled at our pacers "how's your pace." Aha, the pacers were pacing too fast...which is what I thought at first too, but they got it under control and it became effortless to maintain my pace correctly by just hanging in the pack.

It was great and I felt great and I thought if I could just hang with them until 20, I would probably then have to get dropped but not be destroyed and keep a decent pace for the last 6. Hit all the checkpoints perfectly, hit my nutrition perfectly, it was really great. Got a bit of that weird gastric problem I've been having this year, but I have learned to just stop taking anything but water for a little while (right away) and it will go away. And it did.

It just made a huge difference to tuck in behind someone...my mental effort was minimal. It was awesome!

Unfortunately I lost pace after the 15 mile marker, but I knew it could happen earlier than I hoped, what with an IM 28 days ago, so it didn't make me sad or freak out. I just kept on trying to keep the pace decent...so it went to about 8:45's. Not a disaster at all. I kept sight of the 3:50 group for a long time, even after I dropped back.

Then I had a tummy issue, but it was a normal one so I spied a porta, raced over, probably spent a minute or less in there and got back on the road. That was my one significantly slower split of the race, but I got back on pace right away. No biggie. I walked some aid stations (just for the drink part), started to struggle a bit, but it was late enough in the race that it started to be more exciting to see big mile marker numbers than losing focus and slowing down.

I kept myself at a decent pace by doing a sort of fartelek thing, where I would try for a higher speed via increased cadence for about a 300 count starting at the mile marker (300 count for me is about 1/2 mile). Then I would allow myself to fall back into a more natural cadence, and by this time I would hit an aid station, walk for 20 seconds, and then start running again. At the next mile marker, repeat. It may seem complex, but it's the kind of mind game I play with myself on the run to keep from forgetting what I am doing. Being able to do this was certainly the result of doing speedwork in the middle of my weekday runs for IM training. Funny that it came back to me in this way, but whatever, it worked.

At about 22.5 miles I got caught by the 3:55 guys and I tucked right in next to them...I knew if I let them go I wouldn't go sub 4, and I had just under 3 miles to go. It was perfect. I just kept the shadow of my head on my pacer's feet and never let myself waver. At 25 miles, a marathon maniac with a hole in the butt of his shorts took off from the pace team so I went with him! He's a maniac so he must know what he is doing.

At this point accelerating was sort of almost impossible, except for by increasing cadence. But again, from doing a lot of speedwork this season, I was able to produce some extra oomph, even at 25 miles, so I went with it!

Got up that stupid heartbreak hill, rounded the corner and sprinted against this chick in an orange jacket who had been bugging me for the last couple of miles. (if you're not familiar with my race reports, I often become annoyed with my anonymous fellow racers and use that irrational response to motivate me). I totally kicked her orange butt.

Nothing. It was a pretty good day. I don't particularly like stand-alone marathons, but I suspect we will do this one again. It's hard because it's right outside my door. And I am insane.

The walk from the finish to the beer seemed like another marathon. My legs were screaming. Found Babydaddy, parked by the free beer table. Imagine that. He had a good race too...pretty much matched his PR from two years ago. I just wanted to sit down but was seriously afraid I might not get back up again.

I felt (and still feel) worse than I did after IM Wisconsin.

Had another beer while waiting for Oriolepwr. Walked veeeeeery slowly to the train back to my house.


Not being fully recovered from IMoo. But I still PR'ed by 7 minutes from 2010 (last year was a disaster combo of whooping cough and a busted shoulder so it hardly counts). The cool weather was awesome. My fitness was still pretty high, but not as high as 2010. I think my racing experience also helped get the PR. As always it's a combo platter of different things that make up a race so it's hard to say if this was my best effort at Marathon yet, but the clock says yes, so I'll take it. Next year will be different. VERY different.


I always have to express my awe at what a finely oiled machine this marathon is. 45,000 participants (give or take) is the size of a small city. I know there are cheaper marathons out there, but for those of us that live here, it's still a great deal. And if you don't live here, what a great way to experience Chicago.