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Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon - RunHalf Marathon


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
Elite Racing
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 40m 56s
Overall Rank = 807/18555
Age Group = F40-44
Age Group Rank = 14/1244
Pre-race routine:

Complained night before that I was getting sick. Informed by DH that I do this before every race, and therefore am crazy. He's probably right. Ate a nice homemade chicken/broccoli/white pasta meal around 8 pm. Tossed and turned all night...haven't been doing this for triathlons, why back to it with running? Up at 0345. Dressed, ate a bit of pb and honey on white bread. Coffee. Felt thirsty so brought along a bottle of water for the train ride down to Grant Park.
Event warmup:

Walk to train station. Got some lateral practice dodging the hard core drunks hanging around Flash Taco and high knee'd over a couple of their buddies who didn't have quite as much endurance. Really enjoyed watching the three gangsta's who got on the train on Clark and Lake (wtf were they doing there at 0530 anyway?). They were visibly taken aback at all the quietly intense people wearing running shoes, race numbers, and little else. Walked a couple of blocks to the park. Ran around trying to find a new shirt for my husband, figure out gear check, and spent the rest of the time standing in line for the potty. I am in awe of people who actually run back and forth for their warmup. Someday.
Run
  • 1h 40m 56s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 07m 42s  min/mile
Comments:

Was PLAGUED with stomach issues for the last few weeks trying to train for the Chicago Marathon in October. It's been hot and humid and I was starting to freak out about making it through this race without a serious potty issue. DH always does a tsp of metamucil for a couple of days before a race and he swears by it, so I got fiber religion and started taking it every day. GOOD NEWS: Stomach was tip top for the race.

So enough about that. AFA the 1/2 Marathon, I really didn't even want to do it. I had to taper my Marathon training, miss an 8 mile pace run, and shorten my long run from 17 mi to 13.1 to do this race. But from DH experience last year, I knew I should try for a corral, and nothing I've done so far gave me that qual...so it was a trade off. Whatever run fitness I lose from truncating my training this week will be outweighed by avoiding the cluster of a "gen pop" Marathon start with 45,000 of my closest friends.

So a 1/2 mary it was. Last year was a 1:52ish effort. First corral for the Marathon is at 1:49:59 and faster, so I was reasonably certain I could make it (with no scary potty issues). Other than that, I had no plan! I thought about running it at Marathon Pace, but that was a bit too slow, so I settled on the idea of running it at 8 minute miles. Frankly I've been struggling to run much faster than that on my tempo runs and have only been able to go faster for a few minutes in the middle...so I was really thinking 8's were going to be a struggle.

So our wave goes off...started in corral 3. It was never really crowded and since most folks were running about the same speed or close, it felt a lot easier than last year starting in the scrum of corral 12. I just let myself go, got over the 1/2 mile heavy breathing and got into a groove. First mile 7:38, wow, ok. Feel good, so let's just go with it. Cardio wise felt great, held 7:45ish for the first 6 miles, set a PR for 10k and 10 miles. Legs started hurting early, but I realized it didn't slow me down, which put me in a great frame of mind for the finish. Got a stomach cramp about 4-6 miles, but again, it didn't slow me down. More good juju.

Had some negative pace booty early on with a hygiene challenged guy who was running my pace and kept ending up in front of me. How rude! Finally dropped him on a "hill." Sheesh. Had a major girl crush on an awesome chick who I would pass on the water stops (she walked them) and then she would pass me on the run...she finally left me after about mile 9, but I remain devoted to her...she was in awesome shape and had amazing running form.

I had given myself permission to slow to 8's if/when I got tired...but at mile 8 I was holding well below 8 m/m pace, so I decided to try to maintain through the finish. At mile 10 I felt so good, I decided to pick up the pace a bit...it went ok, but the end is a lot of rolling hills and I slowed back down for miles 11 and 12.

The wheels fell off at mile 13 but I held on (hey it's only one mile). It was probably my slowest mile but not a disaster at all...guess that speed up at mile 10 wasn't so smart after all.

Overall I am extremely pleased. I PR'ed by 10 minutes! I made corral C for the Marathon. I held a pretty steady pace for the entire race. I feel pretty good this morning...which I hope means my legs are getting stronger from all the running.
What would you do differently?:

Not much. I did better on pre race nutrition that previously, and while I wish I had more of a plan, I am happy with how this race was executed. Even though I am comfortable with running, I am not that experienced, especially with longer races, so I am still learning how I like to approach them and what realistic paces are for me.

I had a bit of a mental melt down coming around the last corner because I realized I was not going to finish in under 1:40, and I was really bummed because I wanted to make that corral for the Chicago Marathon. Except there is no 1:40 cutoff. Only 1:35 or 1:45. So if I am going to go into a race "armed" with information, I need to make sure the information is correct. Haha.
Post race
Warm down:

Beer. Music. Sit on a bag of ice (take THAT piriformis). Train. Brunch. Street Festival. Urban people watching from the front yard. Burrito dinner. Early bedtime. Heaven.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I think I have a faster 1/2 Mary in me...but it would mean a lot of running (with a lot of quality). Meh. One thing all this running has proven to me without a shadow of a doubt. I am happier training for triathlon.

Event comments:

If over 2/3 of your participants are women, you should offer a women fitted t-shirt. I am not tiny and the XS is quite roomy on me. Either that or offer 20 bucks off if you forego the t-shirt. There's too much crap in our landfills to be giving crappy swag away...it just gets thrown away if it is ugly or doesn't fit. This is a decent race to do city sightseeing and the only 1/2 marathon in Chicago that is not on the lake front in its entirety...but I don't know if I would do it again. I'd rather spend the money on triathlons...




Last updated: 2009-12-28 12:00 AM
Running
01:40:56 | 13.1 miles | 07m 42s  min/mile
Age Group: 14/1244
Overall: 807/18555
Performance: Good
Without boring the peanut gallery with too much data, it was a positive split effort with the majority of the splits (in the middle of the race) being around my pace for the overall race.
Course: First 5-6 miles thru the loop. Awesome city tour. Then down south thru the tunnel at McCormick Place, LSD to the turnaround, and LFP back north past Soldier Field, past the Aquarium, and up the tiny hill to the finish on Columbus Drive.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 3
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2010-08-02 3:52 PM

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Expert
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Albuquerque, New Mexico
Subject: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon


2010-08-02 4:28 PM
in reply to: #3019229

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Extreme Veteran
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Chicago
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Awesome race and RR! 
You amaze me with under 8min/miles. I don't even have that pace for a 5k yet
And congrats on qualifying for Corral C at the Chicago Marathon...that's huge!
2010-08-02 5:33 PM
in reply to: #3019229

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Master
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Vista, CA
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon

I, too, am in awe of your sub 8 min miles in a 1/2 mary. Congrats on a nice race and getting qual'd to be                  in a corral.    What's your BQ time? I bet you'll get to Boston if you want to run it.

 

2010-08-02 5:39 PM
in reply to: #3019229

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
I have a girl crush on you!  If you lived closer I'd do all my runs with you.  And when I say "with you" I mean it more in the sense that I would stalk your runs from an ever increasing distance as you disappeared into the horizon (or crowds if you were running in the city) and hope to catch sight of you finishing your cool down as I heaved and wheezed to the end.

Of course, I've knocked a minute off my average mile time in the last four months so I have hope that perhaps I can knock off another and possibly keep up with you on your recovery days
2010-08-03 9:55 AM
in reply to: #3019229

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Regular
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Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Rock on!!!! 

Killed your PB by 10 minutes!

I am with the others and have a wee bit of a girl crush on you.
2010-08-05 10:40 AM
in reply to: #3019229

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Melon Presser
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Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Quincy, Queen of the Manatee Girl Crushes me too! me too!

Holy sea cow you are FFFFFFFFFFFAST. Awesome time, awesome placing in AG, and yes, you probably have an even faster run in ya

Hygiene challenged blockage ... ar ar ar ar ar!


2010-08-05 11:37 AM
in reply to: #3019229

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Nice job!!!! Friggin fast!
2010-08-05 12:23 PM
in reply to: #3025353

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Extreme Veteran
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Wesley Chapel, Florida
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Yeah, no "wee bit" about it. Girl crush!

Congrats on a great race!   
2010-08-05 12:31 PM
in reply to: #3019229

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Expert
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Albuquerque, New Mexico
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
OMG you guys, stop stop stop!  My head has gotten so big I couldn't get out of the door this morning.  Had to use some body glide to squeeze it through...

Ok, don't really stop.  

Seriously, thanks for the props.  It means a ton to me...

2010-08-06 5:42 PM
in reply to: #3019229

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Master
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Gurnee, IL
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
Nice report!  congrats on getting into corral "c"   for the marathon.

Also in "c"  No worries I'll make sure to "clean up" before running in front of you


2010-08-06 7:29 PM
in reply to: #3028513

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Expert
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Albuquerque, New Mexico
Subject: RE: Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon
oriolepwr - 2010-08-06 5:42 PM Nice report!  congrats on getting into corral "c"   for the marathon.

Also in "c"  No worries I'll make sure to "clean up" before running in front of you




Haha, corral C will be the best smelling corral in the whole race!  Pass it on... 


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