Belated Chicago Race Report (oops - a bit long...)

Chicago ....It's my kind of town!

Definitely a good news/bad news sort of a race.

First, a selected good news bit:

I ran my first ever negative split - by 12 minutes!

So, we got to Chicago on Saturday morning, hooked up with some friends and drove the course. What a wacky town. The subway is in the air, half the streets are on two levels, a ton of one-way streets and hidden dead ends. All of that is to say we didn't drive the exact course, we drove in the general vicinity. And it took 2 hours to drive it! That scares you a bit. Had a great pasta lunch at approx mile 16.

Went to the expo in the afternoon. A good event, tons of stuff, didn't buy anything but did elbow everyone away from the Goose Creek Brewery which was handing out tiny little sample glasses of their most excellent beers. I had about 30 before they kicked me out.

Our friends went to the pasta dinner. We tried to get last minute tickets, but it was sold out.. They have only one sitting, and it is for 2000 and the tickets were all gone. So we checked into our hotel in the Lincoln Park area (which I thought might be semi-trendy, but it seemed semi-desolate) and walked around in the rain looking for a good Italian restaurant for a final pasta load. Saw a sign for Cesar's Restaurant and ran there. Turned out to be Mexican (was there not some famous Italian named Cesar?), but we stayed and had excellent dins and beers. Nacho chips, guacamole, beer, rice. Back to the hotel to pack and organize for the morning.

Got up at 5:45 to get to the start. Met a couple on the elevator and agreed to split a cab to the start. Got to the start at 6:30ish. Lots of time. Walked backwards through the starting corrals - they were pretty empty. Looked for the Gear Storage Tent - it was supposed to be marked with yellow weather balloons. Eventually found it, with a single dusty orange balloon about 4 feet above the roof. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a bottleneck between two fences to get to the gear check area. There was a gap about 20 feet wide, and about 50 feet long where most of the 32,000 racers were all trying to get through to the gear check tent, and then get out again. I had gotten changed into singlet, shorts and excellent $5 disposable tyvek jacket while still in the starting corrals. It took a good half hour to get through the bottleneck. I left via the opposite side which was completely open and went back to the starting corrals.

They were now packed! I elbowed my way up into the 9 - 10:00 min/mile crowd and the gun went off. It took almost 10 minutes to walk to the start, but immediately after crossing the start we were able to start running. I was beside a guy from NZ, living in London. It was his second marathon - his first was about 8 yrs ago. I asked him why he didn't run the London 'thon since it was supposed to be very good, but he said he needed the commitment of a plane ticket across the ocean to keep him motivated. I can relate. Anyways, it was still pretty cold at the start so I kept the cheap jacket on, and we got to the first mile at 9:42. Yikes - that's a bit slow, but comfortable. Missed the second mile marker, but caught the third - 19:53 for the two miles or a 9:56 pace! There were a ton of people around and not much chance to pass. Missed the 4th marker and the next two went by in 17:51 - now we're cooking at a 8:56 pace. Ran the 6th in 9:12 and said goodbye to my buddy. I started to move faster, but missed the next two markers so ran 3 miles in 25:26 or a 8:29 pace. Around this time I caught up to a guy in a black and white cow suit. What do spectators say to a guy like that? 'Go Cow!!'.

Started to get a bit easier to move, and ran miles 10 and 11 in 16:36 or 8:18 pace. Mile 12 was 8:12, and 13 was 8:07. Passed the halfway point feeling great (had completely given up on time goals and was just enjoying the scenery and the people) and decided to pick it up in the back half. Still in my throw-away jacket as the temp really changed depending on whether or not you were in the sun or the shade, and the direction of the wind. This course has a LOT of turns on it. I ended up taking the jacket off at mile 20, but didn't throw it away, just tied it on in case it got cold again. And I am cheap.

The second half went something like this: 14 8:05 15 8:05 16 7:52 17 8:02 18 8:13 19 7:48 20 7:54 21 7:44 22 7:44 23 7:59 24 8:01* 25 7:53 26 7:43 26.2 1:29

* this mile had a delay - a couple of spectators with a beautiful 6 month old bulldog. I had to stop and say hello - our bully (Daisy) was in the kennel for the weekend and I missed her terribly.

So, while I picked it up a bit, none of it got up to a 7:30 pace (my optimistic goal) or anything even close. I did pass a ton of people. You could buy a 2nd bib with your predicted finish time on it. People would wear these on their backs. I spent my time trying to catch the 3:55, then 3:45 groups. Finally caught some 3:30ers. Made the final turn north for the last two miles and started to work harder. There was a head wind, and part of the course goes under a convention center in a bit of a tunnel for a couple of hundred meters. Got to the end feeling great, and moved very quickly through the chip removal, bagels and mylar blanket sections. Then I saw a woman with a beer. Followed my nose to the Goose Island Brewery table where they were giving out full glasses of beer. 'Pinch me!' I said. What a great way to finish a race.

Then had to fight my way back to the baggage tent. Same situation with people going both ways through the bottleneck, but this time there were spectators too! Got through and met my wife and son there. Figured our friends would have given up on this mess and started to walk towards their hotel. Tried to call them, but all cell lines were busy. Eventually they called me. They were still waiting in the 'H' section of the family reunite part of the park. Bob had had an excellent race - not a PB, but still sub-3 so he was quite happy. We ended up meeting in their hotel, having a shower and grabbing a bite to eat at a Cajun place. No pasta, just beer and red beans! Then off to the Art Institute, and our friends headed off to the airport. We went back to our place and found a good Italian restaurant nearby, pigged out, went back to the hotel and passed out. Spent Monday and Tuesday doing architecture tours of Chicago, then drove home.

Very little soreness or pain. I have NEVER felt half this good after a 'thon. No problem walking down stairs, almost no sore muscles. The balls of my feet are aware that they were used. There is a lesson in this somewhere (like don't race - it makes you sore). I am convinced that I could run Toronto CIM faster this week. But I won't. But I just might run the half. If not, I'll be volunteering at the water station put on by Marathon Dynamics Running Club (shameless plug).

So what was good about it? A fast flat course as promised, but a LOT of people on it. Good crowds, nearly as good as Boston. Very deep at a lot of places, but the last 2 miles are almost empty until the final few hundred meters! So would I go back? Sure, but I'd fight for a better starting place, or at least know the secret to getting your baggage stowed without the hassle.

Well, I thought I might just pack it in after Chicago. That would make a nice even 10 'thons. However, there is a bit of a bitter taste left from not running competitively (personally, not in a podium sort of sense!). So, I'm pretty fired up about running a LOT better before retiring. So Boston is very much back in the plans. It would be excellent to actually meet up for a beer or two this time.

I just checked the doubletree site. Unless I've got it wrong, rooms are now $240. What is up with that? Hmmm.... Perhaps we'll use the tent.

Where are you in your training. I confess I have not been reading the weekly training logs lately. I've not been training very well, and I've become addicted to golf of all things.

All you had to do to get one of those 'time' bibs was to tell them what your bib number. It didn't cost any extra at all.

Me, I wore a 6:00 on my back and still plan to post my Chicago Marathon report, I hope. I'd like to get my finisher's photo so I can add it to the other 84 photos I took up there.

Since my digital camera has a clock in it, I have already found out that not all the 'split' clocks were started at the same time. Some were two seconds slower than the others.

I remember a tail wind after the convention center. I was thinking why are people walking with this much wind at our backs. I wonder if it changed later in the race because I've heard others say about the same thing you did.

I managed to get there about 4:20am and found 4 empty parking stalls less than 2 blocks from the start. At the same time I went for one of them, someone else took one also. In less than 10 minutes the two stalls in front of me were also taken.

I was so close to the 'baggage area', I didn't need their 'baggage area' and things worked just fine.

Thanks for the report David.