So after many weeks of training and exhaustion for my first marathon it is done. I chose not to write this post straight away so that I could allow the experience simmer for a little while. So before I get to the bottom line, allow me to babble on a bit.
It was a cold day in the Windy City. Jake “the hammer” Malone… er… wrong story. It was a cold day. A frigid day to be precise. It was barely 30 degrees F when we set out from the Palmer House. Angie and I met Sam on the steps to the Art Institute and after a brief wait for the rest of my family who was running a tad late we set off for the start corrals. The place was a mob scene. Racers and spectators amok. People piled on top of people. In all the events I’ve ever been to at Grant Park, I’d never seen such a mob.
After finding a place in the crowd I shuffled along after the starting gun went off. It took nearly thirty minutes for me to cross the actual starting line. The crowd of racers never really dissipated until the very last miles and even still there were nearly always about twenty racers around me. During the first half of the race went real well, as expected. The second half was a bit more intense, also as expected. I’d made it to mile eighteen before I simply had to take a walk break. My hip muscles, knees, and feet just couldn’t take the pounding of the running any longer. However I wasn’t winded which was perhaps the oddest feeling. For the rest of the course I took about four more walk breaks — each about the length of the beverage cup people (about 100 feet). Again it wasn’t due to exhaustion, but more to pain in the act of running.
After I’d crossed the finish line and hugged the Mylar blanket around my shoulders I proceeded to find a tent to go freeze in. The temperature had rocketed up to about 45 degrees F, but I was in shivers when I finally located Angie and changed into warmer attire. After hooking up with the rest of my spectator posse we headed back to the hotel for some much needed food and sleep. As I mentioned in a previous post I was feeling sick, and I’m pretty sure I was running a fever that night. I know I didn’t do much for the cold I’m fighting, and likely made it worse.
So to bottom line it:
- Was it fun? Yes, but rough at the end.
- Was it worth it? Yes, without a doubt.
- Would I recommend it? Yes, with the proper training.
- Will I do it again? Yes, if only to better prepare.
- What was my time? See my sports page.