Illinois Marathon Solid 20! Long Report and Review of the Race!

I left from Newark, NJ airport Friday arrived mid day where Jim was kind enough to pick me up at Airport. I was a bit tired feeling the affect of flying. We later went to the expo and then Dinner to meet with the crew (Jeff, Carleen and Co.).

Dinner was a bust as far as food and service for me. We put in the order at 6:30 did not get dinner until around 7:45. My pasta dish was to say the least terrible. This kind of threw off my meal plan as normally I'd eat again something light around 9:30 but with the delay of food I ate around 4:00am as I normally do.

Race Day: I though the wind would be a factor so I decided to shoot for 3:18 or sub 3:20 and leave the BQ for another day. I dressed with singlet and shorts and throwaways. Jim was with me at the start but took off running the HM at a faster pace then my Marathon.

First 10k: 47:06 (7:31)Felt really good was taking it on the slower side the first mile keeping to HR, but I was preparing for windy conditions around miles 2-6 which never really felt terrible. I tossed my throwaways and was left with singlet shorts and ear band turned into headband. I cruised through 10k with 7:31 pace and felt very good about it.

10k to 13.1 - 1:38:30 At this point I felt very capable of running 3:18 and although my HR was creeping up to 175-177 I thought that was fine based on past successful marathons. These miles where the best of the day overall. I felt very much into a groove and was able to bring my pace down a bit and crossed half way mark at 1:38:30 (7:30 pace) giving me overall time of 3:17.

My strategy at this point was to hold this pace giving me cushion if I needed it to still go sub 3:20. Figured 3 minutes cushion is decent for 13.1 miles.

13.1 to 20: 2:30:04 (7:30 pace)I started to feel the wind around mile 19 and thought to myself oh no! My HR was creeping up to 181-183 which is to away at mile 19. The wind was now a factor and I new the last 3-4 miles of the race was going to be all headwind based on the east wind. So mentally I was feeling the struggle and physically I was losing it.

I calculated quickly in my head with about 6 miles left even if I ran 8 minute mile I'd be able to duck in just under 3:20.


21-26.2 - Well that 8 minute mile only lasted for one mile I believe mile 21. Here is where I just called it a day. I just was unable to shuffle any longer and around mile 21-22 I stopped. And when I stopped. There was no way I was going to PR (3:23) let alone sub 3:20 and knowing I had Buffalo in 4 weeks I had to save some legs despite feeling already exhausted.

So the next 5 miles were brutal. At this point in just my singlet I was freezing! Body was breaking down, winds were smashing me. I tried my best to enjoy the 5 miles death march as much as possible by helping the volunteers hand out gatorade and water, sitting with spectators and cheering on other runners.

But, I still has issue with being way to cold.

Thankfully, I was able to get a t-shirt from one of the volunteers which helped a bit.

I think the funniest part of the day was when I grabbed a garbage bag that was ripped to shreds and just put it over my nose mouth and shoulders and popped a hole in it to breath. My earband was on and lowered down to my brows. Spectators where a bit confused some laughing and one guy said you scare me.

As I got to the last mile I felt the energy of the crowd and started to run and I really wanted to enjoy coming in with a successful finish to the finish line but was unable to make that happen.


As I entered the football stadium which finished on the 50 yard line with Garbage bag and earband on I started doing suicides on the field going from 10 yards and back etc etc did this a few times which got a few on lookers cheering and others I think confused. I crossed the line I believe walking but it should make for a good picture.

Time: 3:50. Last 10k took me 80 minutes!

Overall
I can't say I did great with my fluids and Gu. I had to take my Gu a few times without water based on the spacing of the stations and I think I was a bit conservative on water intake. (no excuses). Not sure if this did me in.

I do think the wind was a huge factor for me in the later miles and probably needed to run this race conservatively around 3:30.

All said and done I was happy to see a solid 20 mile effort near my Goal MP and if I can recovery for Buffalo and maintain fitness with decent weather I think 3:18 is possible for sure. I think 3:15 will be a stretch but I'll know more in 4 weeks.

In the end, I thought to myself I am done with marathons. I really do not enjoy crashing 5 miles before the finish. It is just to far away from the end to grit your teeth and make it happen. I think 2-3 miles it's worth the torture but for me there was no way I was going to PR.

I took a flight back after the race thanks to Jim taking me to airport. Problem was I had over 2 hours to wait and there was NO food in the airport. Champain Airport is a ghost town a bit scary. So, I got a taxi for $20 to take me to subway for an egg snadwhich. I got my plan to chicago where they changed the flight schedule so I was there for 3 hour lay over and ended up home around 10:30pm.

Pretty wild 36 hours!

PS: Review of the race itself.

Logistics: A- If you get a hotel near the start it's ideal pretty much walking distance to expo, dinner, start and finish line
Expo: C nothing special but very easy to get bib and get out
Shirt: C+ Shirt actually fit me well but it was creased to hell. LOL Color blue was nice!
Course: B+ Great great course not many hills but enough to keep you using different muscles. Mile 24-25 is rough as it goes up hill.
Weather: D Unfortunately, this is known to be a windy race from my understanding. So, I think it does not make sense to make this a destination race shooting for a PR. The risk is to high for windy weather.
Spectators: B+ Overall quite surprised how great they were. Really into it and throughout much of the course. There were sections where there were so many that I felt energized and saw my pace go up a bit.
Volunteers: A- Really quality volunteers that cared. Good with the water etc.
Post Race: C+ I thought this lacked in some ways. They ran out of Warming Blankets, post food was up the stadium stairs in a different sections. Last thing I want to do is hunt around for food and walk up staidum stairs. However, Golf Carts available to take you to your car or in my case near my HOTEL! That was a big bonus which I took advantage of.

Congratulations on finishing another marathon. I'm sorry things didn't work out the last 10K. Do you think that thought of being done with marathons was just discouragement talking to you or do you really think you'll change distances in the near future? I have thoughts marathons were ridiculous during many of my marathons but I'm still signing up for more.

Julie wrote:Congratulations on finishing another marathon. I'm sorry things didn't work out the last 10K. Do you think that thought of being done with marathons was just discouragement talking to you or do you really think you'll change distances in the near future? I have thoughts marathons were ridiculous during many of my marathons but I'm still signing up for more.

No. that was the thought at the time. thoughts change constantly. I got Buffalo coming up Philly and rehoboth Marathon later in the year. I ain't going anywhere. If anything longer not shorter.

Nice report Kenny. You are too funny when you crash and burn, but I sure hope you don't have it happen again any time soon. Shoulda gone to Kams and tipped a few with the college kids instead of heading out to Willard!

I thought of you when I finished and noticed it getting rather windy. I didn't notice wind as a factor on the half course, but it sure was blowing around after I finished and I too started getting really cold walking around after the half. They had apparently already ran out of space blankets even then! I couldn't locate one anyway.

Sorry that you ran into troubles, but it sounds like you did a good job of making something out of it by volunteering, and doing the suicides! Hopefully you will be good to go for your next effort!

carleenp wrote:I thought of you when I finished and noticed it getting rather windy. I didn't notice wind as a factor on the half course, but it sure was blowing around after I finished and I too started getting really cold walking around after the half. They had apparently already ran out of space blankets even then! I couldn't locate one anyway.

Sorry that you ran into troubles, but it sounds like you did a good job of making something out of it by volunteering, and doing the suicides! Hopefully you will be good to go for your next effort!

That's because they were very poorly located. They had them in the medical area and you had to go in and ask for one. My piriformis was on fire when I finished so I got it worked on or I wouldn't have found them either.

mul21 wrote:

carleenp wrote:I thought of you when I finished and noticed it getting rather windy. I didn't notice wind as a factor on the half course, but it sure was blowing around after I finished and I too started getting really cold walking around after the half. They had apparently already ran out of space blankets even then! I couldn't locate one anyway.

Sorry that you ran into troubles, but it sounds like you did a good job of making something out of it by volunteering, and doing the suicides! Hopefully you will be good to go for your next effort!

That's because they were very poorly located. They had them in the medical area and you had to go in and ask for one. My piriformis was on fire when I finished so I got it worked on or I wouldn't have found them either.

That explains it! I thought it was rather odd for them to have run out that early!

I went to the med tent and they said no more with a sign posted all out. I found one left on the for well actually a woman gave me hers after she was changed.

Sometimes with our races, everything (or most) things all have to come together to make it the best day. Keep at it, and it will happen.

Shake it off Kenny. Put it out of your mind and get ready for Buffalo. You always do better on the second ones.

Sorry how that one turned out for you, Kenny! Wind can be so tough, something a lot of people don't take into account. I'm glad that at least the hotel worked out for you.

So these suicides that you did....this was before crossing the finish line???

We need to talk Kenny as we can get you through this. I'm totally serious.

Now I understand what you meant by volunteering in the last few miles on your blog. If the last miles were straight into an east wind, that was brutal up here in northern Illinois yesterday morning and sounds like ditto for you all, luckily we only had short stretches straight into it on our course. That had to be a dilema, freezing verses dying trying to run hard on the last miles. Way to finish, and you got an extra shirt for your effort.

Sorry the race wasn't what you had hoped Kenny. Sounds like nothing about the trip went smoothly. Hopefully you can recover in time to go for the PR at Buffalo.

Thanks everyone!

Plan on recovering and picking myself up to PR in Buffalo!

Recover well, Kenny!

The whole weekend sounded highly sub-optimal, and those death marches are the worst! Props to you for sticking with it to the finish, and having enough spunk left in you to leave the spectators (and fellow runners) scratching their heads, wondering "What in the world is this guy doing?"

Recover well, and I'm looking forward to seeing how well you do in Buffalo.