The summer leading up to the 2010 Chicago Marathon, I hadn't been training nearly as much as in the past. In past seasons I averaged 4-5 runs per week, where this year I was lucky to get in 3-4 pm average per week. However, I had been making the most of the training runs that I was getting in. For reasons unknown to me, I was running faster and feeling better on my long runs than ever before. My last 20 mile run was completed in 2 hours 45 minutes (8:17 per mile). I also had a predicted marathon time of 3:23 when I did a well known running test (Yasso 800's - 1/2 mile fast run followed by 1/4 mile jog - and you do that 10 times). With all of this in mind, I convinced myself to start the race at an 8:00 per mile pace and see how I felt around mile 18 or so.
Plans are all great, but race day is a whole different story.....
It was a warm morning - upper 60's at the start, and supposed to go up to the mid to upper 70's by the race finish. I got to Grant Park, did my last minute prep, found my way to the start corral I was assigned, and found the 3:30 pace group (a pace group is basically an experienced leader followed by a group of runners that want to complete the race in a given time). After the normal opening 'ceremonies', the race was on! I crossed the start line about 3 minute after the official start (much faster than in the past). The first 10 miles were perfect - the group was running between 7:45 and 8:05 per mile, but that is when my nagging cramp started. This cramp had nagged at me all summer, but it usually went away in a mile or 2, so I wasn't worried. I kept with the group and ran through the cramp. At mile 12, we were 50 seconds ahead of an 8:00 pace, and I was fully convinced that I could sustain this pace for the entire race. The cramp hadn't gone away by 12.5, so I slowed down a little - confident that when it went away I could catch up with the group.
At mile 14, I saw my wife, kids, and Father-in-law. By that point, my left quad had started to cramp also and I was hurting, but I tried to put on a smile, stopped to give my almost 3 year old daughter a high five, and continued on my run. By mile 16, my right quad started to cramp too. I walked through a couple water stops, but kept pushing on. I saw my Brother and Mom about mile 17, and that was a nice uplift to my spirits (that were quickly breaking). Shortly after that, I stopped and tried to stretch my quads - which may have been the worst mistake of the race. As soon as I lifted my left leg, my entire hamstring cramped up. Back on the race course, I made a conscious decision to stop pushing so hard, and to take it easy the rest of the race. Putting up what would have been an 'OK' time wasn't worth hurting myself, or taking weeks to recover from the race. So, I started running a slower pace, and walking through water stations. Not long later, I started walking between water stations for a couple minutes also. To top off my slow second half, I was drinking so much Gatorade trying to help the cramps that I had to stop and go to the bathroom - something I had never had to do during a race. To put the last 10 miles into perspective, I finished the first half of the marathon in just under 1 hour 45 minutes, and the second half took me 2 hours 13 minutes - quite a difference.
The most frustrating thing during the race was watching the 3:40, 3:45, 3:50, 3:55, and 4:00 pace group pass me. I tried to keep up with most of them, but the cramps quickly told me not to bother. In the end, I finished in 4 hours and 3 minutes - about average for most marathons, but far below what I had hoped and expected to do. It was my second slowest marathon time (followed only by New York where I was too injured to run, but too stubborn not to try). In the end, I'm very disappointed I didn't reach my stretch goal of 3:30, but the am very pleased that I kept my head about me and didn't do anything stupid. I like to think it shows how much I've grown mentally since my New York marathon - when I insisted on running when I really shouldn't have (I think I had a stress fracture that year, but refused to go to the doctor because I knew he'd tell me not to run). This year I made the right decision during the race to slow down, take it easy, and live to fight another day.
I keep asking myself why I cramped up - maybe it was the heat (it was 81 degrees when I got in my car for the drive home), maybe I started too quickly, maybe I didn't drink or eat right leading up to it - but I don't think any of those caused it as I prepared right, and ran on hotter days earlier in the summer without any issues.
All in all, it just wasn't my day....but I finished, and that's something only about 0.1% of Americans do every year - and I've done it 5 times now - I have to be proud of that. After the race, I couldn't wait to get back on the trail for a run (although I did make myself take 5 days off to try to recover). My first run back was a slow 3 mile run with my daughter in the stroller - that reminded me why I run - my daughter loves those runs maybe more than I do, and that alone makes me happy beyond what words can express!
Get out there and run.....
