2009 Chicago Marathon Race Report/Racing Season Almost Over
So, due to injury, this summer ended up being an exercise in how little I could do running-specific training and still manage to run the Chicago Marathon. By the time Ultramidwest rolled around, I’d run maybe a total of 30-50 miles all summer. I took about a week to recover from Ultramidwest, and then started training for Chicago (using Pfitzinger’s multiple marathon training plan from Advanced Marathoning, and treating Ultramidwest as the first of the two marathons). As the Chicago Marathon approached, I really had no idea how I was going to be able to do at the marathon. I was pretty confident that I could break 4 hours again, but beyond that I wasn’t sure, and decided to treat Chicago primarily as a training run for the Lakefront 50/50.
Took the train up to Chicago the day before the marathon, got through the expo in record time (for the record, I would gladly pay at least $25 extra if they’d mail my bib to me so I didn’t have to go to the expo), grabbed a quick bite to eat and settled in to my third floor hotel room. Why am I bothering to mention that it was on the third floor? Because street lights in Chicago are level with third floor windows, and I had a street light directly outside my room. Grmph.
Got up in plenty of time to get ready for the marathon, put on just about every single piece of running clothing that I brought with me (the temperature at the start was about 30F, and I am not acclimated to the cold yet) and walked over to the start. Found my way to seeded gear check, checked my bag, and joined the shivering runners in corral D (the slowest of the seeded start corrals). Within a little while, there were enough people in the corral that we could huddle together to stay warm, and shortly after, we were off (I only had a couple minutes’ wait between the gun start and crossing the starting line). I started off running near the back of the 3:45 pace group, and feeling pretty good. Still a little cold, but the pace was feeling good. Within the first 3-5k, the 3:45 group pulled away from me, and I was not troubled by that in the least. Most of the race is not so much a blur as it is 26.2 miles of remarkable consistent splits, with a really nice finishing kick (averaged 8:55/mile, ran the last mile at about 8:04). Finish time was 3:53:47, which is 3:25 faster than my previous marathon PR! Not bad for only 5 weeks of running-specific training. It’s a bit scary to think about what I might be capable if uninjured.
Felt pretty good post-marathon, although there was a huge line for gear check, and I got a bit chilled there. Very nice celebratory dinner, train back home Monday morning. That leaves roughly 3 weeks to get recovered in time for the Lakefront 50/50. On the Thursday immediately after the marathon, our dog decided that she really wanted to be on the sofa with me, jumped up, and landed with all of her 55 pounds on my right knee. There’s never a good way to find out what it feels like when your knee bends in the wrong direction, and this was no exception. The knee felt steadily worse Friday, and I ended up going to Convenient Care Saturday morning. I’ve spent most of this past week in a variety of splints/braces (first a hip to ankle immobilizer, then a flexible knee brace). Today, I ran 9 miles significantly faster than my Lakefront goal pace and had no knee pain. Come Saturday morning, I’ll be toeing the line again - this time for a 50 mile race which marks the end of my 2009 racing season.
