Chicago Dress Rehearsal

Definitely didn't log 83 miles this week. Didn't even come close. We were shipped off to Wisconsin for three days for orientation in the middle of the week so I used the trip as a chance to take a day off and rest up for my half marathon this weekend. Pretty much ran 7-8 miles the rest of the week and then logged 16 today with warm-up and cool-down.

Today, I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to get set for the Chicago Half Marathon. I was hoping to use this as a dress rehearsal for the Marathon in 4 weeks and didn't really plan on over-exerting myself. I arrived in Jackson Park around 6 a.m. and went over to the Fleet Feet tent to meet the guys and maybe find some new running partners. I also introduced myself to Mark, who is in charge of the Elite Team, and Mark let me stash my gear with his guys.

The plan today was to go out in 5:40 and maintain that pace for 6 miles, then accelerate depending on how I felt. The race did not go as planned. I went out the first mile faster than intended, a crowd pleasing 5:20. I knew I was going too fast, and kept telling myself to slow down, but I just couldn't. The next three miles calmed down to the high 5:20's, but that was still too fast. Toward the end of mile 4, we turned onto Lakeshore Drive, and I was in 10th place, not really sure what to make of my fast pace. My first 5k passed ini 16:52, then I hit 10k in 33:31 (16:39). I passed a few guys while heading north on Lakeshore and at the turn, I had moved up into 7th. I was still telling myself to slow down and settle into 5:30's, but it just didn't happen. I lost 10 seconds when I stopped to adjust my sock, because I was developing blisters on my right heel when my sweaty sock slipped down. Fortunately, it only cost me 10 seconds, and since I stopped on a downhill (planned) it was easy to get back on pace. Even with the stop, that mile was still 5:27. I came through 15k in 50:11 (16:40).

Someone in front of me dropped out around mile 10, so all of a sudden I was in 6th and closing in on 5th. Once I got my radar lock on the guy in 5th (probably 100 yards back at the time), I stopped thinking about pace and just zeroed in on him. It took about 1.5 miles to reel him in, but I caught up during mile 12 and briefly passed him. We hit 20k in 1:06:37 (16:26). Unfortunately, I got my first bit of fatigue during mile 13 and he pulled away from me over the last 1/2 mile. Still, I finished in a solid 1:10:45, a 5:23 average, good for 6th place!

Mile splits for the day were: 5:20, 5:28, 5:27, 5:28, 5:22, 5:20, 5:22, 5:19, 5:27, 5:14, 5:25, 5:17, 5:22. The residual 0.1 time was 50 seconds according to my Garmin, because I couldn't run the shortest tangent since water stops were located on the outside of the course. Still, incredibly pleased with the result. It's a PR by over 2 minutes and I'm very confident headed into the Marathon.

Lastly - 17 miles for the day, 60 miles this week in 6 days of running.