Race #212
Half Marathon #77
2023 Race #9
2023 Half Marathon #4
Chicago 13.1 #1
Yes, we did fly all the way to Chicago just to run this half marathon. This trip re-sparked a desire to do all the travel to all the races. I even considered registering for one of the San Francisco half marathons and flying out there. Next year.
We ended up getting to use my brother-in-law’s car to drive to the parking structure on race morning to catch the shuttle from there. We left a little earlier than I had thought which definitely helped. My sister jokes that if you want to go slowly in Chicago, get on the interstate. On a Sunday morning, three lanes of the interstate were closed. Then we had a logjam to get into the one entrance into the parking structure. We learned from a Chicago native who lined up behind us in the shuttle line that the race used a different structure the previous year that had multiple entrances and worked a lot better. Around the same time we heard someone say something about Taylor Swift so I looked it up. Sure enough, she had a show that night (and had also performed the previous night.) Immediately, the absolutely ridiculous hotel prices made a lot more sense.
We got onto the shuttle at 6:50 for a race that started at 7 or I should say was scheduled to start at 7. We didn’t know while waiting in the shuttle line but the race start had been delayed about 20 minutes meaning that just when we arrived the wheelchair athletes started.
We had enough time to enter our corral, or attempt to enter our corral. Quite a few of us stood near the entrance to the corral unable to enter. As the start time approached, a few people decided to go ahead and squeeze in creating a little bit of a path so Mom and I followed. Sure enough, once we got in, there was enough space for everyone to get into the section, if the people standing there would just move over. Oh well.
The only thing that I wished we could have done before getting in the corral was a portopotty stop. We just didn’t have enough time. I figured, especially since I didn’t plan to run this at race effort, that I would just find a portopotty later in the race.
At 7:20 we started.
Interestingly, I realized just before we crossed the start line where the start line was located. Unlike most other races I have run, the startline did not have some sort of overhead banner or structure to indicate the start. The finish line also lacked this bigger visual structure.
We started in Garfield Park, running north towards Humboldt Park, back through Garfield Park, down towards Douglass Park and then back to Garfield Park to finish.
Immediately upon starting, I noticed that my legs did not feel fresh. I did not feel too worried about it though. Obviously, I would have preferred having fresh legs but I didn’t feel bad. I felt capable and ready to make my way through the race.
Mile 1 – 8:25
Mile 2 – 9:22
The water stops came approximately ever 2 miles and with each stop came a few portopotties. Just before we reached this point, I mentioned to Mom that I needed to use it so we made a stop. I didn’t realize that Mom also needed it so when I came out and didn’t see her, I was confused for a moment. After a few seconds wait, we took off again.
Once we left the Garfield Park section, the course started to loop back on itself and we could see the professional runners on the opposite side of the road, something that no race I have run has ever had. I’ve run big races before but the timing has never worked out to see any of the professional athletes on an out and back. We saw all of the leading wheelchair athletes but I could not see any names. It would have been even cooler to see and know that I saw athletes like Daniel Romanchuk and Susanna Scaroni (the eventual winners.) We also saw all of the leading men and a couple of the leading women. I could not read the name of the leading woman at that point but I could make out Nukuri and knew that I had seen Diane Nukuri who went on to win the race.
Somewhere in this section, Mom mentioned to me that she was having difficulty getting into the race mentally and that her legs felt fatigued. I figured that the same things that probably kept my legs feeling a bit fatigued, our Freedom Flyer 2 mile effort from the previous Monday as well as our Saturday run which ended up taking place later in the day that I had planned. I think I attempted to say something encouraging but I don’t remember what I said.
I felt strong and solid throughout these miles, really enjoying the run.
Mile 3 – 8:29
Mile 4 – 8:41
Mile 5 – 8:40
Mile 6 – 8:52
Somewhere after we finished the 6th mile, Mom said something about me going ahead because she wanted to walk. Thus started my best effort at speaking encouraging words and using a bit of “tough love” to get her to speak positively to herself. I know from firsthand experience just how toxic negative thoughts can be.
We did walk for a short section during this mile.
Once we started running again, I suggested that we walk a little at each mile so that she could have a way to break down the remaining distance into much shorter chunks, something more manageable to think about and make our way to the finish. She agreed.
Towards the end of that mile, with about .13 left, she asked to walk again. I told her no. We would walk in .13 at the mile.
Mile 7 – 9:31
Mile 8 – 9:14
After mile 8, Mom really struggled. I felt kind of bad for sounding so harsh as I tried to keep her running. I knew that she would beat herself up once the race finished for giving into the negative thoughts and I wanted to help her avoid that. She also kept telling me to go on ahead. I didn’t want to leave her for a couple of reasons. One, I did not want to leave her alone with the negative thoughts. Two, she did not bring her phone with her and we had not designated a spot to meet up after the race. In a race this large, not having a phone makes meeting back up again a bit difficult.
I did battle a bit of personal frustration through this section as well because I felt strong enough that I wanted to keep running; I didn’t need to walk. True, I did not feel fresh at all. I felt fit, though, and wanted to have a solid run.
Eventually, I told her that we could split up and just meet up at the shuttle spot. She said yes to that and told me to go on ahead. At that point we were running and I stayed at that pace until she slowed to walk at the mile.
From that point, I kept on running. I hoped that Mom would be able to keep moving forward. I knew that even though she told me that she felt like she would need to walk the remainder of the race, that she was too stubborn to actually do that.
Mile 9 – 10:23
After starting to separate from Mom, I did not really pick up the pace at all. My legs did not have that pep in them. Instead, I focused on maintaining a solid, strong pace. I also made the plan to walk at each of the water stops remaining (two) to take in some hydration because Mom and I had been sharing a bottle. (The race stated that all backpack-like hydration packs were banned which meant my OrangeMud vest, no matter how ridiculous that rule is. It turned out that I probably could have still worn it because I saw no race officials near the corral entrance but I had not brought it with me.
Mile 10 – 8:58
Mile 11 – 8:47
Somewhere in that previous section we had gotten to see some of the elites again but not any of the wheelchair athletes or the leaders of the race as we passed Garfield Park again and headed towards Douglass Park.
My legs felt really tired and even though the competitive side of me wanted to push the pace to make up time from the middle miles, I did not let myself push, especially with a 5k or so remaining. I did not know how much exactly because I had not run the tangents at all and knew I had some extra mileage on my Garmin than the certified course.
Mile 12 – 8:54
After passing the last water stop in which I took the provided Nuun (I still hate the taste but knew that I needed the electrolytes) as well as two cups of water, I decided to see how many people I could pass. I did not count them but it definitely motivated me as I pushed forward.
I also glanced down at my watch to see if I could finish in under 2 hours. While I did not do the exact match (trying to do math while running never works out for me) I thought that I might have a chance so even though I did not have a lot left in my legs, I tried to pick up the pace as much as I could.
I kept glancing at my watch periodically though this section and kept thinking that I needed to go faster because I was so close to the edge of finishing under 2 hours or not.
At one point, with about half a mile to go I thought that I wouldn’t make it. I almost decided to pull back but gave myself a mental slap and told myself to keep pushing. I did not have that much left. Finally, as I came around the last corner and saw the clock, I knew I would make it and felt great as I came across the finish line.
Mile 13 – 8:18
Final .29 – 7:31
Overall – 1:58:51
I walked slowly through the finish line shoot, not knowing how far Mom would be behind me.
When I reached the exit, I realized that I could stand off to the side right there and see her as she left. Somehow, (not really sure how) even though I watched almost the entire time, I missed her. I had pulled up the tracker and kept waiting to see the 20k split. Afterwards, I looked again and realized that they did not provide a 20k split. Oops.
After I saw that she had finished, I kept waiting and waiting and still didn’t see her. After looking up some of the finish times of other runners in the finish area, I realized that I must have missed her and decided to head to the shuttle point (which I should have done from the beginning) only I ended up walking the completely wrong way because the signs did not have the shuttle marked at least not on the side that I looked. That’s helpful. (Sarcasm alert)
As soon as I approached the shuttle point, I saw her. Phew!
Even though she did not have the race that she wanted, she got 2nd in her age group out of over 6000 runners!
I really did like this race and am glad that I got in a Chicago race even though I did not make it into the Marathon this year.