Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon Chicago - August 14, 2011

We were looking forward to the Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon in Chicago because Renee got to visit with friends and family and go to where she was born in Streamwood, Il. Another perk was the awesome food in Chicago! Pizzas, hot dogs, you name it. One of the other things that we loved about the trip is that we got to use the free first class airfare and the comped 3 nights at the Four Seasons that Renee had won by raising the most money at the Seasons for the Cure 5K race we had done last year.

We stayed the first couple nights before the race with Renee's brother, who was also doing the race. After that, we went to stay the night before the race in the city at a hotel not far from the race start/finish, which was at Grant Park. We did the traditional pasta dinner and the raceexpo with everyone and were joined by Renee's cousin Steve, who was running the race with us also.

Race morning the weather was awesome. The air was a little crisp and in the 60's as you might expect with Lake Michigan right next to us. It was cloudy and rain was threatening. We met up with Jeff and Steve downstairs and walked to the Start area. We checked our gear, did the potty thing and took a few pre race pics like we usually do. The start was a little different that the other races we had done this year, we headed to the start line and we didn't stop at all. They dropped the barriers between corrals and everyone just kinda went off on their own.. We were actually jogging for a few hundred feet before we hit the start line. Renee had started with myself and her brother Jeff, and she also met up with her friend Michelle from high school, who ran with her for a few miles. Jeff's preparation for the race was, well, interesting. Maybe he can do a blog of his own and describe his training for you.

I was feeling really good again. I feed off the electricity of the event and the people. I jogged for about a half mile with Renee, Jeff and Michelle and then took off on my own. This was supposedly Steve's first half marathon, and another friend of Renee's family named Mark started up in corral 2. My goal was at least to catch up to Steve at some point, as he started in corral 8. We started in corral 15' so I didn't think it was out of reach to catch up to Steve at some point. Yeah, that didn't happen. I have to say, for his first half marathon, Steve kicked ass. Eventually he finished under 2:00, which, if I am telling the truth, kind of pissed me off because I haven't been able to break 2:00 in 5 races! I was happy for him though. He is a natural runner. I am just a little envious, that's all.

The course wound through the heart of downtown Chicago. It was warm amidst the skyscrapers, but a wonderfully cool breeze did hit every once in a while. We wound over the Chicago River 4 times and the views were great. The Willis (formerly known as the "Sears" Tower had clouds concealing the top of it, making an eerie sight. I looked down at my Garmin and noticed that I had gone out just a little too quickly to start. According to the watch, I did the first 5K in 27:14, which would have been a PR for 5K in a longer race. I told myself to slow down and I took it a little easier for the next few miles. I hit the 10K mark still feeling good. And it rained a nice cool light shower a few times, which felt heavenly. After Mile 8 it started to get a little rough and my fast pace at the beginning of the race caught up with me. My legs felt heavy, so I took some more boom and drank a litle more. I kept up with my nutrition pretty well, but nothing really energized me like it normally did. It got into my head a little that I was tired. That was not good, with 5 miles still to go.

The sun came out at mile 10, and that pretty much sucked. It was getting hot now and already humid and I could feel it in my lungs. This was how I expected the race to be the whole time.I guess I got lucky that I had it good for 10 miles. After about 10 minutes it disappeared again and the drizzle came back, but I was already hurting. I could feel my calves start to twinge a little and my thighs were hurting. I took a last carb boom at mile 12 to push me through, but I never felt it kick in. I felt worse on the last mile of this race than any of my previous halfs. I finally hit the finish and I didn't even have the energy to sprint the last couple hundred yards like I usually do. I crossed at 2:12. The Garmin showed I did 13.76. For as spent as I felt when I was finished, I guess 2:12 wasn't too bad, but I was disappointed. I wanted closer to 2:00.

After the race I waited around for everyone else to finish up and we got doused by more rain, but it felt really good. Since Bret Michaels, who we were really looking forward to seeing again, cancelled the day before the race we didn't stick around after the race very long. Finisher pics and some finisher shirts and we were off back to the hotel.

I learned the hard way on this race not to go out to quickly. I got cocky because I was feeling good. I wanted 2:00 badly and I let it control me instead of me controlling my pace, which left me nothing to finish with. Renée toughed it out again and finished around 2:40 and Jeff made it in a little later. We were proud of Jeff for finishing. Good job Renee and Jeff! Steve did a great job too. We have no idea how Mark ended up.

Next up is the Kokopelli Triathlon on September 17th in St. George, Utah and then Pumpkinman Triathlon on October 15th at Lake Mead. The next half marathon is the Rock 'N Roll Half in L.A. On October 30th and then we return to the scene of the crime: Rock 'N Roll Las Vegas half,where it all started a year ago. I have to break 2:00 T one of those races. Hopefully at L.A. So the pressure is off for Vegas and I can just enjoy that race because it's running at night this year!