Well... It's been a while since I last posted; partly because I didn't really have much to post about, partly because I had been going through a personal struggle about whether or not to run the Chicago Marathon,
Going into the weekend I hadn't run since 9/19/10 and hadn't run more than 8 miles since 7/18/10 so there was no denying I was sufficiently rested and tapered. I knew that the rest I got on Friday night would be the most important as far as being prepared on Sunday so I made sure that I drank plenty of beer at the minor league hockey game that night to ensure that I would have no trouble sleeping... Saturday morning I wake up and am prepared to eat my normal healthy breakfast of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal but when I get to the fridge I discover , to my dismay, that we’re out of milk. No problem, I’ll go with plan B… a 5 slice bacon and 2 egg English muffin. The grease from the bacon provided an excellent relief from my hangover and I after quickly throwing some stuff into a bag I was ready to head out the door and start my two-hour drive to Chicago.
I arrived at my friend Symon’s house near Chicago just in time to catch the Illini whoop up on Penn State… of course no football experience would be complete without some good football food and some good football drink… Besides, Symons has been hard at work this summer becoming an accomplished amateur brewer and I felt obligated to sample his goods. Unfortunately he had been a little too hard at work and sampling his goods entailed drinking 7 or 8 brews (one of them containing a 10% alcohol content). Fortunately, beer is full of carbs so I rationalized my imbibing as carb-loading.
All, carbed up and psyched up from the Illini victory we ventured into the city to attend the expo and pick up our packets. When we arrived we cleverly decided to avoid the 19$ parking fee by parking on a side street on the opposite end of the expo instead of in the designated parking garage... surely the extra walking would be the perfect for loosening up the legs.
After the expo we get back to the car and find that someone had broken Symon's passenger window so that they could steal his older model cell phone that he had forgotten on his seat. Luckily for us a street cop was just walking by at the moment... we got the officers attention and he was nice enough to come over and make a call on his cell phone into the station to file a police report... however after about 2 minutes of being on hold he changed his mind and instead gave us vague directions to a nearby police station... can't really blame him though. If I was a police officer and I had to walk a beat on the weekend I wouldn't want to do any actual work either. Oh well, that was kind of a bummer but if you weigh the 19 dollars we saved on parking against the cost of a new car window and cell phone I'd say we broke about even.
After a quick stop by the Sprint store to pick up a new cell phone we headed back to Symon's house for a little more liquid carb loading a some more football before turning in for the night.
After meeting up with the rest of my friends we all head down and get into the Open start corral at around the 12 minute mile pace point.From here my plan was simple... I'd run with Will and Ervin for the first 13 or so miles... then cut out and wait for them at the 22 mile point. I figured with Will and Ervin's 12 minute mile pace I should be able to hang on for at least half the race despite the fact that I hadn't been training at all.
The gun goes off and we slowly start shuffling forward at a leisurely walk... in ... I spend this time reflecting on how different today could have been if I hadn't gotten injured. It was nice to be with friends though, and it was nice be able to enjoy the atmosphere while being totally free from stress, pressure, and nerves... On the other hand, if I had started in the B corral I had qualified for I could have been 30 minutes into the race by the time we finally reached the starting line!!!
We finally cross the starting and actually start running... the 12 minute pace is completely foreign to me; by far the slowest I've ever attempted to run. At first I have trouble holding myself back, but I focus lagging back and not pushing the pace and gradually I fall into a rhythm.
For the first 6 miles I just enjoy myself... Last year when I ran the marathon the only thing on my mind was pace and the only thing I focused on was the runners in the pace group directly in front of me... This year I was actually able to look around and see the sights... The crowds were amazing and the surrounding runners were even more so. I was simultaniously spectating and participating in the Chicago Marathon! Somewhere soon after the 1 mile mark I saw a short Asian guy holding a sign that said "Only 24.6 miles to go" while consuming a donut.
We get to the 10K mark and we've already been running for 1:13:29... It's 9:08 AM and the temperature and sun are steadily climbing.. This fact is exentuated as the guy in the polar bear costume who's been running in front of us for the last mile abruptly drops off to the side and removes his bear head to reveal a sweat drenched human face... I make sure to take some extra water and gatoraid at the next stop.
We continue on for a few more miles. I'm still feeling pretty good. I've been drinking plenty of fluids so I pull over and take a wiz at the next set of port-o-potties. As I start up again I realize that I'm starting a bit stiff and a bit tired... Oh well... we were at mile 9 so I only had 4.1 more miles to go... Symons and I decide to execute a new strategy at this point: At each water stop we would speed up and get ahead of Will and Ervin by about 400 meters... then we would stop and walk until they caught up. The increased pace proved a nice reprieve from the plodding of 12 minute miles and the walking breaks felt amazing... I hate to admit it but maybe Galloway is onto something?!?
Finally we reach the 13.1 point... time for Symons and I to drop out and cut a couple blocks over so that we can spectate at the 22 mile mark... except I'm still feeling pretty good except that my left foot is hurting a bit... so as Symons drops to the side I sponatiously decide that despite my better judgement I'm going to continue on... I figure at this pace I can at least make it to the 20 mile mark and then I can always run/walk it in to the finish...
As luck would have it I wouldn't even have to maintain the 12 minute mile pace... Right around mile 14 Ervin's heart rate jumps into the 180s and he decides to walk for a bit until it slows down. Meanwhile Will is starting to feel a slight cramp in his hamstring. By now it's 11 AM and its really starting to get hot... I take a moment to consider the fact that I'd probably already been finished right now if I had actually finished my training and ran the race competatively.
By mile 16 the fun was over... Will and I had left Ervin behind as he tried to manage his hear rate. Will was cramping and beginning to wonder if his body was going to make it. My left foot was beginning to really hurt. Symons, the only sensable one amoung us, was presumably sitting in the shade somewhere around mile 22 leisurely waiting for us and enjoying the experience.
Soon after mile 17 Will asks me "Only 8 more miles to go, right?" (I was tracking distance by the quarter mile at this point with my Garmin, and he was beginning to lose the concept of distance and time)... I didn't have the heart to tell him it was really 9... By mile 20 we're doing more walking then running...
Then suddenly, Ervin comes jogging up to us from behind looking suprisingly refreshed... his face*******
***** Update to 2019: this is where the race report abruptly drops off... not sure where I was going on this. Anyway, to wrap it up, we walked/ran the last 6 miles. Somewhere along the way we saw Will's wife and took some pictures. Looking at the splits it seems like we slightly picked up the pace at the end and I vaguely remember springing about full speed at the finish (like a jackass).
When we finally finished I remember my feet being really really sore being that I was right in the middle of a bad Plantar Fasciitis period that lasted for about 7 years... After that we went out to a Brazilian steakhouse and drank and eat all the calories back.
Final time was 5:50. Even at the slowest pace we were at 15 minute miles so at least we were walking briskly.
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