Chicago marathon 2012

Well, I'll kick this off. I ran the Chicago marathon yesterday and the weather was so good, it was actually very strange to be chilly standing in the starting corral this morning. It wasn't as cold as predicted (it was about 40 vs. 32 that they said even the night before) but it was still great running weather. It was cloudy 90% of the time as a bonus. We did have headwind at various times but it wasn't overly strong.

The Expo was good as always but it may be the first time I've gone and didn't buy anything. I always like watching the videos they have near the exit, they are always inspirational. Dinner on Friday night was excellent and though Dot tried to rub her PR magic off on me, it didn't work mainly because I wasn't going for a PR.

They made some logistical changes that really, really helped. The dual path to the corrals reduced congestion, seemed like a lot more portapotties as lines were smaller, and probably the biggest help - they had two waves which separated a lot of people by 30 minutes. Another big help - at the end, they provided a clear path from the food area to the party/reunite area where in years past, it's been wide open for spectators and they jam it looking for their runner.

As I am training for the Philly marathon, this was intended to be a training run. I love my hometown of Chicago and will run the marathon there as often as I can no matter the weather. After all the hot days we had in recent years, I decided to train for a different one, and of course this is the year the weather was so good. My training program called for a 25K time trial or race which is 15 miles. Since I wanted to finish the marathon, I decided a good workout would be to run 15-16 miles at my hoped for (really a pipe dream I think) pace and then take it easy the last 10 miles. This is the first (and possibly only) year that I started in corral B and it was great. There are very few people there who start out slow and there was no zig-zagging around a lot of people which is required even in corral C.

I decided to run with the 3:30 pace team and don't think they did a great job. Look at the splits below. In the first five miles, we were already 25 seconds under pace. So they made it all up in mile 6 with an 8:28 mile. I did not check my watch running with them, just manually logged the miles as we passed the signs. Anyway, I kept with them through 15 so I made my goal of an excellent workout but I could tell I couldn't keep this up as I hadn't tapered for the race. So I slowed but I really should have had a plan as I didn't slow enough. By mile 22/23, my right calf and AT were tightening up and felt like the calf would cramp. So I slowed it down and walked through the water stops more than usual. My main goal was to need no more than none week of easy running to recover from this so I can keep training for Philly.

1 - 8:00
2 – 7:54
3 – 7:53
4 – 7:52
5 – 7:55 (now 26 seconds under pace)
6 – 8:28 (made it up in one mile)
7 – 8:09
8 – 8:02
9 – 8:04
10 - 8:04
11 – 7:57
12 – 8:06
13 – 8:06
14 – 8:06
15 – 7:55
16 – 8:07
(At this point, the 16 miles at pace were done and the plan was to slow down but I didn't slow enough)
17 – 8:19
18 – 8:34
19 – 8:26
20 – 8:48
21 – 8:54
22 – 9:11
23 – 9:28
24 – 10:24
25 – 10:57
26 – 10:10
.2 – 2:08

Finish time - 3:44:04

One other note - to reinforce that this was not a race for me, I used an iPod for the first time in years but I cannot believe how much it took away from the race experience. I don't think I will do that again.

I really like the Sweetwater's idea afterwards, their food is really good. I got to hold Martin and Lisa's baby till she started crying. She's an amazing baby, letting herself get passed around person to person without complaining. It was really good to catch up with everyone and see how they did too. Thanks for reading, I did not intend this to be so long.

Way to reign it in and stay in control John. I hope you're able to recover this week and knock it out of the park in Philly.

Enjoyed talking with you this weekend, congrats again and good luck in Philly!

It would have been tempting to go all-out, given the conditions, but you wisely kept yourself in check.

Nice running out there. It was great training for your goal race.

Nice smart run John. Good job getting it done. You should be right on track for Philly.

John, it was nice to see you again. With a good taper that 15-16 miles should translate to a solid 26.2, I know you can do it.

Solid effort for a training run. Rest up and get ready for Philly!

Great job, John! Glad you could be there and run in nice weather. Sounds like a good get-together at the end, too. I'm eager to hear how your tapered-for race goes.

John it was great to see you and Carol after the race yesterday. Kristina loved seeing you guys also! Awesome job yesterday race/training run! I think that if Philly has the same type of weather you are going to knock it out of the park. If there was a most improved or biggest learn curve award here there is no doubt in my mind that my vote would be for you! You have been simple awesome and have come man roads in your running. I wish you all the best with the rest of your training and great Philly race!

Remember if you want to get together and run let me know! Lisa and I can also travel out your way!

John apparently had a good time, but iPod in a mega race? No no no.

Thanks for the report. It bodes well for Philly.

Really nice job managing the effort given your goals for this race/run.

Good luck in Philly!

Great to see you Friday and Sunday, as always. Very solid training run, and an excellent sign for Philly!

Nice "training run", John. Congrats.

Jerry wrote:John apparently had a good time, but iPod in a mega race? No no no.

Jerry since they took out that ban in Chicago you would be surprised on how many people are now running with iPod. There were at least 6 people running by me or that I passed that were wearing them.

Heck I have even though about for the future. Especially on the back half of the course.

Enough of that back carry on giving huge congrats to John P for such a awesome job yesterday!

Schuey wrote:

Jerry wrote:John apparently had a good time, but iPod in a mega race? No no no.

Jerry since they took out that ban in Chicago you would be surprised on how many people are now running with iPod. There were at least 6 people running by me or that I passed that were wearing them.

Heck I have even though about for the future. Especially on the back half of the course.

Enough of that back carry on giving huge congrats to John P for such a awesome job yesterday!

I don't care about the rules. Filtering out all that noise in a mega race, I don't like. Then of cause I live in a place I don't encounter anyone in a 10 mile run.

Nice smart run, John. I, too, hope to run similarly in NY, but my "slow, training pace" will be around 9-9:10 miles and I hope to finish around 4:15-4:20. I plan to walk through water stops to stay in check as the crowds can be just too awesome and motivating to keep one's self from going too fast.

Well done and good luck in Philly !!

Good job, John. No pressure on Philly, now. None whatsoever.

Thank you all for your nice comments, I really like the board here and how random people with a common interest can get together in person or online and act like we see each other all the time. It's really great.

Ok, answer this honestly....do you feel completely destroyed today (Tuesday) like you just pushed yourself way too hard in a marathon. No, right? I'll tell you what I told you at Sweetwater. 8:00 IS your pace for Philly and 3:29:XX is very much there for you with good execution and sticktuitiveness. Good/great weather being repeated for Philly is a must but get that and you have put yourself in a great position to nail it. Take it easy this week - real easy - take the Garmin off - and then build back up next week and it is GO TIME in Philly! Great seeing you guys Sunday.

Chris M wrote:Ok, answer this honestly....do you feel completely destroyed today (Tuesday) like you just pushed yourself way too hard in a marathon. No, right? I'll tell you what I told you at Sweetwater. 8:00 IS your pace for Philly and 3:29:XX is very much there for you with good execution and sticktuitiveness. Good/great weather being repeated for Philly is a must but get that and you have put yourself in a great position to nail it. Take it easy this week - real easy - take the Garmin off - and then build back up next week and it is GO TIME in Philly! Great seeing you guys Sunday.

Well, I did run 3 miles today and didn't feel too bad. There's no doubt this marathon took a bit out of me but I do think it is under control and I need to be patient this week and not jump right back into the thick of training. Even if I don't feel too bad, I know 26.2 will do some damage.

Good job with your "training" run!! It looks like everything should be alright for Philly in November

Good Job John! Hard to believe that was a training run - heck of an effort!

Hey John,

i am with Chris! I think you are going to nail it at Philly! You have almost a month before race day. Take it nice and easy and you will do great! And wow, what a fantastic way to celebrate a big marathon like Chicago! That is so cool!

E Greenie