“Hollywood is hype, New York is talk, Chicago is work.”
Actor Michael Douglas
Although Chicago marathon was my sixth marathon that I ran in the last three years since I became a runner, this was my first world marathon and I could only guess what to expect from it before I toed the start line on October 7th, 2018. Some things about Chicago marathon were pretty clear to me just by reading the official program and information on the website. For instance, I learned that the Chicago marathon uses 1.1 million Gatorade cups on race day and 1.3 million water cups. I also learned that the warmest race day was 89 degrees, coldest race was 21 degrees F, and the last time it snowed during the marathon was in 1993.
My goal was to try to break 3:30:59, which I had accomplished at Mountains 2 Beach Marathon held in Ventura, Southern California on May 27th this year. I put in the work, but I also had to ask my coach to redo my schedule in September, as my left calf muscle was constantly aggravated by all the mileage and long runs. Everybody told me how much they loved the flat and fast course at Chicago, but I had my doubts , since running on flat terrain is not my cup of tea. My neighborhood is surrounded by hills and I love the energy and bounce that I experience when running up and down the hills, but I tried to believe in the flat course.
BEFORE THE MARATHON – WALKING AND EXPLORING CHICAGO
Besides running my first world marathon, I was excited to travel with my awesome friend and best training partner Andrea Brizendine. We were going to stay with my good Romanian friends Magdalena and her wonderful family, which was another highlight of my trip. The Friday before our marathon was a little rainy and our plan was to go to the Expo to pick up our racing numbers and soak in the atmosphere of a world marathon, as well as explore Chicago. At the Expo, there were lines everywhere, but especially at the Nike store, where everyone wanted to buy the official merchandise, since Nike was the sponsor. Even trying to take pictures with iconic signs meant standing in long lines, but we were excited to be surrounded by runners from all over the world who had to travel so much farther that us. The energy flowed in waves through the large room filled with merchandise, vendors’ booths, and big Chicago marathon signs, which added to our excitement, emotions, and gratitude of having qualified and running a world marathon.
Around noon time, we made it to the Art Institute of Chicago located in Grant Park, which was also the start of our marathon. We loved exploring the museum and enjoyed the exquisite art exhibit.
On Saturday, we had to say good bye to my wonderful friend Magdalena and her family, but not before they took us to Benedict’s, a neighborhood restaurant where everyone is familiar, as the advertising says. The warm family atmosphere, the fresh food, and the attention to details made our breakfast together special. I also had the best vegan Quinoa pancakes and gobbled up all three of them, since I needed my carbs for the next day’s marathon.
We spent the rest of our Saturday taking the architectural river cruise, walking by the river, and learning about the unique and eclectic Chicago architecture. In the evening, we got our marathon clothes ready and we both created flat Carmen and flat Andrea, which is something we runners do, as we prepare our marathon clothes, shoes, gels, race number, etc. We also did our carb loading at the hotel’s restaurant and admired Chicago at night with its twinkling lights spreading shear magic across the Chicago River. The many bridges arched their backs across the water and filled my soul with infinite dreams. They also made me think of the transcendence nature of each bridge and how they connect us to the other side of what’s truly possible when we believe and put in the work. I felt peaceful and not nervous about the next day’s marathon, but I did not feel any strong vibes about my race, which meant surrendering to race day with the ever-changing weather prognosis that constantly turned rain to sun and sun to rain. We also got to talk to our wonderful coach Robert Ressl-Moyer who called my cell phone to wish both of us good luck and go over some strategy with us, such as tucking in behind other runners to shield ourselves from the rain and wind. We both found out that this was not easy to do on the course, but that’s what racing a world marathon means: adjusting and learning.
RACE DAY – SIXTH MARATHON AND FIRST WORLD MARATHON
Although Andrea and I had a large room with two spacious queen beds, we did not sleep very long or well, but we woke up ready to greet the cloudy, overcast marathon day that had a new weather forecast for us: rainy and temperatures in the low 60s. We both decided to call a Lyft due to the rain and not wanting to walk in the dark, even though our hotel was only 1.2 miles away from the start line. The Lyft took about 10 minutes to get to our hotel. Runners filled the hallways and the elevators. Most of them had their luggage ready and some had their children with them. We had decided to hold the hotel hostage, so to speak – ha!ha! and planned to return to our rooms right after the marathon to take our showers. Our Lyft driver was very nice and dropped us off right in front of Grant Park, where Police cars roamed around to direct traffic and oversee the security of the marathon and its participants.
Andrea and I were both in the same coral, but had to walk/run all the way to the Buckingham Fountains to check in our marathon bags with our jackets and other things that we needed at the finish line. While Andrea was in line for the bathroom, I went to check in our marathon bags, after which I texted her to go to our coral, as it was getting close to 7:20 a.m., when we had to be in our coral before the marathon started. I ran for about half a mile to make it on time and to position myself to start with the 3:35 pacer group. Andrea and I were separated, but we knew we would find each other either on the course or at the finish line, since we both had different racing goals.
THE MARATHON, THE RAIN, THE CROWDS, AND THE ANGRY CALF MUSCLE
Before I had time to fully prepare, I started to run. The marathon had begun and I already had the sensation that I had to go the bathroom, but luckily, it was just a false alarm. I kept the pacers in front of me, as I tried to stick to my plan of running slower at about 7:55 pace for the first three miles. I held myself back as much as possible and in less than two miles I lost the 3:25 pacing group from sight. The crowds were cheering and braving the rain with colorful and large umbrellas. As I ran and came close to the white lines on the road, I had immediately realized that they were slippery and that I had to stay away from them by all means.
As soon as I hit my 5K time, I felt a little bit behind with my gross marathon time, but also knew that the clock was not accurate based on our start time. However, I also realized that my GPS watch was quite inaccurate, as many runner friends had warned me. At one point before I even hit six miles, my watch was showing that I was running a 5:40 pace mile, which happened to my friend Andrea as well. I panicked a little bit, after which I had decided to relax and feel the pace, while watching my feet and paying attention to the aid stations to get my water cup and avoid slipping and falling.
With over 45,000 runners and approximately 1,700,000 million spectators, the course at Chicago marathon was flat and varied, as we ran through 29 neighborhoods. I looked around me, trying to recognize various parks, such as Lincoln Park, where I visited their free zoo exactly 11 years ago, when I first visited Chicago with a friend of mine. The crowds were ecstatic and cheering loudly for us. I tried to smile as much as possible, while trying to run under 8 minute pace per mile, but I had a few miles that were 8:10 minute miles and was not quite feeling this race. Yet, I kept on smiling and telling myself that I always get a second wind and that during my second half of the race, I should be able to pick up my pace. Well, it didn’t quite happen that way, but let’s keep moving on through the half marathon point, where the rain started to come down a little harder and I encountered some wind – nothing too drastic.
Amidst the spectators cheering for various runners from Mexico, Italy, Japan, Germany, and so on, I could not find the pace I needed, but I stayed optimistic and kept running and splashing through the puddles, or trying not to. Around mile 14, my left calf started to tense up and hurt me. I had run on a tight calf muscle for the whole summer during my Chicago marathon training cycle, and although I took my homeopathic cramping pills and I had put a special muscle cream the morning of the marathon, the pain and struggle were real. I slowed down my pace and hoped that the pain would leave my body, but it continued to bother me, after which both my gluteal muscles started to hurt and be painful.
By the time I reached Chinatown, my pace was in the mid 9s, which was definitely not what I wanted, but I had to honor my body and the fact that I did not want to get injured, since I had to run my second world marathon, New York City, which is so hard to qualify for. As soon as I hit miles 20-21, I felt relieved knowing that it would be over soon. The energy of the crowds in China Town was inspiring and invigorating. I started to cry with joy and relief that my father was there with me in spirit. The sign “Welcome to China Town” gave me the reassurance that I would finish this marathon with a little bit of a struggle, no PR (personal record), but with a heart full of gratitude for being able to run with joy and love for my father who was always proud of me and had taught me to never quit and keep on going. The Biofreeze area was on the side and I was sure tempted to make a quick stop like other runners and get a little bit of pain relief from their quick spraying, but I wanted to keep on running, as I was still hoping to qualify for 2020 Boston marathon based on the new faster time, which needed to be 3:50.
The last six miles of the race were not memorable in terms of the surroundings, but for some reason, I managed to stay steady and run at around 9:15 pace, or a little faster. The rain had stopped, but the roads were still slick and I could feel the hat and clothes sticking on me and keeping me cool. As soon as I saw the tall skyscrapers and the crowds cheering even louder, I knew that I was getting close to the finish line, so I focused on my form and ran over the last hill that had 400 meter sign next to it at a decent pace. By now, I could hear the crowds and knew that the finish was in sight. In most of my past races, I had been able to finish with a strong sprint, but that day, my body gave me just a little faster pace and no sprint. I crossed the finish line in 3:49:35 just enough to qualify for Boston. I could tell that my body was exhausted from all the pushing and coaxing I did, so I walked slowly towards the volunteers with the marathon finisher ponchos they were handing out and got mine.
Within just a few minutes, my friend Andrea had appeared next to me after finishing a strong race with a 3:45:06 time, which made me very happy, knowing that her body stayed strong, after she had come back from injury. We hugged and celebrated. She saw that I could barely walk and that I looked a little lost, She told me to wait for her while she would get our bags from the check-in area. I needed to go to use the bathroom right away, after which I grabbed the special Goose Island beer they had for us and chugged it all down. I was drained, drenched from the rain and I was thirsty and hungry. Andrea also told me that as I took off my wet hat, my hair was a mess sticking out in all directions, as if I had little antennae, but I did not care about my hair at that moment. I hoped my calf muscle would recover and we both wanted to get to our hotel, to take our shower, and check out.
The roads were blocked, as many runners were still out on the course, so we started to walk to our hotel. Andrea felt much better after the race, so she was walking fast, whereas I could barely drag my feet. We made it to the hotel and I sure felt better after taking a hot shower and changing into dry and warm clothes. The hotel receptionist was nice to us, even though we checked out at 2:45 p.m.
What an adventure my first world marathon was and here are the 10 lessons I learned:
- World marathons are unique, large, and unpredictable, because the logistics are more complex than smaller marathons.
- Don’t despair if you don’t hit a personal best time at a world marathon and have a back-up plan for a smaller marathon, as running with thousands of people is fun and scary at the same time.
- My friend Andrea loves to strength train and due to an injury, she had to run less miles, did no GMP training runs, and she did only a few longer runs, but not your typical five-six 20 and 22 milers. Thus, running more is not always better, but making sure you do specific strength training, which for me it is for my gluteal muscles, at least twice a week, is paramount to having a strong marathon and a happier body at the finish. Less is more sometimes, even though running more miles gets us better prepared for marathons, but not if it means having no time to devote to strength training the body to last the entire 26.2 miles.
- Prepare for the goal you want to hit in the race during training, but also let the day of the race tell you how to run and whether plan A for the race is feasible, or whether you need to go to plan B, or even plan C.
- Soak in the crowds and the surroundings to enjoy your special world marathon.
- Smile big and run with JOY and GRATITUDE, as runners from all over the world had to work hard to qualify for a world marathon race and know that you already are making your country, your town, your family/friends, and your coach proud.
- Be prepared to wait in long lines, so arrive early to navigate the crowds and check in your bags if you have any, or you will be like a runner I saw on the course running with his marathon bag on his shoulders.
- Follow the blue line, which is the line drawn on the ground used to measure the course to avoid running extra. My friend Andrea did this, as she heard some runners talk about it, whereas I kept my eyes ahead to see if the runners were making a left or a right. I did not add too much to my marathon distance, but I had to stay focused and run the tangents.
- Announce yourself when picking up the water cup, as it tends to be crowded and runners can trip over each other. Also watch your steps, as there are cups on the ground and it is slippery, especially on a rainy day.
- And last, but not least don’t forget to cherish your finish no matter of the time and to celebrate with beer to replenish those muscles with good carbs and some B vitamins.
For more info on running and real estate, whether buying or selling, please e-mail me at carmenmicsa@yahoo.com, or call me at 916-342-2446. Running for real estate with joy!
