Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon


View Member's Race Log View other race reports
Chicago, Illinois
United States
LeSalle Bank
87F / 31C
Sunny
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = /
Age Group =
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Found out at the expo (15 hours before the race) that one of Sandi's friends had hurt her knee, and wasn't running. I had this (possibly) stupid idea that I may try to run at least a little with Sandi, and not get in trouble 'cause I'd have a chip and number.. oh yeah, and there was the fact that I had no running gear - so I got to buy new shoes (Newtons - love 'em), shorts, and shirt... and tried to forget that I haven't trained at all for this... will sleep on whether to try it or not...

well, decided race morning that I was actually going to try to start this. Had vitamins and pre-torch before the race, along with bagel. Tried to hydrate as much as possible given short notice.
Event warmup:

Woke up, thought to myself "what am I doing?!?" then got dressed and ready to at least try go as far as I could (safely)... I was hoping to make it 1/2 way (did I mention the furthest I have EVER run is 13.1 miles?), but more likely 7-8 miles..
Run
  • 00m
  • 26 miles
  •  min/mile
Comments:

It was fun - for a while... It was so freakin' hot!! Started out with Sandi, but I had to use bathroom - she lost me... stayed o.k. until mile 9-10 when I started walking for a little while, (took my other Gu, which helped) but still doing all right. I had water bottle that I was holding so I could drink when I wanted as well as get water from the course. Mile 13 saw a couple of friends yelling and screaming... thought I could continue, so on I went. Got to mile 14, a little tougher, then mile 15..... getting somewhat harder (and HOTTER) - hearing ambulances all over the place - saw a couple people laying in the middle of the road (EMT's were already helping them).. then I saw the 25k marker, and thought, well, that's where I'll stop. Made it past that marker, and sat down by the side of the road for a little while. I was doing better off than most of the other people that were sitting around me, I just lost energy. The people asked if I wanted to drop out, and eventually I said 'o.k.', and ended my day.
What would you do differently?:

let's see..... have more that 2 Gu's available? maybe break in the shoes a little rather than try to run in them for the first time? probably use salt tablets? keep on going another 20 minutes?
Post race
Warm down:

looked for Sandi - they ended up shutting down the race due to excessive heat - 3 1/2 hours into the race... basically if I would have kept at it for just a little bit longer (now I see it would have been about 20 minutes longer - after my little sit-down) - I would have been able to get a finisher's medal.

They had 35,000 start the race; 11,000 had dropped out before the race was cancelled, and 312 people were taken by ambulance to the hospital (1 of which passed away - sincere condolences to his family - he was a 33 year old policeman from Michigan).

Because of the craziness, and not seeing Sandi until more than 5 hours into the marathon, I was starting to freak out a little bit, but waited where we said we would meet - I was looking one way, and she came up and hugged me - nearly knocked me over, and all was good... she had finished the whole course!! which is AWESOME!!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

absolutely NO training for this...

Overall very happy and satisfied how this run went. I figured there would be almost no way I'd make it to 7 miles with my recent training (both distances AND how running has felt)

Event comments:

I think next time I'll hopefully know I'll be racing more than a day ahead of time... and I LLOOVVEE my new Newtons. My knees/hips never hurt on the run, and while I'm sore today, I think it's because I kind of went away from that 10% rule thing (quads, hamstrings, and side gluts hurt), and I CAN still walk today.




Last updated: 2007-10-08 12:00 AM
Running
00:00:00 | 26 miles |  min/mile
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Course: flat, HOT, busy, HOT
Keeping cool Below average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]