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Chicago Marathon - RunMarathon


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Chicago, Illinois
United States
LeSalle Bank
HOTF / 0C
Sunny
Total Time = 4h 16m 27s
Overall Rank = N/A/N/A
Age Group = 35-40
Age Group Rank = 0/N/A
Run
  • 4h 16m 27s
  • 26.2 miles
  • 09m 47s  min/mile
Comments:

1 0:08:18
2 0:09:27
3 0:09:01
4 0:08:52
5 0:08:18
6 0:08:14
7 0:08:39
8 0:08:36
9 0:09:01
10 0:08:56
11 0:08:56
12 0:08:53
13 0:08:53
14 0:08:53
15 0:08:46
16 0:09:02
17 0:09:07
18 0:12:29
19 0:10:02
20 0:11:06
21 0:11:06
22 0:13:00
23 0:12:42
24 0:10:23
25 0:11:44
26 0:11:34
26.2 0:02:30
TOTAL 4:16:27

This race really kicked my ass. I never though I could be so proud of a 4:17 marathon for my time. Last year I ran above 4 hrs and it was easy...not THIS year!

Think of this analogy. When you wind up a music box it plays just fine until the end where the music notes still play (sound fine) but they play further and further apart until the music ends...

well that started to happen about mile 15 I started to begin to have to dig just a little deeper to continue running at my pace, then by mile 16 I was out of my pace and trying to stay focused but still running relatively OK but digging pretty deep to keep pace. At the 17 mile marker I knew I was using up my last "efforts" to keep pace and as soon as I hit Taylor St ( 17.2 or so) I "gave in" and walked. The music box had stopped.

From 17 to 18 it was a walk, walk, walk, jog a bit, walk walk. I was pooped to say the least. Someone was handing out jolly ranchers and I took one.

Honestly, there was plenty of water at every water station when I got there but the water stations were just TOO far apart for that day. I always got thirsty between stops. By this time of the race I had already taken two endurolytes through the course as well as 3 gels (accel gel with protein). I also popped an Aleve at the start of the race and one more at mile 14 so I was all jacked up on aleve. I tried to drink as much water as I could at each station but my stomach got pretty "full" feeling after 2 cups or so.

From Mile 18 until the end of the race it was an honest to goodness "ironman shuffle" for me except this Ironman shuffle was MUCH more painful than the other real ones I've done. Kelly (kmarzano) was such a good sport running with me. I owe her much gratitude. I was jogging slow as molasses and she was just along for the ride.

I've never had to dig so deep to keep a "slow jog" pace in my life. However, the entire time I was doing the race I really kept tabs on how my body felt. I never lost contact with my body...meaning if I got just the slightest chill I made sure there was a wind blowing or some reason for me being chilled or made sure the chill didn't last because I know that's a danger sign in the heat. I did notice once or twice that my fingertips were tingling as I was walking and when I realized that I noticed I was breathing like I was running...when in fact I didn't need to be breathing that rapidly so I deduced my fingers were tingling because of hyperventilation...and what do you know...as soon as I did my deep "yoga" breaths to slow down my breathing the tingling went away.

I didn't feel nauseous or dizzy EVER during the race but kept cognizant of that because if I did I would have sat down and placed my head between my legs or something...I know dizzy and nauseousness are other "bad" signs in the heat.

My legs just couldn't move quickly and when I was running a 10:30min/mile it was HARD WORK. Like my damn mitochondria went on strike.

The remainder of the race I kept telling myself that this is VERY good mental training so I keep jogging for as long as I could between each walk segment. I kept telling Kelly how "fucking hard" this race was but not sure if she really knew I meant it was "fucking hard". (ha ha ha)

I can honestly say this was the most difficult physical and mental thing I had to complete. Although this may be tied with the 4 hour ride I had to do on open saddle sores the day after a 6 hour ride while training for IMWI 05 (don't know if you guys remember that or not). The pain was so severe from the saddle sores on that 4 hour ride that it gave me spurts of migraine headaches during the ride...completely unbearable pain. Good thing bike shorts are black because if I was wearing white bike shorts they would have been RED from all the blood by the time I got finished with the ride. YUK!

Anyway, once I knew the 3:50 marathon was out of reach, I wanted to shoot for sub 4:00hr but knew that wasn't going to happen by mile 20, then I wanted to shoot for trying to run as much as I could while digging deep.

Then closer to the finish line I wanted to hit sub 4:15 but there was NO way I could have gone any faster and ended up at 4:16. I definitely gave this race 100% effort that's for certain.

When I crossed the finish line I stopped and felt a little dizziness and nausea come on so I stood for a second in the finish line banner's shade...there was a medical tent guy that asked me if I was ok and since it wasn't getting worse and was only very slight I said I was ok.

I knew I was spent because I was CRAVING sweets at the finish line. Hell, I wanted an orange at mile 19 and couldn't find one...just saw hundreds of orange peels on the ground.

I almost got into a fight with a volunteer in the finish line chute (ask Kelly about that) because he was going to make me walk around the long way to exit the finish shoot. I told him to fuck off and pushed him pretty hard (poor guy)...he pissed me off. I was feeling like shit so I was easily pissed off at that time.

So that's my full race report. I hope it didn't bore you.
What would you do differently?:

Bring my water bottle belt with me and fill them up at each station because I wanted a drink BETWEEN each station at this race.
Post race



Last updated: 2006-10-23 12:00 AM
Running
04:16:27 | 26.2 miles | 09m 47s  min/mile
Age Group: 0/N/A
Overall: 0/N/A
Performance: Average
[1] 0:08:18 [2] 0:09:27 [3] 0:09:01 [4] 0:08:52 [5] 0:08:18 [6] 0:08:14 [7] 0:08:39 [8] 0:08:36 [9] 0:09:01 [10] 0:08:56 [11] 0:08:56 [12] 0:08:53 [13] 0:08:53 [14] 0:08:53 [15] 0:08:46 [16] 0:09:02 [17] 0:09:07 [18] 0:12:29 [19] 0:10:02 [20] 0:11:06 [21] 0:11:06 [22] 0:13:00 [23] 0:12:42 [24] 0:10:23 [25] 0:11:44 [26] 0:11:34 [26.2] 0:02:30 TOTAL 4:16:27
Course:
Keeping cool Average Drinking Not enough
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5]
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge
Organized?
Events on-time?
Lots of volunteers?
Plenty of drinks?
Post race activities:
Race evaluation [1-5]

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2007-10-09 12:38 PM

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