45000 people is a huge crowd. They were all waiting on Columbus Drive for the start. Seeding was in closed coralls for small group of runners, most of us were in an open corral. It was hard to move to the proper pace group - too many people. As I was standing in that crowd I was beginning to feel uncomfortable breathing everybody's perfumes and sweat. To be continued for the next almost 5 hrs...

The anthem was played and I noticed a marine guy (tatoos and haircut)standing next to me in perfect attention. This was a bit emotional I must say. The race started and it took us 10 minutes to get to the start line! You just coldn't move. Slow, steady jog followed for the next 10 miles or so. So much for my plan to mix walking with running from the start - you couldn't do it, people were elbowing you all the time. Started talking to the guy next to me and time went fairly quickly. Lost him at the water stop where I had to literally stop for a while to refill my bottle and mix it with 2 gels.

When we got to the Addisson St I looked back to see the Sears building and thought 'holy crap, this is far'. Now we only had to get back to downtown, turn right and head West, get back to downtown, head South to the 35th and back to downtown. It seemed like an awesome distance.
There were plenty of water stations along where you couldn't run, just walk on millions of paper cups and slimy gels.

Everything was still fun, tons of spectators, bands, people squirting us with water, opened fire hydrants, the works. It was beginning to get hot too and I started pouring water on my head at every station. Stopped once to stretch somewhere near mile 18 and now sterted to mix walking with running regularly. After 3 hrs or running I got a second wind and was really happy about it passing people and feeling like a hero. Well, this sure didn't last long, kind of like 15 minutes or so after which it was back to normal struggle.

As we headed back to the city along 18th south I saw my wife with the baby, got a picture taken and from then on it got progresivelly more painful. Not a 'wall' as many describe, it was just hard to get motivated to push through this self inflicted pain. Walking got longer and running slower... Also got sick of all the gels at one point and started drinking water only. Chinatown was another part to remember with thousands of spectators.

As we hit Michigan Av, this was the last stretch North. Not really a long one, maybe 3 miles but at this point they seemed to have stretched like a rubber band. Here you could see many people losing it and sitting on the sidewalk. A bit more effort, few more walking breaks and finally the last turn right, up the overpass and left to sprint to the finish line. Yeah!!!
This felt good. Grabbed the foil, draped it over, drank some water, ate a banana and slowly walked to the exit.

Oh, just before the exit I noticed a beer stand... and I don't remember much afterwards. Obviously I had to walk home for 30 min where I passed out for a while (like few hours).



Maybe I should have got seeded more towards the front.

30 min walk home.


Heat, crowd, pain, the usual.


Great event, if I'm still in Chicago next year I will do it again.