It was a great day and a great race. The temperature was about perfect and there wasn’t a lot of wind. The course goes up Mission Peninsula and the views on the run were beautiful. I started out running with my friend Brian as it was his first marathon. We started a couple minutes back and saw our wives and families right near the start of the race. We kept a steady pace just over 9 minute miles and everything felt comfortable. We knew our wives and families would be waiting at mile 6, so we looked for them again. Brian spotted Carrie first and I was able to cut across the 1/2 marathon traffic to give her a kiss. We say Brian’s wife and family up a little way. Then we turned for the rest of the run up the peninsula.

Everything felt great. We kept a steady pace and had some good conversation. Brian’s IT bands had been tight and I asked him about it and he said they were fine, but he could feel them a bit. A very nice woman offered him some Aspirin, so he took them and we kept on running. There weren’t a lot of spectators, but the views were nice and the spectators that were out helped.

I knew Brian was meeting a friend at around the 15 mile mark and I was hoping to go under 4 hours, so at the halfway point, we parted ways. I pushed ahead and tried to keep a slightly faster pace. I saw Brian’s brother and friend at mile 15 and let them know Brian was a couple of minutes back.

I kept up a pretty good pace, but wasn’t keeping track of how fast I was running. I was passing people and not being passed by anyone. I passed one group of people who commented that they didn’t think I had run the whole marathon due to my pace. We laughed and I kept on going. I was looking forward to seeing Carrie at mile 20, but didn’t see her. She wasn’t able to get back via the shuttle bus and was worried that if she did, she would miss me at the finish. I kept going.

After about mile 20, I found that my quads hurt with every step I took, so I did what I could to keep my mind off of them. I kept a steady pace, watched other runners, and encouraged some as I ran by. At around mile 24, a group of guys was handing out beer, so I grabbed one and took a couple of sips and then tossed it. It was actually pretty good.

I heard one lady discussing how long she had to get to a 3:50. I asked her how long she had to hit 3:50. She said, “I can’t.” I told her there is no can’t and kept on.

I was really looking forward to a gatorade at the last aid station, but the jerk (not the word I used in my head at the time) in front of me, grabbed all the fluids. There were 2 people handing out water and gatorade and he grabbed all four cups so that they were reloading as I went through. I said, “can I get one?!” and one worker frantically handed me a water, but I was ticked off. I didn’t say anything to the jerk who took all the fluids, but I wish I would have. This whole incident just made me mad and I pushed on faster, or at least what seemed like a faster pace.

I finally made the turn back into the college and I knew the finish was coming up. I was really hurting at this point and just wanted to finish the race. I kept thinking the finish had to be soon, but it seemed to be a long way away. Finally, I saw Carrie, Heather, and Steve. Unfortunately, I was behind some other runners, so I wasn’t in the best position for them, but I waved as best I could while keeping concentration. Their cheers really helped. Carrie even recruited another woman to cheer for me! I turned the corner and was on the track for the final 200 meters. I was moving pretty quick at this point and heard a lot of comments on how good I looked from the crowd. The final 200 meters felt like they were taking forever, but I finally saw the finish and had enough to make a final kick. I was hurting, but glad to be done. Since I hadn’t been keeping track, I thought my time was closer to 3:50.

I knew Brian would be behind me, so I grabbed a water, collected my medal and headed to the refreshments. I saw people with Coldstone ice cream, so I knew I needed some of that. I got a gatorade, banana, and some orange slices, then stood in line for the coldstone. I chatted with a couple of other people in line. One was a first timer who got a 3:45, great job for him! The other guy qualified for Boston.

I finally got my ice cream and headed back to where I saw everyone in hopes of catching Brian. He hadn’t passed yet, so I waited and saw him. He looked great! We all cheered him on and then waited for him to come back. He finished in an awesome time of 4 hours and was already talking about running a second marathon.

I’m still feeling a little sore, but I think I ran a pretty good race. I feel like my training went very well, but I still wasn’t really prepared on race day. I’m not sure exactly what caused this. I may need more strength training or I may have done too much biking leading up to the race. Lack of sleep could have also caused this feeling.

Anyway, I had a great time and the race was a good one. The scenery was great and I had no complaints about the aid stations. Post race food was great. The expo was just okay and although they had a lot of port-o-lets, they probably could have used a few more. The course was flat with a couple of gentlr hills. I would definitely recommend this race to other runners.

I’ve got a couple of half marathons coming up, so look for race reports on those.

It’s a different experience to watch a triathlon instead of participate, but I had a lot of fun. The course was set up well for spectators. I got to see Carrie 4 or 5 times and I got a bunch of really good pictures. I love the continuous shot mode on the camera. It really helps to capture action shots.

The weather was perfect for the race, except for the storm that delayed the start by 1 hour. The race looked like it was put on well. Carrie had a lot of fun and had a smile on her face every time I saw her. I even got a kiss from her on the run out.

While standing at the bike out waiting to see Carrie, I saw a lot of the participants struggle with getting on their bikes and getting started. It looked like most people were in way too high of a gear. I have to think they talk about this at the seminar at the expo. It just seems like this one little piece of advice would make the bike start a lot easier.

Now on to the race. The first half was a great course. Good crowd support and interesting course. The second half was farther out of town and the crowd support was pretty thin. The course was pretty by the river, though and I had a little bit of a back and forth battle going with some girl running the race, so that kept me going. At the end of the river path, there was a really steep downhill that about did me in. I was fading as we headed back into town, but one of the bands was taking a break and they were playing Herbie Hancocks’ Chameleon over their sound system and that really gave me a boost. I thought I’d see Carrie at around mile 19 or 20, but I was ahead of my pace and she missed me. I only had a couple of complaints. First, they handed out red Accelerade. I don’t mind the Accelerade, but who decided red was a good idea? I didn’t get much on me, but several people had red stains all over their clothing. Second, the CMT Music Mile didn’t have as much music going on as had been promised. I’d guess that was due to the rain at the beginning of the race.

I want to say a big thanks to Tyler for driving and making plans in Tennessee. I stuck with him for the first few miles, but then he told me to go ahead and I did, even though I felt bad for ditching him. It was perfect weather, though, and I figured this was going to be my shot at a PR.

I also want to thank Carrie and Michelle for coming out to cheer us on and running around the course to find us at multiple spots. I know that can be frustrating and it is a lot of walking around and figuring out where to park, but it’s always a big help to see them on the course.

Also, I finally bought a new nike+. It did okay in this race given that I didn’t bother to calibrate it. I’m happy to have it back to keep track of my runs, especially since my garmin died about 2 miles into my 18 miler a couple of weeks ago.

I’m back on track and I feel good about my running. It’s also nice that the weather has been beautiful this weekend. I’m ready for my 20 mile training run next weekend and the Country Music Marathon at the end of the month.

It did work great for the 1/2 marathon I ran, though.

This was a great race. Very well organized and the volunteers were great. The weather was perfect. Crowd support was lacking in certain areas, but that’s to be expected. I would definitely do this race again.

Anyway, I looked it up online and I couldn’t find where anyone else had done this. My sensor was dead, so I used a razor blade to cut the case apart. The battery it uses is a pretty standard CR2032 3 volt watch battery. All I did was unsolder the connections from the old battery, remove the piezoelectric accelerometer from the top of the battery and then solder the wires to the new battery and glue the acceleromete to the top of the battery. I haven’t glued the case back together yet and my Ipod still reports that the sensor has a low battery, so we’ll see how long it lasts.

Here’s some links I found to what the guts of the sensor looks like:

How Stuff Works

Sparkfun Electronics

Let me start with the expo and then I will get to the brutal race. The expo is great, but getting there is a PITA. I understand the need to hold it at McCormick place, but it’s not very convenient to get there via public transportation, so we decided to drive. First, the directions in the runner guide on how to get to the parking were wrong and that caused some frustration. Second, the runner guide said parking was $14, but we were charged $16. I know it’s not a big difference, but that’s a lot to pay for parking when you have to go there to pick up your race packet. You’d think the Marathon could offer a discounted parking rate. Other than that, the expo was good. I always enjoy the video they take of the course.

Now on to the race…

I was already worried about the heat and it was looking like the forecasts were correct, except for the 50% cloud cover. The skies were clear. It was warm at the start, but I tried to stay hydrated before the race. We got down to the race at about 6:30am for the 8:00am start. We met up with some friends and went to the bathroom. Then Megan and I decided to head up to the start corral so we’d have a good place to start. Everyone else wasn’t concerned with being up front, so we split up. We still had about 50 minutes before the start, so we sat down and waited. Once the race started, we crossed the start line between the 6 and 7 minute mark, which was pretty good.

The beginning of the race went pretty well and I was feeling good. I was covered in sweat by the 1/2 mile mark. I missed the first mile, so the first time check was mile 2 and the pace was looking good. The race was a little crowded, but it wasn’t a big deal and Megan and I were able to stay together. I wasn’t expecting to see anyone until Broadway (between 7 and 8 miles). I was able to see Amber and Jen because they had a Cookie Monster balloon. My friend Liz saw me and said Hi. Later, I was able to see Carrie because she had a butterfly balloon that was really easy to see. Things were still going well and I felt good. There was plenty of water and gatorade and I was staying hydrated.

It was around mile 10 that things started to fall apart. I told Megan to go ahead because the heat was really getting to me. I slowed a bit and kind of shuffled through the next water station. Then I saw a 3:45 pace group and I tried to keep up with them, but quickly realized that there was no way I was going to keep that pace, so I backed off again. From that point on, it was a huge struggle. My pace dropped off every mile. I ended up walking through every water station. There were more people walking than I had ever seen in a race before. I took on gatorade and water at every water station, but it did not seem to be enough. I had to go to the bathroom, so I figured as long as I was going to blow my goal, I might as well stop and go so I was comfortable.

I saw my friends Brice and Kim and their kids somewhere at mile 16 or something and that helped. I looked for Carrie again and saw her somewhere before Pilsen, but I’m not sure where exactly. I think it was mile 17. I stopped to give her a kiss and to tell her that there was no way I was going to finish in 3:30 and it would be more like 4:30. I then continued along at my shuffle pace.

I was struggling to keep running at points and I had to walk at certain points. I was trying to enjoy the scenery, but it was tough at points. I have to say that Pilsen is maybe the best neighborhood to run through. The peopel there are really into the race and that is a huge help to the runners. So, thanks to everyone in Pilsen. You rock.

I saw Bryce and Kim again on the course. Just before that, I must have looked pretty bad because I was walking through a water station and I had used a cold sponge (which really helped), but I was still walkign and a guy looked at me and offered me his sponge. Thanks to that guy, because the sponge helped. So I started “running” again and that’s when I saw Bryce and Kim. Bryce jumped in and asked me how I felt. I said, “shitty.” He handed me a water, which was a help, and then took off.

When I hit the mile 24 water station, they were announcing that the race had been cancelled and they were askign everyone to walk to the finish. A lot of peopel were walking, but there were still some people running. I walked through the water station and looked for my coworker who was supposed to be there. I’m guessing she had already gone home since I was arriving so late. Anyway, I picked up my shuffle after the water station and kept it up to the mile 25 water station where I walked. The crows were pretty thick in this area again, so the encouragement helped. I picked up my shuffle again at the 1 mile to go marker and I was planning to walk over the bridge just before the finish. When I hit the bridge, they were again asking people to walk, but the crows were keepign me going and I continued to shuffle over the bridge and into the finish. In the last 400 meters, they were announcing that it was a fun run and we would be timed and get our medals, but they wanted us to walk. I shuffled in to my 4:42:11. Not what I wanted, but I finished and that’s all that mattered.

It was really packed in the finish shoot and I really just wanted some water or gatorade, but they always make you get your medal and return your chip before they have anything available. I really wish they would provide fluids first and then take care of the other business. On top of that, it was really hot and everyone was packed in. I wasn’t feelign great, but others were passing out. We were stopped for a runner to be pushed through the crowd in a wheel chair and it was not uncommon to hear volunteers yelling “Runner Down!” to get medical help. The sound of sirens could also be heard everywhere.

I finally made it through the shoot and drank a warm water and gatorade. What I wouldn’t given for a cold drink. Anyway, I found Carrie at the runner reunion area and she was relieved to see me. We made some phone calls and met up with everyone else and called others to make sure everyone was okay. It turns out I was the only one who finished the marathon. The others were routed off the course at certain points. Doug actually had to sit down and get medical attention at mile 16 and then took a bus back to the start. He was interviewed by the channel 2 (WBBM) news and made the 10pm broadcast! Others had to walk back down Jackson.

A big thanks to everyone who came out to watch as well as all of the volunteers working the aid stations. Spectators really help us runners get through the race and we definitely couldn’t do it without the volunteers. I also want to say thanks to everyone who gave me the I-L-L cheer or cheered for my Illini shirt. That helped me keep going.

Here’s the data from my GPS: Chicago Marathon Data. You can see it was off, but if you look at the laps, you can see them just go up and up. It was that bad.

Here’s the official results.

Anyway, it was a struggle and it wasn’t fun, but I’m glad I finished and I learned a lot of lessons about running in the heat. Namely, don’t go out so fast. I think I could have maintained a 9 minute mile pace or even an 8:45 pace, but going out for the 3:30 pace hurt me early.