Our plan for the day after the marathon was to sleep in. Unfortunately I woke up at 5:30 am and couldn't sleep so I laid in bed for a couple hours trying to sleep before giving up and getting out of bed when I heard the kids get up. We puttered around in the morning. I foam rolled and made coffee and then left around 11:00. Honestly, I don't remember what I was doing for 2.5 hours before we left the house, lol! I was pretty tired. When we got on the train for our 40 minute ride into the city, mom said to dad, "Take a picture of my seat and I'll take a picture of yours," meaning for him to take a picture of the people sitting across from him and she'd take a picture of us. Dad, being the goof ball he is, said, "I can take a picture of my own seat," and pretended to take a picture of the seat he was getting ready to sit in. Mom took a picture of us after that and dad and I were both still laughing. Ty was nonplussed.
We started our trip at the Magnificent Mile. Our main destination was the Starbuck's Reserve which is a 5 story Starbucks. We watched some beans being roasted and picked out some pastries to try. We got raspberry and almond cornettos and a smoked salmon with cream cheese corentto. We cut them into sections to each try some. The smoked salmon was delicious and I was wishing I had one to myself! I wanted to try something you can't get in regular Starbuck's cafes and I don't like pumpkin spice, which was their main seasonal flavor, so I got a tiramisu latte and it was delicious! They put a piece of chocolate on the top and int melted on the foam. We also got an espresso martini flight to try. I just took a sip of each and was not impressed. Mom kept seeing people wearing Chicago Marathon Finisher's Jackets and wanted to get me one. We looked out the window and there was a Nike store across the street. They gifted me a Nike Chicago Marathon finisher's jacket and I am obsessed with it. I felt like it was too much money and didn't want to buy one, but once I had one I wore it every single day in Chicago. It was fun wearing it and seeing other people wearing it or their medals and knowing we both finished the marathon! The last night we were in Chicago, a guy got off the train and was so excited to see my jacket, he stopped to chat with me about the race which was fun. We did a lot of walking and I kept commenting on how beautiful the architecture was and what a beautifiul area it was for a walk. The water was such a pretty color!
As our trip to Chicago got closer, both the kids started looking stuff up online. Carter came across the Museum of Illusions and really wanted to go. I wasn't too interested because it reminded me a lot of Grandfather's Mansion in Silver Dollar City. We ended up going and it was pretty cool. I didn't think it was worth the $35 entry free, especially considering admission to the Art Institute of Chicago was $30! The kids had a blast and there were a lot of fun photo ops.
Next up was Millenium Park to see Cloud Gate (aka the Bean) which was what I was the most excited to see. It did not disappoint. I loved it. I could have stood/sat around and just looked at it for hours. It was so visually pleasing. It was also really cool to hear so many different languages being spoken. I don't know if it's usually like that because it's such a big tourist attraction or if it was more so because of the marathon, but it was really cool to hear! The kids saw someone do jumping pictures in front of the bean so then they wanted to do some which was fun to photograph. Carter was making some hilarious faces in a few of them, but requested I not post those. I also wanted to see Crown Fountain (aka Squirting Faces). The kids wanted to play in the water and I was worried they were going to get wet and cold so after a little playing, we hustled them along.
Our reflection in the bean.
The day before at the Art Institute of Chicago, I saw teal lions in the gift shop and found out there were lion statues outside the museum (we went in a different entracne) and I wanted to go back to see them. So we stopped by to see the lions and peeked in at the garden which was beautiful! From there we stopped by Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park because I was so excited for everyone else to see it. I was so excited when it came into view. It was the most beautiful fountain I had ever seen. On our last night of the trip we rode by it at night while it was lit up and that was ever prettier! From the fountain, we could see the lake so we decided to walk over for a better look. We got some cute pictures there and enjoyed the view. We saw a gravel running path that would be perfect for me, but I knew it wouldn't work out for me to run there. It was fun to picture it though! We looked up different Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Restauants and they were all a decent walk away. We were all pretty tired by that point so we decided to take a pedicab ride to Giordano's. He said it was normally $25 a person, but he would do $10 a piece for us and the kids would be free. Elise sat on my lap and with tired quads from the marathon before, it was not the most comfortable ride!
Catching multiple trains back to the house and then having a 40 minute ride each night put us getting back pretty late. I ended up going to bed pretty quickly after we got back. Thomas and Michaela left earlier in the day to get back for work so Ty and I decided to switch to the room they had been in. The bed was bigger and not browken and the pillows were not so thick. I was really hopeful it would be a better night for me and it was, but I woke at 5am still feeling very tired but wide awake and couldn't fall back to sleep.
At some point around the first time I signed up to run Boston (for the 2020 race that was postponed multiple times and then cancelled) I decided it would be fun to run all the World Marathon Majors. After finishing Boston, I looked into Chicago which would be the logical next star for me. I had a time that would give me automatic entry without having to join the lottery so I decided to go for it. My bone spurs were horrible during and after Boston and as I struggled with training, I constantly questioned the decision to run Chicago 2025. I found 40 miles per week was the max I could put in without causing too much swelling and pain with my bone spurs with all but 1-2 of those runs on trails. Both of my 20 mile long runs had me questioning my ability to run the marathon. The bone spur pain would increase throughout my entire run and make the last 3-5 miles really difficult. I decided to run my 22 mile long run as part of the Hit the Road Jack 30k. The race was on gravel so I figured my bone spurs would do better, but even then the last 3 miles were really rough. I finally decided my best bet was to totally let go of any time goals and just run a conservative pace at Chicago so I could fully enjoy the race and soak in what is so amazing about these World Marathon Majors. All my marathons have been sub-4 so my plan was to start at 9:00 pace and hopefully negative split, finishing comfortably under 4:00. I really felt like I was in shape to run sub-3:40 but knew it would mean a horrible finish and my main goal was to finish feeling strong. This was meant to be my comeback marathon after horrible races at Grandma's and Boston and I was determined to make it so! I get so focused on how much slower I am since I developed bone spurs, that I forget I am still decently fast. One of my friend groups were texting and one of my friends texted, "No pressure, remember sub-4." One of my other friends texted back, "The fact that no pressure and sub 4 is in the same sentence is so bad ass." It was a great shift in perspective.
We left Friday after work and drove to St. Louis. I was exhausted after a busy week at work and the drive was horrible. The next morning we all slept in and drove the rest of the way to Chicago. That day's drive was really nice and I ended up finishing my book. We made it to our Airbnb in Mayfield around 2:00. My time at the Expo was 3-5 so we left to head to the expo. Our Airbnb was a 40 minute train ride into the city where we got off at the LaSalle stop which was right by Grant Park. That was perfect for race morning, but the expo was in a different location. We tried getting another train to take us there but failed and wasted quite a bit of time. I started getting nervous about not making it to the expo by 5 and it ended at 6 so we grabbed an Uber and made it a little before 5:00. I was hoping to get there earlier because in Houston, we made it to the expo about 30 minutes before it closed and booths were already taking things down and had run out of free items. This expo was still in full swing with only a few vendors packing up shop. The Nike booth was electric and there were lots of fun goodies. We hit up the photo ops and freebies. I was super excited to find Chicago Goodrs. Thomas bought me Boston Goodrs for both of my Boston Marathons, the virtual and in person, so I had been hoping to find some Chicago Goodrs. I looked online and couldn't find any so got really excited when I saw them at the expo. In Boston I got a running hat which I wear all the time, so decided on a Chicago running visor.
That evening I did a super easy 2 mile shake out with Thomas. Michaela joined for a section of it. Then we had Olive Garden take out and I went to bed around 10:30. The night before the marathon was a mess with sleep. When I first laid down in the bed it made a weird noise. I woke up around midnight when it made a loud noise again. Then at 1:40 it made a loud bang and I could tell something under the bed had broken. I woke up, but laid there for a bit before getting up. Ty thought I slept through it and the slats under the bed had slid out so his butt had hit the floor and he was laying on the floor. He decided if I was still asleep, he would just sleep like that so he didn't wake me up. We decided to change rooms after that since there was a spare bedroom. It was not a great night of sleep! My Garmin gave me a 61 out of 100 sleep score. I average around 80. I got 6 hours of sleep, all said and done, so not the worst but not good!
Elise walked into the Airbnb and immediately figured out how to draw on the smart fridge.
This was our first train ride (to the expo) of many.
I wasn't sure what time to arrive at the race start. The Chicago Marathon site recommended arriving at 6:15 for my 8:00 wave start. I wasn't checking a bag so I figured I'd save quite a bit of time there. I checked a bag at Grandma's but ended up not changing until after I found Ty and the kids anyway, so I gave Ty a bag with my change of clothes at Boston and that worked out great. With the "space blankets" they give us after the race, it's not a big deal to wait a while to change. We decided to leave the house at 6:00 to head to the train station. I set my alarm for 5:30, but ended up waking up at 5:15 because the house's alarm system was beeping. Since I had extra time, I did a short pre-race yoga video before we left. On the drive to the train station I ate an almond butter biscuit and drank some iced vanilla latte. I had planned to eat oatmeal first and then have that on the train, but I woke up not feeling very good after a rough night sleep and didn't think I'd be able to stomach the oatmeal. We arrived at Grant Park at 7:10. My corral closed at 7:45 so we walked to my recommended gate and then I passed off my sweats to Ty before heading into the starting area. Spectators weren't allowed inside Grant Park until after the start of the last wave so I gave hugs to mom, dad, and Ty who had accompanied me to the race and went in. I saw porta potties and bee lined it to them, but they were only for runners with a specific charity. Once I found the porta potties for the regular runners and saw the line, I knew there was no way I was going to have time to use a porta potty. I ended up walking with a lady also in Corral F who was very nervous and panicking. I was able to talk to her and calm her down and she thanked me. Then I found an area behind some trees were women were squatting to pee with men peeing on some fencing nearby. I squatted and then headed to my corral.
Mom and Dad bright and early on the train ride into the race start.
Checking the participant guide to see which gate I should enter.
I didn't arrive early enough to use the porta potties, but I was in my corral earlier than I needed since I skipped that line so I sat for a while waiting. When the first wave started, there was a giant screen where we could watch which was really awesome. As we started to move forward to prepare for our race start, throw away sweats were being thrown across the pack of runners over to the fence along the side. I was never cold in the start corral because we were all so packed in. Finally, it was time for us to start and I was so excited. My plan was to walk for as long as I could, not running until as close to the starting mats as I could get and I did pretty well, but had to start jogging a little early. I didn't start my watch until I crossed the start line mats. It took me around 2 minutes to cross the start line after my wave took off. The start was electric and the crowd energy was incredible the whole way. I felt so much gratitude to be running and kept tearing up as I ran. It was really scary to come back to the marathon after 2 really rough marathons in a row. Especially after running in pain for 17 miles in Boston. It's crazy to even think of running in pain for as long as I did! I knew I wanted to make this a better experience, but part of me worried that with bone spurs, no matter what pace I ran it was going to suck and there was nothing I could do to make it better. I was partially convinced I just can't run the marathon anymore and should give it up until I have surgery.
I missed seeing them at mile 2, it was so crowded.
We ran through some tunnels and there was a DJ and it was just crazy. It was so hard not to run too fast because the start was so much fun. My mantra for the early miles was, "Go slow now to feel strong and have fun at the end." I went through the first mile in 8:50 but didn't even see my mile split. Mile 2 was 8:51 and that was perfect. I had peeked at my watch a few times and seen I was running under 8:50 pace so I would reel it back in, but for the most part just ran comfortable. Mile 3 was 8:45. Dad was amazed that even running conservatively in this race, I was still planning to run an average pace for 26.2 miles faster than what he's been running 5ks in. I was excited to tell him I went through the 5k mark in 28:11. I was having a blast, running to the right of the course so I could high five everyone with their hands out and hit the power boost signs spectators were holding. I was smiling the whole time and spectators would get so excited I was smiling and would cheer even harder for me. Around 4 miles in my bone spurs started really hurting so I knew I needed to move up to the middle of the road to get off the slant and get some pressure off my left ankle. I was really bummed about that because it had been so much fun to high five everyone as we went through. One power boost I hit, they were counting how many people had hit it and yelled 69 when I did because I was the 69th person to hit the power up. I couldn't wait to tell Ty after the race. There was a lady passing out shots yelling, "Let's get lit!" which cracked me up.
Miles 4-10 were 8:58, 8:47, 8:50, 8:46, 8:49, 8:50, and 8:45. I wasn't noticing all my splits and was just coasting along at what felt comfortable. I started checking how much over the mile split on my watch I was when I hit the course mile signs. In the beginning it was 0.05 over and then it kept growing throughout the race. By the halfway point I was 0.15 over which wasn't bad considering how much weaving I'd done and moving over to the side for water stops and to high five spectators. There were so many water stops and I made sure to take a cup at every single stop. I ate Gus at miles 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 23 as well. I alternated between Gus without caffeine and with caffeine. There were so many signs, I couldn't read them all. I saw one lady with a sign that said, "Run like Xaden is at the finish line." And I pointed and cheered because I got the Fourth Wing reference. In my head, I yelled, "Put on your leathers, we have dragons to ride!" There were also a lot of Taylor Swift-themed signs that I didn't understand. Nike had billboards all throughout the course and they were amazing. Some of my favorite early ones were, "Know when to never quit," and "If it were easy, you wouldn't be here." That one made me think of Shalane Flanagan's quote that has given me so much inspiration because I feel exactly the same, "I don't wish it were easier. I just wish I were better." The main difference with this race and Boston was there were no barriers keeping spectators back so they would run across the course, impeding runners. I told myself it was totally fine because I was so happy to have them there cheering us on, but I did get annoyed when a woman with a bike crossed the course and hit me in the shin with her wheel.
As we started nearing the halfway point I got excited, knowing a negative split was easily in my wheelhouse for the day. I felt great. Miles 11-13 were 8:41, 8:43, and 8:50. I went through the first half in 1:57:18. I felt so strong and started thinking I could run enough of a negative split to run sub-3:50. I tried calculating what pace a 1:53 half would be. I figured it was around an 8:30 mile. I felt like I was capable of that, but was scared to drop the pace too early and have a rough last few miles. I decided I'd keep cruising until I got to mile 16 and see how I felt when I got there. I saw mom, dad, and Ty shortly after the halfway point and was super stoked. I know I was excited and ran that mile a bit faster, but I think it also had some downhill in it because I went through it in 8:07. Somewhere around in here I saw another Nike sign and this one said, "Shut Up, Brain." I read it as Brian at first and was cracking up over it. I was still feeling strong through mile 16 but didn't feel comfortable enough that I wanted to dial the pace down yet. There were a lot of bridges we crossed and on one early on in the race there were people standing up on top of the supports. There were some with metal grating we had to cross and they'd have red carpet over part of it. There were some where I had to run across the metal grating because there were too many people to fit across the carpeting as I went through.
Miles 15 and 16 were 8:45 and 8:40. I felt good and decided I was ready to start dropping the pace a bit going into the last 10 miles. We went through some awesome neighborhoods during this portion of the race. We saw so many cool neighborhoods during the race and the course went through some really awesome parts of Chicago. I wasn't as familiar at the time of the race. Now that I've gone sightseeing and know the area better, it would be fun to run the race again and know we were going past Millenium Park and the bean, etc. Jeremy, Thomas, Michaela, and the kids slept in and Ty gave them directions on which train stop to get off at. Thomas said they got off the train and were basically on the race course. They had just gotten there and he was checking his tracking as I came by. I was so excited to see them and it was the highlight of the race for me. I saw Michaela first because she was jumping up and down and I high fived everyone, but missed Thomas because he was the first one standing there. He said something about them being on the other side so I looked to the other side of the road but didn't see mom, dad, or Ty. They were there but I missed them. I'd been running on the middle of the road and ran to the right to high five the kids. They were on the left. At one point there was an electronic sign flashing 6 and 7 back and forth with a thumbs up. I was thinking it was showing our pace in mph, but it was going to fast and then I realized it was 6-7. It made me think of my students.
My mom got these pictures from the other side of the road. They were live videos so you could see me move over and high five everyone which was fun.
Thomas and Michaela brought materials to make shirts for spectating.
Elise was super excited they were passing mac and cheese out on the street.
Some of the Nike billboards I found pictures of online.
Miles 17-19 were 8:33, 8:33, 8:34. I was getting so excited that we were almost to the last 10k of the race and couldn't wait to hit mile 20 so I could take off. I kept telling myself to hold back a little bit until mile 20. My favorite portion of the race was Pilen and Little Village aka "The Mexico of the Midwest" the crowds there were incredible and really got me excited and helped push me through one of the tougher sections of the marathon. Mile 20 was 8:39 and I was still feeling pretty good, but not quite kill it the last 10k good so I decided to hold steady and see if I could pick it up again for the last 5k of the race. Miles 21- 22 were 8:35 and 8:47. This is where I started feeling a bit rough and was calculating how much longer I had to run. At this point I knew I was going to have at least an extra 0.3 on my watch from weaving and turning so I was calculating running 26.5 miles when I was thinking about how much longer I would be running. I knew I was going to be over 3:50 but was still confident I would be under 4:00.
According to the internet this mat was around 19 miles into the race and that seems about right from what I could remember.
During mile 22 we turned onto a road where we could see people ahead of us going back the other direction on the side across the median. It was fun seeing so many runners. We ran past a mile 24 marker and I got really excited thinking I was closer to finishing than I thought, but then realized it was for the other side of the road. I hit mile 23 in 8:53 and then turned to the other side. It was incredible to see everyone running along behind me once I made that turn. There were so many runners! This was the hardest part of the race for me. I knew with my bone spurs, even running conservatively, I may have a rough last 5k-10k so I was mentally prepared for the difficulty. There was a sign in here that said, "Leave the mind, take the body," and I thought, my mind is the strongest part of me as a racer. I am so good at staying positive even when things get rough. I started thinking about how I kept pumping myself up in Boston and telling myself my 2nd wind was coming at 13.1 and then when it didn't come, at 16, and when it still didn't come at 20. I just kept pushing and didn't give up. I told myself if I could do that, I can do anything. It was a little tough when I hit mile 24 and I saw the clock and knew if I was my normal self, I would already be finished. Mile 24 was 8:52 and mile 25 was 8:53. Even though I wasn't able to hold onto the pace I had dropped to, I was still running under 9:00 pace which was my goal and I was pleased I wasn't fading too much.
Chinatown was also a fun area to run through. We went through it around mile 21.
I felt like the last mile was all downhill, but I talked to other runners who didn't think so, so I'm not really sure. The last mile reminded me of the finish of Tulsa Run but instead of running uphill, we got to run downhill. I felt great and started really kicking it into another gear. I went out to the left and was passing huge groups of runners. It was so much fun just blowing by people. I felt so strong and kept telling myself, "This is how you finish a f*cking marathon!" I would pick a person ahead of me and pass them, then pick a new person to go for. What's wild was there was a section where there were flags funneling runners to the right and as I neared they moved the flags to funnel runners to the left. I remember thinking maybe my family was to the left and they would be seeing me as I went by. It was wild seeing their videos of the finish and realizing they were right where I pictured them. I wonder if I caught a bit of their cheering above all the other noise so I felt like they were there. I was also thinking, "I hope Thomas is seeing me finish right now." I knew he would appreciate the difficulty of a strong marathon finish better than anyone else because he's had some rough experiences. I went through mile 26 in 8:13. When we turned the corner I saw we had to finish the last portion of the race uphill. It was nice because there was a 400 meters left sign and a 300 meters left sign so I told myself to push to the 400 left sign and then to the 300 left and I just kept pushing, even running uphill. I felt so strong and couldn't stop smiling. I ran the last portion of the race in 7:28 pace. My watch showed I ran 26.63 miles which was my longest marathon to date. My official finishing time was 3:51:20 for an average of 8:40 per mile. I was 19,703 out of 54,351 finishers. I was 5,829th woman and 934th in my age group. I was so proud of myself and so glad I could put together a marathon where I felt decently and finished strong. That was my whole goal and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even when I felt really strong, it wasn't the strong I felt pre-bone spurs. I never feel super fluid like I used to. I know it's probably best to take a break from the marathon until I finally have bone spur surgery, but I'm already aching to get back out there. I don't know why it's so hard to give the marathon up, but it just is!
Thomas got some awesome pictures here. They were standing on picnic tables in front of a Subway.
The transition from running to walking wasn't as immediately painful as usual so that was nice. I still felt pretty rough and wasn't enjoying weaving around people. I got my space blanket and water then kept walking for a cup of Gatorade and my medal. All the volunteers were amazing and it was so much fun to be congratulated by them. I initially wasn't going to take a beer, but as I walked by I grabbed one. I figured I'd drink it as I walked to the family reunion area and then give the rest to Thomas. I was pleasantly surprised to walk past a gorgeous fountain during my long walk to the 27th Mile Party and had to take my family back to see it the next day while we were sightseeing. Then the announcer was announcing the winners and shared that Conner Mantz had broken the American Marathon Record that morning and I was pumped. I made it to the A-C inflatable. I was a bit surprised that with over 20,000 more finishers than Boston, they had sections for 3 letters together instead of just one. It made it really hard to find my family. I borrowed a phone to call them and no one answered so I sat to wait and ended up finishing my beer as I waited. Ty called the phone back and the lady gave it to me so I was able to find them. As I stood up to answer the phone, I saw dad and Elise walking behind the lady. She was so nice and I really appreciated her help! They were selling bouquets to give runners and Elise found a flower on the ground and gave it to me. It was so sweet!
Once we all met up, we walked to the Art Institute of Chicago. I went into the restroom to change. I even packed Dude Wipes from the expo to clean the salt off of me. I saw another runner in the restroom wearing her medal so I decided to put mine on as well. We ate in the cafe and then walked around the art museum. There were more stairs there than I would have liked, but it was nice to walk around and stretch out my legs. Ty, Elise, my mom, and I ended up together and then Ty and Elise split off to sit and rest. Mom and I were perfect art museum buddies because we liked the same things and skipped over the same sections. The museum started getting more busy around the time we left. I think we got there a little before 1:00 and left after 3:30. I would highly recommend running the race and then hitting up the art museum right after. I did get really tired toward the end.
Elise found a crack to hide in at the art museum.
We had a 40 minute train ride back to our Airbnb. Then I showered and ate leftovers. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing at the house and then I went to bed early, but had my worst night of sleep ever. I never sleep well the night after a marathon, but this was next level. I was so sore that I would wake up every 40 minutes because whatever position I was laying in was making my muscles ache and I would have to move positions. The bed was so short that if I slept on my stomach, my feet would hang off the bed and then my knees ached. Finally at 4am I decided to move back to the old broken bed so I could lay across the bed diagonally and my feet would hang off the end. At that point I finally slept for 1.5 hours before waking again. My sleep score that night was a record low of 46. The night after that was better, but I woke up at 5am wide awake and couldn't fall back to sleep so it was another score in the 60's. More on sight seeing to come! We were dying laughing when I was looking at my Garmin stats and it showed I'd done the elliptical for 10 minutes the night before when the bed broke.
Thomas wrote this on the chalkboard in the Airbnb for me.
The spectators were so awesome in this race and kept me going, it was the first race since getting my tattoo that I didn't need to look at it to get inspiration and filter my race through my grandpa's perspective. It felt weird after the race when I realized I hadn't looked at it at all during the race, although I think that's a good thing that it went so well!
Side Notes: I've been having some allergy and asthma issues. When my allergies are flared up, I wake up at night having asthma attacks. I decided in April that I wanted to get into an allergy and asthma doctor to try to figure things out before Chicago. The earliest I could get in was the week before Chicago. I went to my appointment and it was just a consultation. I had to schedule allergy testing for the following week (the Friday after Chicago). That meant I had to be off allergy medications and my regular nasal spray for a week leading up to the appointment. I was a little worried about how that may effect my marathon, but I don't think it caused any issues. I was still able to use my Albuterol as usual. After the race when I was looking at my stats, I saw my average heart rate during the race was 145. At first I was disappointed because I usually have an average heart rate of 160 during a marathon. I felt like that showed I didn't reach my full potential in the race. The more I thought about it, I realized it was actually good that my heart rate was relatively low for a marathon effort. It gives me confidence that when I eventually get my bone spurs taken care of, I'll be able to run faster again. It's obviously a physical limitation and not a cardiovascular one. I put daily step counts on all of my sight seeing posts, so thought it would be funny to add my step count for marathon day as well: 53,139.
