Brenda Ross - Chicago Marathon
I will never do a stand alone marathon again. I have a hate, hate relationship with them. I just do not like the training. I find it boring and tedious. I guess that is why I participate in multisport. Besides, there are plenty of people out there that love marathons, so I am confident that I will not be missed. This decision has nothing to do with what went down in Chicago. In fact, although my time was one of the slowest I have ever clocked, this race was one of the most enjoyable I have ever participated in.
We arrived in Chicago on Friday night, over 3 hours late. Unfortunately our plans to go to dinner were dashed and we just stayed in. Our team mate Brent Pilon had arrived at 2pm that day and was eagerly waiting for our arrival with cold beer and a place to get pizza.
Saturday was a busy day. We got up, had breakfast, went down to the expo where we ran into fellow team mate Barb Spitler and then we hoped on the Metro and headed over to Matt Aaronsons place for a magnificent lunch. Not only can Matt run fast, he is a good cook to. Can you say yummy Paella. He rounded up fellow team mates, Rachel Hawe and David Salzman and Short Course extrodinaire, Richard (Rick) Aaronson to join us. After lunch we headed downtown for our 3:30 Architecture boat tour, which was excellent. We then had dinner and hit the hay around 9pm.
5:30am was rise and shine and by 6:30 we were headed out the door to get Steve to his 7:30am starting corral. Brent and I started our race at 8:00am. When we arrived in our staging area to drop off our bags, the Buckingham Fountain was in full swing and with the sun coming up off the water the view was spectacular. Before you knew it, it was time to start. Over the Fri and Sat I tried to think of ways to get out of this race, but Steve who was injured was going to race it, and Brent had trained so hard, so I might as well just do it and get it over with. The gun went off and the race started.
The fastest I have ever run a marathon is 3:53 and change and that was after a 20 week program of focused running 5-6 days a week. I only had 8 weeks to train for this bad boy, coming off of Mt. Tremblant and being sick for 3 weeks. I knew from my 20 miler in training, the best I could do was a 4hr15 and although Coach Patrick and I had put together a program that should of reaped some good results, I have to confess that I lost my motivation and will to train pretty early on. I knew I had enough fitness to finish the race and not get injured. I was figuring that I would be coming in more around the 4h30 mark.
My plan was to run aid station to aid station and rely upon what was on the course. The first 20 miles I avg a 9:37 minute mile and then I stared to clock a 10:30 and eventually a 11:20. Although I was not feeling especially tired, I did notice that I was slowing and really had no desire to get out of my comfortable pace. I was really enjoying the sights and sounds of the crowds. I figured with this being my last stand alone marathon I might as well enjoy it.
Finish time: 4:25:47 ( do I know me or what?)
Would I recommend this course to others - absolutely. Chicago is beautiful. Will I go back - sure, but not as a runner. I am officially retired from stand alone marathons and I am a okay with that. Now, if you are talking half marathons - I'm in
Thank you again to Matt, Rick, Rachel, David and Matt's family for making us feel so welcome. We had such a great time with you.
Comments
Glad you liked the course and Chicago. Volunteering made me itch to do it again! I think it is just a tad too close to IMWI to think that is a good idea though...
I've only done one stand alone marathon myself, but FWIW, I'm totally with you.....Triathlon is the chosen game for me too, with a few half mary's for fun!
Brenda, glad to hear you had an enjoyable race. You deserved it, especially after such a tough time in IMMT.
I do get it though.... if it ain't fun, why do it?
My sentiments EXACTLY. That's what I said in 2006, after I'd done five of them in 5 years. I came out of retirement this year to do Boston as part of the tribal celebration after the bombings, and had a wonderful experience, but promptly reasserted the Never Again attitude towards *racing* 26.2 miles without swimming 2.4 and biking 112 before.
Stick to your guns, it's supposed to be FUN!
Way to go B!!!! So happy you got to enjoy Chicago!!