I got to meet Anneb this morning!  Very nice. Right now UncleCranky and I are sitting in between the stage and beer garden, in case anyone is still around.

Yeah, I happened to see wrigley as we were walking up to the park this morning- she's right, she is easy to recognize. Buckeye, I saw you on the course sometime in the first mile! Lime hat and Columbus shirt, but I didn't realize it until you were in front of me, and it looked like you were trying to get out of the early crowding.

I had a decent race and ran about 1 minute slower than my half PR- it felt harder today though. It got warmer than I thought it would, too. I stayed to watch the winner of the marathon come through (2:46) and left shortly after that. Hope everyone else had a good race!

I totally saw you! At the farthest point on the south end of the course, you were heading inbound from the turnaround and we were still outbound. I looked up and it registered in my brain just an instant too late to shout out 'Buckeyegirl!'. It was your hat and shoes that I recognized.

I looked for WrigleyGirl on course near the turnaround for the first half. No dice! Also looked for Anne at the start but did not spot her.

Indeed, Badger is a great pacer. I finished in 3:58:32. Ecstatic to break 4 hours in my very first road marathon. I was on auto pilot and feeling pretty awesome the first 16 miles (my half split was around 1:56:30), started getting tired around mile 17 but still motoring along, and by mile 20 I was VERY happy to have Badger helping me along. I slowed down considerably the last 10k and was even calculating in my head how slow I could run those final few miles and still squeak a sub-4. But he moved out in front of me just enough that I had no option but to follow or lose him. And at some point I got my senses back and decided I would not be happy with myself if I didn't get the best time possible (vs. just settling for that 3:59:59).

For the record, anybody that can race a marathon can run an ultra. Ultras are way easier. Today was hard, but very rewarding. Hard to believe that exactly one year ago this weekend, my huge road racing goal was to break 2 hours in the half marathon (which I did with 1 second to spare). Now I can break 2 hours in training runs and in a marathon. I think that is pretty awesome.

Sorry I did not stick around to meet anyone! I was feeling pretty awful afterwards and just wanted to get out of there. Roxie and Badger, I think I saw you on a few of the out and back sections! You were looking strong and definitely ahead of 4 hour pace.

 

How did everyone do?!

Congrats anne!-Every race can't be a PR.  Sorry we missed you.

BuckeyeNurse-Hope did your race turnout?  You definitely beat us.

Wrigley-We were totally looking for you.  I can't believe we missed you.  We stayed around for at least an hour or more after the race talking to various running friends.  The only person I saw in the infield was a random woman dancing by herself to the music.  She was really into it.  Clearly, not a racer.  Way too much energy.

Amanda kicked butt yesterday.  I got to come along for the ride.  Fun and interesting to just focus on hitting her splits and watching the other competitors.

Anne, sorry you missed your PR. Do you have another race planned?  It did get warm quickly, and I was very happy with my clothing choice. It was amazing to see how overdressed some people were, even in the marathon.

Buckeyegirl, when I saw you, you looked very focused and were running strong. Based on your position on the course I knew you were going to be very close to your goal - you had a great race! I'm not running Chicago but out of curiosity checked the corral times -- I qualified for D based both on Cary half marathon and WI marathon. When I registered for Chicago last year (did not run due to a last minute injury) I was nowhere close to hitting any of the corral qualifying times (although it appears they have a new corral E this year, which I would have qualified for last year).

I also had some stomach/cramping issues, which led to hydration issues. I don't take many gels during training runs, and yesterday decided to take them more frequently to prevent fatigue in that final 10k. Planned to take them at 6, 10, 14, 18.5 (gel station), and 23. But after the first 3 I felt nauseous and my stomach was full and bloated. I didn't take another until I forced one down around mile 22 when I started slowing down so much. I had a substantial breakfast (but not more than normal before a race) but I think that many gels was just too much on top of the solid food. Live and learn!

My BQ time is 3:40. I would like to qualify this fall, but I'm not sure how it will fit in with the two 50-milers I will be training for this summer and fall. I'm going to talk to my coach about it tomorrow - for WI my marathon-specific training really only started in the last 4-5 weeks, so it might be possible. If I wait until Boston 2015, I get an extra 5 minutes (3:45 BQ) because I will be 40. Badger has already qualified for 2014 so we will be there no matter what, even if I have to run the 5k again!

I haven't posted here in forever, I've been living under a rock since nursing school started but now that I'm done for the semester I have a bit more time on my hands!

I ran the half yesterday in 2:09. Nowhere near my PR (1:48), but it's been hard trying to train and balance school and work. So I guess I'll take it considering my longest long run was 8 miles and I never got much over 22 mpw. I ran it with a friend though, and it was a lot of fun. It's my hometown race and I love only having to drive 10 minutes there and 10 minutes back  I think I like doing races out of town more though. Since I run on these roads almost everyday it doesn't really have as much of a "race" atmosphere to me as other races have.

I'm planning on doing North Shore in 4 weeks to hopefully redeem myself! Anyone else doing North Shore? I ran it last year, and love the course. Hopefully it's not as hot as last year!

What did you all think of the race itself and the course?

I liked the course for the half marathon.  The only part I didn't like, was the part of the lakefront path that was really broken up. I had heard that would be the case, but honestly it was worse that I thought it would be. On the way back it was irritating because I didn't feel like paying attention to it, but I felt like if I didn't I would trip!

As we get into summer, I will run some more half's, but generally just as longer runs or long tempos or marathon pace runs. I will slow down once we get warm so it really depends on the weather. I would like to run some more 5/10k's this summer...since those pr's are soft. Along with marathon training, of course!

 

Yeah no, my friend.  This was more like a country road with stones.  Not crushed limestone at all.   Definitely rocks.  I was running on the dirt shoulder of the road versus down the middle.  The bottom of my left foot is still tender from stepping on a bunch of the rocks as I was in the wrong type of shoes to be on that surface.  Still a fun event.  I wouldn't pick this race to try and PR although.

That sucks, considering you and a few others are used to running on technical surfaces and still found it painful to navigate I'm going to have to guess they either changed the course or didn't maintain that area of it as well this year. Glad everyone had fun there though- this is actually my PR course, but my marathon PR is way soft. Maybe I'll go at it next year if they address the rocks. Great job pacing!