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Chicago Half Marathon - Run


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
70F / 21C
Overcast
Total Time = 1h 58m 3s
Overall Rank = 2011/7132
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 95/634
Pre-race routine:

Bagel a little over 2 hours before, and then relaxed while Marcie drove us to the race.
Event warmup:

Did a little stretching as I was waiting for the gun to go off, mostly just gabbed with Marcie, though. But as I've said before -- I'm running enough already, why run more just to warm up??
Run
  • 1h 58m 3s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 09m 01s  min/mile
Comments:

Probably a bad lesson to have learned... after almost a month and a half of very little running, I was able to go out there and shave over 20 seconds off my previous best. :) Of course, this one HURT a lot more than the other ones. I was cruising along until just before 9 miles. After that, it was a struggle to keep pace. Despite this, I managed a slight negative split -- first half of the race was 59:36, second half 58:27.

Other than that, pretty good run. MP3 player was pretty much dead from the start (and I put a new battery in it last night!), but I luckily saw Marcie around mile 4 and was able to make my way to the sideline to hand it off to her. If I couldn't listen to music at least I didn't want to have to carry it!

Was pretty humid when I started, but some rain moved through and cooled things off. Luckily, it never rained too hard, either -- just enough for it to be refreshing out there on the course. Pretty good conditions for turning in a good time.
What would you do differently?:

Actually do a little training other than one long run beforehand. Blisters from my hiking trip were still bothering me, and I completely forgot to Body Glide them beforehand -- they were really annoying by the last 4-5 miles of the run.
Post race
Warm down:

Found Marcie and watched for her friends to finish. Stretched a bit. Went home and then went out for breakfast/lunch (my favorite part!).

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of training. Blisters. Tight quads at the end.

Event comments:

Race was well organized. Expo was pretty good. Tons of volunteers everywhere and while I would have liked one more water station on the Lake Shore Drive portion of the run, that's me quibbling. Post-race food, on the other hand -- banana, apple, bag of pretzels and gatorade. For such a big race, you'd think there'd be more.




Last updated: 2005-03-01 12:00 AM
Running
01:58:03 | 13.1 miles | 09m 01s  min/mile
Age Group: 95/634
Overall: 2011/7132
Performance: Good
Missed the mile marker twice... The clocks weren't up high enough for us short people who were stuck in the crowd, and the banners they had with the mile on them were hard to read since for the first part of the race there was no wind to make them visible. 18:34 (171) - 9:12 (179) - 17:50 (182) - 8:45 (184) - 9:04 (182) - 9:33 (182) - 8:58 (180) - 8:58 (183) - 8:51 (184) - 9:04 (185) - 9:07 (193)
Course: Mostly flat. Wound around University of Chicago and Jackson golf course, then up and back on Lake Shore Drive for 7 miles of the race before coming back through the neighborhoods for the final 2.5 miles.
Keeping cool Good 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 Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5] 4

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2005-09-25 2:11 PM

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Master
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Southwest Chicago 'burbs
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Subject: Chicago Half Marathon


2005-09-25 2:28 PM
in reply to: #253092

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Expert
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Wilmington, NC
Subject: RE: Chicago Half Marathon
Nice job! huh, 1 month of rest and a faster time?!?!

You're my hero!!!!
2005-09-25 2:42 PM
in reply to: #253092

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Elite
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Subject: RE: Chicago Half Marathon

Nice job!  I love running in Chicago...my favorite city.

-Michael

2005-09-25 6:13 PM
in reply to: #253099

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Veteran
291
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Seattle, WA
Subject: RE: Chicago Half Marathon
Great job! I'd love to do this race someday...I grew up in Chicago and my family is still there.
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