Sunday, July 22, 2012

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...

14 comments:

  1. Great race! That is a pretty awesome picture of us. Good luck at Terrapin!

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    1. Thanks. Yes, great picture, looks like we are having fun despite how tired we all are! :-)

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  2. Great to finally meet you! I am demanding that Matt bring waffles to be a spectator for the marathon! Good call on a race with beer - it's one of the only redeeming qualities of these hot, humid races!

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    1. Great finally meeting you too! Having Waffles for a cheering section would be great motivation at the Chi Marathon. As a return favor to Waffles you could cheer her on in the Iditarod in Alaska when she gets old enough to compete! :-) Yes, a short race with plenty o' free post-race beer will be a welcome change from these long races with only non-alcoholic beverages.

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  3. Congrats on that speedy time in the heat! It was a tough day out there. That jamba juice and mc Donald's cherry berry chiller also put me into a sugar coma. I found that after consuming both of those, that I had more than enough energy to run another 13.1 That combo might be my mid race strategy for getting extra energy in my upcoming marathon....

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    1. That could be a great new race mid race strategy, when I am usually losing focus and energy. Hopefully there is a Jamba Juice open for business along the Chicago Marathon route!

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  4. Great race! I love that they had popsicles at the end - brillian!

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    1. Yes brilliant idea. I saw a kid (about 11 who had beaten me) eating a popsicle. In my my condition at that point a popsicle seemed like THE thing to help me recover. So, I blew by the banana stand and went on a hunt for the popsicle stand! There actually was no actual popsicle stand, but the popsicles were delicious nonetheless. :-)

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  5. sorry i didn't recognize you as you whizzed by on the course! it's really hard to pick out runners when you're standing on the sidelines spectating. i've been a pro myself in these hot races of rocking a pretty sweet positive split! great clip in the heat by the way!

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    1. Yeah, I've got to work on those positive splits. It was hard to pace myself the first few miles through the Loop as my Garmin lost its signal several times. I guess I should learn to run by feel and not totally by GPS.

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  6. CONGRATULATIONS on a great race!!! How awesome that you got to start with the elites!?!?!? That is the experience of a lifetime!!! And those popsicles and Jamba Juice smoothies at the end were just HEAVENLY.

    That is too funny about the Grant Park and Lincoln Park statues, I had no idea!

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    1. Thanks for the kudos. The elites were in the corral in front of me, and after about 30 seconds they were pretty much out of sight!

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  7. Um...I'm not sure what I'm doing in this pic...may have to steal and post on my blog next time. It's kind of hilarious looking. Gotta have port o potty shots!!

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    1. Feel free to post on your blog. Definitely gotta have port o potty shots. Maybe that should be a recurring race photo theme? Okay maybe not. :-)

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