Robin and Nancy Run Chicago, 'The Windy City'

If you have never run a big city marathon then maybe Chicago is one to consider? For some it is fun to be part of one giant moving party for 26.2 miles. On the day, it wasn’t for me as I didn’t have the best experience but Nancy certainly enjoyed it. The Chicago Marathon course is noted as being interesting and beautiful to run. Unlike some other marathons, where they put you on the boring expressway most of the way, the Chicago route makes its way around the city to Lincoln Park, through downtown, little Italy, Chinatown, a Hispanic district, and some old historic areas with beautiful neat houses on both sides of the street! There is also an estimated one million spectators that line the streets of the entire course to cheer you along the way.... This sort of encouragement I would definitely need.

I was hoping to run a 3 hours and 30 minute race, but I fell a fair bit short of this, finishing the marathon distance in 3:58:08. I have many excuses why I didn’t hit my target but since I didn't adequately train for this race, I should be happy with my effort, and I am.

Saturday morning Nancy and I arrived in Chicago, checked into our hotel and set out to pick up our race packets from the McCormick Place exhibition center. By the looks of the crowds at the expo, it was probably a good idea that we did this earlier, rather than later. There were throngs of people. We picked up our goodie-bags, t-shirts, freebies and then proceeded to make our way around the rest of the expo hall. It was a runner's heaven, that's for sure – pretty much what you would expect for a big city marathon. The rest of the day was spent relaxing back at the hotel, a last chance at Carbo-loading with a meal out with friends before an early night in order to feel adequately rested for the following day.
 

Race morning came around all too soon; I was surprisingly calm until watching the weather report on Ch. 5. I then started to get worried. The weather conditions were a bit short of perfect (50 degrees Fahrenheit is considered ideal) the temperature was in the high 30s and it was pretty windy, with gusts up to 20 miles per hours, therefore wind chill would be around 30 degrees (Chicago is known as the windy city after all). I bundled up and Nancy and I left our hotel, met our friends who were also running and made our way to the starting area located in Grant Park. The weather didn’t actually feel that bad, except for when the wind would pick up, we chuckled amongst ourselves that at least it wasn’t raining or worse, snowing.

We were at the start very early so we hung out in the Marathon merchandise tent for a while to keep warm before heading to the start an hour later. Unfortunately neither I nor Nancy had read the race instructions prior to the race, if we had; we would have known that we had qualified for the preferred start. Instead, we had to line up on the mass start! (Note to ourselves..... Read the bloody race instructions in future). This actually wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated for after 2 minutes, we crossed the start line.

I was determined to start off slow. Something I have never done in my previous marathons with the exception of Davos but that’s another story. I never heard the starting gun sound but the masses started moving around 8am, the official time for the race start. Immediately after crossing the start line I needed the bathroom so I had to make a quick stop, Nancy ran on ahead and I never saw her again until after the race. ‘She’s a rocket is my Nancy’ and she always amazes me at how well she can perform in races, especially considering the amount she is able to actually train at this time of year due to her very long working hours.

The first two miles past by very quickly, I even managed to miss the first mile marker so I had no idea what pace I was running, but it felt fairly easy and well within my capabilities. This was not to last though (yet again I had set off too fast) and by mile four, I was really starting to feel it, something was definitely wrong, I was keeping a solid 8 min/mile pace but I felt terrible. I don’t know if it was a combination of the cold wind and my fitness levels, or whether I was just not fully rested going into the race. I had run an 18 mile race a few weeks prior to Chicago and managed to keep at 8 min/mile with no problems so I really didn’t expect to struggle so early on, but here I was feeling a little sick, with my legs freezing cold and cramping. I would have thought that at least my legs would have warmed up by this point. I was really not enjoying myself!

Although not feeling good or having a great experience, mile after mile went by pretty fast. The next thing I knew I was half way done! I knew I started out way too fast because at about 3mi, I looked to the right and saw the 3:15 pace bunny go by. At half way I was still moving along ok despite the way I felt, however this would not last. I took the decision to slow down as I knew today would not be the day for personal best, one after another for the remainder of the race I would see those pace bunnies pass by 3:30...3:40...3:45.....3:50.

I continued on at a slower pace, but shortly after half way my legs started giving me big problems. My hamstrings still had not warmed up (I wish I'd brought tights to wear) and my quads were starting to get tight. I tried to hang on as long as I could but it got painful.  I took a little longer through one water station and then stopped to stretch after the next in the hopes it would help. It didn’t!!

I tried to keep moving but unfortunately was not moving very fast, I felt every step. By mile 15 I was stopping and walking most of the water stations. By mile 20, I was really hurting and hobbling, but still mostly running! I remember seeing a huge sign of a brick wall at mile 20. I just looked at it and laughed. There was no wall for me, yet, but I was very close and I really needed the bathroom again. I made a quick bathroom stop at Starbucks (the thought of using one of the races Porto-john’s was not appealing) I thought about getting a Latte whilst there but then decided against it. Surprisingly I felt pretty good after my bathroom stop and managed to pick up my pace again for the next few miles but then came the dreaded wall..... I did everything I could think of to keep myself going. Nothing was working. I started to walk a little, run a little. I just tried to keep going....one foot in front of the other. I have to admit, mile 24 was mentally the most difficult, I'm not sure why. I just kept on going, though. A quote of the famous coach Hal Higdons which came to mind helped some - "Even when you have gone as far as you can, and everything hurts, and you are staring at the specter of self-doubt, you can find a bit more strength deep inside you, if you look closely enough." I also reminded myself that this was what I had trained for (if it was a training run, I would have stopped long ago).

By now I could now see the 40K sign in the distance and the 25 mile sign right behind it, one mile then 800 meters, then 400 meters to go. It took everything I had left as I ran up the "hill" on Roosevelt; I turned the final corner and crossed the finish. Luckily I didn’t fall like the race winner.  There is still nothing like finishing a marathon!

After finishing I received my medal and foil blanket. The foil blanket wasn't really helping, since it didn't cover my legs which were what really required the warmth. Then there was the post race nutrition - Why in the world would Whole Foods want to serve me an un-toasted, plain, organic English muffin (which do not even exist in England I may add) and actually think I would be "refreshed" by that after 26.2 miles of running?" Where were the bagels and muffins? Anyway, I did get a whole container of fig bars, which were actually pretty good and gave be just enough energy to remain vertical.

After gathering my belongings from the gear-check tent, I reunited with Nancy to find that she had had a much better race experience than I had. She had another stormer running 3:24, not a p.b. for her but close and considering the weather, it was an excellent time.

Overall, I am kind of disappointed with my 9th marathon.  I know finishing is an accomplishment in and of itself, and I am proud to say I am a 9x marathon finisher.  It's just disappointing to have had such an un-enjoyable experience and have my legs cramp up like that, especially in the second half of the race.  But it was a good learning experience- if it's ever cold like that again, I'll make sure to pack my running (not fishnet) tights and wear them.  I think having my legs wrapped would've helped. This marathon also really did fly by- I don't really remember anything much of what was around me, but I do remember that I saw another great sign that said something about toenails being for wusses.

That’s my racing over with now until next year. 2007 is going to be a big year with Ironman Switzerland in the summer. I will run the NYC marathon next November as marathon number 10. Hopefully, I will be in better shape for that one!!