Notes
CHICAGO MARATHON 2011. Great trip. Bad race. It happens. I wasn't upset. I knew at 15 it wasn't my day and that I had picked a goal that would be difficult on my best day in good conditions. That cold a week ago and the heat might be to blame but my legs just didn't feel light enough to keep the 3:25:00 pace. I held it for 14 miles but it never felt easy. I've run much stronger halves and felt like I had more left than I did this day so I know it just wasn't my day. I realized I was going to be way off 3:25 and so I wasn't worried when the 3:30 pacers pased me. If it had been less hot I might have tried to calculate the pace I needed to PR but it never even crossed my mind honestly. I have to admit I felt a little more competitive when the 3:45's passed me though in the last mile so I hung on to them as long as I could to the end. It looks like I gave up in the last 5K but I really didn't. I walked much more in the second to last 5K, the last 5K I finally settled into a pace I didn't have to stop and walk so much. I was 3 minutes faster at the half than I was at Marine Corp (1:42:25 exactly on 3:25 pace) and I felt so much stronger that day, but by 20 miles I was 2.5 minutes slower than Marine Corps, not too bad for having a bad day, but the last 6.2 I lost about 10 more minutes. Its ok. It was my slowest second half (about 2:04) since my first full and mostly all due to the last 10K. I had a lot of fun and there will be other races. It was actually my second fastest full so I'm not disappointed. I ran a strong half on a hot day, here's to next time :)