Illinois Half Marathon race report

It was a warm & muggy, humid day for a run. I sure was glad I wasn't running the full after all!!

Alarm went off at the scheduled at 5:52am. Ate my bagel & cream cheese. Or tried to. I ate 3/4 of it. Luke had all of his. I couldn't think of eating my warm yogurt (no fridge in the room) so I didn't. I filled up my water bottle & gave a change of clothes for Luke to put in his bookbag, deciding not to do the goody bad check-in.

This was when I finally started to get nervous. We drove on down there, in a fairly empty spot near the finish line. I was extremely happy about that. No traffic, no worries. Had a few blocks walk to the start. I saw some port-a-pottys so we got in line. And while waiting we saw the 5k'ers start. After I was done, we were walking to the start line & saw lots of wheelchair people warming up. I decided to stay up near the beginning & just jump in line when my group came to me. Luke & I had fun looking at all the fast people. He said that if he ever ran an official half or full marathon, he would be in that first group. I looked at the sign "3:00 or less marathon, 1:30 or less half marathon" Crazy.

I decided not to run with my camera in this race. I wanted to concentrate fully on making it a good run. So Luke took it since he forgot to bring his own. I did have my cell phone on me in a little padded pocket attached to my SPIbelt. That was the first time I ran with it and it wasn't too bad. I might keep both with me in my marathon. I have a larger padded pocket that does fit both.

This lady had the biggest calves ever!

A bit of a delay was had but we eventually started. And when the 4:00 marathon group came up, I decided to jump in with them. I gave Luke a kiss goodbye and said I'll see you when I see you. Unfortunately, we had no plan on when he was going to be on the course.

Katherine Switzer. The first woman to officially enter the Boston Marathon.

Away I went. By 0.63, I was sweating bullets. I knew it was going to be a muggy run. But it was overcast so I was lucky there. Ran by the first water table. Not by choice however. Because there was no water anywhere. I knew that there was supposed to be water somewhere cause there were cups all over the ground & water covering the road. But no one in front of me stopped for water or anything. I was really disappointed. I was afraid this was going to be like Chicago.

Then I saw him, Luke. He surprised the HECK outta me being there so early in the race!! His hair looked a bit blown so I'm sure he ran up. Cause he seriously had the same amount of miles I did to get to me. HA!

Can you find me?

In terms of time, I was going way too fast out there at the beginning I'm sure. First two miles were under 9 minutes. But I had lost the 4:00 pacer sign a while ago ahead of me. Not sure how I did that. A 4:00 hour marathon is 9:10 pace and I was going faster than that.

I finally grabbed my first cup of water around mile 3. I didn't take any Gatorade this entire race. The other miles kinda eluded me. I know that the sun came out at some time. I was disappointed to see that.

We ran into a more less populated spot around mile 6. I ate 2 sports beans but I knew I needed water with them. So I waited until I got a water table. Luckily, there was one in the next mile and I scarfed down a little more than half the bag while walking with the cup. I tired putting the rest of the bag in my SPIbelt but I lost it and someone tapped me on the shoulder that I dropped it. I was still walking and didn't want to fight the crowd behind me to pick it up so I waved her off.

First wheelchair marathoner. The car in the back was the lead car of the first runner.

First marathoner. Luke said he was all by himself everytime he saw him.

I walked through all the water stops. I sometimes drank a little & then poured some on my back, front, head. It was really warm out there. My shirt of course, got drenched. My hands were really sticky cause of the humidity so I kept rubbing them on the shirt, getting them wet.

I ran in the park at mile 8. I thought maybe I would see Luke there. No. Then I ran out of the park a little after 9. Thought I would see him there. No. So I was confused when I was going to see him again. Maybe at the finish? Damn, I really wanted to take off my belt, cell phone & sleeveless shirt. Yes, I just wanted to run in my bra. I was that miserable. I actually called him at this time. No answer. Uh-oh. He usually sucks at answering his phone. Then I wondered if he even had it with him.

Costumers. Abe Lincoln actually carrying an Illinois flag. The only thing I wanted to do was beat the banana & gorilla. I did. I saw them about Mile 9.5 with the gorilla head off, pouring water over his head.

Finally, I spotted him. He had the camera out but I shook my head. My belt was already off by this time. I got to him, jumped the curb and said I want the water bottle out of the bag. He turned around so I could get it but I was taking off my jersey. I pinned my bib onto my bra and had a few gulps of water. Told him I called him but he can ignore it. Unfortunately, he didn't know that I gave him my cell phone & we didn't say where we were meet up after I was done. Keep this in mind for later.

I have no waist, I know.

Told Luke I was making good time until these last few miles. My watch said 9.75 miles. I told Luke I have a little over 2 miles to go. Yes, you can laugh. I didn't do the math right. I thought it was a 12 mile half marathon. I even correctly figured in the park at 1h 40' that I had 4.5 miles left to go and was not going to beat 2 hours. Not until I got to mile 11 did I realise I did the math wrong and I again had 2 miles left to go.

From here on out, I was walking a lot more than just through the water tables. I walked in the shaded areas (what little there was) I said that I wasn't going to walk in the last mile but I did. I was so disappointed again. Then I said that I wasn't going to walk in the last half mile and I didn't!! I finished the race with my hands in the air wearing a sports bra. HAHA!

Then I walk around the stadium, wondering where we were going to see each other. I make my way around to the Runner's Meet up and I see that it's in alphabetical order. I walk up the stairs (brutal) and walk the corridor til I think I get the A-E section. I walk out and don't see him. I find someone who generously allows me to make calls with their cell phone. I call him several times, no answer. Knowing that my cell phone is on high volume, I call it, no answer. I finally leave a message on his, saying I'm in that area and walk down to the field so I can look up to see him on the stands.

I stay there for 45 minutes. I start crying. I start getting a little chilly. I walk up to someone else who I see that had a cell phone, I ask if they had a cell phone I could use, they said no. I walked back dejected started crying again. Finally I walk around the stadium stands. Going over to where the runner's get their food. The line was long, still didn't see Luke. I walk back to the Runner's Reunite area. I hear my name. Luke comes running to me, I hug him so hard and fierce and started crying! He was over there! But only after being on the 50 yard line right in front. Had I walked on the stadium field to the Runner's Reunite A-E area I would have walked right past him. Lesson learned. He found out that his cell phone has a high & vibrate option. Only AFTER we found each other. Also, I'm gonna keep my cell phone on me no matter what. I mean, seriously, what am I going to do, run away with your cell phone? It's the weekend, lots of plans have free weekends minutes nowadays.

I put on my Illinois Half Marathon tech shirt & we walk out of the stadium to walk around campus. The really only place that we got to is the quad. We stretched me out a little bit and just chilled watching all the kids. A bunch of high school students were there because the Illinois State High School Math test thing is there. Lots of math geeky shirts that Luke enjoyed looking at.

Luke was tired. :)

I had to have Luke explain this one to me.

Finally we made it over to Green Street, one that has lots of different food options. We decided on some place local and Za's. Where I had a great veggie thin crust pizza & a great peach mango smoothie!

Back to the hotel room where we cleaned everything up right away cause we had to get out of there by 1pm. It didn't look like I got any sun, which was a good thing. No time for a shower but I got dressed & away we went this time, going the good way (avoiding Chicago) since we were just heading back to my place.

The Alma Mater statue. On Thursday, she was dressed up like a runner. I missed seeing her this way.

Watching the Kentucky Derby at my place, I noticed that Luke had some red spots on his forehead. When I took off my shirt for a shower, I had a red shoulder from my sports bra but only on my left side! HA!

We headed up to his parents, where I got to show off my medal and eat some wonderful pasta! His friends were throwing a party that night & we tried to stay out as late as possible but with our early wakeup and busy day, we were beat.

I did, while at the party, find out that I ran a 2:08:21. I didn't know what I ran until that point. I forgot to change the setting on my Garmin to not autopause. So when I stopped to take off my shirt, the time also stopped. Official clock said 2:10, my Garmin said 2:06. I figured I ran between 2:07-2:09.

In reality the time was fine with me since I was not really trying for a PR. I have a marathon to run in 2 weeks after all! It's taper time baby!

Oh and my knee? It was stiff in the first 1.5 miles. After that, it loosened up and I didn't even notice that I stopped feeling it until mile 8 or so. Then I realised that the pain wasn't there. That was good news. However, while waiting around for Luke, it got stiff again. Walking around campus, it was difficult. When we realised that we could be late for our checkout, I couldn't run. The drive back home was tough. I didn't get a chance to ice it until later that night at bed time. I slept horribly because I couldn't find a comfy spot for my knee. Good news is that on Sunday, it was fine. Monday it was still fine. I'm not going to test it out until Wednesday though.

Honorable mentions of the race:

• When I took off at the start, I saw Bride & Groom to be shirts. Luke saw them as well, they had the dates on the front of their shirts. When he saw them again, they were still running side by side.
• There were people handing out their own water in pitchers & little bathroom style cups. There was even a guy with a hose spraying down people. I zoomed over from my normal right hand side to my far left just to run under it! This course was very well populated with spectators for the half, anyway.
• I saw a USMC flag ahead of me near the beginning. I remember thinking, just stay within sight of that flag. Then in the park, I saw it stopped. I saw one guy on the right side of the narrow path holding it, jogging in place, while the other guy was stretching out his knee. Somehow they passed me cause I passed them again later on and they were both drenched. I don't know if they were doing the full or the half. They were shoulder to shoulder though & very much in shape.
• I saw many people being helped by first aid. One guy had an IV in his arm on a gaiter while his woman-friend was sitting on the curb. Another guy was on strapped into a stretcher and had an oxygen mask over his nose & mouth. Finally, at the Mile 13 sign (which I kissed my hand & slapped), there was a guy being lifted (neck supported by someone's hands) into a stretcher. That must have been awful if he couldn't have even finished the point 1.
• Erin mentioned that the course goes past her parents place. Without knowing the exact area, I was not sure but everything we ran past residential houses & people were out front cheering on the runners, I was wondering if it was them. It kept me going. Now I know they were at her race cheering her on up in the Wisconsin Half Marathon.

Final Numbers

I'm pretty impressed with the placements; overall, division & gender I was not expecting to come in so high!

bib number:	2813
age:	30
gender:	F
location:	Dekalb, IL
overall place:	2052 out of 5624
division place:	121 out of 473
gender place:	865 out of 3349
time:	2:08:21
pace:	9:48
gun time:	2:10:44

For some odd reason, BiM cannot finding the elevation but it was a pretty flat course. Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Champaign, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/01/10 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 07:45 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 13.18 miles Time: 2:06:26 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 36 /mi Calories: 1389 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 58 -0' 38 6.7 +0.4 -- ft 2 8' 56 -0' 40 6.7 +0.5 -- ft 3 9' 31 -0' 05 6.3 +0.0 -- ft 4 9' 13 -0' 23 6.5 +0.2 -- ft 5 9' 27 -0' 09 6.3 +0.1 -- ft 6 9' 22 -0' 14 6.4 +0.2 -- ft 7 10' 16 +0' 40 5.8 -0.4 -- ft 8 9' 49 +0' 13 6.1 -0.1 -- ft 9 9' 35 -0' 01 6.3 +0.0 -- ft 10 10' 01 +0' 25 6.0 -0.3 -- ft 11 9' 26 -0' 10 6.4 +0.1 -- ft 12 10' 37 +1' 01 5.7 -0.6 -- ft 13 9' 57 +0' 21 6.0 -0.2 -- ft end 8' 41 -0' 55 6.9 +0.7 -- ft Versus average of 9' 36 min/mile

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Categories: Illinois Half Marathon

The night before the Illinois Half Marathon

I'm gonna do this review in 2 posts since my first one got kinda long.

Luke & I headed down to Champaign around 3pm or so from Geneva. We went around the outskirts of Chicago, instead of I-39. Bad idea. Plenty of traffic. But we still managed to get to C-U a little after 6:30pm. Checked in and asked for a late checkout but they said to come back and ask around 9pm. So we headed down to the expo.

Earlier that week, I was sent an email with my bib number and it said to print it out & bring it with to the expo. We got there and there was a HUGE line to what I thought was to get into the expo. Come to find out, it was to find out what your bib number was. Luke said that he was so glad that I had my number with me!

Headed right over to the half marathon tables & my number category. Picked up the chip & bib and then got in line to check it. While waiting, I saw the pace group table and Jim from my Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon was sitting at the table!

So afterwards, I head to that table to find out who was leading the 4:10 hour marathon (or a 2:05 hour half). I was offered a bib to put on the back with my name & the desired time but I didn't want that pressure on me just like my St. Louis Marathon (where I took off the bib on back last minute).

Then we walked around a bit, this expo is pretty small compared to some of the others I've been to. Then we left to get to my shirt, it was in another part of the building. Walked in and ahhh, there's the rest of the expo!! A lot more tables, fundraisers, other races, shoe & accessories retailers. Still not as big as St. Louis' Expo. Picked up my shirt & goody bag. Walked around the official Illinois Marathon clothing/retail booth but didn't see a pin available.

Then we left since we had 7:30p reservations at Timpone's. Drove right over there and was immediately sat. Looked through the menu & I decided to have 1 beer. 1 beer equals carbs, 2 beers equals more dehydration than needed. I also ordered this great pasta with red peppers & a tomato cream sauce instead of marinara. Both Luke & I greatly enjoyed our choices, even though his chicken pasta had like 4 chunks of it. We also scarfed down 2 plates of bread & oil. I was satisfied that I was properly fueled.

Headed back to the hotel, found out that we can get a late checkout of 1pm so no need to get everything packed up before leaving! Got ready for bed & then I started to get worried about whether or not I could sleep. Stupid kids next door were quite loud, playing music & all. Finally someone (don't know if it was hotel management or their chaperone) was called to settle them down and they obeyed, luckily. After that, I fell asleep rather quickly and only woke up twice (about par for a normal nights sleep).

Next post will be the day of the Illinois Half Marathon!

Categories: Illinois Half Marathon

Travelling to a half

My run on Tuesday was pretty good. I guess my body just wanted to go fast! Which is fine with me. It was also the last run of the week. I want to give my knee as much rest as possible.

My half marathon is on tomorrow. Leaving for Champaign/Urbana at 3:30p today since I have to pick up my packet before 8p on Friday. No race day pickup. It'll take me about 3 hours to get down there.

Then I'll also want to eat, not too late. Since I knew one of my co-workers went to University of Illinois for her undergrad degree, I asked her where some of good Italian restaurants/pizza joints to eat. Made reservations at a place. Almost thought about going to the Pasta Feed that they offer just to hear Katherine Switzer talk. I soo admire her!

Since I made hotel reservations late, I didn't get a great place. No microwave & no continental breakfast so I'm on my own there. Luckily, since it's only a half, I can get away with a bagel in the morning and that should tide me over.

Weather is calling for isolated thunderstorms, 40% chance of am showers. By 6 am should be 64 degrees so at least it'll be warm rain. Like my St. Louis Marathon, a year ago. We'll see how it goes.

Since I got a whooping 0 responses on the compression sock, which I knew I would, I researched for 2 nights and managed to pick out a brand and will be using it in my full marathon on the 16th. Let's hope it keeps the cramps away.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/27/10 Up/Downhill: [+124/-124] Time: 04:32 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.30 miles Time: 0:28:50 Speed: 6.9 mph Pace: 8' 44 /mi Calories: 349 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 44 +0' 00 6.9 -0.0 +23 ft 2 8' 39 -0' 05 6.9 +0.1 -13 ft 3 8' 58 +0' 14 6.7 -0.2 +13 ft end 8' 24 -0' 20 7.1 +0.3 -23 ft Versus average of 8' 44 min/mile

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Categories: Illinois Half Marathon