Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicago Half Marathon - Run

I felt I ran the first 5 miles between a 7:20 and 7:30 pace which was very good for me. I felt a lot of the other runners were novices or had little running experience. I felt myself passing way more people than there were passing me, so that was motivating. The crowds were also very large, so there were always people cheering and making noise. As I mentioned this was my first marathon event, so I never really experienced running in a big group like this. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

By mile 5 I took a 20 second break walking through an aid station and had some water. I took a GU at mile 6 and planned to take a second at mile 10, but for some reason I didn't. Throughout the whole run through the Loop, my GPS was acting a bit oddly. At various times my watch would say I'm running a 13:00/mile when I clearly was running faster and other times it would say I was running a 5:00/mile which I clearly wasn't. Not sure if it was because there were thousands of other runners who were also using GPS that might of flooded the system. I don't know, but when I looked at the map my GPS drew following the race on Garmin Connect, it looked like a 3 year old took a crayon to my run portion in the loop. Either that or it looked like I was running drunk.

By the time I got to Michigan Ave to head south my pace started to slow to around 8:20. At this time my feet were starting to get sore and I could feel my knees begin to buckle a bit. Mentally, I still felt fine and definitely had the appropriate energy level for that point in the race. I was sweating a bit despite it being relatively cooler (high 60's) and somewhat overcast, but I think of myself as a sweaty person regardless so I made sure to stop at every other aid station to the end of the race to ensure I was at an adequate hydration level.

At mile 9 I felt a bathroom break was going to be required or else I would become distracted by it for the rest of the race. I stopped at a porta potty at one of the aid stations and was in and out within 45 seconds. By the time I got out there was a line of 4 or 5 people that formed, so I was fortunate to not have to add unnecessary time.

When we got to the lake to head North to the finish I started to pick up the pace again knowing that I was around 2.5 miles to the end. I run/bike this trail often so I had a good gauge of what was to come. On the last mile we tuned onto an on ramp onto Lake Shore Drive and ran for a bit aside traffic. When I got to Roosevelt Road I was a 1/2 mile out from the finish. I threw on a track that I love to finish workouts to. I started picking up a fast run and then did the last 300m in an all out sprint. Course ran a bit longer. My Garmin indicated 13.51 miles instead of 13.1.

Wish I would of stretched before. That probably would of helped later on in the race. Hydration and nutrition was fine. I wish I applied body glide before hand as my nipples began to chafe and were pretty irritating by the end. My Shoes might be getting to the end of the line. Might need to buy a new pair

The event had a post race party in Grant park. I grabbed a beer and then went out to Lunch


Very well organized event for how many people were competing. Amenities were terrific. Plenty of aid stations and volunteers. My only complaint was the beer selection at the post race party. After running a 1/2 marathon a Michelob Ultra is pretty much the last beer I would want