Chicago Marathon {10-11-15}

Chicago Marathon

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Chicago, IL
*My 12th time running 26.2*

So this past spring, I signed up for the Chicago Marathon with Easter Seals' charity team, "Team Believe." Team Believe was born in 2013 and started with a team of 10 marathoners running the NYC Marathon. I was part of this original group. The next year, Easter Seals secured charity spots for both NYC and Chicago. I decided to sign up with the team again, this time for Chicago (NYC was amazing...but in my opinion it is the kind of race that I only need to experience once in my life). Last fall, however, I was dealing with some irritating and painful tendinitis in my right lower leg and had to make the difficult (but logical!) decision to not complete the race. After that experience, I decided that I wouldn't put that kind of pressure on myself again over a race and wouldn't sign up as part of Easter Seals' team the following year.

Well...in April the Easter Seals team for Chicago consisted of 8 runners and they had 10 spots. They reallllly wanted to fill those last two spots because they didn't want to be at risk for losing charity spots in subsequent years. So, I gave in to "peer pressure" ;) and signed on as runner #9. In more recent months, two of the runners ended up dropping out because of injuries. Then...in August Clint and I found out we were expecting. After we made the decision that I would still try to run the September marathon I was registered for (Last Chance Boston Qualifier) as long as I was feeling good, we decided that I would just play October/Chicago by ear and make a last minute decision. I continued my fundraising attempts as if I was indeed running, though.

The week leading up to the race was ROUGH. This pregnancy has been largely uneventful and for that we are grateful. I haven't had any morning sickness (which is a true gift because I am TERRIBLE in the morning without that, just ask poor Clint!)...but I do get quite nauseated later on in the day (2-3pm and on until I go to bed). Some nights I have passed out on the couch before 8pm and eating dinner is a chore. BUT these are all things that are relatively easy to deal with. The Tuesday night prior to Chicago during my evening doctoral class, though, I started feeling extra-rough. I got home around 8:30 and was largely useless. That night, I tossed and turned and around 5am got up to request a sick day from work. No sooner had I sent the e-mail....and I was in the bathroom "getting sick."  Awesome.

Wednesday that week was spent trying to force myself to drink water and orange juice (keeping it down was not always successful), taking my temperature and texting my doctor's nurse to check in. While it somewhat steadily climbed throughout the afternoon, my temperature never got over 101 and by evening was almost gone...whew. That day was MISERABLE. I stayed home Thursday as well, but felt already vastly better than I had on Wednesday. Friday, I went back to work...though it was somewhat not-so-hot.

The hotel we had booked in Chicago was non-refundable, so we planned to go up on Saturday to the city and check out the expo and hang out even if I decided that I wouldn't run. But, Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty darn great. I slept in while Clint went out for a run. We grabbed coffee and lunch in BloNo and got on the road. Clint started out the drive and lasted about 20 minutes before getting really tired ;)...so I took over for the rest of the drive (don't worry...he drove the whole way back :)).

We found our hotel after many detours due to roads being closed for the marathon...and waited in line for over an hour to check in. We finally made our way to our room and headed out to start walking toward the expo. Our plan was to walk a good chunk of the way and then catch a cab for the last half (it was quite a ways from our hotel downtown to McCormick place where the expo was held). After we'd walked a half mile or so, I looked into my purse and panicked because my wallet (ID, etc!) was gone. I couldn't remember if I had left it in the hotel room or if I had put it in my purse and left it open...and potentially someone had grabbed it out of there. 

So...back to the hotel we went (thanks, Clint, for your patience :)). Thankfully the wallet was on the bed...and we turned around and made our way back outside. We hailed a cab after just a few minutes of walking this time and rode peacefully to the expo. The expo provided a bit of sensory overload, as those things tend to do. We secured my bib and shirt and walked around for a while, sampling some products like different flavors of Nuun. I did find a great pair of Adidas shorts that I planned to run in the next day...my great purple Adidas shorts that I'd been wearing with my Often Running singlet are getting a liiiiitle tight :). Clint was able to see and chat with some different reps with Saucony and Asics that he knows from working at the shop. After an hour and a half or so, we made our way outside and got a cab which took us back to our hotel. Perfect timing...I was getting pretty darn tired and thirsty!

This is the picture we posted on Facebook to "announce" our Big News :).
I'm holding the bib that we ordered that I wore under my race number bib during the marathon.

We decided to grab dinner at Miller's Pub, a restaurant we saw on the same block as our hotel. I had a great omelet and some potatoes and Clint had a salad. Thankfully, I was able to eat a fair amount...as I said previously, dinner is sometimes rough for me. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for race morning.

I slept pretty well...and we went to bed fairly early, so waking up a little after 5am wasn't bad at all (for once! :)). Clint headed down to the lobby to wait in a ridiculous line for some Starbucks and I putzed around the room getting ready. When he finally made it back to the room, he gifted me with some amazing orange juice smoothie-blend thing that he had found that he thought looked like something I might like (OJ has been one of my big cravings). It. Was. AWESOME!! Perfect fruity pre-race fuel!

I was in corral F (apparently I didn't submit past marathon times when I registered or something...whoops ;)), but it was actually pretty nice because my start time was 30 minutes after the first start time (8am as opposed to 7:30). This made our morning walk to the start a lot more laid back, which was nice. We stood around for a while and people-gazed ;), took a picture together, and then I headed to my corral around 7:20. I easily found my place...in stark contrast to six years ago in 2009 when I had first done this race (which was also my first-ever marathon experience). I remember running around trying to figure out where the entrance to my corral is, only to have to climb a fence with a bunch of other runners...resulting in my capris getting stuck to the top of the fence and having the fence rip a small chunk out of the pants and out of my thigh! 

Gearing up for Baby's Second Marathon!

Soon enough, my corral made its way to the starting line...and we were off! My first few strides (my warm up! Ha!) were a little rusty, but I was soon able to find my pace and completed that first mile in a perfectly-executed 9:00. I planned to run the first half at or under a comfortable and conservative 10:00 minute/mile pace (kind of "funny" considering my target pace just 4 weeks prior was 8:00 minute miles :)). Following that first half, my plan was simply to do whatever felt best...and I fully expected that second half to turn into a run-walk situation. {Also, I gave myself the full liberty of bowing out if ever things felt TOO terrible!}

For the first half, I felt pretty good. My 9-10 minute pace was comfortable. The temperature was cool. I made my first potty stop at mile 5. I crossed the half in 2:10 (average per mile pace of 9:55). My splits were:

1- 9:00

2- 9:20 (**I saw Clint here around mile 2. I didn't know to look for him yet, but thankfully heard him yell! :))

3- 9:39

4- 9:18

5- 9:36

6- 10:09 (first potty break was in here!)

7- 9:35

8- 9:29

9- 9:31

10- 9:48

11- 9:36 (**I saw Clint just after mile 11! A definite highlight :). I stopped to get a kiss and to refill my belt with two gels :))

12- 10:09

13- 8:50

Clint snapped this pic when I stopped to say hi shortly after mile 11 and quickly stuffed two fresh gels into my race belt.
I was feeling pretty great at this point!

Keeeesses for my biggest supporter! :) Thanks, CW!

Total at the half (my watch was slightly over mileage-wise at this point, so I simply looked at what my watch said when I crossed the half on the course)- 2:10

After the half, my splits were NOT accurate. For example, my watch had mile 14 at 6:49. Yeah...I don't think so ;). Clearly the buildings started really messing with my GPS signal :). I did start slowing down considerably after the halfway point. I was definitely feeling tired and it was starting to get hot. I didn't want to ever get to the point of utter exhaustion/no return...so I played it safe.

When I got to mile 18....I walked. A LOT! Miles 18-24 consisted of lots of walking....lots of water (both drank and dumped over my head...it was really heating up out there!)...lots of checking-in with my body to make sure things still felt ok...lots of, "this race could be over NOW and I'd be fine with that" thoughts :). I had my phone out a fair amount and was "that" person who was texting during my "run." I had to keep my mind off of things somehow ;). This was turning into a LONG time on my feet!

As I neared mile 24 I told myself that I couldn't cross the finish line walking and did my best to pick it up. Miles 24-26.2 were slightly quicker than 18-24 and before I knew it, I was running up that darn ascent toward the finish line! Crossing the finish line and collecting my medal felt great. Sure, my finish time of 4:56:50 is really nothing to write home about compared to my other marathons...especially seeing as it is a whole 1 hour, 23 minutes and 36 seconds behind the marathon I had completed just 4 weeks prior (and with five more potty breaks in this marathon than the prior might I add! ;)). BUT...I still did it. I completed a 26.2 mile jaunt through an amazing city at 11+ weeks pregnant, just 4 weeks after running a BQ marathon at 7+ weeks pregnant. So, that's pretty neat ;).

Plus, the main point of this marathon wasn't my own personal accomplishment...but rather to raise awareness and money for the kids and families of Easter Seals. I didn't really get close to what I raised 2 years ago ($6600)...but I did raise around $500 and I feel good about that. We ended up having 8 runners toe the line at Chicago, including myself and good friend AP. We have a second team of runners who ran the New York City Marathon just a few weeks after Chicago. Though the efforts put forth to get this Team Believe business off and running seems a bit haphazard at times...all things considered, it's a pretty neat thing to be a part of and I'm hopeful for the sake of Easter Seals that it grows to be an even bigger "thing" in subsequent years.

AP was cold and I was hot post-race ;).

Glad we were able to locate AP after we finished!
Check out those sweet medals. Won't mine look great in the baby's room?! ;)

Now...on to my bigger, longer "ultra" marathon...gestating this sweet babe! We had the privilege of watching our little one via ultrasound bouncing around like a crazy-thing on the Tuesday morning after the Chicago marathon (at 11 weeks, 4 days). THAT was pure awesome :).

What's next (running-wise)? Clint and I ran the Allerton Park Trail race on October 25 and Canal Connection on November 1. Later in November I hope to run a Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving. I'll likely post race reports for those races at some point. I plan on continuing to truck along until I can't any more!

THANKS to Mitch for letting this pregnant lady still be a part of the Often Running Racing Team. Thanks to Adidas for the great gear and to my teammates for the laughs, support and all-around FUN times. Thanks to Clint for the advice and for helping me and supporting me through these adventures and for being the best daddy-to-be.

Today (November 12!) I am one month out from completing the Chicago Marathon and two months out from my 3:33:16 marathon at the Last Chance BQ race. Tomorrow we are 16 weeks pregnant and I have a hard time imagining how on earth I managed to run so much early on while pregnant! Yesterday morning I ran a slow-but-comfortable 3.1 miles before work and that was just plenty!  I'm probably going to run a 3-mile race on Thanksgiving but other than that I won't be racing much (if at all) until after the baby is here. I do plan to keep running as long as I can do safely and somewhat-comfortably, though, and will keep up my yoga as well.

Until the next adventure...happy running, all! :)