I fretted about this year's Chicago Half Marathon. No idea why, since I wound up blowing the doors off it. Simply put, I just started running and tried to maintain as long as I could. In the end, and aside from dealing with a monster blister on my foot in the last two miles... I killed it.
Weather was ideal for race conditions. I couldn't ask for a better day. Sunny, low 60's, a slight side wind from the west (occasionally annoying, but never hindering). Course was on the south-side of Chicago: looped through Jackson Park, headed north on Lake Shore Drive, then returned south on LSD, and finished in the park. Mostly flat except for a few overpasses.
Gun was at 7am. Pre-race rituals were pretty standard. Got down there with time to spare and everything flowed smoothly right up to the gun.
My initial goal was to go out at ~5:50. I’d either hang on to that, or if things felt good then I'd try to push splits down to 5:45. Ideally, I wanted sub-1:16.
Miles 1-3:
I started only a couple rows back from the line. However, it's a big race. Easily 50 guys took off fast and were ahead of me through at least the first mile. I wasn't sure how many of them actually belonged there, but eventually most would come back to me. Mile 1- 5:43.5... A tad faster than I wanted, but nothing critical. I had settled down after the first 1/2 mile anyway.
Cruised in the 2nd mile. Many of those overly eager soles started to get weeded out. I coasted by a couple packs of 5-10 runners. Nobody wanted to play with me.
By the end of the second mile a small pack formed with 5 or 6 up ahead, but otherwise I was amongst a thin line of runners. I saw a local stud, Jeff Jonaitis jump in with the pack. Either he was pacing or just doing a workout with another runner in that pack. His presence reassured me that they’d act as a steady measuring stick. I chose to play their chase. Mile 2- 5:49.1.
As we finished winding through Jackson Park, I had a handful of randoms around me that were trying to jockey for position. This was pretty annoying, as we didn't quite formed a pack. None of them wanted to work together. Lots of surging by some of them, and then laying off, but we had a long way to go to be messing around. I got cut off a couple times going around turns by one of the guys. Nothing like having to step over someone's heel because he has no respect for your personal space. Maybe I should've clipped him? 5:41.9. Still felt good, but the annoying maneuvers from the other runners upped the pace slightly.
Miles 4-8:
Heading north on Lake Shore Drive now, which meant wide lanes and long sweeping turns for almost the remainder of the race. The tangents would be extremely important to maintain. No sense in making the race any longer than it needed to be. Unfortunately, Gatorade and water tended to be on the outside of the course. Because of this and the fact that it wasn’t blazing hot - I limited the amount of times I took Gatorade (grabbed 3 drinks at one point or another).
Mile 4’s split was waaaaay off - 5:09.8! All I could do was laugh. Last year’s race was horribly mis-marked. Unfortunately, this year wasn't any different. Miles 5- 5:47.3, 6- 6:05.0, 7- 5:37.1, 8- 6:05.7. It felt like I had cruise control set on a 5:45ish pace in here, so mile 4’s error was returned over the next several splits. In this stretch, I simply tried to maintain and not lose too much distance on JJ’s pack ahead of me. For the most part, they were always about 25-50m ahead. As for my little angry pack, it gradually dissolved by mile 7. None of them were of any help, and they were also no longer threats as each of them fell off the back.
Miles 9-11:
The course turned with mile 9 on the 31st Street off ramp / on ramp, and began heading south again. I still felt very smooth and strong at this point, so I set my sights ahead. In my mind, everything up until now was not a race. It was merely getting me to a point where I could possibly pick up the pace. The questions at this point were: How fast was I actually going? And how much could I afford to pick it up?
The pack ahead began to fall apart after the off/on ramps. JJ and his partner were taking off. In the far distance, I could see Joe Guinness’s bright green FF singlet (aka - something was going wrong for him). I hit mile 9 with 5:35.3. The split actually seemed honest too. Since it didn't kill me, I continued to press on. I started to reel in the 4 or 5 guys that fell off of JJ. Each upcoming road kill became my motivation, and I easily passed each of them. Mile 10- 5:38.8. Gatorade. 5K to go. I approached Joe. A great runner, much faster than I am – but just not having a good day. We exchanged a few words, and I pulled the trigger. Mile 11- 5:29.2.
12-Finish:
Last 2 miles. Crowds were a non-event up until now. People all along the sides of the course. Masses of runners on the other side of the median. This part of the race actually became entertaining. Unfortunately, I was too dehydrated and deep to care. It was just noise. After passing Joe and 1 final runner, I had no more road kills for the taking. The next guy up had considerable distance on me.
Somewhere in here, I started to feel an extremely nasty blister on the ball of my right foot. Over the course of the next mile, the pain became quite intense. That's what I get for washing my shoes the night before and running in new socks!! This and a lack of motivation forced me to ease up slightly. Mile 12- 5:46.4. I was to easily hit mid-1:15's, if I didn't fall apart. I passed Sarah. She was screaming at the top of her lungs at me. Without any other motivation though, I just tried to keep my pace and avoid burning the hell out of my foot. Every step hurt at this point.
Turned off Lake Shore Drive onto Hayes. Mile 13- 5:46.8. As I approached the marker, I saw it ticking 1:14. Awesome! Given the blister, any kick was likely out of the question, but I had time. Hold and I can cruise to sub-1:15.
Then, just out of nowhere - some formerly road killed, sand baggin' son of a bitch snuck up and passed me. All I could do was try to get him back and stay with him. My foot was absolutely on fire! Burring him was out of the question. I didn't have the room, the pain threshold, or the will since I could see I was already sub-1:15. We basically crossed the line together – in my mind, I may have had a step or two on him. It turned out, that slag had 4 seconds on me by actual versus chip times, so he got the better placement. To add insult to injury, he was in my age group.
Finish: 1:14:50. 18th overall out of 14,000+, 3rd age group.
All in all – an absolutely awesome run! Well above my 'hopeful' expectations of a mid-1:15 run, in spite of a nasty blister.
The course was identical to last year. I’m not sure what that means... either its total distance is actually correct (depending on how perfectly you run the huge tangents), or it was long again. A couple runners with GPS’s both told me they ran 13.17 miles. Either I can still be upset about last year, or I can have solace in this year’s run and know for sure that I didn’t run a short course. Regardless, HUGE PR! 1:40 under Cary '09, and almost 2 minutes under Chicago 1/2 '09 on the same course.
Split recap:
1- 5:43.5
2- 5:49.1
3- 5:41.9
4- 5:09.8
5- 5:47.3
6- 6:05.0
7- 5:37.1
8- 6:02.7
9- 5:35.3
10- 5:38.8
11- 5:29.2
12- 5:46.4
13- 5:46.8
.1- 0:38.1
Finish- 1:14:50 / Avg- 05:42.5
