Thursday, October 15, 2015

What "Owning Chicago" Feels Like...{Chicago Marathon Race Recap}

It's hard to believe that the Chicago Marathon was four days ago! It's seems like it's been much longer than that, but every time I start to feel that way my sore leg muscles remind me that it's ONLY been 4 days!!!!

I finally had a moment to collect my thoughts and emotions about the marathon and put them together in a coherent manner. Well that's the goal anyway, you can judge for yourself as you read this post ;)

Marathon morning started really early (doesn't it always?) and I was up and out of bed by 4am. I didn't want to rush getting ready so I gave myself 2 hours to do all the pre-race stuff I normally need to take care of, and then I was off with my mom, dad and Kai, who were all decked out in the "Team Lee" shirts that they surprised me with the day before...


I decided not to take a chance with the trains or buses, so I pre-arranged a car service to pick us up from our hotel and take us as close as possible to Gate #5...

My mom was trying to fix my pace group bib on the back so you barely see her behind me...

I said bye to my family at the gate and headed through the security checkpoint toward Corral K...
(I was pretty early so I hung around with other members of the "diverse talent" crew)

Once we got closer to the start time I went into Corral K in search of my Nike Pace team leader (who turned out to be a guy holding a 5:25 run/walk pace sign but informed me that he didn't plan on doing a run/walk). There seemed to be some confusion with the pace teams this year, at least for Corral K there was. The interval groups were different from what was posted on the race website, and some of the pace leaders that had run/walk signs (like mine) were not going to run/walk. So I made friends with a few of the other runners that were as annoyed surprised as I was and we decided to pace ourselves.

After I figured out the pace team debacle I was ready to go...

But I still had to wait another 30 minutes for the start and for the other thousands of runners to cross the starting line before me...

My training strategy after my hip injury was to do a 2:1 run/walk interval. Two of the ladies I met in the Corral were doing the same interval, but instead of running for 2 minutes and walking for 1 minute they were going to run for 1 minute and walk for 30 seconds. So I decided to join them and we paced each other for the first half of the race...
(I already took off the pace team bib that my mom so carefully tried to fix...she didn't mind though)
(Photo credit: Kai)

The pacing strategy worked out well and I felt pretty good for most of the race. Somewhere along the course I distinctly remember smelling burnt toast and thinking "Don't you smell burnt toast when you're going to have a stroke? Oh no! This is how I die!!!" But then I looked to the right and saw a bakery and felt a little less hysterical after that.

My parents and Kai continued to meet me at different points along the course to cheer me on...
(This was the last time they saw me smiling because after Chinatown I got very exhausted very quickly)

Most of the race went by in a blur. I had some hip pain after the halfway point but it was mild. However between miles 23 and 25 I felt like I had no more energy. I don't know for sure if that's what "hitting the wall" feels like. I think it was more that "the wall" fell on top of me and stayed there while I tried to gingerly run a minute at a time. When I saw my parents and Kai again at mile 25 the pain & fatigue were visible on my face. My dad kept encouraging me to "keep going" and I got that extra bit of energy I needed to make it to the finish line...
(Chicago Marathon Finisher Selfie)

My baby sister did the live tracking option they provided on the website and she said there was a little running avatar moving (slowly) the entire time. And then at the end they provided her with a detailed listing of my splits...

I was so happy to be finished and to have finished safely...

A close up of the medal...

So it's official.... I AM A MARATHONER!!!!!!!!

I'm already deep into rest and recovery mode and thinking about training strategies for my next full marathon... Great Wall of China 2017???

Congrats to all the Chicago Marathon finishers!!! What's next on your race list?

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