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October 11, 2005
Couldn't have asked for a better marathon day
There's so much to tell from the weekend's events, but I'm gonna start with the reason I have this blog - running. I've added Chicago to my short list of favorite marathon venues. The weather was perfect; crowd support was amazing; the course was scenic; and everyone around was in a festive mood. The start was right in front of our hotel, so R. and I walked out at 7am to gear check and then made our way to our respective corrals. Although I had a "preferred" bib, I decided instead to line up in the open start with the 3:50 pace group to be conservative. That ended up being a *very* good decision. The pacers eased my nerves, and we had a ball chucking the shower of discarded clothing that was falling on us from all directions. I met a nice guy (can't remember his name) from Jacksonville, FL running his second marathon and immediately respected his dedication to training through the awful Florida heat and humidity. At 8am we promptly began to shuffle-walk-shuffle. I tried to stay near the pace group without dodging too many bodies or working too hard. We hit the first mile in 9:15. Stay calm - you'll make it up later. I definitely felt like I could run that pace for 26.2 miles and then some. And the rest of the race went like this:
Mile - Split
2 9:20
3 9:01
4 8:23 Pacers making up time. It's a little work but feeling fine.
5 8:26 Gu #1 - Orange
6 8:37
7 8:26 Meet Jessica fr Iowa. Her 2nd marathon. Ran Austin 2005 too.
8 8:24
9 8:32
10 8:25
11 8:28
12 8:47 Gu #2 - Espresso Love
13 8:41
14 8:39
15 8:25 I lose my buddies Jessica and nice guy. Gotta stay focused.
16 8:38 Left quad begins to tighten, but I push through.
17 8:35 Gu #3 - Plain
18 8:40 Sub-4 in the bag. Shed happy tear, calm down. Got work to do.
19 8:36
20 8:38 Still feeling awesome. Stay conservative - not ready to push.
21 8:37 Eat part of a sour Lifesaver.
22 8:32
23 8:40 Getting tired. Let the mind and right leg do the work.
24 8:53 Don't stop.
25 8:46
26 8:54 Stomach's not happy. Trying not to throw up.
.2 1:46
I finished in 3:47, running pretty much the whole way with a smile on my face. It must've been all the good luck vibes from you all. Thanks! I felt that euphoria of my early marathons again and it was wonderful. While not my best marathon time, I had a fun, ran a smart, strong race, AND I was mentally prepared. The mental aspect was the biggest thing that I let slide this year...until Chicago. I let the health and training setbacks turn my attitude into a "can't do" one. And rediscovering on Sunday that I can do what my mind tells me to do was quite empowering. I hope to use this experience as a building block for improving upon future marathons and races. But for now, I think I will be in touch with my inner couch potato for a bit.
All my fellow club runners had great races as well. Several PRed by many minutes. One gal by 14 minutes, another qualified for Boston, another gal who ran 3:07 after +4 hours and 3:30-something the past two Chicagos, and yet another gal who ran her first marathon (with little training the last 3 weeks b/c of knee pain) in 3:07 also. One of our guys ran 2:44 with the skin on the bottom of his feet rubbed raw from loose shoes. Amazing. We celebrated Sunday evening with yummy Chicago deep dish pizza at Pizano's and free dessert from our waitress!
Oh, and before I forget, we had an elite runner sighting Saturday nigth at our carb load at Rosebud. We sat almost within earshot of Alan and Shayne Culpepper. Several managed to take pictures, and we took copious notes of what he ate. Spaghetti with tomato sauce and salt on the olive oil for bread, in case you were wondering.
I do have more to tell about Chicago, but that'll have to wait for another post. I ought to get back to work.
Posted by Leilani at October 11, 2005 01:32 PM
Comments
Congratulations on such a strong run, I'm glad you had a good experience (and a smile on your face)!
As for the Culpepper sighting, I guess they're lucky that you weren't in earshot, or you'd be providing a transcript of the conversation as well :-)
Have fun resting and relaxing!!
Posted by: Alison at October 11, 2005 06:26 PM
So happy that you had a great experience in Chicago!! It sounds like you enjoyed the marathon AND the rest of your trip as well. Enjoy resting up and recovering!
Blondie
Posted by: Blondie at October 11, 2005 07:55 PM
Yeah!! A happy runner! Though reading this entry makes me VERY scared of the marathon. There are SOO many mile splits. I am glad you had a good run and a happy race. I look fwd to the Chicago report-the city is high on my list of places to vist. Bye!
Posted by: Audrey at October 11, 2005 08:57 PM
Great job Leilani! I'm very impressed with how even your splits were and the fact that you didn't slow down much or hit a wall. It was also interesting to see that you had 3 different flavors of Gu. I've only ever had the Orange. I hope you're not too sore. Rest up!
Posted by: Caitlin at October 11, 2005 09:48 PM
Yeah Leilani! I must admit, I couldn't wait for you to blog about it, so I looked up your results on Sunday evening. I'm glad not many people have the first name Leilani that live in Virginia!! :)
Awesome race. I was so happy to see how well you ran despite all your training/injury problems this year. Way to perservere!!! Enjoy your recovery time!!
Posted by: Beth at October 12, 2005 01:53 PM
Terrific job! So many people seem ready to quit or do quit when they think they won't have a PR. I really respect your perseverence and determination.
Posted by: Rob at October 12, 2005 03:46 PM
Woo hoo!! Great job, Leilani. It sounds like you actually enjoyed the marathon (for the most part) which is awesome, and your splits are so consistent. I hope the recovery goes just as smoothly! Can't wait to read more about the race and your time in Chicago.
Posted by: Barb at October 13, 2005 11:07 AM