Chicago Marathon
Sunday, October 7, 2001Race report from Myra...
Date: Tues Oct 9, 2001
Subject: Chicago-My Kinda Town!
Yes, we bring good news from Chicago. My race report on my first marathon below! ***********************
Myra & Liesha's Excellent AdventureWe (Liesha, my husband Danny and I) arrived in Chicago Friday evening after a fairly lengthy delay at Pearson, due to the heightened security and long weekend volume. The hotel where we stayed in Chicago (the Hyatt at McCormick Place) was already buzzing with marathon activity -- the Health & Fitness Expo was in the convention centre right next door, so there were lots of participants toting their race packages and goody bags. We arrived too late to make the Expo that evening, so we called it an early night since we knew we wouldn't likely sleep much on Saturday evening.
Saturday was a brilliantly sunny day...with a pretty chilly breeze off Lake Michigan (it seems there is a reason they call it the windy city!) Our first activity Saturday morning was to do the rounds at the Health & Fitness Expo...the race package pickup was very quick and well organized, and the race volunteers were extremely helpful. I picked up a pair of polypro gloves to combat the chill and we scoped all the booths for our requisite 'freebies' of Power Bars, posters and Wheaties.
We attended a talk given by Frank Shorter--the winner of the Olympic marathon gold medal in 1972. Most of you will probably remember that Olympics being the one where a terrorist group seized athletes inside the Olympic village leading to the death of eleven Israeli athletes. It was apparent that the events of September 11th was top-of-mind with the runners in the audience and Frank spoke about how the athletes in Munich, including himself, had to make the decision to proceed with their events in spite of the tragedy and the deaths of their fellow athletes. It was a timely message.
Frank also talked about the great advances made by women marathon runners this year and predicted that given the ideal weather conditions in Chicago could produce a sub-2:19 in the women's marathon. As predicted, Catherine Ndereba from Kenya went on to break the world record with a time of 2:18:47 on Sunday. Amazing.
After the Expo on Saturday, we hopped the 'L' train downtown and spent the remainder of the day wandering around the downtown area, finishing with the traditional pre-race pasta meal. Sunday was another brilliant sunny day and we were up at 5:30am for the 7:30am race start. There was bit of confusion at our hotel when the race shuttles were not arriving in good time, so we hopped a cab with another couple of runners for the short drive up Michigan Avenue to the start line. Of course, our first destination prior to the start was the line up for the porto-potties! And then...into the start line with the 33,000 starters. Its unimaginable how many runners that actually is until your are in the middle of the 'throng' -- the singing of the Star Spangled Banner started as a barely audible wave that moved toward the rear of the pack, and by the time we were singing, too, I was pretty much overcome with the emotion of the moment.
It took almost 15 minutes of walking before we actually crossed the start line, and all the while everyone's 'warm up' clothes were being tossed overhead into the sidelines and/or being dropped enroute. It seems odd to me now, in retrospect, that most of the race up until the 20 mile mark seems like a bit of a blur. I must have been in my own meditative zone. The images and sounds that left an indelible mark are definitely the enthusiastic encouragement of the spectators including my husband Danny and friend Josie; the huge number of American flags that were draped on the buildings downtown and in the residential neighbourhoods; the spontaneous chanting of, "U.S.A!, U.S.A!" by both participants and spectators alike. Also, I spent quite of a bit of time reading the messages and slogans displayed on the back of the t-shirts of the runners in front of me -- many, many carried images of the American flag and slogans such as "United We Stand" and "God Bless America". I also saw several serveral runners with messages that they were running in memory of friends and family who had died in the WTC attack. On a lighter note, there was some great bands that played on the busier street corners, but the one that made me really take notice was in the local gay community (I'm guessing somewhere around the 19 or 20 km mark) where there was a eight-man cheerleading squad (uniforms, pom-poms and all) being led by Priscilla Queen of the Desert!! (And much to my suprise, they showed up again around the 24 mile mark! Rockin'!) Also observed enroute was a group of very considerate Chicago Penguins who were dispensing Vaseline to needy participants in the last third of the race.
Up until this point we were running between the water stops that were placed about 1 1/2 miles apart, which meant approximately 15 & 1's. It was an easy, comfortable pace and I was feeling really strong and steady. To step back a bit, after the Scotia Bank 1/2 Marathon on September 23rd I was quite sore...and then (like an idiot!) went to the climbing gym that week and twisted my knee. (Note to self: DO NOT AGAIN do anything as foolish 10 days before a marathon!) The result was that I missed most of my taper runs in the ten days prior to Chicago and spent most of those days icing my knee/upper shin three times a day and doing lots of stretching and massage. This strategy seemed to work and by the Wednesday before the race, my leg was feeling much better. I had one good solid run in, so I was feeling confident that I could at least start the race.
So, to get back to my chronicle of Chicago...around mile 18 or 19, my legs were starting to feel very fatigued, and by mile 20/21 my calves muscles were starting to cramp and I had a stitch in my side (and I *never* get those!) Liesha, in her wisdom, told me that a marathon is made up of two races, the first 20 miles and the last 6.2 miles. Well, she was right. Right: Liesha (#6769) and Myra (green shirt) during the race.
I don't think I "hit the wall" since I was able to walk quite quickly, but I just was having a lot of difficulty running... so the last 5 or so miles were spent mostly walking with a bit of running. There was a slight incline when the mile 26 sign came into view and once we crested the incline we could see the finish line. I galvanized my remaining energy, Liesha grabbed my hand and we ran the rest of the way, both crossing the finish line at 5:01:55.
Based on our split times at 15K, 21K, and 30K, we were pretty much on pace to finishing at our goal of between 4:30 and 4:40, but it was just not to be in those last five miles. Talk about a good friend--Liesha stuck with me the rest of the way.
Crossing the finish line was pure joy. We grabbed water, o.j. and cookies and went straight to the ice tent and iced for about 20 minutes, then changed, grabbed more food (chocolate covered peanuts and Ben & Jerry's - YUM!), met up with friends/partners at the fountain in Grant Park, followed by a yummy breakfast.
These are incredible times. The police presence along the race route near to the finish line was almost surreal. It all made sense when friends broke the news about the bombing in Afghanistan. This certainly set a tone for the rest of the day, and curtailed our planned sightseeing in Chicago on Monday. Nonethless, it was an amazing event and I applaud and support the efforts of the organizers to go ahead with such a large public event under the circumstances. I would go back to Chicago and run there again in a heart beat!
Happy and safe running everyone. Good luck to everyone in the CIM & 1/2 this weekend.
Myra
Below: Myra, Liesha (both in green) and friends celebrate at Grant Park.
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