2010 Chicago Rock -n- Roll Half Marathon Race Report

It seemed like a good idea to sign up for the Chicago Rock -n- Roll Half Marathon last winter. When I ran the full marathon in October of 2008, I decided that it was too chatoic with the kids and that I would never do it again, at least until they were older. We often stay in Schaumburg and had a free night's stay. So my mom was going to watch the kids and hubby and I were going to stay for two or three nights. Well, something fell through with my mom's plans and we ended up taking the kids and only went for one night ... making this a whirlwind trip of chaos with a crabby 2 yr old and whiny 6 yr old.

We drove to downtown Chicago the race expo on Saturday morning. After a few delays with the GPS system (If I only would've followed the driving directions from the race website ...), we finally arrived at the appropriate parking ramp and expo hall at McCormick Place.

Upon entering the Expo hall, I ran into a friend from High School, whom I knew was running and was also staying at our hotel. What are the odds of seeing her in the crowds of people?! We talked our strategy for driving down in the morning and said we'd talk later. There were no early trains from the N/NW suburbs, like there were full the full marathon I ran. Leaving us only to drive.

The expo was crowded, but not insane. We had a picnic on the floor with the kids since it was lunch time and everyone was beyond crabby (including the adults). Picked up my packet and browsed around. No purchases, since we're on a strict budget.

I even managed to stick to our budget

and didn't purchase any Bondi Bands.

Mommy and Little Dude
Happy to be leaving the expo

We ate dinner in our hotel room and went to bed at 7pm. The kids fell asleep shortly after 8 and I followed soon after. We got up on race morning at 3:30am and met Mheagan at 4:00 for our drive down to the city. There was absolutely no traffic and we were actually one of the first to park in the Grant Park ramp at 4:50. Corrals opened at 6am. Race started at 6:30. Time went by quickly with three potty breaks, photo ops and eating breakfast and fueling up.

I got in my corral (#7). Corrals started approximately 1-2 mins apart. I heard there were approximately 25 corrals. The commentator was talking to celebrities like Al Roker from the Today show and several celebrities from reality tv.

I would love to PR with sub 1:56, but would've been really happy with a 1:58 or so for this race. I'm 10 lbs heavier than last summer and I've been putting in double the miles from last year and my legs have been tired (though I had 3 rest days, leading up to this race. Yes, I listened!).

For the first 3+ miles I was just behind the 1:50 pace group. I would fall behind and then catch up. I felt great. Then I lost site of the pace group. I was running 8:35-9:00 min miles for the first half of the race. The crowd support was awesome for the first 5-6 miles. Spectators and high school cheer squads were cheering you on. Bands were also placed ever 1/2 to 1 mile mark. Several were grate, but they weren't the awesome Rock-n-Roll experience I figured it would be. Still, it was nice as some of the songs gave me chills and helped me up my pace. But, the crowd support was still nothing like the full marathon I ran there. We ran past the skyscrapers and museums and Grant Park during the first half. The last half of the marathon was very quiet, as you ran along the Lakeshore path. We also ran through a very dark underground area at McCormick Place. Several people complained about how dark it was an loosing your footing in the broken up streets. There was also a part of the path that was rocks for a brief time.

There were plenty of water and aid stations, one Gu station and one station with wet sponges. They had Cytomax (citrus flavor) instead of Gatorade or Powerade. First of all, I hate citrus flavor and they offer that at every race I run. Second, I didn't like the taste of Cytomax from the first station and should've stopped drinking it after the first taste. It was too sugary and sweet. I continued to take a Cytomax and a water at each water station. Around mile 10 I was hot and thirsty. I continued to drink. Then I started to get a stomach ache and the last two miles I felt like vomiting. I obviously drank too much and I knew it. I never walked, just kept on trucking. I slowed waaaay down the last mile, because I kept felt like I was going to vomit. I turned the corner from the path and expected to see the finish line right there ... but it wasn't. I wasn't going to go sub-2 hrs. Bummer. The finish line was off in the distance. I heard my name off to the right. It was Katye (HERE). She had started in Corral 8 and I never saw her pass me. Come to find out she crushed her sub-2 hr PR and got a 1:49 -- go Katye!

I crossed the finish line, my watch said 2:01:01. I got my photo taken with my medal. I downed three bottles of water (It tasted damn good!), got some oranges and really enjoyed the popsicles (more races should do this!) after the race. I also liked the iced towels that they handed out. My eyes often burn fromt he sweat in my eyes post-race.

I proceded to to the family reunion area to meet my family, as well as several bloggers that I had hoped to finally meet. We had some great chats about the race, running and our kids.

Me and Jodi (HERE)

Me, Katye (HERE), Tonia (HERE), Jodi (HERE)

Chicago Rock -n- Roll Half Marathon -- 13.1 miles
Chip Time: 2:01:01
Overall Place: 4,309 / 18,555
Gender Place: 1,760 / 11,757
Division Place: 334 / 2,203
Pace: 9:14
5 Km (3.1 mi): 27:02
6 Mile: 55:09
10 Mile: 1:31:04