I have so much to say about my Chicago experience, all the things I did in the city, details on the race and how it felt post 26.2 I won’t drive you crazy with all the details and will attempt to keep this brief. Here we go…
Pre-Race
I signed up for the Chicago marathon many months ago with my friend Noa, a seasoned marathoner. She had two friends going (I had hung out with them once or twice prior to the trip) so we all planned to share a room and experience the Chicago marathon weekend together. It’s always an adventure traveling with new people & I can happily report this was 100% a positive experience!
We stayed at the Intercontinental on Michigan Ave, a convenient 15 minute walk from the race start and nicely located in the heart of the city.
I arrived in Chicago bright and early on Friday AM and hit the expo. Because of a work lunch that day I had to race through the expo. It was HUGE and I wish I could have spent hours there but kept it to a quick 45 minutes. If you’re going to the Chicago expo, build in enough time! So many booths, giveaways and branded gear I wish I could have checked out.
Dinner on Friday was at Doc B’s, a casual spot near our hotel (we wanted to keep walking to a minimum throughout the weekend). It was delish, I highly recommend the sweet potato chips & guac app, yum.
Saturday the four of us gathered for a quick 25 minute shake out run. We ran along the water and to Navy Pier, then walked back to the hotel. This run was simply to get our legs moving and prepped for Sunday.
[on our shakeout]
We then had brunch at Wildberry Pancakes, another seriously tasty meal. I met up with a friend Saturday, walked around the city, prepped my gear, bought new socks and relaxed.
[shared pumpkin pancakes, a no brainer]
[even though it’s just a run, lots of gear is required]
[flowers from MM!]
That night we went for a typical pre-race meal, Italian at Volare. I got my standard spaghetti with tomato sauce and grilled chicken. After dinner we loaded up on bottled water, I grabbed an ice coffee (to keep in our fridge for race morning) and we went back to the hotel to discuss our game plan.
The girls I traveled with had much more of a game plan than me. They had maps of the course, studied where water stops would be, figured out what pace to do each mile at, that sort of thing. Me? Well I figured I’d go out there, I’d start running and I’d stop once I hit the finish line. Seeing their race prep made me want a little more structure so Noa popped my goal time into a handy chart and told me to reach my sub 4 goal I should do the first 10 miles at a 9:12 pace, the next 8 at a 9:07 pace and the final 8 at a 9:02 pace. Realizing these numbers, I got a bit nervous and thought that sub 4 was an unlikely dream. I know I’m fit and can run a good pace but thinking back over my last 8 weeks of training, I didn’t run a single run at a 9:12 pace, let alone a 9:02 pace. My training was pretty uninspired and most runs crept up to the high 9’s, slower than I’m used to.
Instead of freaking out, I told myself that I should just go for it. Pacing to such specific numbers seemed unlikely. Sure I had my GPS watch but I’ve never been that confident about holding specific paces, I just sort of go out and run. I continually told myself that I could do a sub 4. It might hurt and I might want to quit, but I could do it. In many recent races I’ve crossed the finish line and wasn’t that tired. I know that sounds terrible but it’s true! After my half ironman I found my family and said “it wasn’t that hard.” Um, something is wrong with that. Clearly I wasn’t pushing hard enough because a 6+ hour race should feel hard! Thinking back to my NYC marathon two years ago, THAT felt hard, but I don’t know that I really pushed past my perceived limit.
All of this is to say, I decided for the race I’d really go for it. I’d start at the slower pace and continually try to drop seconds, hoping to feel strong by the end. I’ve heard you run the first 10 miles with your head, the next 8 miles with your legs and the final 8.2 with your heart. I reminded myself about this constantly before and during the race.
We went to bed early with our alarms set for 5am. I typically have a terrible nights sleep prior to a race, mostly because I’m scared I won’t wake up on time. Being in a room with 3 racers led me to sleep really soundly, knowing there was no way I’d wake up late.
Race morning
At 5:15 I got up, ate a banana, drank some iced coffee, braided my hair, suited up and at 6am we left the hotel headed for the start. On the way I ate my pre-race power bar.
[beautiful walk to the starting line]
Once through security we hit the bathroom line (which was long, why is it always so long??), and scrambled to get to our corral before it closed. We made it with about 3 minutes to spare. We had only a bit of time to stand around before it was time to lose layers (it was chilly in the AM but the high for the day was mid 70s and by 7:30am it was already warming up). Everyone was freaking out about the high temps but it wasn’t so bad. It could be so much worse, it could rain, be freezing, etc. Being a little warm was fine by me. By 7:45am we were off!
The Race
I ran the first 10 miles with Becca, one of the girls in my group. My GPS watch was doing a terrible job with the signal. Miles weren’t matching up and my pace wavered from 3 minute miles to 11 minute miles. It was hard to keep track but I focused on how I felt. I didn’t want to go out too hard and lose my power so I kept it steady. It was so great running with Becca because knowing she was next to me kept my pace in line. I started with both headphones in so I could hear my playlist but after about a mile Becca turned to me and was like “um can you even hear the crowds? They keep calling your name and yelling Go Blue.” I couldn’t hear them at all! I switched to one headphone in and one out so I could balance the music and the crazy cheering crowds. A highlight was when one of the bands along the course sang my name as part of the song when I ran by.
I felt really good through 10 miles and kept reminding myself that I was running a marathon. It didn’t feel real. Knowing the weather would be warm, I grabbed water at every stop and also Gatorade at most. Unless it was a time for Gu (miles 6, 12, 18), I grabbed Gatorade followed by water (you shouldn’t mix Gu and Gatorade close to each other).
At mile 10 Becca and I split off (which was our plan). I decided to pick up my pace slightly because I was still feeling good. As good as I felt, I kept reminding myself that they say the race doesn’t really start until mile 20. Even if you feel like a million bucks at mile 18, at any moment you might start to fall apart (which is a scary thought!).
At my 20 I was still feeling pretty good! I have very tight calves that I get nervous about and while they were tight, it wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past. Other than that, I didn’t have any pains. At 20 I told myself it was just one loop of Central Park left (a typical run for me). I forced myself to pick up the pace even more because hello, this is a marathon! I didn’t want to finish and think it wasn’t that hard.
With 3 miles to go, I realized my sub-4 goal was going to be a reality. I’m bad at math but knew I had more than 30 minutes until I’d hit 4 hours so as long as I kept a 10 minute pace or faster I’d be golden. With those 3 miles, I pushed even harder. I know marathons are hard and people were suffering but dammit, I felt awesome! I smiled at the cameras, waved at people who cheered for me, pumped my fists in the air whenever anyone yelled “Go Blue” at me. I felt good!
Finally the finish line was in my sights and I had enough energy to full out sprint for it! I finished with a huge smile because not only did I hit my sub 4 goal, I beat it by quite a bit with a 3:55:33!
Post Race
About 2 seconds after I crossed the finish, MM called met o ask about the race. I chatted with him as I grabbed my medal then headed straight for a massage tent. While getting a massage, friends were texting me congrats. My friend Brittany, a seasoned racer wrote “I can’t get over how even your 5k splits were. Were you looking at your watch a lot or is that a coincidence?” I didn’t even know what she was talking about. Then I checked my splits and was amazed at how evenly I kept them, gradually dropping a few seconds every 5k. I was quite impressed with myself, despite having no idea I was keeping such a solid pace during the race.
After my massage I met up with my friends (all marathon finishers!) and we walked away from the race and to brunch at Yolk. I used the rest of Sunday to buy some marathon gear at the Nike store, buy candy at Dylan’s (next to our hotel, how perfect), pack up my bags and head back to NYC. While it was hard to jump on a flight the same day as a marathon, I was grateful to wakeup in my bed because the soreness was no joke.
Overall Feelings
All in all, as you might have guessed, I loved the experience. Traveling to Chicago with new friends was a fun experience, having time to explore but also relax in the city was nice and the marathon was just as good as people had told me. Anyone who has done Chicago has raved about it, and not just because it’s a flat race. The crowd support is amazing, the course is pretty and the atmosphere is great.
Now lets talk about my feelings after the race. This was only my second marathon, my first was NYC in 2013. My goal in 2013 was sub 4 and I finished in 4:07:59. I was by no means upset with that time, I raced a tough course and was proud of myself. At the same time, I knew another marathon was in my future because I wanted that sub 4. I am SO happy that I got it. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders; I don’t like to set goals and not reach them. Also, after NYC I felt horrible, that race really broke me down, but after this one I feel confident I could do another marathon (tbd on when/where/if). Comparing Chicago to NYC, NYC was more exciting to me because it was my first marathon and it was on my home turf. I had family and friends cheering for me all over the course and had crazy adrenaline. I definitely loved Chicago but if you asked me which course was more exciting, I’d say NYC.
I entered into this race with wavering confidence. I only ran about once a week as training, not a recommended training plan! I did all my long runs and skipped nearly every other run. Mentally i wasn’t expecting to hit my goal. Not only did I skip most training runs, the runs I did were way slower than they were when I trained for NYC. I used to do all runs at a sub 9 pace and this training period I didn’t do a single run under 9 minutes. I think I was tired from the half ironman and overall not very motivated. Something came over me on race day because my average pace was an 8:59.
This marathon taught me mind over matter. Thanks to the girls I was traveling with, my head really got into the race. They kept telling me I’d definitely get a sub 4 and eventually i started to believe them. I told myself it was possible and I could do it. And I did!
Oh and while I say I felt great after the race, let me tell you, I am SUPER sore still.
So what’s next? I’m taking a break people! I did a lot of big races this year (triathlon, half ironman, marathon) and I am excited to simply workout, try new classes and be a little more free with my schedule. Marathon training, as little as I did of it, still exhausted me. Long weekend runs are a killer and the mental space that was taken up by half ironman and marathon prep was becoming a lot. I’m looking forward to not having a training plan, not having a big race freaking me out and I’m excited to workout with friends and not worry about workouts making me too sore for training.
I’ll do more races next year (actually I’m already signed up for one- Seawheeze half marathon in August) but I’m planning to take a nice long break.
And that my friends, is my marathon recap! Thank you cheering me on in my racing endeavors, your support means so much to me!
