Last Sunday was the running of the 37th annual Chicago Marathon. I had been to the marathon in its early years as a spectator and this time I went to participate.
As usual we planned for months, we even had dinner reservations made in advance for the 4 nights we were in Chicago to avoid long lines in crowded restaurants. I have to say we had a great time even though my performance in the marathon was less than I had hoped for.
My goals for the event were to have fun and finish uninjured. I also kind of wanted to finish in less than 5 hours. No doubt, I did have fun, from chatting with Scott Jurek during the Saturday expo, hanging out at the starting line with thousands of other runners, briefly visiting the 29 neighborhoods the route goes through and finally crossing the finish line 5 hours and 37 minutes after I started.
Other excitement consisted of me being a little mixed up with the time change and heading out for coffee on Saturday morning at 5AM instead of 6AM. When I got off the elevator in the lobby of this rather nice hotel at 5AM I heard a female voice hollering obscenities. This situation slowed me down considerably. I peaked around the corner and found 2 working women trying to coax a third intoxicated working woman out of the hotel and into their car. I sauntered over to the desk clerk who assured me all would be fine. He just didn't seem to sure of it. As I was leaving the hotel the door man and security guard finally appeared to have the ladies on their way out of the hotel through another door.
With the marathon the day before Columbus Day we happened to be in town for the famous Columbus day parade. As it happened our room had a view of the parade route and after the parade the loud demonstration that appeared to be associated with the racial unrest in Ferguson, MO.
So I did have fun and I finished. My time was over 5 hours and I have this little issue with my right foot that I think we can call a stress response.
On the details page you will see that I was rolling right along just under 11 minutes per mile through 14. Things gradually slowed down from there until about mile 22 when I walked the rest of the way in. I've been using bungee laces in my shoes this year and they are great once they are adjusted right. It just takes quite a bit of trial and error to get them right. I thought I had gotten there with this pair of shoes and boy was I wrong. My feet were like numb the last 10 miles. This of course contributed to the stress response in my right foot.
Also on the details page you may notice that my average heart rate for the event was 90 beats per minute. Before I looked at the graph I thought it was ridiculously low because I had walked for 4 miles. After looking at the graph I am pretty convinced it is time to replace my heart rate strap. The graph shows that I ran a half hour with what you might call a normal if not a little high heart rate. Then the graph shows my rate dropping to nearly zero for almost the next hour, going back up to near normal and then dropping to nearly zero again between 2.5 and 3 hours. I will be replacing my heart rate strap in the not to distant future.
So we had a great time and I brought home a little more bling as seen in the following photo.
It seems like every trip has a highlight that we will remember for years. In Chicago invariably the highlight has to do with food and this time was no exception. Our pre-trip research was centered on finding acceptable gluten free dining options for the Mrs. One of the gluten free options we came across was a tiny doughnut shop called Do-Rite Donuts that just happened to be a block and a half from our hotel. Each day they have an assortment of gluten free and vegan donuts. Photos follow.
So I am likely not running for the next several weeks until the stress response in my right foot is healed. I will probably talk to my doctor next time I see her as to how long I should sit out.
2 comments:
Congrats! You were the talk of JRC Sunday - in a good way, of course. They also have a 50 Elite shirt there for you. Take care - see you soon.
A 50 Elite shirt, oh cool, I'll be there early on Sunday.:)
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