The race was in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago 30 minutes north of the city. My mom lives about 10 minutes from the race start, so I spent Saturday night at her place. We arrived at the race really early, but I was OK with that. She brought her bike so that she could see me at a few different points in the race.
The gun went off and I let a ton of people pass me. My plan was to start out around 8:30/mile and then slowly pick up the pace. I wanted to start conservatively for two reasons (1) the heat, and (2) I haven't done a distance race in years. I hit the first mile in 8:14 and thought "well, I'm feeling good now, but who knows how I'll feel in an hour. Maybe I should ease up." But mile 2 came out at 8:15, so much for easing up.
I was did about 8:15-8:20 through the first 6 miles. I told myself that it's not too late to back off and save yourself. But I was feeling great and was not nearly as affected by the heat as I had anticipated. I made sure to drink a lot both before the race and during, but around mile 6 some stomach issues came up. There were cramps but they only lasted for a couple minutes. A bigger problem was the sloshing. There was sooo much sloshing from the liquids in my belly. With every step I could feel the liquids in my stomach bouncing up and down, I could even hear it. It lasted from mile 6 until the finish. I don't think it hurt my time, but it was annoying and distracting. Any tips on how to prevent this?
The course was beautiful. There are some incredible mansions in Highland Park, especially those on Sheridan Road along the waterfront. There were rolling hills throughout the course, and one STEEP uphill just after mile 7 that seemed to last forever. I've never ran a hill like that during a race. Many people couldn't run the entire hill and started walking it. I continued to chug away as best I could. By the time I reached the top I thought my legs were trashed and I wasn't sure how I'd finish the race. It took me a good 2 minutes to recover, but eventually I was back in a good rhythm.
It was hot and the fatigue was had set in, but I was still feeling good around mile 10. I told myself "you got this" and I was ready to start picking up the pace. I didn't want to start pushing too early, but I felt ready. I caught up with one girl just before mile 10 who seemed to be running strong. We ran together at ~8:05 pace for 1.5 miles, but she had to drop back as I kept getting stronger. At mile 11.5 I caught up with a guy who was running very strong, probably too strong for me to keep up with given the remaining distance. But I said "what the hell" lets try to hang with this guy. I was hanging with him alright, but we were moving fast and I wasn't sure if I could hold it. As we took a turn he tripped on a curb, fell, did a somersault, popped up, and started SPRINTING! It was weird as hell. "Ok, whatever dude, you go on ahead." There was a mile left and I'm still feeling good.
I'm pushing hard through the last mile and there's awesome crowd support here. I see "somersault dude" up ahead and always have him in my sights. He got about 100m ahead of me at one point, but I was slowly gaining on him. With ~0.20 to go he is within striking distance and I start to haul ass. I passed him and continued sprinting to the finish. I had a great kick for the final 0.10. The crowd at the finish line was just amazing. Such a good feeling.
Mile 1- 8:14
Mile 2- 8:15
Mile 3- 8:21
Mile 4- 7:49 (downhill)
Mile 5- 8:20
Mile 6- 8:13
Mile 7- 8:04
Mile 8- 8:25
Mile 9- 8:20
Mile 10- 8:11
Mile 11- 8:06
Mile 12- 7:53
Mile 13- 7:32
0.1- 0:39
FINISH- 1:46:30 (8:07 pace)
I got the Corral D start, but missed Corral C by 30 seconds. It's not at all upsetting because I'm really happy with how this went. The heat was bad, but I'm not sure how much faster I would have ran in good conditions. I saw my mom at miles 5, 8, 12 and the finish line. It was a real joy to have her on the course, cheering me on. She was cheering louder than anyone. I made sure to say "I love you" every time I saw her. My grampa also came to the finish to meet us.
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