This morning was looking like a great day for a race. Not windy and relatively good temperatures in the low 60's. Did a couple mile warmup before the race which involved me running to the start from my home. Wasted too much time in the bathroom line, but I actually needed to go.
The race started a few minutes late which is a rare occurance in Chicago races which are "required" to start on time. I think that we were waiting for our lane of Lakeshore drive to be blocked off.
Mile 1: Tried to go out relatively easy and not blow the race in the first mile. I have a habit of doing that. Noticed that the race was a bit more competitive this year as I was 14th last year and there were too many people in front of me to count. Halfway into this race we enter a half mile tunnel so GPS becomes relatively useless. (Same tumel that used to be part of the Chicago marathon. Some may remember Khalid Kannouchi dropping his competition here in his 1999 Chicago marathon world record run.) Anyway, I was now running in a bit of a group, trying to keep back so others would face the mild wind. Mile 1 in 5:42 by Garmin, 5:49 by mile markers. I think I will stick with the GPS times as I think they were actually more accurate.
Mile 2: Feeling pretty good. 5:40.
Mile 3: My group was falling apart and there was a nice pack of 4 about 5-7 second ahead so I made a surge to catch them. Probably pushed a little too hard and caught them in about half a mile at about 5:30 pace. Recovered for the second half of the mile. 5:38
Mile 4: Hanging with the same group. Clock said 5:53, garmin said 5:43. I think GPS was more accurate, but the other guys in the group saw a slow mile and started pushing the pace harder.
Mile 5: I couldn't intelligently stay with the guys in the group and they go about 10 seconds on me by the turnaround at about mile 4.8. As I turned I wishes I was with them because I instantly realized that the wind had picked up and we would be running the second half into a decent headwind. 5:41. 5:17 by the mile markers which were definately off. I didn't even notice the 5:17 at the time. Halfway in about 28:20.
Mile 6: I did some math and saw that I could PR by holding a 5:54 pace. Sadly I was alone in the wind and struggle to hold 6:00 pace. 5:59.
Mile 7: There were two guys from my old group about 10-15 seconds ahead of me. I wanted to catch them, but my efforts were futile. 5:58.
Mile 8: Realizing that there will be no PR today as I can't get the pace below 6:00. I am on the part of the path were I run almost every day. I suppose this could be considered a home field advantage, but it didn't helm much. 6:03
Mile 9: Somewhere in this mile a guy in spandex flew by me. I had been hoping someone would catch me so that I could latch on, but this guy was going way too fast. He eventually slowed a little but it was too late for me to benefit. For much of this mile I was using an old lady on a bike as a nice target to chase. 6:00. 6:12 by mile markers, definately off.
Mile 10: I picked up the pace on this mile hoping to catch a guy who was fading a little. I never caught him, but he made a nice target. The race finishes by going through the tunnels into Soldier Field (home of the Bears) and then weaving onto the field and finishing at the 50 yard line (at the edge of the field, not in the middle). It's not very efficient with about 8 turns in the final 1/4 mile, but it is fun. 5:42 by garmin, 5:48 by mile markers, not sure which to trust with all the turns and tunnels.
Final time: 58:18. 30 seconds off a PR, and pretty close to what I expected. Not trying to make excuses, but without that headwind I would have definately set a PR. I'm happy. Now back to studying.
Added 7 more easy miles in the evening. Suprisingly felt pretty good. Also felt a lot of residual urge to run hard, but mostly refrained. | 