Chicago 1/2 Marathon

The Chicago 1/2 Marathon was my first decent race since the Boston Marathon. It was also my first opportunity to gauge how well my training has been going. Unfortunately, I don't think it was an accurate gauge.

The race took place on the south side of the city - near Jackson/Hyde Park area. It’s a large competitive race (nearly 20,000), but unfortunately the directors and sponsors have changed hands a number of times in the last few years. As best I can estimate, the course was a little long - probably by about 150-200m (or 30-45 seconds). The fact that the race started 15 minutes late also gives a little validity to my lament. An attempt to re-draw the course on USATF.

I wound up finishing 1:16:43, in 32nd place, 7th age group. I'm guessing I would've come close or broke 1:16 if the course was accurately measured. That would’ve been faster than my Cary 1/2 back in March.

Mind you, I’m not crying about my time. More importantly, I just wanted some sort of measure of my current fitness. I haven’t had much in the way of tempo or track work since August. I certainly have had my share of hill work and distance though. From as best I could tell, I ran this race with an honest / even effort and pace. Knowing that, gives me a little confidence in my training.

Race recap:
I went out somewhat easy through the first three miles and then settled into a steady mid-to-high 5:40’s effort. Weather was warm and sunny (maybe 70 for the race); wind was a steady 10mph from the north.

The first three miles snaked its way around Jackson Park, before going on a five mile out and back on LSD. By the time I hit LSD, I had set myself up to draft off a string of 10-15 runners while heading into the wind for the next 5 miles. Packs were far and few between by now, but 2 or 3 of us were able to work together for quite some time as we jumped from wind-blocker to wind-blocker.

Here's the annoying part: Mile 8 was blatantly long. In spite of a small side-stitch from drinking too much gatorade, I don’t believe my pace ever faded. In fact I had a small group of 3 that I was working with at the time, and none of us were giving anything up. Yet the 6:11 split was way off! For all I know, we even picked it up? I don't remember getting a jump back on the following miles either. By the time mile 12 rolled around, I was having some tightness in my ITB. But again - here I was actually pressing the pace and gaining ground on anyone near or ahead of me. Somehow that was clocked at 5:59. That had to be off. Mile 13 could also be suspect...? It's difficult to tell if any of the other miles were 'obviously short or long' though.

Bottom line: After talking to a few others with GPS watches and re-drawing the course on USATF or mapmyrun.com, I have slightly more confidence that the course was in fact long. And hence, I'm less concerned about the 1:16:43 time and could say that I might be in similar condition -if not better than I was back in the spring. That gives me a lot of comfort in my current training. I suspect I have a lot more endurance at this point though. I'm certainly putting in more miles right now.

This next week is my peak week of training. I’m sore from the 1/2, but I’m forging ahead with an attempt for 100 miles.


Split recap:
1 - 05:47.4
2 - 05:50.2
3 - 05:52.4
4 - 05:45.7
5 - 05:45.5
6 - 05:53.5
7 - 05:45.8
8 - 06:11.7*Long
9 - 05:48.8
10 - 05:48.8
11 - 05:43.3
12 - 05:59.6*Long
13 - 05:53.4
13.? - 00:37.2
Finish - 1:16:43