All of my hard work since January was finally about to pay of as race weekend finally came to be. I joined a Fundraising Team with American Cancer Society (ACS) - DetermiNation Illinois that way I would have guaranteed entry to the race, and I would get to spend more time with Eric while in Chi. To be honest the fundraising was harder than I thought it would be. I found it very to ask people for donations knowing that the money they donated would not be used on Maui. Maui has had a difficult past with charities that raise tons of money on Maui then it isn't actually used to better Maui.
After months of training and fundraising it was finally time for me to leave the Valley Isle and head to the windy city. The night I made it to the city we had a team dinner with American Cancer Society. It was a busy night with guest speakers, pasta buffet, awards, and more. Collaboratively all the runners raised over $700,000 toward finding a cure for cancer, a truly amazing job by everyone! There was one thing that I really took with me from one of the guest speakers. There was no reason to be nervous about the race because regardless of the months I had spent training, I wasn't going to win. The message hit me like a ton of bricks, he was right I wasn't going to win. There was no point in being nervous. I just needed to remember my training and all would be fine!
The expo was mind blowing by how big is was. So much bigger than anything that I have seen on Maui or Oahu! So so organized and easy to navigate. Everything was digital with QR codes that pulled up your profile, making the whole process seamless! We carb loaded the night before, and despite the jet lag I managed to get several hours of sleep.
We were super fortunate that ACS had rented a great hall of the Congress Hotel for us to use during the day. We had a save place to check our bags, and hang before and after the race. As I made my way to the starting corrals I noticed that I wasn't nervous at all, I felt well cold, very very cold (the temperature was 20+ degrees colder than Maui), but ready.
The corrals were huge which gave us ample space to warm up and stretch without being on top of each other. I felt I was at a disadvantage
because of my corral placement. I was farther ahead than I should have been. My half pace, that I PRed with and used for Chicago was much faster than my marathon pace. So I followed the advice of the runner coach at the hotel I work at to run a 30 seconds slower pace for the first 5 miles to allow all the faster runners to pass me, and allow the runner of my pace to catch up to me.
The plan was a success! About 5-6 miles in the 4:10 pace group showed up and I stuck to them like glue for the rest of the race. I really have to give them the most credit for my successful race because I couldn't have done it without them. They were so inspirational and motivating throughout the race. At every mile marker they would count down from 3 and we would all raise our hands and cheer as we ran over the line. The optimism was intoxicating! About three times during the race they asked us to get to know our neighbor, introduce ourselves, and say where we were from. Then other times they would have us do butt kicks or high knee kicks to keep our blood circulating. And let me tell you, doing those while running was definitely a great way to keep it all flowing.
As I sit here thinking about the course I remember how flat the course was. There were very few elevation changes, save the very end, but we'll get to that later. I remember running through several parks where the trees were showing off their fall colors, leaves on the ground, and very open. Much different from running past all the buildings.I actually tried not to pay as much attention to my surroundings as there were so many spectators that would cheer for me by name (my name was on my shirt). I found that to be very distracting, so I was more concentrating on my breathing, footing, and pace.
At mile 23 I did hit a wall and lost the pace group. I was still positive about it because I made it so much longer than my previous marathons before hitting the wall. What was different this time was that I was prepared for it. I knew it was because I was needing electrolytes and hydration. So I ate a few pretzels that I brought, drank some nuun that I brought, which got me to the next aid station. From there I downed a few cups of Gatorade and a banana and suddenly my legs were back into full gear. I charged the final few miles, even turning off my music because with the cheering crowd I didn't need it.Now back to the elevation change at the very end. The final .2 miles run up Mount Roosevelt which wasn't too steep by my standards. Since I trained on hills every other week during training I was able to plow of the hill and into the finish. To my luck the pace team was still at the finish and were in fact waiting for me. I was happy to snag a group picture with them!
One of the pacers had said something to us during the race, that at some point during this race we would have "our moment" where we knew that we are a marathoner. Well he was right! Mine happened once I left the pace team and got wrapped up in the blanket and I looked at my finish time. I had taken off 51 minutes from my marathon PR. I remember being so overwhelmed that I just started crying, and just like he said I knew that at this point that I was a marathoner.
Cheers to a successful marathon weekend!
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