Chicago Marathon 2012 Race Recap

Race morning I got up at 5:30am, had some hotel coffee, ate a Clif bar, and left for the start around 6:25am.

Good thing I left with plenty of time because it ended up being a lot farther walk than I expected.   I’m really great at not reading directions and other important information.

I thought it would take about 15 minutes to get to the start, but it took 30 and I was even jogging part of the time.

So cold at the start.  How cute is my new chevron print BIC band?!

I saw Nicole (who PR’ed!) and then met Pam in corral A.  I’m not sure what the time qualifications were for the corral, but it looked like a bunch of super serious, super fast runners…  and then me.

The race started right on time at 7:30 and Pam and I took off running together.  Neither of us had a definite time goal so it was one of those run together as long as you want, feel free to drop back or take off whenever-type runs.

Our first 5k was 7:48 min/mile pace.

The course is flat and fast and I’m glad I started with Pam because I think I would have started a lot slower by myself.  Sometimes I play it too conservatively… like the time I went to Vegas in a nun’s outfit.  way too conservative.

And sometimes I need to work on my peace sign.

10k: 7:43, 15k: 7:42 min/miles

We split ways around mile 9 and I just kept cruising, feeling good.  I took gels at miles 8.5, 13.5, 18.5 and 22.5 which is what I always do. 

When I’m running a marathon, my brain turns off and goes mindless so I need things to be habitual where I don’t have to think about gel consumption or anything… well, anything beyond Courtney and Ben.  Who didn’t see that coming?!

I hit the halfway point at 1:40:33, and that was the first time I thought I might be able to edge in right under 3:20 if I could keep it up.  I was sort of expecting to fall apart and surprised at how good I still felt.  killer self-confidence in this race.

I’ll do a race review in a couple days, but the volunteers and support were awesome.  There was plenty of aid stations and tons of people passing out the drinks and gels.

I don’t think the course is amazing, I mean, I wish we could have run by the water, but at least we saw Gino’s and the biggest slice of pepperoni in the universe.

25k: 7:35, 30k: 7:31 min/miles

At mile 18 I started feeling tired and my hips were aching, but at 19 I turned my music on and put the hurt on.  I told myself, it’s time to get to work so make it hurt.

and ooooh lordy, it did.

Still (fake) smiling though!

40k: 7:30 min/miles

I didn’t speed up in the last miles, but I guess I didn’t slow down either so it’s a wash.

The last mile was a 7:03 and I kicked it in to finish in 3:18:16 for an average of 7:33 pace, faster than I had expected although it was such perfect PR conditions that a tiny part of me wishes I had been more PR-ready.

The finish area reminded me of the NYCM where you have to walk a long ways to get out of there and you’re freezing cold and half dying.  good times.

I took my phone in my SPIbelt so I easily met up with my man and immediately demanded he start taking pictures of me.  He loves his life.

Tagged as: chicago, marathon races