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LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic - RunHalf Marathon


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
70F / 21C
Sunny
Total Time = 2h 51m 55s
Overall Rank = 6725/7279
Age Group = 30
Age Group Rank = 594/683
Pre-race routine:

Got up at 3:30, got ready and headed to downtown Chicago at 4:25. Last weekend I had a triathlon in LaPorte, IN and Damon and baby Nikita came with. Well, apparently, it was a bit much for an 8-month old to be woken up at 4 am and going all day on small naps and no routine. So this time, Damon and Nikita stayed home and I went by myself. I wished I had them there with me to cheer me on, their support means so much, but my mother's heart was happy my little munchkin was snoozing away in his comfortable crib instead of being in a car seat at the crack of dawn. He comes first now :)

I got there and parked right before the sleuth of cars came out of nowhere and formed a huge line to the Grant Park Garage, so I was glad I got there early! I guess almost 10,000 people racing is no joke :)


Event warmup:

A cool story from the weekend: I was picking up my packet yesterday and was asking the volunteers a bunch of questions, they didn't know so they went and got this guy to answer them for me. He did and also gave me a pass to the Penquin VIP Tent for the race day..turns out, the dude's John Bingham-the gentleman who pretty much organized the whole event!! Cool! It was nice to be able to go to the VIP Tent-they had food, drinks, porta-potties and preferred gear check, so no lines for me!

After all that was squared away, I went for about a 7 min jog, stretched and prayed that I make it to the Finish Line. My mind got a little philosophical on me as I was sitting off to the side, stretching and praying... I remembered the feeling before my first Triathlon, those few minutes before the beginning, as you stand in the sand waiting for your wave to be sent off into the water..the feeling was horrible! So much anxiety and fear and just dread. Now, I was sitting there, about 15 minutes before the horn went off, and some kind of sense of importance of the moment came over me. I just sat there and looked over the whole field with team tents, gear check tent and thousands of people getting ready for the race, and there was the glory of the achievement in the air. All these people are going to Start and Finish a Half-Marathon...an event my mind still couldn't quite wrap itself around. I prayed (a lot) that I have the courage to start and the power of will to finish today. When I walked over to the starting line, I didn't feel too anxious...a little, of course, but but I was mostly calm and ready to go when 6:30 came around. And when my mind went into a momentary freak out about running a HALF MARATHON, I told myself it was just going to be a long training session...Hey, it got me to start LOL!
Run
  • 2h 51m 55s
  • 13.1 miles
  • 13m 07s  min/mile
Comments:

My first Half-Marathon is finished!!! I'm so stinking excited! I know my time was slow for a lot of you, but for me, it was very decent. My main goal was to finish it (and not be last), and my second goal was to come in with the 2:45 pace group. I fell a bit short with the timing goal, but I'm still very happy with the fact that I just DID IT! This is a start, and the next Half- Marathon on October 1 will hopefully be a bit faster for me.

The run was tough toward the end. My goal was to finish with the time of 2hrs 45min. There were pacing groups, and I started out with the 2:45 group. They were running 4:2. The beginning of the run was pretty comfortable AND I knew that I would be using the restroom soon, so I wanted to get ahead by a couple of min, so I wouldn't be behind after standing in line. I was mainly running 5:1 (until mile 8-9 when I started going 4:1). I got ahead and at mile two, was 2 minutes ahead of the pace group, but standing in line took close to 5-6 minutes, of course, so it took me a while to catch up to them. When I did the same thing around mile 7, I never really caught up to the pace group... I started to slow down around mile 8 and knew I wasn't running as fast as I did in the beginning.

I was hoping to be able to run negative splits, but didn't get to..once I started slowing down, it was hard to get back up to speed. Oh well. After 10 miles my legs realized that anything past 10 miles was longer than I've ever run, and started whining... We(me and my legs, that is) made it to mile 11, and at that point it hurt more to walk than it did to run. As soon as would slow down to walk, my legs would just ache all over. Also, the inside middle of my right foot (sole) started hurting pretty bad and rolling my foot as I ran didn't help much, anymore. The last half a mile or so I was limping-running, but I made it to the Finish Line!!!!! When I saw the Finish Line and the corridor, I pretty much teared up, but then decided not to fall apart(as well as didn't want some sneaky photographer to catch me in a compromising-looking state hehe) and kept limping dry-eyed (for the most part). Crossing that finish line felt glorious!!! ....and throbbing-my foot was as tight as they come.
What would you do differently?:

1) Need to train with speed and hill workouts for next year.
2) Need to start stregth training to build up my core.

This year, I did not do any speed or hills because of my bad shin splints that I got. Running continuously aggravated it, even when I was running slowly. Running with walk breaks like I have worked wonders for me. Even after covering 10 mile runs, my legs didn't even once bring up shins.. I will try to incorporate some speed workouts this winter and will start strength training as well.
Post race
Warm down:

I was VERY sore after I finished the race. It was hard to get up once I sat down (still is). I went back to the Penguin VIP Tent and had some water, a cup of decaf coffee, a small Clif bar and a banana. Then I saw that they had chilled Starbucks Light Coffee cans, and I had me a couple hehehe Paying for it now, couldn't take a nap at home-too many thoughts racing through my caffeinated mind. I hope the baby sleeps ok tonight after all that caffeine, too.
I took me a long while to walk back to the parking garage-in fact, I thought I walked past it because it was taking so long LOL.. Got home okay and just relaxing now :)

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Not enough core strength to continue to run strong.

Event comments:

Excellent race!!! Drink stations(as well as restrooms) were frequent. Volunteers were friendly and constantly cheered us all on... The event came across as VERY well organized! I will definitely do this race again next year if I'm in town!! Yeah!




Last updated: 2006-08-13 12:00 AM
Running
02:51:55 | 13.1 miles | 13m 07s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/683
Overall: 0/7279
Performance: Good
Course: The course was gorgeous!! We ran through a lot of downtown and by the Lake side the last 5 miles or so. The views were amazing, it was a pleasure running the course. I really wished I had the camera to take some pics!
Keeping cool Average Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 4
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
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] 5

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2006-08-13 3:59 PM

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Subject: LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic


2006-08-13 9:50 PM
in reply to: #510171

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Subject: RE: LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic

Let me be the first to congratulate you.  Way to go good job!!!!!!!!!..  Good race report.  I really like:

 "my mother's heart was happy my little munchkin was snoozing away in his comfortable crib instead of being in a car seat at the crack of dawn. He comes first now "

You should be proud of yourself.  I bet the munchin was happy to see you.  Have a great evening.  Rememeber to ice lots and everthing.  Sleep well, you little runner. 

2006-08-14 10:31 AM
in reply to: #510428

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Subject: RE: LaSalle Bank Chicago Distance Classic

 


Oh Dex, you are so sweet! thank you! I'm pretty sore this morning, but it's to be expected I'm resting today and having to wear a wrap on my right foot, it's still very tight and hurts to walk on it.  Tomorrow, planning to jump back into the training for the October Half.  I will also try to add strength training twice a week and see if that makes a difference in my time.

 

Hey, I know I was slow, but now it will be easy to beat it, right? heheh

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