Race Review: Chicago Marathon

Here are all the little details that might be useful to those planning to run the Chicago Marathon. If you're interested in my race report, you can find it here.

Event: 2017 Chicago Marathon (race website)

Registration: If you're a speedy marathoner, you can apply for a guaranteed entry based on the qualifying standard time. In 2017, there was only a gender-specific qualifying standard time, but in 2018, there are age and gender standards to the time qualifier entry application. If you're not a speed demon, then the non-guaranteed entry application (aka lottery) is one of the many ways (deferred entry, charity entry and legacy entry) to get in the race. Application took place shortly after the previous year's race, so best to mark the date a year in advance on your calendar!

Cost: $195 for U.S. residents and $220 for non-U.S. residents. I'm curious whether the residency affects the lottery success rate and why it costs more non-U.S. residents when they don't even receive physical mailings like the residents do.

Field size: A lot! You'll get to run with about 45,000 of your best running buddies. They don't call this a Major for nothing!

Sell-out factor: Yes, see above registration process.

Run Course: A flat, flat, flat course, except the hill that seems ginormous at 800m to the finish line. The race boosts itself for running through 29 of the city's boroughs.

Pre-Race Day Logistics: Packet pick-up was at McCormick Place. There were parking available at the convention centre and with a validation, there was a discounted parking rate for racers. However, traffic to and from the expo seemed congested. In fact, don't even attempt to drive there during the Friday evening commute. The best way to get to McCormick Place was taking the race expo shuttles that depart from four different locations around the city. The shuttles are easy to spot because they are the bright yellow school buses. The shuttles would take you directly to the designated entrance of the expo whereas there is still quite a trek from the parking lot if you choose to drive. Public transit is another viable option, but with a bit of walking again.

Hotels/Accommodations: I stayed at Swissotel Chicago, which was the perfect location because it was a brisk 20-minute downhill walk to the start, and only a block from the end of the 27th mile post-race party. If you familiarize yourself with the "pedway" pedestrian walkway system, you can take an elevator instead of walking uphill at the end of the race.

I would recommend any hotels north of the Millennium Park within walking distance to the start because to keep the finishers moving through the finish line, there's the 27th mile post-race party that you would need to wander through, and you'll be going in the same direction towards your hotel. The next best option is to stay at any hotels immediate west of Millennium Park or stay near train stations.

Race day transportation: If you've heeded my advice on hotels/accommodations, then it is easy to walk to the race start or take the train in on race morning. The train is underground, so would not be disrupted by traffic or street closure.

Aids station: 20 aids stations along the 26.2 miles. The aids stations are about two-block long on both sides of the street. Most of the stations had Gatorade first and water next, differentiated by the colour of the cups. Aids station in the latter part of the course had other goodies like bananas and gels.

Spectators: Except at the start line where spectators cannot go in the security area, spectators lined the road from beginning to end. There weren't many dull moments through the course.

Swag: Gender-specific tech t-shirt and medal.

Post-race food/drink: In the finisher’s chute, water, beer, banana, chocolate milk, and chips. At the 27th mile post-race party, there were cheeseburgers for $6 (sold out by the time I finished) and $5 for hot dogs. There was also a beer garden for more beer.

Pros: The race is well organized as it is in its 40th anniversary year. We received email updates as race day came closer. The energy from such a big field with runners of all paces is motivating, and the energy from so many spectators is electrifying. The course is as flat as it can be for a record-setting day.

Cons: The recommended 2-hour race arrival time is over the top. The security line didn't take too long at all, so if you don't need to check a bag or use the loo, then you'll be waiting for a long time before your wave start. On a warm day, bag checks are totally unnecessary. Wear an old top in the morning and "donate" it at the start of the race. As for loo break, it's personal, but if your hotel is only a few minutes away, then it doesn't make sense to arrive early just to stand in the super long queue to use the porta loo.

Take-home message: Chicago Marathon didn't disappoint. A city with character showing off its best side during the marathon event!

Race Report: Chicago Marathon

If you're looking for race details that might be useful in race planning for the Chicago Marathon, you can find it here. Otherwise, this is just a rambling of my race day.
 
A Year of Anticipation

A year ago, D registered for the Chicago Marathon through the guaranteed entry based on his speedy marathon time; meanwhile, K and I put our names in the hat for the non-guaranteed lottery. As luck would have it, both of us got in!

16 15 Weeks of Training

I had intended to do a 16-week block of training, but only in hindsight, I realized that I had miscalculated the number of weeks, and had done only 15 weeks of training. Oops!

These were the BEST 15 weeks! I did all the training up to the 20-miler in New Zealand. I absolutely loved running in New Zealand. There are no natural predators on the run, so I didn't have to carry a bear spray. There are so few people on the trails, so I had the whole trail to myself. Sometimes, I don't even see a single soul for two to three hours. I loved "sightrunning" - sightseeing while running.

It was winter in New Zealand, and I was skiing four days a week. I had to balance ski days and run days in order to not destroy the legs. The training plan definitely leaned on the low mileage side, but I really only had two days for running -- a mid-week double run day and a Saturday long run. Sunday is what I coined "fetal position" day when I laid in bed or on the couch or on the floor for hours clutching my tired legs.

Pre-Race

Three weeks out from the Chicago Marathon, I nailed my pacing for my longest training run, the 20-miler, by negative splitting with a kick in the last mile.

Isn't it the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

From there, I had my heart set on running the first 20 miles in the marathon at the same pace, and see what happens in the last 6.2 miles. Being able to kick at the end, I thought my plan was realistic. But as the race day forecast solidified to high-10's/low-20's, sunny, and humid, I was starting to doubt my plan.

I flew into Chicago on Friday. As soon as I landed, I could feel the heat and the humidity which I wasn't accustomed to neither. I took the train into the city and found my way to the hotel. The shuttle to the expo was literally right next door. What luck! I managed to pick up my packet at the expo at the McCormick Place relatively efficiently, and joined the Oiselle Volee runners for dinner on the Magnificent Mile. And on Saturday, I generally tried to stay off my feet, and never ventured farther than the immediate two blocks around the hotel. 


The Big Day

D, K, and I are all in different corrals with different starting times. My corral closes at 7:45am and my wave starts at 8:00am. I left the hotel with plenty of time for the twenty minute walk to the start line. I heard the elite start and the first wave start shortly after, then we wait and wait. In hindsight, since I didn't have any checked bags and I didn't have to use the loo, I could've just arrived right before 7:45am and walked right into my corral.

I started off just a tad too fast, clocking 34:00 (10:57/mile) for the first 5K. At the time, I couldn't tell what my pace was except at the mile markers because the GPS signal was all scrambled due to the Chicago highrises and underground passages. It was both a blessing and a curse that the race organizer had bumped me up to a faster corral (for unknown reasons) than the estimated time that I had entered. On the positive side, I got to start at a cooler time of day. On the down side, I had to really try to hold back, run my own race, and let all the runners pass me. Unfortunately, it was still faster than I had planned.

By the time I hit halfway point, I can start to feel the pounding from the asphalt. Perhaps I could have foreseen this because most of my training was done on hard-packed dirt trails in New Zealand, though I didn't think I would start to feel the fatigue this early in the marathon. As my pace slowed, I also started to feel the heat from the sun. I've lost all ability to calculate time or pace, which has never happened to me before.

My slowest pace was 49:52 (16:03/mile) between 35K and 40K. This must be the notorious "wall". A Oiselle Volee runner tapped me on the shoulder as I was crawling and cheered me on. I was able to pick up the pace for the last couple kilometres and returned the favour by cheering on another Oiselle Volee runner at the last hill with 800m to go.

Not my best marathon. In fact, it was my worst marathon in terms of finish time. Interestingly, it was one of my favourite one because I had the best time through the training journey, had a chance to do it with friends, and I may have learned a few lessons on running a marathon!

Chicago Marathon last Sunday!

Race report is coming! In the mean time, here is the rest of highlights from the  16  15 weeks of training.

 

 

Chicago Marathon this Sunday!

It's taper time! With all the extra time, I'm trying to stay calm, trust my training, and relax. I realized that I haven't been updating my training on the blog as I had planned, but I've been documenting my training in photos on Instagram. Here are some of the highlights: