Congrats on the PR. That sounds tough under those conditions.

Congrats on the PR. That sounds tough under those conditions.

Thank you!

Congratulations on the PR and the overall good race. It sounds like you would have gotten your A goal if the weather had been cooler. Not hurting is a good goal in itself.

Thank you! And you’re right, not hurting is good

 

But there's a silver lining in any race, IMO.  It may take some time and effort to find it, but it's there.  Here's what I see... You finished around the top 64% of finishers in Chicago, top 55% in your AG.  In Illinois, based on the online results, you were around 85% and 84% respectively.  No two marathons are the same, yet based on these results, you improved IMMENSELY even though your time was slightly improved.  Time doesn't tell the whole story in these races.  You were a much better marathoner on that brutal day than time suggested!!! 

Wow.  That puts things into perspective.  All that work paid off.

 

Congrats on the PR!  And I agree with everyone's feedback - OFR and Docket pretty much hit it on the nose.  I also ran the race and shared your pain, although I started earlier, so I had less pain to endure than you did.  If it makes you feel better, here's an interesting coincidence.... your A goal was 4:50 and you finished 16 minutes shy of it.  I had a modest goal of 3:45 (modest b/c my PR is 3:26 set last year but I was nursing a hamstring injury), but I also finished 16 minutes shy with a 4:01.  I was right on 3:45 pace through 13.1 then the heat hit and hard.  I don't do well at all in heat as well.  I think some handle heat ok and others just don't.

 

But there's a silver lining in any race, IMO.  It may take some time and effort to find it, but it's there.  Here's what I see... You finished around the top 64% of finishers in Chicago, top 55% in your AG.  In Illinois, based on the online results, you were around 85% and 84% respectively.  No two marathons are the same, yet based on these results, you improved IMMENSELY even though your time was slightly improved.  Time doesn't tell the whole story in these races.  You were a much better marathoner on that brutal day than time suggested!!! 

Bert-O, Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together, it's incredibly helpful and really does put things in perspective.  I knew I had better training this time, and this shows that the hard work really DID pay off, I was just looking in the wrong place to see it.  I never thought about looking at the percentages like that, I'm going to have to add that to my list of measurement tools, especially on days where things don't go the way I think they should.  Talk about a silver lining! 

Fabulous race and report!  And seriously, BertO is Yoda right now with this wisdom.  Conditions have so much to do with the race, it's not just pure numbers.  It's how you do that day, in those conditions, and you nailed this.  It sounds miserable, but if you are willing to do it again, then you obviously did it right   Congratulations on your PR!

ROS, Thank you!  That story seems to be theme among almost everyone I've talked to or read their RR.  The heat slowed almost everyone down.

LM, Thank you!  And Bert-o was definitely Yoda with his wisdom as were several others who commented.  I felt 10x better about everything after reading their notes and thinking about what they said.  It was good advice!

Thank you, Scotty!  I did see several people leave the course and know at least one person who crossed the finish line and went straight to medical.  I'm glad I didn't encounter those issues myself, but it did drive home how heat affected everyone.  I hope your friends had a good experience!