2013 Chicago Women's Half Marathon Recap

If you asked me how best to describe how I felt after completing my first half marathon yesterday, I'd say amazing, proud, overwhelmed, and HOT.  So very hot.

When I originally signed up for the half, I thought maybe I could complete it with a steady 12:00 pace.  As I got more long runs under my belt, I realized that probably wasn't possible, so my goal was somewhere around 13:00.  But when the event alert level for the race was announced to be red/high alert because of the predicted hot and humid weather, any kind of time goal went out the window.  At that point, my main goals were just to finish, and to do it safely.  And I'm happy to say that I accomplished both of those things.

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I woke up bright and early at 4am on race day, and we were out the door by around 5. Bob, Kim (who had stayed the night, since she was running with me, and since someone had to paint my nails to match our sweet race ensembles) and I piled into the car, picked up our new neighbor Maggie, and we headed down to Grant Park.  We arrived by around 5:45, just as the sun was coming up.

We headed over to Gear Check for the Chicago Running Bloggers meet-up, but before I could even say hi to any bloggers, I bumped into my mom's cousin Barb.  Barb and her husband (also Bob - ha!) came from Michigan to do the half.  She's pretty much my role model for how I want to be when I grow up.  She's in her 60's and still does races and triathlons, and she and her husband travel everywhere.

Photo borrowed from Barb's facebook

After chatting with Barb and Bob, I made my way over to the bloggers so we could snap a few photos before the race.

Xaarlin, Kim, me, Maggie, Chris, Christina, Erica

 

Some shots of our matchy-matchy ensembles.  The tanks are Fila via Kohl's, and the sparkly purple flowers came from a shop somewhere in Boystown.

And here's me and Bob, the best spectator/chauffeur/race photographer/walking gear check.  Bob's doing his first half in August (and yes, I will be lording it over him that I've done one and he hasn't until that time), so I have some pretty big shoes to fill as far as spousal race support goes.

My parents came from Ohio for the race, and my dad found us right as we were getting ready to head to the start line.  My parents have never run, but I'm glad that they got what a big, important thing this was for me.  My dad said he probably wouldn't be able to see me at every race, but he was happy to come to the first half.  He spectated with Bob for a while, and I think he had fun.

But enough about all the cool runners and spectators, on to the race!  Going with the strategy of starting slow with hopes of finishing stronger, Kim and I lined up at the back of the pack.  And at 6:30, we were off!

Bob and my dad caught us just after the start line.  Obviously we were pretty hard to miss.  We started out at a low 11:00 pace, thanks to the race adrenaline, so Kim slowed us down to a 12:00 mile.  To be honest, I didn't really pay that much attention to our pace or time for most of the race - just how I felt.  I knew it'd get hot and humid, and I knew that a lot of the course wasn't shaded, so staying cool and hydrated was my top priority.

Runners along the lake - we're in the bottom left corner

We saw Bob and my dad again at around mile 2.5.  This is where Bob amusingly told us we're almost done.  Yep, he's THAT spectator.

I felt really good through about mile 8.  For a lot of that part of the race, I knew I could push myself a little harder and go a little faster, but I wanted to conserve energy.  I had a good eating/water/gatorade strategy, and all of the misters and volunteers with hoses along the course helped us stay cool.  Then right before the mile 8 marker I just kind of melted down.  We hadn't seen much shade for a while, and I knew there wouldn't be much, so all the hot, direct sun was just getting to me.  And the thought of running 5 more miles like that was just not great.  I will say that, at no point did I think I couldn't keep going and finish.  But I knew it was going to be hard.  And as much as I had prepared myself for the less than ideal conditions, and lowered my expectations, it was still frustrating.  But this is exactly why I asked Kim to run my first half with me.  I knew that if I was having a hard time, she'd be there to help push me.  She kept me distracted with great conversation, and reminded me of all the times that we'd met up after work to just run 5 miles, and of course I could do it.  I can't thank Kim enough for running with me yesterday!  Of course I could have done it on my own, but I wouldn't have had as much fun without my non-sister race twin (or anyone reminding me to eat, or watching my form to make sure I wasn't hunching over, etc.).

Not long after mile 8, someone came running alongside us and said "Not to be creepy, but I saw your outfits on Instagram last night!"  So that was pretty cool, and we chatted with her for a little bit during a walk break.  We started running again, and the next few miles were just rough for me.  I loaded up on water and ice (thanks for the tip about icing down your sports bra, Maggie - it totally helped!) everywhere I could, and just kept pushing.

Just as I wondered if we'd see Bob again before the finish line, I spotted him at mile 12.5 or so.  Seeing him was a huge energy boost, so I'm glad he was able to come out and find us again (as I think the Glympse I had sent him expired before it was supposed to).

Tying a good shirt cape is another reason to run with a friend

As we kept going, we saw more and more finished runners who told us that we were actually getting close to the finish (not like Bob telling us that 10 miles ago, ha!), so it was easy to keep going at that point.  Right as we were approaching the finish line I noticed Maggie on one side, and my parents on the other.  I can't say enough how awesome it is to have people cheering you on, so it was so cool to see them.  And on that note, I'd like to say thanks for all of the encouraging and supportive tweets/texts/emails before and after the race - it was so cool to think of how many people remembered that I'd be running and took the time to wish me well!

Approaching the finish - photo by Maggie

We finished in 3:17:39.  Not at all the time I thought we'd have, but I think that's okay considering the weather.  We saw some runners being taken off the course by the medics, presumably from heat exhaustion or dehydration, so finishing slow was better than not finishing at all.

I've been sort of joking that this would be my first and last half, but if anything, all of the conditions that made Sunday's half what it was just make me want to give it another shot when the weather isn't so awful.  And I think I'd pretty much have to PR next time, which is reason enough to give it another try.  So I'll be looking for one to do in the fall, hopefully late enough in the year that I don't have to do any of the really hard training while it's still summer.

Our medals match our nail polish!

To talk about the race itself for a minute, I've never had a bad experience with a Fleet Feet event, and this was no exception.  They're always very well organized, and this race in particular had some awesome volunteers.  I give them so much credit to hang out in that heat for several hours, just to help runners stay cool, hydrated and motivated.  The race packet included a really nice shirt and a Sweatybands headband.  The after-party had all kinds of goodies, including an ice cream truck, which was perfect on a hot summer day.  And look at this medal!

So, what's next? Of course I'll be looking for that perfect fall half, but I'm also planning to work on speed at shorter distances in anticipation of the Zooma 10k in August (um, unless that falls on a sweltering hot day too, which it might).  I'm going to give the long runs a little break, and stick with distances that I enjoy more, around 5-6 miles.  And now that my schedule is freed up a little, I'm excited to add more classes, biking and swimming back into the rotation.