rubbing sweaty elbows

Many things to be thankful for after running the Chicago Marathon this weekend. I was not disappointed and was in fact surprised at how difficult running a marathon (my first) was.

As a Pace Team Leader I was super excited and rather inspired to run this marathon. We had a large group of runners sign up to run a finish time of 3:30 with us and in spite of the heat I felt determined to get these people through. Team organizer, Paul, did an amazing job pulling together and organizing the 100 pacers that ranged from 3:00 to 5:45 finish times. I was teamed with Dave, Iian and Jimena all motivating and experienced runners.

In spite of the heat I had goose bumps cruising down the the starting shoot. I love new experiences and sharing something like running, a very important piece in my life, with so many others made for a special moment. With determined runners right on our heals and me snapping pictures of all the people both running and cheering the first mile went by quickly and just under pace at 7:55. Somehow we got distracted and ran the second mile in 9 minutes and spent the next 5 shaving off time to get everyone back on pace. By 10k we were perfect and the group was still in high spirits. About 10k I started to take note of my heart rate (I decided to wear my monitor to see what would happen in the heat). I wasn't breathing hard but my heart rate was right around 173... way too high. My body was working hard to keep cool. I noticed a bank sign showing temps at 90 degrees at 10:40am. Our pace group was great, we stayed positive, kept cheering on the group and egging on the crowd to cheer for our 3:30 runners.

We still had a sizable group at the halfway point, but I realized that I wasn't feeling up for the task and noticed one of our pacers was gone. I tried writing it off as a low moment, ate more Shot bloks and kept up on Endurolytes hoping it would pass. I also tried convincing everyone else that we were doing great by cheering them on. I was able to hang on to the 8 minute pace till about mile 17, but then made the decision to take off my pace leader tank and run in as best I could. It was interesting and a bit sad to go from being all about getting the pace group to the finish line in their goal time, to a very individual survival mode of getting myself there.

This was probably one of the more mentally tough races I have done and crossing the line in 3:37:39 with a couple hundred people was rather anti-climatic. I was disappointed that I hadn't held pace for the group and other pace leaders and was rather exhausted. The volunteers were very alert to all runners and the supplies at the finish line were more than adequate.

In a slow and surreal seeming manor I made my way back to the Pace Leader tent and found that only a few pace leaders were able to hit their target times, Iian from my group being one. A guy was severely cramping and the other few milling about were quiet. I talked with Chuck "Marathon Junkie" about the event and was encouraged by his positive words.

After making my way back to the hotel, and showering, Juliet called (girl I shared a hotel room with) that they had called off the race; she was going to have to walk back. If people started running the Police would ask them to walk and tell them that there was not enough supplies or staff to attend to additional health related issues. The story continued to evolve from there and the news reports show that the race had to make a tough decision to stop the race.

While rather impressive to host possibly the largest marathon in the world, with the extreme heat conditions it was an unexpected demand on the city's resources to take care of numerous runners. People in pace groups 4+ hours were short on water and Gatorade at the aid stations and the field quickly diminished. Of the boasted 45000 registered, roughly 35000 started and closer to 25000 finished. Hard to have an exact count since they officially stopped the race at 3.5 hours and made people walk in on a short course if they were only at the halfway point and, as Juliet experienced, she walked in from mile 22. I was saddened to hear that 1 man died on course, 50 people were taken to hospitals and an additional 250 were treated on site. My hope is people learn from these experiences, continue experiencing what good running can bring to their lives and are not discouraged.

I am thankful for my first experience and the time and effort Paul put into each of us as pacers and the group as a whole to make the pacing experience a memorable one. Muscle soreness is setting in today from the pavement pounding and heat. I'm happy to be home and moving on to another life step (next blog :) )