Marathon recap part II

I think I mentioned in the last post that I had a pretty big cough and head cold leading up to Sunday. I have not had to use my inhaler in a while, but I definitely used it a few times leading up the race. That combined with my horrible run the Sunday before the marathon, made me nervous. Vitamin C and I were best friends during the week. I rested up Saturday and tried to get ready for the big day.

Imerman Angels before the race

My 4 a.m. alarm came quickly. It felt more like a quick nap instead of getting some actual sleep. With heightened security at the marathon, charity village runners had to be at charity village a little earlier; charity village closed at 6:15 a.m. I ran with Imerman Angels and I really enjoyed meeting fellow runners who I had never met before. We hung out there, took a team picture and walked to the corrals, which were about a mile away;ugh(more about this later).

On the way to my corral, I ran into a couple friends of mine; Natalia and Maria.

                                       

 

We were all excited and nervous about the race for various reasons. It had been Natalia's first marathon and she seemed very ready to go. I chatted with both for a while and then rushed to wait in my corral. The wait seemed like forever because it got a little chilly and windy. While the National Anthem played, a cool thing happened. The sound system had been acting funny and going in and out, so people decided to sing it themselves.  I really enjoyed and smiled while others sang. Once that got done, we waited for others to go off and got ready to go. I could not figure out why people wanted to run before we crossed the start line. We were already about to run 26.2 and people were trying to run me over. Anyways, time to get going! 

The first half of the race went great and I could not complain. The cough did not bother me, I saw a few friends and I stayed with the 3:30 pace group. I could not have asked for a better start. I made sure to check my pace tat after each check point. I did not want to make the mistake of coming out too fast. I thought about dialing it back, but I felt really good. 

When I got to 18, this is the first time I really felt somewhat tired, but I kept it going. During mile 20, I walked a little bit to try and gain some energy back. My legs were starting to feel like jelly but I stayed with my pace group. I avoided going to the bathroom until mile 22. I thought about skipping it altogether, but I figured I am walking a little at this point and should just go. I went quickly and got running again. Up until this point, I had no cramps and thought I would avoid them. 

23.5 hit and here came the cramps came out of no where. The first cramp hit my left quad and I stopped on a dime! It hurt quite a bit and I tried to walk it off as much as possible. There is no way I wanted to quit at this point and tried my best to push through. Once I thought they went away, I tried to run again, but then they hit both legs. I really wanted to hit 3:30 as my goal pace time, but I told myself that I would not kill myself to get it. It is hard for runners to dial it back, especially during races, but it had to be done. The next thing I will have to do is to figure out how to avoid these cramps. That is the one thing that has been going through my head since I finished last Sunday. My friend Rob found me at this point and helped me work through them. 

Running towards my sister, niece and brother-in-law

We decided to finish the last two miles together. He saw some friends, I saw some family and we pushed towards the finish. He said his knee had been really bothering him and we just tried to keep each other motivated since we were so close. We had one challenge left; Roosevelt "Hill."

Rob and I were doing alright but his knee kept bothering him and he decided to walk while I kept running. The finish never looked so good and I finished strong! It felt soooo good to be done. Seeing a few people look dead and throwing-up after I got done, reminded of how lucky I had been to finish relatively healthy. I am lucky man that cramps were the only thing that hampered me. I ended up with a time of 3:47.40 and could not have been happier. This is a huge improvement over the first marathon I did and finished happy. 

I mentioned earlier how far charity village had been from the corrals and this is the part I feared the most. The only thing that made this walk after the finish ok is that I knew it would be coming this team. I remember finishing my first marathon and not expecting this brutal walk and feeling like I would die. I did not enjoy this walk, but it felt so good to reach the Imerman tent and get rolled out by a PT.

A fellow Imerman runner and I.

Normally runners who complete a marathon are unsure if they want to try another marathon, but I am pretty sure I will be ding another one. Chicago is so great because the atmosphere is fantastic. There were certain points during the race that I had to stop and smile because I felt like such a celebrity. Thank you to all the mostly random strangers who came out cheered all of the runners. Our "fans" keep us going. 

I am not sure what is next, but I am already ready for a race!