Rock'n'Roll Chicago Half Marathon: July 2014

I committed to this race seven months in advance - the farthest ahead I'd ever planned for a race! It would also be my first American race, as all my prior races had taken place here in Europe. The only problem was that it would take place smack in the middle of one of the biggest transitions of my life, in moving to Spain after having lived and worked in Germany for five years. My stress levels certainly prevented me from training to my full potential, but at the same time the training that I did accomplish definitely helped keep me sane.

When I shared with my parents my plan to run, they immediately began to plan a family vacation around my race. We spent the days leading up to and after the race with family in the city, and I got to reconnect with several college friends. My parents and I visited the Expo together and I was blown away by the sheer size and amount of people present! European race expos are usually very small, and some races don't even have them.

The night before the race, I carb loaded with deep dish Chicago-style pizza from Giordano's. We stayed up late talking and laughing, but I soon excused myself as I would have an early morning. 

My parents and I headed out early on Sunday morning to catch the L train downtown. After dropping off my bag, I joined the massive lines for the porta-potties and tried to stay calm. The humidity coupled with the already high temps so early in the day were making me nervous as I didn't want to suffer from heat stroke again.

Dad was playing proud paparazzi and I was not enjoying it! 

Once I completed my pre-race checklist, I found my corral and bid adieu to my parents. Then, the worst part began: the waiting! The race began at 7:30 am but I didn't cross the start line until sometime after 8:00! It didn't help that I was in one of the last corrals, but I suppose that's what happens when over 20,000 people are racing - again, something I was not used to thanks to my Europe-only racing experience. As we snaked our way down the street and around the corner, I passed the time texting and tweeting. At one point, I caught up to my parents again, who had gone to the start to watch the beginning of the race.

There I am, texting again!

Finally I got to cross the finish line and begin the actual race, although I am pretty sure I began with the corral in front of me rather than my own. At that point I don't think it mattered anymore! While waiting to run I had spotted the 2:30 pacer and mentally prepared myself to try and stick with them as long as possible. I didn't know whether I'd be able to do it, but my goal was to finish between 2:30 and 2:40 so I vowed to do my best. 

The first several miles passed by quickly. I had crafted a pretty slammin' playlist but because there were so many people cheering us on at the beginning, I waited a few miles to hit play. I wanted to soak it all in - the music, the crowds cheering, the English conversations going on all around - this was truly becoming a cross-cultural experience for me! For a while I kept pace with a man pushing a wheelchair, then I set my sights on a few runners ahead of me and did my best to catch up with them, or at least keep them in sight. 

Ahead of time I had set my parents up with the free runner tracking service provided by the race officials, and I had given them several suggestions for meet up points. They wanted to see me run by and take pictures, and I wanted to see familiar faces in the crowd. Armed with a course map and their L passes, they hoofed it all over downtown Chicago attempting to find me, but as it turns out I was just running too fast for them to keep up! They managed to catch me once around mile five, but my mom was so excited to see me that she bumped my dad's arm just as he was taking my picture! He quickly recovered and managed to get one slightly blurry shot of my awesome gameface as I whizzed by.

Each time my parents reached one of our rendezvous points after that, they received a text message from the tracker service saying I'd passed a checkpoint further along! So there I was, looking for my parents around every corner and wondering where on earth they were, and they were literally chasing me through Chicago. They eventually gave up and just went to the finish line to wait for me to be done.

I started to slow down significantly after completing mile ten, which was becoming a regular thing for me. I had discovered during my last two races that I could keep up a pretty good pace for about two hours, and then it was all downhill from there  - and not in a good way! At this point I was dripping in sweat and dying to be done. One aid station offered wet sponges and I held onto mine until I reached the finish, using it to wipe the salty sweat from my face. Another offered ice cubes; I grabbed a fistful and dropped them down my shirt for safe-keeping, taking one out every few minutes to swipe across my forehead or cool my parched tongue. By the time I reached the finish line I was sopping wet but so thrilled to be finished! I was rather disappointed in my time of 2:48, but I knew I had done my best. My parents greeted me near the finisher's area and my arms quickly filled with all the food and drink samples being passed out by the crew.

This is my "I want to die" face.

Apparently all I can muster by this point is a thumbs up!

Overall, I had a great time running in Chicago, a city that holds so many memories for me. I am also looking forward to running again in 2015! That's right, I registered for next year's race at the expo! There are several things I plan to do differently this year, and I am hopeful that my upcoming training runs in Spain this spring will help my body make the transition to running in higher temperatures. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I have high hopes for RNRCHI2015!