Chicago Half Marathon

This was kind of a special race for me.  I was not a "runner" a year ago. At least not the type that had the guts to sign up for a race and compete against other people. Nope, not me. I had never spectated a race before this one either.  I knew I had been missing out on alot of cool stuff as soon as I got to spectate this race last year.

I would run up to 5 miles, maybe even the occasional 7 miles, but never more. I was exposed to all this adrenaline. I wanted to feel the rush! To race against time and myself. I would only run in an attempt to start being active. I didn't know what I was missing out on. After that day, I had my mind set on one thing, Chicago Half Marathon 2012. Little did I know, I would finish my first half 9 months later.

Race Day

I had 1:49 set in my head after finishing at 1:56 a few weeks ago at the RN'R. I wanted that sub 1:50 so bad. Did I have it in me? I wasn't so sure. I was 90% sure I could hit 1:52. Two or 3 weeks before the race, I had ran 13.1 and completed it at 1:52, with water breaks here and there. I wasn't going to let it go.

When we got to the race site, it looked almost exactly the same as last year. We got there about 30 minutes earlier. Hung out by the corrals.. took pictures. We were joined by my boyfriends entire family! I'm not kidding. His brothers and sister-in-law were also running the race. One of our friends from highschool was also doing it, so it felt awesome with everyone pumped up.

The start came by too fast. 1 year, two HM, one 15k and two 10k's later..

Miles 1-3: I had too much enerrrrgyyyy. I felt all wierd. My head/body or something was off. I felt like I wasn't in synch with my legs. They had a mind of their own at this point. I felt I could fly and run faster but I had to keep my pace above 8min miles. Didn't want to screw up this early in the race.

8:05, 8:16, 7:58

Miles 4-6: woahhh. Average pace of 8:07? Waahh.? I feel awesome!! (in past HM's my avg would always stay around 8:40ish.. 8:50ish.. idk what was wrong with me). At mile 5, I finally saw Mr. Pacer 1:45. I had been ahead of him the whole time, and I didn't even know it. I had to stick with him. I had to.

8:13, 8:08, 8:11

Mile 7-8: I stayed a few feet behind the pacer. I was feeling good. I hadn't stopped at any water breaks just yet. I didn't want to lose him. I took a Clif Blok shot just in case.

8:03, 8:08

Mile 9: So this is where the legs started to lose it... I was around the 15k mark, when I finally started slowing down and losing the pacer dude. Gah. It pissed me off how close I was .. I needed 3.5 miles before finishing... but I couldnt keep up. My legs couldn't keep up with the rest of the 1:45 group. For a second I though it wasn't worth trying anymore. That's how tired I felt at this point. I felt I was running a 12 minute mile by the time I reached the 10mile mark. I looked down in time to see my 9mile split, 8:41. That was actually my slowest mile throughout the whole race. Looking at that split, I realized I wasn't going as slow as I felt. :)

8:41

Mile 10-13: Pain... more pain and sweat and gatorade and water.  I needed as much energy I could get just to finish under 1:50. Although I had lost the chance to finish at 1:45, I wasn't going to finish after 1:52. No way. I had fought too hard during those 10 miles for a 1:50-something.

8:31, 8:37, 8:38, 8:24

The last 0.1: I couldn't sprint. No way. I wanted it to end already. I did what I could. I saw the clock from where I was, and it had finally hit 1:49.

Finish time: 1:49:27

Can you see relief in my face? I can! lol

Did I accomplish what I set my mind to? Yep, I sure did. This was my goal race. I had definitely hit my goal. Back in June for the Chicago Women's HM, finishing under 2 hours was my overall goal. My 1:57 had me in a happy-go-lucky mood for weeks. so why not a 1:49 today? I guess I got carried away during the race, that maybe I could surpass my goal by 4 minutes. Which lead to disappointment but whatever. That's in the past. I did what I could. I had trained for a sub 1:50 and I got it :) I'm happy with my 1:49. Now I know how close I was to that 1:45, I will keep trying until I get it.

So what did I think of the race? Meh. Wasn't too special in my opinion.
Medal: Nice, decent lookin'
T-shirt: way too big for girls. I always complain about the shirts.
Course: Awesome. :) on lake shore drive? really? it felt like runners were taking over. haha sweet
Hydration: Really good. Felt like there was enough and there was big signs to tell where the water and gatorade was. big plus.
Snacks: The usual pretzels, ritz bits, bananas. boring. (RNR went overboard and got us Jamba Juice! :)
Pizza: line wayyy too long.
Beer: im still not 21. haha boo
Massage: decent :)

Overall: I'm doing this again! Registered a few days ago for 30% off.. missed the 50% by a few minutes. Still good price. I'm getting my 1:45 for sure.

See ya then ChiHalf 2013!

thinking of actually buying this picture. i look so angry haha


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NEWTON Ready to Run 20 MILER IN 2 DAYS!! blahhhhh. why would my boyfriend do this to me?! I've never ran over 15 miles, so this will be a new distance record..

Here goes nothing..