Race Highlights:
* Perfect marathon temps 40 to 48 degrees. A day made for fast times
* Huge, enthusiastic crowd
* Course p.r. of 3:10:40
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| Pre-race in front of Buckingham Fountain. Notice the homemade black arm warmers and homemade name sign |
Best bust of a bandit runner: On the Roosevelt Rd. hill, a mere 300 yards from the finish line, an official course marshal ran alongside a guy who was running just in front of me. The marshal asked him for his bib and the guy faked like he couldn't find his bib and it must have fallen off. The marshal grabbed him by the arm and pulled him off of the course.
Best article of clothing I wore: Homemade arm warmers out of two pairs of dress socks. I read about this on someone else's blog. Please take credit if it was you! I wore them the entire race.
Best sign I wore on my shirt: "PETE B." So many spectators were shouting out my name that a fellow marathoner, running alongside me said that he was going to pretend that his name was Pete so he could feel like the crowds were shouting to him!
Best tasting beer of the month: The Goose Island truck was stationed just a few hundred yards past the finish line, pouring full 12 ounce beers exclusively to all finishers.
Best race finish venue: After running through the overcast skies and the shade of the buildings, the sun finally came out for good when I hit South Michigan Ave. Then, making the turn into Grant Park, the full sky was visible and it was incredibly blue and clear. A spectacular ending to the race of the year.
My splits:
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| Average pace: 7:16/mile |
Analysis: Yes, they are positive splits, but I was feeling really good until about the 23 mile mark. Then my legs started to stiffen pretty quickly. So, my predicted "collapse point" actually was quite accurate. However at mile 23, I did not walk (even though it crossed my mind). I powered through the "wall" and told myself, I did not have an option, that the only way to get to the finish line was to run! Sure I may have made better time with negative splits, but considering this was a course p.r.: I'll take it. This will be a learning experience I can take with me to Boston in April.
My place:
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| I BQ'd for 2014 by almost 15 minutes! |
Best nap: The one I took that afternoon!
Up next: Swimming all week and then begin training for the Hot Chocolate 15k next month.
WOOHOO!! Its funny, because for me mile 23 was when i finally started feeling good :) I also taped my name to my shirt last minute - smartest decision EVER!
ReplyDeleteGreat race! Way to really knock it out of the park!
Yeah, maybe I should have had a Bloody Mary to power me through the last few miles! Yes, the name on shirt thing is incredible. Thanks!
DeleteAwesome job- congrats on the PR!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the course PR! It was an amazing day yesterday. There were some pretty creative signs on the course which made me laugh :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, the signs were fun. I looked forward to reading them when I was running.
DeleteCongrats on the PR! I dream of running 7:00 min/miles! I am doing the navy pier 10 miler in november (my first one ever). Good luck training.
ReplyDeleteThanks! You may get to 7:00 min/miles someday, just stick with it. :-)
DeleteCongratulations on the BQ!!! And nice arm warmers! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. I must have read the idea from you. Thank you!!
DeleteCongrats on the BQ!!! Awesome job!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteHell of a time Pete - I wore my name on my shirt too and it was so great to have people cheer me on by name. Congratulations on you BQ, that's fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteCongratulations! What an awesome day! (I saw that sign...it cracked me up!)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, I believe that was the most memorable sign!
DeleteCONGRATULATIONS on your new PR and your SMASHING BQ time!!! You have so much to be proud of and it's time for you to CELEBRATE!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh - your story about the bandit runner getting busted right at the end had my jaw to the ground. That is unbelievable!!!
Thanks. Yes, the anti-bandit squad was out in full-force! They were protecting all of those finisher medals from the moochers. :-)
DeleteCongrats!!! You should be so proud!
ReplyDeleteThanks. You should be proud too!
DeleteCongrats on a great race!! Awesome job!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteAmazing job!!! You kicked major butt out there :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, and now my butt is sore!
DeleteAwesome awesome awesome! Congrats on the course PR! Love your homemade race sign!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, a simple name sign on your shirt and you will hear your name at least 1,000 times (literally)!
DeleteGreat job!! Congrats! It was a perfect day. I volunteered at the start and we were in C corral from 5:30 on - we had bad marathoner envy. It was a better day for running than volunteering for sure! (I have mentioned the sock/arm warmers on my blog but not sure if I get credit!)
ReplyDeleteThanks for volunteering! You had to get there an hour before I did, wow! Even if it wasn't you that I heard about the arm warmer thing from, you get credit for getting the idea out there! Thanks.
DeleteAnother bandit (probably) bit the dust. I wonder how many the busted, and how many got through to claim a free finisher medal?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a great race! Based on your splits, I'm surprised I didn't see you out there? I had a few trips to the restroom and that is probably when you ran by. Bummer!
ReplyDeleteI definitely got busted by the bandit squad at mile 25.5, but I wouldn't have crossed the finish line anyways. Everyone has their stories yet there are always people that think the rules don't apply to them...
Thanks. Yeah, maybe you stepped away for a minute. Oh well... Yeah, I don't think that bandit that I saw was running with anyone in particular. He probably just wanted the glory of crossing the finish line. Either that or he tried to run the entire race and was foiled at the last minute. Where were you going to bail before you got caught? I wonder how easy it would have been to scale the fence in the last 800 meters?
DeleteI didn't really know how the fences were set up so we were kind of glad when he told us that we couldn't go any further. I'm okay with that. :)
DeleteVery nice PR there!! 3:10 is freaking amazing!! Congratulations!!
ReplyDeleteWell done Pete! Nice blog you have here. I shared the arm warmer thing on my podcast but you might have heard it elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI ended up pitching mine early in the race as I got too warm.
Enjoy the training for Boston!
Thanks Matt. I guess the disposable arm warmer thing was pretty popular. I did not get overly warm in my arm warmers until mile 24ish. I kept them as not to distract from my focus of moving my leg the finish line. :-) Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I will try and have fun as I train for April!
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