Random Inspirational Quote

I was Jeff Mitchell in this race - thanks, Jeff!  He gave me his entry and a place to stay Saturday night :).  Went in this planning on making it a training run.  For the most part, I stuck to that plan.  Since Jeff's entry was in Corral L (Wave 2 this year), and on Jeff's advice, I snuck into Corral E in the first Wave (7:30 start, instead of 8:00 am start) 

After mile 1, where I somehow found a clear path along the right side of the street the whole way, it took about 2.5 miles to weave through the crowd and get some good work in.  I kept the pace at what felt like a relaxed pace, but not super easy.  Looking at the splits after the fact I remembered the bottle neck around the half mark where I nearly fell on my face - I was stuck behind a group and had to mount the curb to get around :)   Then, at about mile 23 I came up on the 3:10 pace group (huge group)  It took some energy to fight through and around this group, which finished off whatever I had left in my legs.  From there to the finish I felt tightness in the calves and hammies and took the foot off the gas. 

6:24, 7:09, 7:29, 6:35, 6:50, 6:46, 6:54, 6:43, 6:45, 6:47, 6:44, 6:56, 7:48, 6:39, 6:57, 6:54, 6:51, 7:05, 6:53, 6:48, 6:48, 6:49, 6:48, 6:56, 7:23, 7:52, 3:48 (0.5 mi.)

I wound up running an extra 0.3 mi. with all the weaving and poor curve management.  Ran an extra 0.3 mi.-that's funny to me for some reason :)  All in all, though, mission accomplished today: Great training run - felt relaxed most of the way and really had fun!!  This was my first experience with a race of this magnitude.  I have run plenty of large races - a couple times in the Indy 500 Festival Half Marathon (has 35k people), but nowhere near the crowd support and hoopla involved with this international event.  What a blast - 45000 runners, and an estimated 1.5 million spectators lining the streets of downtown Chicago.  There was non-stop cheering and signs and people everywhere!!  There was literally not a single place along the course that there was not some sort of crowd support.  The aid stations were also top notch - they were very long and simple - gatorade first and water second - I did not miss a station where I wanted either or both.

If I did it again, it would be as a legitimate race (as myself) - extremely flat and fast as advertised.  Weather pending, I think this would be a great place to PR for anybody.

The Kenyan/Ethiopian winner broke the course record.  I was only an hour behind him.

Jake and Fritz - you guys would've run about 2:12 in this race :)

Off/walking - icing and studying for the PE on my day off... 

Took today totally off and iced the legs - I def. over did the "training run" in Chicago on Sunday :)  It feels like I pulled my right groin and my left knee is still acting up.

Slow jog tomorrow if I can.

So, I def. overdid the "training run" Chicago Marathon plan - more so race than, training run... took 2 days off and jogged really easy 3.36 mi. w/ the dog.  Right groin feels extremely tight still, but rest of legs seemed to loosen up once I got going.  Iced everything and hope for the best for rest of week.

Easy 4 miles at Mill Race Park and then 2 miles around the neighborhood - slowly.  Nice fall day.  Bring on the Fall races and cool weather football with pumpkin spice lattes afterwards :)

easy run with strides - 3.3 w/ dog - 25:55, got a bite to eat with plenty of protein and carbs, stretched it out really well, and then another 2 w/ strides - 15:37.  Ice and PE studying the rest of the night.

easy warmup with strides - still felt pretty tight.  Race was 3 laps around 5k course.  There relay teams and a 5k race running concurrently.  

Spent the whole race slowly chipping away at one of the lead pack falling off the too fast pace for the first couple miles.  Stuck to my plan very well - 6:10's, even splits.  I was happy to see that my first mile was right on target, even with the usual foolishness of a few and the consistently faster runners.  I often have made the mistake of chasing these faster guys since I know them so well from the other races.  Hopefully, this will be the start of a smarter racing plan.  Often times, like today, an even more manageable pace turns in to me catching some of these guys near the end.  

That was the case today - 6:08, 6:08, 6:16?, 6:08, 6:09, 6:09, 6:10, 6:08, 6:12, 2:32

Caught the 4th place guy at mile 8, but little did I know that he was some crazy ironman guy...

I pass him, he sticks with me, right behind me and huffing and puffing pretty hard - I admit his breathing threw me off... he blows by me with about 0.2 to go and I don't have the sprint speed to catch him - what a tough runner! :)  I was all out crossing the line and he put about 5 seconds on me! 

 58:00 - PR.  Happiness is now a pumpkin spice latte and some ice for my knees :)