Chicago Half Marathon

Chicago Half Marathon -- Chicago. IL

Race recap for state #12 -- Illinois.  9/24/2017


This picture pretty much sums up the race for me in Chicago.  It was hot and I struggled.  More accurately, I had a bit of a melt-down.  This was not a great race for me, but I finished and was happy to be finished.

Registration:

Another registration through Athlinks.  Easy registration, multiple questions and multiple pages to navigate, but easy enough.

 Fee:

The fee for this on was $95.00 and a service fee of $8.41 for a total of $103.41. 

The Expo:

The expo was at Soldier Field.  The entire expo was designed to force the participants to walk through all of the vendor exhibits... twice.

First you had to walk all the way through the concourse to get your race bib, then you had to walk all the way back and around the other way to get your shirt and packet.  I understand the marketing behind it, but it was a bit annoying.

Shirt:

The shirt was another long-sleeved wicking, tech shirt.  I am thinking of cutting off the sleeves of several of these shirts that I am receiving to make them something I can wear more than twice a year.

Race Day:

The race was Sunday at 7:00am.  We started exactly on time.

The weather was 76F at 5:00 am, so I was a little worried about how hot it might be, but figured I would be through before 9:00am so it should not be too bad.  Well, it did warm up and rose to about 89F before I finished and 95F some time after I finished.  It was hotter in Chicago than it was in Tampa.

Race Start Time:

The Half started at 7:00 and the 5 K started at 7:30.  I was long gone by then, so I never saw the 5k.  Although, at about the 5K mark, I was considering making this race a 5K for me instead of the half.  For some reason, I got flush and dizzy just before mile 3.  Had to slow significantly.

Course Map:

The course started in Jackson Park and then on to Lakeshore Dr.  They blocked off the road north bound and south bound.  There was lots of room.  The course went North up Lakshore and then turned around and came back.  I was focused on ways to cross the median and hide for a minute and then come out on the other side essentially saving myself several miles.  I very much wanted to quit for most of the race.  It was not pretty.  really though my training was decent for this race, and was expecting a good time on this flat course.  It did not happen.

This is a picture of me making a concerted effort to smile for the camera.  The best I could muster was a pained look of constipation.  (that might have actually been better)


Accommodations:

I stayed in a AirBnB with Noble and my friend from Illinois.  It was a two bedroom 2.5 bath apartment just a few blocks from the start and finish.  Although it took me 40 minutes to walk back from the finish because I was disoriented and wasn't real sure where I was or where I was going for a while.  Once I figured it out, I was a few blocks too far.

Transportation:

My buddy picked us up from the airport and took us to the apartment.  He brought some bikes with him and pretty much all of our transportation was by bike for 3 days.  The weather was clear and sunny, so we felt like the rides would be fun.  I wonder if all that riding depleted my energy??

Weather:

Weather was great for sight seeing, which we did.  

But it was hotter than I wanted for the race.

Race Morning:

I walked to the start at about 6:20am  Got there about 6:40am, waited in my corral, then the race started.  I really did not talk to anyone, just waited there and then went off for a little jog around the park.  My buddy and Noble rode their bikes and I saw them a couple of times for the first mile, then they went of running errands.  I suppose watching my run is a bit boring.

Race:

The race was well organized.  The start was clean and much easier than some of the other races.  The course was well marked and the roads were wide... plenty of room, which was really nice.  There was very little dodging of racers.  This was my favorite part of the race.

Water/Food Stations:

There were plenty of water and nutrition stations.  Every 2-3 miles.  I saw Gatorade and water at EVERY station.  And they were offering cups of ice at every station on the return -- after the turn around. I saw nutrition gels at two other stations.  The water stations were long, which was helpful because I had fallen back to where all of the stoppers were.  That is, they get their drink at the water station, then stop and walk.  This clogs up the entire station and causes pileups and congestion.  So, I would run to the end of the station, passing all of the stopped runners, then get my drink from the last volunteer... then, of course I would stop.  It was just that kind of race for me.

Scenery:

The scenery was nice, It was a very nice venue along the water's edge.  Had I not had my head down, sweat in my eyes and blurred vision, I would have really enjoyed it.

Race Entertainment:

There really little entertainment that I noticed.  A few DJ's (who were motivating and fun), and one guy with curly red hair, a shirt pulled up to expose his belly and a cow bell.  He banged the cowbell for at least 2 hours and presumably longer.  Plenty of spectators and many were cheering.  Some sitting on the median (the one I wanted to jump over and cross to the other side), some on the side of the road.

Finish:

The finish was crowded with people cheering and having a good time.  They were encouraging all of the runners.  That was nice.  I was very happy to be finished.  I skipped all of the after party and food and drink, pictures, etc.  I just sort of wandered around lost until I figured out where I was.

Bling:

The Medal was the largest medal I have received so far.  I was surprised how big it is and how heavy it is.

Misc:

I suppose everybody has a bad race from time to time.  This was a bad race for me.  I was definitely hydrated adequately, but my nutrition was not the best and I did spend the previous two days out in the sun walking and biking (we were biking fairly hard).  I thought maybe I would be all loose and physically prepared... or maybe I just wore myself out??

I felt like my training was good for this race.  So, not really sure what it was, but it was not my day.  It was not my worst race, Kiawah still gets that designation, but it was close.  I would have thought that I would be getting better after 12 of these races, but that does not appear to be the case.  It will be interesting to see what happens next.

Next stop, Detroit international half.  It starts in Detroit, crosses over into Canada and back to Detroit.  Sounds interesting.  Hope I do better.