Race #123
Quarter Marathon #1
2017 Race #7
Chicago Quarter Marathon #1

As I planned this Spring Break trip, I briefly conducted a search for races in Chicago happening on either Sunday after we arrived or today, right before we headed home. I knew that in a city this large, there must be something. A casual search did not turn up anything promising. Thus, I planned to just get in two long runs on this vacation.

At the White Sox game Sunday, I’m not sure what inspired me to look but this time a quick search turned up the first result of the Chicago Quarter Marathon. I looked everything over. It took place on the lakefront which I fell in love with at first sight. It is a doable distance and a new distance which meant automatic PR. Before I left the game, I signed up.

This morning, to make sure that we arrived on time, Dad and I booked an Uber. (Prior to this trip, I had not yet partaken in Uber’s services. Now I feel like a pro.) I scheduled it to pick us up between 8 and 8:15 thus getting us to the race start between 8:15 and 8:30 for a 9:15 start.

Our Uber arrived promptly at 8 which got us to the race start with about 50 minutes to spare. More than plenty of time. During this wait time I realized that although I had set out my armband for my phone right by my bib, I managed to leave the armband sitting under the TV at Laura’s apartment. I spent the next 10 minutes or so trying to come up with a solution but nothing seemed to work so I ended up leaving the phone with Dad and running sans music. It’s been a while since I did that.

(Yes, I took the hat off before I ran.)

With about 10 minutes to go, I headed towards the start line. As I looked around at my competition, I had a suspicion that there weren’t a lot of fast people at this race.

Promptly at 9:15 we were off. I tried to quickly settle in to the 8:00 pace that I wanted. Within a few tenths of a mile I could tell that my mouth was already dry. The temperatures were much hotter than they have been the rest of the week (72 according to Garmin data) and I did not bring my hydration with me. I decided right then to stop at each water stop and drink two cups of water. I know what my performance looks like when I’m dehydrated; it’s not pretty.

Mile 1: 7:43

My watch measured a little bit off by the first mile marker but not much. I try not to put too much stock into having my Garmin exactly in sync with the mile markers since various things can cause a Garmin to measure differently than the course certification.

This portion of the course was absolutely beautiful. It runs directly beside the lake, right on the outside of the Shedd Aquarium. It’s not a wide path at that point but thankfully early on in the race when most of the runners were still together, not many visitors and other pedestrians were on the path. There also were a few gradual uphills and downhills which made for a challenging change from the flatness of most of the Lakefront Path.

I could feel the heat getting to me and wondered when the water stop was going to appear. There were two water stops on this out and back course that we were able to partake from twice.

Shortly before the end of the second mile was the water stop. I slowed to a walk, grabbed two cups and drank as much of them as I could get down. I felt better immediately and knew that I had made the right decision.

Mile 2: 8:03

I figured that the mileage difference was just a fluke when my Garmin measured almost exactly on for the second mile. Unfortunately, that was the only time that happened.

The course continued to be gorgeous. I absolutely adore the Lakefront Path. I also managed to keep up a fairly even pace but could tell that I would be just a little wiped out come the end of the race due to the heat.

Starting at the third mile marker, my Garmin measured off from the mile markers, significantly. By the end of the race it was .55 off for a number of people. (I’ll get to that part later.)

I felt strong even in the heat and started anticipating the turn around. I wanted to see how close I could get before seeing the lead runner and then the lead female. I got a lot closer to the turn around which confirmed my suspicions that there were not a lot of fast people in this race. Yes, an 8:00 pace is fairly fast but competition-wise, not the pace that normally puts you at the front of a pack in a nearly 900 person race.

At the turn around I calculated that I was in 8th place for women and started keeping track from there.

Other than the above, the three middle miles were pretty unremarkable.

Mile 3: 8:16
Mile 4: 7:59
Mile 5: 8:12

Even though I had been hydrating as frequently as I could, I could tell that the heat was getting to me. I am not acclimated to summer yet. The last two miles felt really tough. I was determined to stay in the top 10 for women though which kept me pressing ahead at nearly the exact pace that I needed.

The end felt like it took forever to arrive, partially brought on by the difference in the distance. Finally I was back on the street and could see the finish line ahead. I put on a little bit of a sprint but tried to still focus on form. That has been an issue in some of my sprint to the finish pics. I’m tired and sprinting so a lot of times my form deteriorates. I’m pretty pleased with how my form looked today.

Mile 6: 8:10
Mile 7: 8:00

Final time: 57:11, average pace of 8:02.

Race Review

Registration and Packet Pick Up
It was almost too easy to register for this race, especially for people like me who have a problem with registering for all the races. Packet Pick Up also went smoothly. It was easy to find the location, Road Runners Sports, and didn’t take long at all. Of course, due to a problem with customs (see below) the only thing that we picked up was the bib.

Race Shirt
At this point, I do not know what these look like. A couple days after registering I got an email stating that the swag delivery had been delayed. The fleece jackets (quarter-zip) were being held up in customs. The race director did not know when they would be released. Even though he was actively trying to get them released, he could not estimate whether they would be available. Because of this, the race offered the beanie to everyone (it had been a perk of being one of the first 750 to sign up) as well as offering free shipping for all those not able to come by and pick up the merchandise once it finally arrived. I think with all that they had to deal with, the race directors handled this well. I did see on social media that there were several people put out by this.

Prerace/morning amenities
Everything seemed organized smoothly with plenty of portopotties available as well as gear check and some free candy.

Course
As I said in the recap, I absolutely love the Lakefront Path. It is absolutely gorgeous. If I lived here I would run every single race that used the Lakefront Path. I am obsessed.

Course Support
The out and back provided four water stops instead of two. Also, the race organizer set up tables on either side of the course for the out and then the back portion. Both sides were set up with cups full of water as I ran past on the out portion of the course.

Finish line and Post Race Amenities
The race finishes in the same area as the start. They had plenty of things to drink and eat. I tried a Bai drink and could not get something else in my mouth quick enough. It says right on the bottle that there are no artificial sweeteners. I knew from the taste that there had to be some. Sure enough, Bai uses its own Stevia blend. Gag. If I had known that I would have gotten just water.

Photography
I am not aware of any photographers but if some pictures are posted, I will update this.

Results
The results were available soon after the race on a site that gives you the option to search by bib number. The rest of the amenities of the site were a bit lacking but it gave enough information to be satisfactory.

If I were in Chicago again when this race was run, I would definitely run it again.