It was a perfect day for a run! On Sunday, I waited at the starting line of my 3rd Chicago Marathon (Ran my first Chicago Marathon with Ross in 2000 and then again in 2006).
Race Stats: Finish Time = 3:15:32.
Personal Best Marathon Time by 2 minutes. (30 minute course personal
best).
70 out of 2953 in
my Age Group
331 out of 18389 women
2478 out of 40567 overall
Overall I'm happy with my results - taking 2 minutes off my best marathon time after just finishing IM Wisconsin about a month ago. I haven't done much marathon pace work since last May. I've thrown in a few track workouts and shorter tempo runs here and there but nothing of significant distance at marathon pace (7:15ish). Honestly, I was hoping to run somewhere around a 3:12. My coach wanted me to start out a little slower - 7:20 pace and then pick it up at the half-marathon point to a 7:15 pace. I have never been able to negative split a race so I knew it would be a challenge. I've been the steady pace master for so many years, right Mom? :) I started to struggle around mile 17 - I had a couple of 7:30ish splits but kept trying to tell myself not to give up. I managed to gather myself for a couple miles but found myself struggling again @ mile 22-23. After that I knew I had just 2 miles to go and I managed to pick up the pace to finish strong. My splits weren't as even this marathon as they had been in NY last fall but overall it was a pretty good race. I'm running the Monumental Marathon in Indianapolis on November 1st so I'm hoping for a little more even pacing there.
My pacing during the first 3 miles was a little fast and I think that hurt me a bit in the end - ugh! My Garmin was not able to pick up a consistent signal and so my pacing was up and down --- well that and trying to maneuver around thousands of people didn't help the pacing. I felt pretty good overall during the race and my strategy was to take it one mile at a time - trying to focus only on the mile that I'm running and not worry about what I have left or what I have done. That seemed to work until about the half-way point where I started to do the math --- thinking at that point that the 3:12 was going to be tough to make with the way I was feeling. My mantra at this point was "Don't give up" I kept repeating this over and over in my head. I wanted my racing self to honor my training self - I had worked so hard all summer and didn't want that to slip away in the last few miles. At mile 20 I started doing some more math in my head --- realistically at that point, I knew that 3:15 was probably going to be closer to my finish time. I kept telling myself "this is 3 hours of running - you just competed for 11:51 minutes a month ago" - this worked for a while but I still had those thoughts in my head about how tired I was --- my quads were burning for some reason ---- I don't know why - it wasn't a hilly course AT ALL! I took in more calories that I ever have during a marathon - I took in 200 calories of shot blocks and the plan was to take 4 Hammer Gels during the race. I could only get in 3 gels - ugh! I hate gels! But I knew as soon as I took the Gels, I would feel a lift in my energy (and I did notice a significant difference). I stopped 3 times to refill a couple of my fuel belt bottles with water - I knew I was getting dehydrated - it was sunny and no humidity on race day. I found myself looking for water every half-mile instead of every mile when I normally take in water.
During the race, I found myself looking for the "Last Chance Trash Signs" (These are signs found on Ironman courses because there are penalties for throwing trash on the road) Later, as I reflected on the day, I found myself at a CROSSROAD...... I absolutely LOVE running --- probably more than anything --- it's my morning coffee, my stress reliever, my go-to sport for the last 23 years..... the list could go on and on about why I LOVE running ------- but I feel like I have a new found love and that's the multi-sport world. As I set up my things for IM Wisconsin last month in transition at 5am before the sun even rose ---- wondering if I had my bike shoes, my helmet, my sunglasses, my wetsuit, my bike nutrition was in the right spot, my tires pumped up just right, my run nutrition all set, my running visor, my goggles..... the list goes on and on ---- I said to myself "I can't wait to run in the Chicago Marathon next month where I can walk up to the start with my running gear on and just RUN" But on Sunday, I found myself missing all that tri-race morning chaos---- my obsessive-self checking and double-checking that I have everything in just the right transition bag and my bike set up just right --- a little part of me was craving that on Sunday before the marathon. Looking for "last chance trash drops" when I had a gel wrapper to throw away --- finding myself stuffing the wrapper in my tank top until I could find a trash can --- strange I know! But a tri-suit has lots of handy pockets! and the spandex on the tri shorts comes in handy when you need to store something (and thank you SOAS for making such a beautiful tri-kit!!) :) I ran with my iPod on Sunday but after a while, I found it annoying --- I missed the quietness of only my thoughts on the bike and the thumping of my feet on the run. Strangely, I missed the thrashing and bashing of arms, legs, and toenails during the swim --- I found myself "swimming" through runners at the start instead. It all seems kind of strange to me because when I get my workouts from my coach now, the first thing I look for is "how long will I get to run this week and what will be my paces?" I don't look at the time I'll spend on the bike or how much swimming I'll need to do - it's the run I look forward to --- and when I just have a swim or a long set on the bike and a short run --- I find myself CRAVING that run! But on Sunday, I found myself looking forward to that next swim, bike, and brick run.
On Sunday, I was fortunate enough to qualify for Boston 2016 with a 30 minute time buffer which also means that I'll be able to run Boston with Ross for 2 years in a row!!!! (2015 and 2016!) I am very happy about that. A little part of me wants to see how low I can get my marathon time --- but another part of me knows that if I want to keep doing this stuff long-term, I need variety --- the variety of swim, bike, run. I wish I could put in full-time work on my marathon AND keep working on my triathlon training but I know that's not possible. It's time to start working on my biking for the winter.
I didn't
carry my phone before or during the race so I don't have many running
photos other than the 2 my sis-in-law took but I have a bunch of photos from the expo.
50 stations for runners to pick up their packets!
Dean Karnazes - ultramarathoner
the marathon route
Abbott is sponsoring the World Marathon Majors now --- wonder if Ross will get them to sponsor him?
Yikes!! $495 for a jacket!!! That jacket better make you run super fast :)
My girl missed me when I was gone for the weekend - but we made some time for hot chocolate on Monday morning. I couldn't walk but we managed to find our spot at the coffee shop!
Jillian says that her family SWIMS together
thought it was funny that I had 262 (26.2) email messages when I got home Sunday
quote on my fortune cookie
in the ZONE
Garmin Data:
