On Sunday, I ran my 62nd half marathon, the Chicago Half Marathon.  The last time I ran this race was in 2009.  This race is my last one before the Chicago Marathon.  The only reason I ran it is because of the CARA Marathon Incentive Program.  So now I need to volunteer at the expo, run the Chicago Marathon, apply on December 1 (yes there is an application) and cross my fingers that I get in for next year.  Now that I think about it, it does sound really crazy for a supposedly guaranteed entry.  I mean, it isn’t really guaranteed because there are a limited number of spots available and once they’re filled, you’re out of luck!

Back to the race.  I was told not to race it but instead to use it as a training run.  And that is pretty much what I did.  I was up very early at 4am, got ready, and drove to the race.  Luckily I found parking right away and waited for about half an hour before heading over to use the bathrooms.  It was very dark.

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I met up with another Chicago Endurance Sports runner (Amy) to run together.  The weather was just perfect.  No rain and overcast.  Definitely ideal running weather.

I do not remember hearing the National Anthem but we were kind of far so maybe we didn’t hear it. Anyway, a few minutes later we crossed the start line.

We settled into a nice and comfortable pace.  I had my iPod but ended up not using it.  Yep, I ran the whole race without listening to music.  I love the course!  And I love even more that we ran on Lake Shore Drive instead of the running path.  That would have been very tight and a disaster.

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Source: http://www.chicagohalfmarathon.com/

I took an Advil at mile 4.  My calves were tight and my feet were bothering me since the beginning.  The Advil kicked in a few miles later.  I wonder if maybe for the marathon I should take 2 of them earlier in the race.

Amy and I got separated after mile 8 but then I caught up to her.  I saw the 2:20 pace group and did my best to stay with them but they were running a little bit faster than I could/wanted to.  With 2 miles to go I told Amy to go ahead and I did my best to finish.

Throughout the race I had my watch to only show average pace.  I was hoping to keep it at 10:55 which is pretty much what it was on throughout the race.  However, that number crept up once I took my walking breaks and then I could not bring it down.  I then changed it to show just the time.  I ended up finishing in 2:24:41 (according to my watch) which is an 11:01 average pace.  I am very pleased with my finish time.

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Seriously the best medal ever!

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A cute shirt and one that I will definitely keep.

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One of my friend sent me the picture below.  I remember seeing them when I crossed the finish line and thought about waving but did not want to look stupid.  But it is still pretty cool!

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Overall it was a great race.  The course is awesome.  There was plenty of crowd support and enough water stations.  We lucked out with the weather so it made it an even better experience.

13 Comments on Chicago Half Marathon

  1. Congrats on the finish! Very cool that you were on tv as well. My finish of the Indy Mini in 2014 was captured on the live broadcast of that race! 🙂

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