Notes
Naperville Marathon this morning, going into this I wanted to really run a smart marathon and not die due to a hot pace or bonk and have to shuffle in so had a plan of sticking between 5:55-6 minute pace and trying to hold that for as long as possible. If I felt better I would increase my pace but none of that would happen until after the hill at mile 23. I'll go through my typical play-by-play and wrap up the experience at the end.
Miles 1-5:
Felt very easy and smooth, we had some definite rolling hills including the hill that we run for the Lincoln Park tempo (talk about a flashback lol) so I focused on just maintaining a controlled cadence and letting times just be what they are. Went through 3 miles in 18 flat and then 5 in 29:54 so the pace was still chill and I felt good. Around mile 3 I found the other guy who was doing the marathon and grouped up with him and 4-5 other people who were doing the half and we had a good pack going.
Miles 5-10:
Still felt pretty chill, had a water mishap at mile 7 as one of the half marathoners had terrible running etiquette and knocked both his water out of his own hands and then knocked my hand out of the way for mine and made a whole bunch spill. The other marathoner grabbed 2 cups and gave it to him to share but then he just threw the extra water away and didn't give me any. I was pissed off at the time because mile 7 was when I wanted to take my first GU but I told myself to just calm down and be patient. We also got dropped by some half marathoners at this time so it was just our group of 3. Caught up with a bunch of the half runners again though between 9-10 when we were by Naperville North and passed a few of them pretty quickly since they were beginning to eat shit. Took my GU bit by bit over miles 9-10 and went through in 59:23, so we had picked it up a bit but all was still well.
Miles 10-15:
Tough part of the race, mainly because you drop all of the half runners off and then it was just the other guy and me. We had a big gap on everyone else so that was nice but it just got quiet really fast. Fortunately Kaytlin jumped in on her bike and started riding with me around 12.5. Stayed within a few steps of the other guy but I could tell he was feeling better than me (although I wasn't having a hard time yet he was just picking it up more) and I decided that I had to run my own race and be smart. Went through the half in 1:17:50 and the 15 in 1:28:26 so I was still slightly picking it up anyway which was all good. Kaytlin handed me another GU and I worked on that one from 14-15. Only bad thing about this part of the race was that my right hip was starting to hurt, but I tried to rub the muscles out around it and that helped a bit.
Miles 15-20:
Ran down Modaff and ended up running through a lot of the neighborhoods by Knock Knolls. Had a lot of small rolling hills, nothing crazy but definitely enough to get you tired after awhile. Hip would flare up randomly but jabbing my thumb into it really helped subdue the pain for a few minutes so I kept doing that whenever it got bad. Saw my mom at 17 and she handed me another GU (all 3 were chocolate outrage and it was delicious) and I worked on that for the next mile or so. Made sure to switch taking water and Gatorade at each station available and I feel like I did it right because I still wasn't tightening up yet or anything. I had been talking to Kaytlin on and off up until mile 18 and then after that I started to get tired and began to save my energy. The hill near Pontiac felt easy but after going down the other side I proceeded to begin to feel the slow creep of marathon fatigue. Kept my form smooth and just had positive self talk. I knew at this point in the race that I wasn't going to catch the other guy so I just wanted to keep myself right on that edge. Went through 20 in 1:59:07 so I had slowed down a little but nothing drastic.
Miles 20-25:
Out of any marathon I have ever ran, I handled these shitty miles the best I ever have. Form stayed basically the same throughout and despite that shitty incline before mile 23 which is the turn after going under the 75th street bridge I was still hitting pace. Wasn't having any bonk issues and while I could feel my legs beginning to shorten in strides I was able to check my form often and prevent bad habits from slipping in and fought off the feels. Miles 23-24 sucked and I dropped a few F-bombs cause my hip was getting really tight and I was afraid I would start to over-compensate and then begin to implode, but fortunately that didn't happen. Kaytlin was a nice distraction for me during these miles and I went through the 25 marker in 2:29:29 still doing alright all things considering.
Miles 25-26.2:
This part was mentally tough mainly because going down West street felt like it was taking forever. Despite good fueling on my part, I was running out of salt and my muscles were starting to cramp so I tried my best to keep my hips vertical and checked my shadow to make sure I wasn't leaning or favoring one side. Kaytlin jumped off the course with about 1200 to go so after that I just focused on weaving in-and-out of people and getting ready for the finish. Turned the corner and was actually able to pick up the pace slightly (I had slowed down on West street unfortunately) and even had a "kick" into the end. Finished up tired, tight, and sore...but ok. Didn't collapse or cramp up or even bonk which was awesome! Came across just under 2:37 which isn't too far off of a PR. Had I ran on the Chicago course I probably would have tied it or MAYBE been a tad under, but that's alright!
Overall, happy with how the race went. Obviously I would have loved to take the W in a hometown race, and I definitely know I can do it (looked up the guy, beat him by about 7 minutes in Boston; just depends on the day I guess) but I gained a lot from this race and I'm glad I had the patience to let the race come to me and do my own thing without freaking out about what others were doing. I'm going to do Chicago next year and I'm really going to be making a transition with my training. I'm always in really good shape, but I have to change some things if I want to make that jump to the next level. Sub 2:30 at Chicago is definitely possible so I'm going to be getting some serious work in at race pace over the course of the next year. I've got a long time to rest up, recover, and get after it so for now I'm going to take it easy but after I completely recover it's go time. I'll do this race again someday, and next time things will be different! Happy with how it went though and super proud of my dad and uncle for doing this marathon with me! Pretty sure I hooked em so I'm glad I get to talk more about running at family parties now hahah