2016 Chicago Marathon Recap

I cannot believe that after almost 20 weeks of training, the marathon is over. The post-marathon blues have set in and I feel a little sad that this major goal has come and gone after thinking and dreaming about it for so many months. There are never enough words to really summarize what it is like to run a marathon. It is one of those things like child birth that you can really only understand after you have done it, but I am going to try my best to put my experience into words that I can share.



Race Morning

I woke up at the lovely time of 4:40 am to get ready for my drive downtown. I was awake before my alarm went off as I had slept on and off throughout the night. I did not have a large breakfast as I knew I wouldn't be running for about 4 hours and would eat again. Thanks to my planning and race bag preparation the day before, we made it downtown quickly and found the parking spot we reserved near the start/finish line. I highly recommend purchasing a spot for future races if driving is something you plan to do.

Team PAWS hosted a pre-race party at the Congress hotel where team members had access to bag check, bathrooms, food, and coffee/water. Family members could not attend this party, but I was able to check my bag, get something to eat and drink, and then meet them outside of the party room. The line for the bathroom was extremely long so I was only able to go once, but it was still nice to have running water. I drank some water and ate half of a bagel and then met up with one of my friends who was also running for Team PAWS. We marched out of the hotel as a team and walked the short distance to the corrals. I was in the last corral so I said goodbye to my friend and headed there by myself which was nerve-wracking, but the marathon is so well organized that I found where I needed to go very easily. Unfortunately the lines for the porta-potties were extremely long and the corrals were about to close, so I found a good spot in my corral and waited for the start.

Waiting for the start with my husband

Team PAWS Wave 2
The major disadvantage of a wave 2 start is that you are potentially standing in the corrals waiting to cross the line for almost an hour. I entered my corral at 7:35 am which was 10 minutes before the cutoff. I did not cross the start line until 8:36 am. That meant I stood there for about an hour, with my legs getting stiff. I ate again around 7:50 am as I thought I would be starting within 10-15 minutes, and that was not the case. I think the most unnerving part of a race is waiting to start and this was very delayed. 

The Race

Finally I crossed the start line and set out on the course. The weather was perfect. It was cool but not too cold, and there was little wind. I was warned that the tunnel runners go through almost right away will affect GPS, and it definitely did. Instantly my GPS was off, but I started out by running slowly without much effort. There was a bit of chaos in the tunnel as everyone was running around at different paces, but it did not feel as crazy as I had expected. Many others were running about the same pace and I did not feel like I was being left in the dirt. Out of the tunnel I spotted a Team PAWS photographer right away and was so excited:

This is fun!
My husband texted me that he and my parents were at Mile 2, so the first 2 miles of the race passed by quickly as I was looking for them. My GPS showed I was running around my tempo pace but I was concerned as it seemed to be a bit off. I ran by "color" which is Coach Jenny's advice for easy, moderate, and hard effort zones. I stuck to green which was really easy and it almost felt too easy which was a good sign that I was not expending too much effort. I saw my husband and parents and it gave me a huge boost to continue on with the race. The first half of the race seemed to pass quickly and I told myself to stick to my pace even if it felt slightly easy. I could tell I was holding back, but this was a good sign I could let it all out later in the race.




The crowd support was phenomenal. It would have been great anyways, but running for Team PAWS gives you an extra advantage as the crowd is so excited to see people from this team. The entire course I heard "Go Team PAWS!" which put a smile on my face and motivated me when I was feeling rough. Having something to look forward to really helped keep me going, so I prepared for some of the mile markers where I knew I would have some support. At Mile 14 I passed through Charity Village which brought tears to my eyes as I was surrounded by all of the charities and Team PAWS members, and that high kept me going. At Mile 16 I was looking for the messages that friends and family members could write for runners and mine did not display on the screen. I felt disappointed but knew I would see my Oiselle team at Mile 17, so I pushed on. Sure enough, I saw the familiar Oiselle bird on a sign and neared the side of the road. One of the members gave me a hug and asked how I was doing, and I pushed on. That was one of my fastest miles because I was running on love alone for a while.



At this point my GPS was off by a half mile and I started to feel very fatigued. Up until around Miles 17 and 18, I felt relatively good and my pace was close to where I wanted. My legs were clearly fatigued, but that was a feeling I was familiar with during my entire training so it felt natural to keep pushing on despite the heaviness. However, I started to feel very dehydrated even though I had stopped for water at almost every aid station which was about every mile to two miles. At some stations I grabbed 2 cups of water as one was not enough to quench my thirst. While the temperature had warmed a bit, it still was not as hot as what I had trained in. I continued with my plan to take gels every 4 miles, but the gels started to make me feel even thirstier with all of the sugar. I was worried about over drinking and did not stop at a station because I wanted to make sure I did not have water sloshing in my stomach but my thirst was driving my crazy. All I could think about was water. I started to spend too much time at each aid station walking and drinking water, and I could see my goal time slipping away. The effort to hold the pace had increased significantly and it was a scary feeling to realize that I was not improving despite the first half of the race feeling unnecessarily easy. I started to walk at Mile 21. I told myself it would be just for a few minutes to get my legs feeling better, but it turned into much longer. Around Mile 23 I was passed by a pace group with a finish time 10 minutes after my goal time. I felt really sad and while it motivated me to push on and actually pass them for a bit, it did not last long and I was left in their dust. I kept waiting for the anger, the mental strength, the "oomph" that I had in my first marathon to kick in, but it never did. My goal then shifted to just finishing, regardless of the time. 

This is the real face of running a marathon

Finally with two miles to go, I kicked it back up a bit. While I was running slowly, I was still moving and this is where I could see the benefit to all the training that I did. Most people were walking at this point and I had it in me to push on physically despite the heaviness in my legs. I saw my husband and family right before Mile 26 and this lifted my spirits enough to get me to the end. The "end" is a hill that is pure torture, but the downhill was bliss. I focused in on that finish line and gave it everything I had. My left knee was in severe pain but I didn't care because I finally crossed that line. My time was about 14 minutes off from where I wanted to be, but I beat my previous time by 6 minutes.

Pushing through the pain

I did it!


Post Race

Once I crossed the line someone handed me a bottle of water and I chugged it. It was the best thing in the world since I had been dreaming about water for so long. Unfortunately it made my stomach hurt and I walked through the rest of the finish chute wishing I had someone to help me make it back to the hotel where my family was. I was overjoyed when they placed the medal on my neck and I almost passed up on the mylar blanket because I felt hot, but was thankful for it once I left the race area and felt the Chicago wind. I had no appetite for the post race beer or goody bag but grabbed one anyways. I made my way out of the race area and took a long stroll across the street and back to the hotel for the Team PAWS after party. I found my husband and parents and received my Team PAWS medal. Team PAWS put on a great party with lots of food and beer, and I am glad I started to feel well enough to have some food and enjoy it. 

Receiving my Team PAWS medal

Team PAWS medal

Paws up for racing for animals!

Once home I remembered how hard it is to try and get up and down stairs and how painful everything is, but it is a kind of pain that you can deal with because you know you did something really great. While I will write another post about my personal reflections on the race, I was disappointed in my time and with my mental performance, but I still felt really amazing to have finished something that is so difficult. The pain is only temporary but I will remember this for a lifetime.

My Autumn was very excited to see me

The best fan club!

Three days later, I am still a bit sore but feeling much better. I had my post race massage the day after and it really helped to relax me and move around some of the fluid in my legs. Additionally I have stuck to eating and drinking a lot of anti-inflammatory foods and combined with some recovery yoga has really sped up recovery. Now that the pain has faded a bit, I can start to think rationally about what I want to do next. I still feel like the marathon is not done with me. It has kicked my ass two years in a row and it is a formidable opponent. In my next post I will write more about what I learned, what I am proud of, and what I would like to change. There are a lot of things that surprised me and I can honestly say this felt like an entirely different experience than my first marathon (besides being a different race). 

Overall the Chicago Marathon itself is everything that I expected it to be and I can understand why it is coveted by most runners. The course is nice and flat, the neighborhoods are fun, and the crowd support is unlike anything I have ever experienced. I would absolutely run this race again and recommend it to other runners, especially those that are first time marathoners. 



Comments

  1. You did great pushing through - you are right the plan is hard and your hard work showed, especially when you picked it up in the end!

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  2. The marathon is such a beast. You can be confident in your training, but never know what's going to come race day. Weather, sickness, and so many other things can get in the way that you just can't predict. Sounds like you did awesome. I was in the last corral too and it really stinks having to wait so long to start, plus it gives the sun time to start heating up the day/you're out there longer in it. I did so bad my first year due to the heat (2015), but came back and did much better in 2016. Hoping to see more improvement in 2017... and maybe I'll have a friend in my corral this time around :)

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely! Here's hoping we both have a great Chicago marathon this year!

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