Race Recap: 2017 Chicago Marathon

There’s something incredibly freeing & relaxing about going into a marathon knowing 100% that you will not PR—even more so, knowing that you will in fact post your “worst” or slowest time ever. All pressure is removed & you are able to accomplish one of your two main goals—finish with a BIG smile. The other main goal being, don’t be in too much pain when you cross the finish line. If you don’t have time to read any further, just know that I did accomplish both goals when I ran the 2017 Chicago Marathon this past weekend!

It’s been a while since I did a blog post, but the summer pretty much was an up & down roller coaster—from a running perspective. There were good days, great days, & some downright awful days. Two weeks ago, I began typing a blog post to detail it all, but alas, life got in the way & it never made its way to the internet. The cliff notes version was basically this: I ran/walked a half marathon in early September & a 10K later that month—both leading up to race day. Overall, I covered just over 506 miles in the 20 weeks of training leading up to race day—approximately 370 of those miles were at running pace & the rest were speedily walked. Compared to Tokyo, where I ran 40 miles per week on average, Chicago training produced less than half of that for my average weekly run miles. Yes, lots of numbers but the simple answer is this—my training, while it was the best I could do with the cards I was dealt, really wasn’t on par for “racing” a marathon in the Windy City. Goals shifted to just have fun & enjoy the experience. Honestly, even if I could have raced this marathon, there was no way to avoid all of the fun that was had. Such an AMAZING experience & a FUN, FUN city!

Last November, when I received guaranteed entry into the Chicago Marathon based on my Tokyo Marathon time, I was stoked to begin planning what became known as CHICKago Weekend {I think Sara or Jessica is credited with the title—I am certainly not that creative, ha!}. A dozen mother runners, with a few husbands tagging along, off to run loose in the big city. So much fun! A great time was had by all!

Race weekend began on Friday & ended on Monday. For anyone planning to do this race, that to me was the perfect timeline! We took a nonstop flight early Friday morning, made our way through the subway & were checked into our hotel before lunch time. The BRF Julie & I stayed at the Chicago Downtown Marriott, which in my opinion was also just perfect (both location & company)! My first ChiTown meal, accompanied by Julie & my close friend Mary {+ Mary’s other half, Adam}, came from the Purple Pig on Michigan Avenue—a yummy Mediterranean tapas restaurant. Next up was the expo. Luckily, the race provides complimentary transport via school buses from various locations downtown, into the convention-type area of McCormick Place. Future racers, plan for PLENTY of expo time—this can be an entire morning or afternoon adventure {but don’t forget to rest your feet when you can!}. Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed with the expo. Tokyo & the organizational skills of the Japanese set a high standard for my World Marathon Major experiences. Chicago expo just simply didn’t compare. After perusing the booths, we returned downtown for some hotel relaxation before a delicious dinner at Devon Seafood + Steak {tasty salmon, potatoes, green beans, & wine was inhaled!}.

Saturday began with NO alarm clock & NO early morning plans—HECK YES!! Being busy working moms, Julie & I agreed that sleeping in was paramount this weekend! After a short jaunt through the city {~2.5 miles} to shake the legs out, we showered & headed to our Architecture River Cruise. Oh, how could I forget… mid-run, we stopped at the Nike Store to purchase a “just released that morning” Finisher’s Jacket. I refused to take the tags off or wear it until I had truly finished the race the following day. Another tip: If you wish to purchase race merchandise, ask around at the expo or sponsor store {i.e. Nike} for when the finisher’s items will be available {this stuff is different from the official race shirts & such}—for us, it was released on Saturday morning. With that said, back to the pre-race fun….

If you have never been to Chicago, or if you live there/have visited & have never done a river cruise, I highly recommend it! We went through Shoreline Sightseeing & everything about the experience was very easy, informative, & inexpensive {$35}. Very nice, especially for the marathon runners, to be able to sit & relax while enjoying the sights along the Chicago River. The afternoon was spent doing a little more sightseeing, a quick lunch pickup {Jimmy Johns sandwiches for the win, ha!}, & then more hotel relaxing to “save” our legs for the following morning. My dinner that evening, at a local & unpredictably scrumptious Italian restaurant called La Scarola, was a pre-race meal of bowtie pasta with chicken & shrimp in a tomato-based cream sauce. Plus all the bread you could want… & wine, of course! It was fun for the majority of the CHICKago group to get together & get out some pre-race jitters/catch up! Bedtime came shortly thereafter, & then it was on to race morning!

Sunday, a.k.a. GO TIME, began around 5:30am. Julie & I met up with two others from the group in our hotel lobby, & then we all walked the mile to Grant Park. In total, I logged about 5,000 steps before the race even started—just an FYI for future runners & for their planning purposes!

With the race having over 40,000 participants, there are three waves so that there is a stagger-start effect {7:30am, 8am, 8:35am}. Thankfully, I was in Wave 1. Weather forecasts weren’t great for marathon running—& would only worsen as the day progressed. The race began with temps in the upper 50s, with 85% humidity. By noon, temps were in the 70s with the heat index in the mid-80s. Hot! That’s just sticky, icky weather—especially for when you’re in the direct sunlight. Even now, over 2 days since the race, & I am still sunburned! Who-da-thunk that would happen at an October race in Chicago?!

As I reached the Start Line, I was focused. MY training. MY plan. MY race. No one else’s training, plan, or race mattered at that point. I reminded myself to be grateful for even getting to the start line. To be grateful for being able to run. To be grateful for having a husband who was supportive of these adventures. To be grateful for those amazing souls who truly care about me, unconditionally. To be grateful for a PT & masseuse that helped get me to the start AND finish line. I was happy. I was ready. Bring it on, CHICAGO! And off we went!

I would say that one of the hardest moments of the race was when I approached my first walk break. Just as I had done in training, my race plan was to run for 8 minutes, & then walk for 2 minutes; repeat for the duration of the marathon {or until something hurt too detrimentally & then I would walk the remainder}. As I pushed the lap button on my watch after those first 8 minutes, I had a moment of sadness. The culmination of ups & downs over the past 9+ months since the moped crash hit me like a ton of bricks. I was sad all over again that I was here. I was running a marathon, but not really. I had improved, pre-crash, by so much, & now I had regressed so very far. Although I was walking to reset my form & stride, not for lack of endurance; in that moment, I was a failure. This unhappiness lasted only during the first 2-3 walk breaks; before shaking the funk, saying “F-U” to the sadness, & continuing happily through the beautiful streets of Chicago!

From a physical perspective, the body held up great. Woohoooooo! This was a big win, especially considering I had some intense pain the day before during the shakeout miles. Over the 26+ miles, I had soreness & tightness in various roving parts of the legs, but no sharp pains or anything that made me nervous to run though. I took in the whole experience. I could feel myself laughing randomly at funny signs or smiling big when other runners happily encountered their spectator friends/family along the sidelines. I tried to take in all of the sights & listen to the course music {but I did have my playlist going for backup!}. Course support was amaze-balls! There were people lined up on the course, a few people deep in most parts, cheering energetically at the runners. Water & Gatorade Endurance was offered every 1-2 miles {a bit too frequent, in my opinion}. There were bananas, oranges, & gels offered. Personally, I took a SaltStick every 5 miles & drank water at many of the stops {plus a few random Gatorade swigs when it sounded good}. I ate my BOLT chews every 4 miles, with advancing amount as the race progressed {2 chews @ miles 4 & 8; 3 chews @ miles 12 & 16; 4 chews @ miles 21 & 25}. I also enjoyed half of a banana & a small baggie of Cheerios in the latter half of the race.

Aside from eating, drinking, & taking in the race experience, I “kept busy” with texting the hubby & friends, plus a few silly Snapchats with my #BALG. Yes, I was THAT girl mid-race, lol. I owe a lot of credit to my lady gang back home for cheering me on remotely & for accompanying me on many training runs… not to mention being good listeners to my complaints of aches & pains. Thank you—you know who you are!! XO

I suppose since this is a blog post that I hope will help future Chicago Marathoners, it is worth mentioning that you should IGNORE YOUR GPS WATCH on this course—seriously, it’s just cray-cray. Looking closely at my Garmin file, I “ran” through buildings, “swam” in the river, & did some serious “circular” action along the route. Clearly it was bouncing around between the tall buildings & under the tunnels. Your best bet is to “lap” the miles when you approach them by the official signage. According to my Garmin, I ran 27.25 miles… obvs I didn’t! I did have to do a little dodging here & there due to the run/walk intervals, but not a mile worth! If you have a goal time/pace, stick with the pacers—they know their assigned pace well!

This blog post wouldn’t be complete without mentioning how proud I am of two of my closest running friends. Julie & Mary both rocked their races {as well as the rest of the CHICKago girls!}, pushing through some tough conditions. These two gals though made my weekend such a blast & I couldn’t thank you ladies enough for the laughs, convos, & just fun girl time away. I love you both dearly!!

In the end, I crossed the finish line, with happy tears in my eyes {yes, so dang sappy!} in 4:09:56 {9:32/mile}! Not too shabby, considering I had walked 48 minutes total! I am so damn proud of this marathon. Sure it is slower, compared to my marathons #1-3; but this one wasn’t about the clock. This time, some serious heart & determination fueled my training & race. I won’t elaborate upon all of the “background” work that went into this success, but it was intense. There were numerous PT appointments, massages, chiropractor adjustments, x-rays, MRIs, etc… oh, & loads of stretching. Many people would have called it quits with the discomfort & pains I experienced, but I was determined to make this goal a reality. Maybe I was stubborn. But, whatever. In the end, I am happy my body cooperated & persevered. The final moments of this marathon I will forever hold close to my heart—Chicago, you are simply amazing!

Following the race, we indulged on some delishness from Shake Shack—which was just the most perfect post-race meal. Some more relaxing & sightseeing lead into dinner + drinks at Doc B.’s Fresh Kitchen {their Wok Bowl was on point!}. We ended the night at Joe’s, a speakeasy type of establishment, for more libations & dessert. A GREAT way to end an amazing marathon Sunday!!

The next morning, following a pancake breakfast & some more sightseeing {plus kid-gift-shopping!}, we ventured to the airport to end our EPIC girls’ weekend trip.

My wheels are already spinning on what running escapade will come next & I can’t wait for that adventure!! But first… get this body back to pre-moped-crash running conditions, so I can “survive” all of those jaunts, HA!

Thanks for reading!