2010 BofA Chicago Marathon (10/10/10) - Race Review

Date: October 10, 2010
Start: 7:30am (Grant Park)
Corral: D
Goal: 3:40 or sub 3:50
Finish: 4:13:24

Elevation Details: (elevation change is minimal)
Starting elevation - 601 ft. | Ending elevation - 600 ft.
Minimum elevation - 575 ft. | Maximum elevation - 602 ft.

What a race! I could tell it was not a good sign when I came downstairs from my hotel room this morning to meet up with my friends and the weather at that time was nice. I am one of those people that shivers at the slightest cold but this morning at 6:20am when I walked outside, even I was not cold. This was the story for the rest of the day. I got to my corral in time to stretch a bit, eat a GU and relax before the race started. It got hot early and fast. By the time I was at the half way point the alert level that had started at the beginning at "green" was now at "yellow" and by the time I hit mile 20, it was at "red". Red alert is almost never good in any situation. People could not cool down or drink water fast enough. Fortunately, there was plenty of water and Gatorade G2 on course. Firefighters and homeowners on the course were hosing people off. They were passing out ice and cold sponges. Those were nice. I was so hot. Today reminded me of the LA Marathon one year when it got so hot, the firefighters came out and hosed people off.

Speaking of LA, this course reminded me a lot of the old LA Marathon course. It was for the most part flat, except for a small incline to cross a bridge at around mile 21 or 22 and then another incline on a bridge at miles 26 before rounding the corner to the final stretch. That last bridge incline felt pretty bad. My final time was not spectacular. In fact, it is one of my worst. I don't know what happened. I felt I had trained well and enough and the only thing I can even point the finger at was the heat but I feel like that is such a cop out response. I was never so happy to cross a finish line. It was so hot, I wanted to just be done with it. I think this was the hottest marathon I've ever done...heat wise.

The sheer number of people running this race (45,000+) made the course so crowded and pretty stinky and hot. Sweaty people were bumping into me, left and right. There was very little breeze and at points no shade from the sun. Most of the course ran through the main streets of Chicago. Not much to look at and not too much greenery. A lot of spectators and some really great volunteers! But that is all I really liked about this race. I don't know if I really ever want to run this course again. It is definitely a large race experience. If you like that, then this is a race you'll like.

Here are my splits. It just all started to go downhill after mile 13. It was when it started to get crazy hot. At around mile 18, I realized that I wasn't going to make my goal time of 3:50 so I was mentally defeated but still wanted to come in sub 4, but atlast that was not meant to be either. When I got to mile 26, I was never so happy to see the finish line.

Split	time of day	time	diff	min/mile	miles/h
05K	08:04:06AM	00:28:33	28:33	09:12	6.53
10K	08:31:40AM	00:56:07	27:34	08:53	6.77
15K	08:59:36AM	01:24:03	27:56	09:00	6.67
20K	09:28:12AM	01:52:39	28:36	09:13	6.52
HALF	09:35:04AM	01:59:31	06:52	10:05	5.96
25K	09:59:17AM	02:23:44	24:13	10:00	6.01
30K	10:31:10AM	02:55:37	31:53	10:16	5.85
35K	11:02:13AM	03:26:40	31:03	10:00	6.01
40K	11:35:07AM	03:59:35	32:55	10:36	5.66
Finish	11:48:57AM	04:13:24	13:49	10:08	5.92

Pre-race Commentary: I am going to be running the Chicago Marathon on October 10, 2010. This will be my 9th marathon but the first time running this course/race. Also, my first time flying this far for a race. The course will be starting and ending at and around Grant Park. A friend of mine told me that I must take the architectural river tour, so I will find some time to do that. She also recommended a visit to either Gino's East or Giordano's for pizza.