Running with 35,000+ people makes the course a little crowded. For me, I think that may have been a good thing as it kept me from going out to fast. As soon as we started and went under the first bridge, I was glad that I had decided not to wear the arm warmers as I was already hot. I had been hoping for cooler weather, but like all races, you deal with what you get on race day.

When I hit mile 1 and saw a 9:54 split I was happy. My best time prior to this race was 4:44 and I was hoping to just get a 4:3X. The 9:54 may have been a tiny bit fast, but it felt good and I didn't feel like I was pushing the pace or anything. I told myself to just maintain that feeling and see what happened.

The first few miles of the course were pretty amazing with all of the spectators lining the course. This was my 12th marathon and I definitely think it had the most crowd support of any. It made me not think about the actual running.

I had a bottle of water with me prior to the start. I had planned to chunk it as I started running, but made a decision to hang onto it until I was sure I wouldn't need it. I had run with a bottle of gatorade in my hand during training, so it was nothing unusual for me. The aid stations were plentiful and I really didn't need the water bottle, but I was glad I held onto it. I warmed up real quick.

As the miles ticked off and I continued to see sub 10 miles I was happy. I ran a lot of miles in training for this race and it was paying off. Around mile 8 or 9, I kind of felt like I need to pee, but sometimes when I have that feeling and keep running it goes away. I told myself that if I saw a port a potty that was open, I would detour; if not, I'd keep going. Well, between 12 and 13, I saw empty port a potty's and got in and out quickly. I went from sub 10 splits to a 10:39. Not bad with the quick break. The next mile was back to a sub 10.

Another thing I had never done in all 12 marathons was to run every step of the way. One year at Disney I only walked maybe 3 minutes total, but I still walked. Around 15 or 16 of this race I began to wonder if this was the race I could finally do it. I decided to slow the pace just a bit so that I could keep going longer. At 16 I had my first mile over 10 minutes, but it was low 10s and I was still happy.

Throughout the course, it never really thinned out and the aid stations were crazy, but I was able to work my way over, grab my gatorade, and head back to the middle without every stopping my run. I grabbed gatorade at almost every station because the heat was coming on and I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated.

Around mile 20 I wondered if my body would give in to walking. I told myself to just make it to 21 and see how I felt. I did this the next few miles. Just one more. Just one more. I knew at this point I would get a PR, but how much of one was the question. Mentally calculating my splits, I figured that if I kept running, not only would I PR, but I would be in the 4:2X range. At 23 I told myself - Just a 5k. You can suffer for 33 more minutes (because at this point I was running 11 minute miles). I was so close and I wasn't going to allow myself to walk. At mile 24 I started to get excited and picked up the pace a little. At 25 I picked it up even more. I was going to finally have a marathon where I ran every step of the way. When I had the finish line insight, I began running even faster. I was so happy to cross that line and know that I had not only run every step, but had reached a new PR as well.

Nothing. I trained hard, putting in long miles in 100 degree heat this summer. I paced myself fairly well from the beginning, hydrated well, and mentally stayed strong. One thing that helped with that was me mentally planning my facebook post for when I was done. I knew I couldn't post about running the whole thing if I didn't actually do that, and I really wanted to post that. Funny how things motivate you.

The finish area was quite a stretch before you actually got out to where the public was. I walked through the chute, got a mylar blanket in case I got cold, got my medal, and tried to find a place where I could sit for a bit. I bent over to stretch and an EMT asked if I was ok. Yeah, just stretching. I saw everyone with their free beer and thought about one, but the smell got to me at that point and I decided to pass. Finally made my way out of the finisher's chute and sat on a curb for a bit to call the family.


I really enjoyed the race as well as the city. The city of Chicago really supports the race and the crowd support was awesome.