Weather: cold (about 40F) and windy (14-16mph)
Official time: 3:31:13
Overall place: 64/299
In this year, I have done three 50k ultras, and this is the first spring marathon I signed up mainly due to the cheap offer ($19) only for the first 150 runners. Indeed, it was the best deal I have ever had that I got t-shirt, finisher medal, post-race food, etc. Awesome!
But, I was unsure whether I can participate in this race until the very last minute due to my boy because my wife was out of country, but thankfully I was able to do it with her friend's help.
On the race day, I got up at 2 am, packed my running gears, and then left home at 3 am to pick up my wife's friend who lives just about two blocks away in Hyde Park. It was brutal morning with gust of wind. I dropped her at my apartment in 10 minutes and later heard my boy got up 5 minutes after she came in to our house (3:15 am) and didn't go back to sleep. Driving in dawn is not super fun for me as I am always only half-awaken and it was 2 hours drive based on google map although I could cut down 40 minutes by speeding up. When I arrived, the free parking lot next to the start line had only a few cars parked, but then started filling up pretty quickly (Thank God). I went to pick up my packet and it was cold. I stayed in the car until 5:40 am and then started doing some stretching and warming up. By 6 am sharp, we entered into the race.
It was two loops of 13.1miles repeating the same course.
My plan was to not over pace hopefully for the first loop if I can. My focus in the early miles was to run effortlessly and breathe only through noise to control the pace. It was windy and the first 3 to 4 miles were somewhat hilly (not like the ones in ultra marathon thou) and I was a little worried about running this again when my legs were tired. It was not helpful thinking in that way and so stopped believing I can manage when it comes. The headwind seemed to be unstoppable, but I was okay with that because most of my training at the lakefront trail was with much windy condition. I crossed the half point in about 1:42 that was reasonable (not too fast and not too slow). When started the second loop, I was with a small group of people who knew each other (probably from a running club) and they looked all strong especially a lady who was very tough. I tried to keep up with them, but lost at mile 17 or so. Their pace was like 7:30-40 per mile. As expected, my pace got significantly slower and felt fatigue. The real struggle came in after mile 22 and I needed to pace well not to walk. In ultra marathons, it is not odd to walk time to time because there are hills which are not runnable, but for a road marathon it is all runnable and thus walking was not acceptable for me. My breath became unstable at mile 24 that I needed to stay focused to disassociate the pain with me as much as possible. At this point, I could predict my finish time that would be either under 3:30 or so. At mile 25, I was fully exhausted, but I knew I can keep moving without stopping, and it was a big boost when I saw the finish line from a distance. I was very glad that it's over and with my big PR (about 25min off).
Shoe: Newton Distance III
pre-race food: 1 Cliff bar (Banana nut bread)
During the race: 2 GUs (peanut butter; no caffein) and 2 V-fuel (caffein)
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