We stayed near this start of this race so we got up at 4am. Unfortunately I made do with a breakfast of a small box of cereal (no milk) that we picked up from the Expo. It wasn’t until late last night that I realized we really didn’t have any breakfast foods, so Expo grub would have to do. Needless to say, this wasn’t enough fuel for me.

Heading out.

We made our way to the start and warmed up. It was so nice to be Corral 1. Kara Goucher was hanging out in the start corral and I got to thank her for the awesome interview she did at the Expo. Then we waited around for the race to start with our friend Seanan that is also on the ORRT Racing Team. We got to see Jake from the Bachelor (which none of us cared about), Guliana Rancic (I was excited about that), Maria Menounos, Al Roker, and finally Kara spoke (and she rightfully got the most applause).

After the National Anthem we were off. I tried to fight the urge to go out too fast, but still ended up with a first mile faster than I wished (I think it was 6:58). It’s hard to get into a pace at the beginning of a race, let alone in Chicago where in the downtown area my Garmin won’t hold a signal. I hit lap on the first mile and figured since my distance would probably be off due to the signal I would hit lap at every mile marker. Turned out to be a mistake to mess with because I didn’t see every mile marker. So my mile split data is going to be all kinds of messy to review.

I hit the 5K and knew I was fast and backed off a bit (perhaps a mistake). Then at Mile 5 as we headed south I brought the pace back up, or at least I thought I was, instead I found that I was struggling more for my pace than I should be. My body kept wanting to settle in what seemed to be the 7:25 pace. I did have a 10K PR (because I haven’t run a 10K race in forever), but with no chip mat I won’t record it as a PR or anything. My race only got worse when I actually chose to not bring any fuel for the race. A complete lack of judgement that was another more impactful mistake. I definitely felt dizzy and out of it by Mile 10 and struggled in the last 5K.

I barely got a PR this race with 1:36:16.

Rob got a new PR (took 3 minutes off) with a 1:30:15!

I’m not thrilled with my time. I’m not thrilled with my lack of judgement on fuel and race strategy. I did leave the race with good lessons learned and I plan to execute a better strategy in future races. I will just have to look forward to the next race.

The rest of the afternoon Rob and I walked around Chicago taking pictures of the buildings and the filming of Transformers 3 on Wabash Ave. We grabbed some lunch and I got to do a bit of shopping. 🙂

Stats:

1:36:16

7:21 Pace

Overall: 516/18767

F: 98/11924

F 30-34: 15/2222