Chicago Marathon Recap

Sorry for the delay on a Chicago race update. A four-day work week plus a less than favorable economy has made this a busy week. So here goes. . .

The Chicago trip went great! Two weeks before the race, we were all trying to figure out where to buy gloves to stay warm. On race ray this never was a problem. It was a record high day for Chicago, but still nothing like 2007. In addition, they were prepared for the heat this time, and we never ran short on fluids.

Knowing the heat was coming, we all tried to take advantage of the first few hours. The breeze was nice, the lake effect cooled things a bit, and the shadows cover the streets. If you look at our splits, you can tell we were all pushing our pace. Ryan Bullard and I went out well below PR pace, but it still felt comfortable early. By about mile 10, it started to feel more like "work", but we were not slowing yet. My mind started playing tricks on me, and eventually I had to let Ryan go around mile 19. He never looked back and want on to set an amazing PR of 3:29:06. His time was in the top 2,000. Pretty impressive for a race with over 32,000 runners!

Crossing the line about the same time as Ryan was Derek Hurdle. Derek was absolutely flying early in the race. He was averaging a 7:20 pace for the first 15k, but began to slow as the shadows faded away. He and Ryan traded places during the last five miles of the run. Derek was still able to post his second consecutive sub 3:30 time, finishing in 3:29:41

Possibly the most impressive performance came from John Batchelor. John was calm and collected before the race. His even paced performance showed that he did not get roped in to the excitement. His pace never went over 9:00 for the entire run. He is the only one in our group that can say that. He flew by me with four miles to go, and eventually reached the finish line in 3:31:47. Wow! What a great marathon debut!

Cramping and over-drinking made miles 21-25 tough for me, but I eventually crossed the line in 3:38:59. Not what I was shooting for at the start, but I reevaluated my goal late in the race, and was still pleased to come in under 3:40.

Tracy Proctor continues to log strong marathon performances even under challenging circumstances. We all know that a marathon has so many opportunities for things to go wrong. . . weather, cramping, hydration, injuries, etc. It is months and months of preparation, yet you role the dice on race day and hope things go your way. Unfortunately stomach issues had an impact on Tracy's race. Worst of all it prevented her from being able to take any energy gels or shot blocks. I can say with 100% honesty, I would never have been able to finish a race under the same circumstances. Tracy pushed through it all, and still ran an impressive 4:21:06. My hat is off to you Tracy! Your drive and dedication is one that we all truly admire.

So, was it a perfect day? Probably not. . . but five RMEC runners covered 131 combined miles on Sunday morning, and no one was hurt. To celebrate, we all went out for some authentic Chicago-style deep dish pizza. We had to wait 45 minutes for it to come out of the oven. . . But it was SOOOOO worth it!

In case you are wondering. . . the woman in the blurry picture above is Lidiya Grigoryeva. She won the marathon with a time of 2:27:17. When she heard how I did she gave me a big hug and a kiss! (okay that last part is not true, but it was still cool to meet her). Congrats everyone!