Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Chicago 2012: Race Recap

The Rock 'n' Roll Half 2012 is in the books.  Temps were hot, but not as hot as I had thought they would be.  The first 6 miles were mostly shady as the sun had not crested above the downtown buildings. I wore a neck bandanna which I doused with water before the race.  I think those things are supposed to lower your body temperature about 2 or 3 degrees.  At least that's what the sales pitch is.

Looking for the blogger meetup before the race at 5:45am

Anyway, the day started by taking the very first Brown Line of Sunday morning to Belmont and switching to the Red. I got to the race at about 5:45am.  The Chicago Running Bloggers were having a meetup at the American Cancer Society tent.  I started to look for the tent, but after looking for it for about five minutes with no luck, I decided the best move was to conserve energy  and stop walking around, so I plopped down by the big Abraham Lincoln statue in Grant Park (note, there is a big Grant statue in Lincoln Park, go figure).

I chatted with a guy who said he was postponing hip surgery to run in the RnR today.  Don't know if running a half marathon on a bum hip is such a good idea, but to each his own.  Anyway, I went over to the corral and waited for the gun.  I was seeded in Corral 1, but ended up in Corral 2.  I thought it would be no big deal, but then I heard that it would be a was a "wave start" meaning that only the elites and Corral 1 would start together. It would be a tragedy if  I don't start with the Elites, so I jumped the rope to get into Corral 1 in the nick of time and luckily was not arrested for "corral jumping!"

Anyway, as I said, it the temps were not too too bad at the start.  Yes, I would prefer 45 degrees, but this is July in Chicago and will take whatever temps we had for the first 6 miles.

Here are my stats:

Yes, I know it is a good example of running positive splits, but the heat did it's damage to me over the course, and there were a couple of extended water station walks between mile 10 and 13.1.  Surprisingly, I did not get passed by too many people on my walks.  I guess everyone was hurting.  After the race, along with my medal, I got Jamba Juice and a popsicle.  I dipped my popsicle in my Jamba Juice and got the sugar rush of my life! Anyway, basking in my sugar buzz, I got my gear and walked over to the finish line and took some videos of finishers, which I will try and post later.

After the race, I finally met Gingerfoxxx and Matt (Waffles, however, was not in attendence - probably chilling at home).  I also got to meet a few of the Chicago Running Bloggers.  Matt took a totally cool picture of us in front of the skyline and porta potties:

Nice Porta Potty background for this pic!

Well, that's that.  Next up is the Terrapin 5k, a beer-infused race which I signed up for at the RnR expo yesterday. With my entry I got a groovy beer glass from Top Hat Brewery and (allegedly) a promise of multiple beer tickets in my goodie bag!  We shall see...