Chicago Marathon 2015 - 1st marathon

October 11, 2015 

1st (of many) Marathon!

 Chicago MarathonTime: 5:26:06

The marathon and everything leading up to it has been the second most significant experience in my life; the first being my study abroad trip to Colombia. Some people have kids, some people are lucky enough to fall in love and get married. My gift has been experiences that not many get to have. Only 1% of the population has run a marathon and only 4% has received a bachelors degree. I guess that makes me pretty special.  I used to feel like I was missing out on something not having kids or or a husband but if I had that all that tying me down I wouldn't be able to experience life the way I want and that's to do as much as possible and try new things and have magical experiences. 

When I was 40 I bought my condo. At 41 I got my BA and at 42 I ran my first marathon. My 40s have been pretty exciting and I'm just getting started. At 43 I'm going for Ragnar.

This whole deal started June 14, 2015 when summer marathon training started. It didn't get exciting to me until we went beyond miles I had never gone. At that point I had only completed 3 half marathons. When we finally ran over 13 miles it got real.

I was there every single Saturday at Montrose Beach for our long runs save for 2 because I was doing a race. We ran in crazy winds and torrential downpours but we ran. Sometimes there were only two of us. I loved being part of this. The number of people for half marathon training is small. The marathon training program is huge. It feels different. It feels amazing even at 6:30 am. In my mind this makes me a bad ass. I've always wanted to be a bad ass.

For the length of the summer Emily and I  tried to get to as many beach yoga classes as we could. We found a super Groupon deal so it wasn't a total waste if I didn't get to all 20 classes in the pass. It's quite a challenge to muster up enough energy to yoga after a really long run. Emily fell asleep once during the last pose...the dead man one.

Getting in the mid week runs was a challenge. The schedule calls for 3 midweek runs, one long and two short. Some weeks were tight so I had to combine the two short runs. One week I did a 14 mile run around Park Ridge after work in humid rain. Another week I had a focus group in Deerfield after which I got in my run in the dark. I have never been so exhausted all the time in my life and have never been so happy about it all at the same time.

The last six weeks were a super challenge. I started getting up early at 5 am to run. Then it started getting darker earlier so I'd run with my stun gun. The best part of these early am runs was getting out in the dark and watching the sun come up along the lake. The layers of pink and orange atop the blue lake makes me feel blessed to live so close to the lake and be able to see this fleeting wonder.

I also did some non-running preparation. Emily lent me a ton of running/marathon related movies. I also read Hal Higdon's Marathon guide book. I even bought the movie Spirit of the Marathon on Amazon Prime. It's a pretty cool movie that profiled several people as they prepared for the Chicago Marathon back in 2005.  I watched it once in September and once the night before the big day.

CARA offered a bunch of strength training classes for marathon training group participants but I wasn't able to make even one! Either  I was too exhausted, had homework to do or had a volunteer gig.

I was also in the middle of trying new supplements and getting my brain chemistry, hormones and food sensitivity tested. I self diagnosed my breathing issues while running to an iron deficiency based on what someone else's doctor told them. And what do ya know, when I went back for my blood test results I was told I'm iron deficient. Ha! Beat ya to it doc!  Iron supplements worked; I haven't had one breathing problem since.

I went to the dentist before training began, had a cavity which was filled and then the tooth began to hurt. My dentist put in a sedative filling which didn't work. I was told I needed a root canal. I didn't feel like going through that or paying for that so I opted to have the tooth pulled. I didn't want to take the chance that procedure would mess with my training so I have been chewing on the left side of my mouth since June. I just had it pulled today (10/16).

About 2 weeks before the marathon things started to get real! The signs were going up all over Chicago, I got my official participants guide in the mail. People whom I wasnt going to see until after the marathon started wishing me good luck. I was getting really excited!

One thing that I started doing right when I first started running the summer of 2012 was tell myself how awesome I was; mostly under the "fake it 'til you make it" plan. I'm not sure I really believed it but then I started doing some amazing things. These things may not be amazing to others but to me, it was. I remember when I ran my first sub 30 minute 5k at 28:28. I  am not that fast. I have no idea what came over me that day but I was able to sustain an incredibly fast pace for over 3 miles. I can do fast, just not for that long. I was telling another runner, a fast runner, about it and lamented that it wasn't that bad and how I told myself I was awesome the whole time and that's what got me through it and I never hit the wall. She actually said well then if you didn't hit a wall or have troubles then you really didn't try as hard as you could have. Uh, no. I tried really hard I just have a trick. I don't let doubt in. This isn't

 a perfect plan and of course doubt always creeps in. That's life. It's all about how you react to it. That's the thing about running, you have good days and you have bad days. You just have to know that one bad day doesn't mean that you're doomed forever. 

 I was in 2 marathon groups on Facebook. I had never run a marathon but I found myself talking others off the ledge when ever someone freaked out about the marathon. I don't think I ever really freaked out. I had issues finding the right shoes but I knew I was going to finish even if my feet were bleeding so all I could do was keeping trying different shoes. I was worried about being hungry but all I could do was ask my mom to bring me fig newtons and pack extra blocks and Honey Stingers. Worst case scenario: I get off the course and use my Starbucks app to get some nosh. What happens is going to happen! All I can do is be prepared and just go! I'm not not going to finish! I remember during the last half not having told myself I was awesome so gave myself a little preemptive pep talk just in case I hit this wall everyone keeps talking about. I never hit the wall. I had an amazing experience! Maybe I didnt try hard enough. Who measures this anyway. I crossed the finish line with out bleeding feet and a full belly. Success! 

taken at the Marathon expo

I was ready to run the marathon even before the 20 miler! I was mentally ready! I missed my start wave for the 20 miler. I rode my bike there to find no bike parking so I had to ride on a little bit to park it and then ran to the start, checked my bag and ran to the start line and jumped in with the 8:30s. Well that was fun. I got plowed by all the fast groups. I saw no one I knew. The path was a little lonely. The great thing about running is that things change from one mile to the next so despite my rocky start and leaving my sunglasses in my gear checked bag things changed. I saw Millie at mile 4. The pat got a little more crowded. Then every few miles I saw someone I knew.

I asked Emily to FaceTime me so I could see if that was something I wanted to do during the marathon.  She didn't do the 20 miler as she had run the Air Force Marathon the day before She FTd me around mile 10.5 right after Navy Pier. It was hard to hear but very cool to see her face on my phone. This was my very first Face Time. She had planned on being at mile 19. I had that to look forward to but I figured she was going to run in with the others from the group. As I was about to climb  a hill around mile 17 she FTd me again. She was going to wait for me at mile 19! It had started getting rough at this point. It was also kind of exciting once I got past 18 as 18 was the farthest I had gone up to this point. I kept my eye on the prize of meeting Emily at 19 and ran my ass off. It was the only thing getting me through. My left leg was on fire and I was ready to grab a knife to cut it off!

Here comes mile 19 and there was Emily looking all fresh! It was great having that distraction. The Brian comes running towards me. The show off had finished and came back to see who was not done yet. I got a little surge of energy and sprinted ahead. Yeah, that didn't last long. I slowed back down after 10 seconds.  We ran it in. it was over! it was time for the taper.

Everything leading up to the Marathon went pretty smoothly. I settle on a pair of shoes - Altras. I knew it was risky putting only a few miles on them before the race but they felt the best by far. And by a few miles I mean two short runs before the last long run of 8 miles and then less than 10 miles the week before. It was a risk but it worked out. No one goes 26 miles without any issues but with Altras I had less issues than less miles in other brands. 

My outfit was coming together too. October weather in Chicago is all over the place so about a month before I bought a black tank at the Gap and a long sleeved tech shirt also at the Gap. I knew I was running in shorts no matter what. I had a short sleeved shirt from my Charity that I got  in March but by the time the Marathon rolled around it was slightly too big. They didn't have a smaller size or a tank in my size. Another team mate was offering to make iron ons. She agreed to make me one and I donated $18 to her fundraiser in appreciation. 2 weeks prior to race day she still hadn't mailed it out so I sent her a reminder message. She was so busy blah blah blah and was going to get it out right away. 1 week prior to race day still no iron on! I messaged this broad again and got no response. What bullshit. If she had even created the iron on in the first place wouldn't she have noticed it laying around? And scrolling through her donor list, wouldn't she have noticed my name and made a connection? And p.s. I sent a personal thank you email or note to all my donors. I got nothing from her!

I had the Thursday before the marathon off. Emily told me of a place that took .jpegs and turned them into iron ons but it was in Highland Park. I didn't have time to go up there. I contacted a few places nearby and they didn't do such a thing. On my way back from Staples I saw T-shirt Deli out of the corner of my eye in Andersonville. I decided to stop by and I'm glad I did. They saved my race! So now this shirt, which I'm never going to wear again cost me a fortune...$24 for the custom iron on, $20 for the shirt and $18 for the unappreciated donation.

I decided to add "these pretzels are making me thirsty" the night before the big day and messed it up. A few letters were facing the wrong way. I was able to peel them off and redo it but it still ended up looking like crap and the shirt got all stretched out. Note to all: Gap body cannot handle major heat and sweat. 

I was also indecisive about the socks I was going to wear. I went with Smart Wool PhD. 

The day after the marathon was amazing. The only thing on my mind was getting Lou Malnottis, my medal engraved and a massage. All the craziness of having the perfect outfit, getting in the miles and the school work and regular work and life was gone. I need to clarify that "the perfect outfit" had nothing to do with fashion, it had to do with representing my charity, comfort, injury and chafe prevention and dealing with the predicted high temps. Running is pretty great because it's so not a fashion show. There's a handful of people who wear full makeup to training runs or races but everyone else is come as you are and be accepted by all. I'd rather be out there on the Lakefront Path than the club any day. 

I'm not good at iron-ons

The Friday before the marathon couldn't have come quicker. It was like when you're a kid waiting for Christmas. Going to the Expo and getting my bib was going to make this whole thing even more real. I have no idea why I didn't just take the red line down and walk a little way to McCormick Place. I decided to take the shuttle instead and boy, was that a mistake. Most of the people on the bus were from out of town including one really annoying French bitch who couldn't stop yammering the whole way....loudly. I read an article that the reason why people speaking a language is annoying is because out brain is working hard to make sense of what were hearing and we can't so it's frustrating. its the same principle behind why were so annoyed by people having public conversations on their cell phone. its because our brains are working hard to piece together the part we can't hear. We can't make sense of what were hearing because we don't know the other end of the conversation. Even though i know all of this (most of the time knowing the why helps me to not be annoyed) i was still annoyed. One, i can't go that long with out eating and I knew my choices wouldn't be limited and two, I had a massage appointment to get to. So along with french driving me nuts, the bus driver made two loops around Millennium Park! Who hires a bus driver that doesn't know the area?

Anyhoo, walking into the Expo I wanted to cry. It was real! I was here because I was about to run a marathon!!!! I walked right up, got my sheet, scanned and proceeded to the bib pick up counter. This system they have going is so efficient they greeted me by name. Creepy. I walked all over the expo, bought a few items and visited some vendors I particularly liked. As the minutes went on, the expo grew more crowded. Emily and Millie were there but I didn't even see them. It was getting insane. I wanted to spend more time but my massage was waiting. And, oh, I got hungry and the only decent thing was a soft pretzel.  And by decent I mean not healthy but better than pizza or corn dogs. 

I took the bus to the el and then managed to find an amazing build your own salad place that I gobbled down as I speed walked to my massage. This massage was amazing! He was a student but he really knew his stuff. I had developed a major literal pain in my ass. He worked it out pretty well.  felt like I was possibly coming down with something so along with my coffee I grabbed some pressed juice from Starbucks and headed home stopping once to pick up my marathon tank.

They say it's important to get a good night's sleep two nights before the marathon. And I did! I didn't do a whole lot on Saturday. I went to a DePaul alumni event at the Chicago History Museum, got some food in Old Town and headed home making a short stop along the way at Michael's for iron on letters. I spent the evening laying out my clothes, screwing up the iron on and watching Spirit of the Marathon. 

I didn't sleep at all. I wasn't worried. I didn't feel anxiety or stress. It was weird. I even took ZzzQuill. My body resisted every effort I made to fall asleep! Adrenalin was going to have to carry me through.

I was up super early! I sprang out of bed like I had the best night's sleep ever. Yeah, the adrenalin was hard at work. I ordered up an Uber and was on my way in the dark. The Uber driver was so sweet. He wanted to sponsor me!Does this mean I get free Uber rides? I started my day at the Jones College Prep, head quarters for Girls On The Run. They had breakfast, coffee, real restrooms, and other stuff runners might need.

We all walked over as a group and got into our corals. It was freezing! And as you can see in the above photos I ran in shorts and a tank. It was predicted to be a hot race. I wore a marathon volunteer jacket I intended to toss. All anyone talked about the week leading up to the marathon was the weather and wether or not to carry water. I was tired of obsessing about it! I decided to mot carry water. I downed so much water that morning including the one bottle I brought with me to the start line I had to pee before we got going.

I found Emily and Millie and we spent the next hour chatting and getting excited. I had to pee. I managed to wait until mile 4 to go. The first song I heard on my phone as I crossed the start line was "Cover Girl" by New Kids on the Block. Hello 90s! I was so excited that I sand out loud here and there up until abound mile 7. I know it's rude but I didnt care. I was running a marathon!!!

And so we went. The crowds were pretty thick all through the Loop. I made the decision to run on the left as usual but then I saw the blue line (indicates the shortest route) go to the right side and back again. Who knows how much extra I actually ran. Aside from the occasional glance at the blue line I don't think I looked at the ground much. The crowds cheering and ringing cowbells and holding humorous signs was mesmerizing. My big moment was here and it was going to be the best 5+ hours of my life!

We got out of downtown and went up Lasalle and through Lincoln Park. The trees were brilliant fall colors. I stopped to adjust my shoe. I felt some of the tape on my toes loosen. I think I was singing "Call Me Maybe" out loud. Someone said to me the other day the reason why she hasn't run a marathon in Chicago (she hasn't run any) is because she runs these streets all the time. We all gasped! Running on the actual street is the best 29 neighborhood tour of the city you'll ever have. It's completely different from running on the sidewalk trying to get by pedestrians or running along the Lake Front dealing with cyclists who act like you're in their way. 

flat Kym ready to go

Then we went north (Broadway maybe?) and the crowd thinned out a bit. The people from the windows of the old folks home were waving from the windows. We waved back. I wanted to cry.  I knew boys town was coming up and I was getting really excited. Even though I told Karen, Shanelle and Veronica to go to the south side they decided the giants crowds of Boystown would be a better viewing area. Needless to say I didn't see them. For one it was super sunny and I couldn't see anything with the sun blinding me. It was really making it hard to Snapchat! And two, they were on the right side of the street when I said I was going to be running on the left. Knowing they were there for support was great but I would have loved a high five! Beth was the first friend I saw. She was a course marshall so she was able to stand on the actual course. I saw her at mile 9. The street sloped a bit on the side. This caused me to bumrush her as I headed towards her for a hug. I stopped to snapchat us together. I was unbelievably excited to see her!

No one told me about all the things spectators do for the runners. I never expected all the bowls of pretzels for the taking, the Kleenex, the shots of tequila, the bags of ice, the orange slices and beer that would be offered to me by total strangers. It was amazing. I was so worried about being hungry or thirsty during the race. It was all taken care of by my fellow Chicagoans. For a brief period I liked people.  The pretzels started soon after mile 9. After that was Sedgwick, lined with used Kleenex and beautiful fall colored trees. 

North Avenue came up and the crowds again grew larger. As I stopped for a brief minute to snap and say high to Nashwa, Zena ran up. She didn't look so good. It turns out she dropped out of the race soon after. I was so bummed for her. It was her first marathon and her 50th birthday and she was moving to NYC the following week. 

Heading south on Wells I remember my time as a water stop volunteer there just two years prior. Then back down towards the Loop. The next time I would see anyone was mile 18. I was a long way off. In the mean time I hit the half marathon mark. Only half way done!?! It was getting warm out there.

I signed up for an app that let people record messages for me to be delivered at set mile markers. In theory this is a fantastic idea but in reality any race in Chicago is probably going to to misaligned with the GPS. I started to get messages saying I was at a mile marker ahead of where I actually was. It was still cool to hear messages cheering me on. Cheers from strangers are cool to but it doesn't mean as much. 

In the (O) K corral at the start line ready to go

Speaking of cheers from strangers. It starts to get weird after awhile but still cool and totally welcomed. My charity had Sharpies available for us to write on our skin. I had someone write my name on each arm. I also had my name on my shirt. People were cheering me on with my name and words of encouragement like they knew me from start to finish. I loved it! I had been running for 3 years and no one EVER has come out to cheer me on. Yes this was strangers but I'll take it! I know I've "got this!" but it's nice to hear it from others once in awhile.

p.s. people" don't ever take your support system for granted!

Somewhere around Charity Village and mile 15, I saw Emily and we cat and moused the whole rest of the race. I was gnawing on a pretzel rod looking for the Girls on the Run Tent and she came up next to me and said something. I was on a 5/1 run/walk interval and she was on a 4/2 so we'd say "hi" or something goofy and move along. Once in awhile our walk intervals were aligned. 

I knew my mom and step dad were going to be somewhere around mile 18. My mom was so freaked out she wasn't going to be able to see me. If she would just have trusted me when I said the crowds were thin on the south side she could have just chilled out but that's not how she rolls. They even drove all the way down there from Mundelein the night before to see where they'd be standing.

It really kept me going to know that certain people were going to be at certain points along the course. I didn't think of the race in terms of the entire 26.2 miles. I thought of it in little chunks from one person (people) to the next that I'd see. 

I passed the mile 18 mark in Little Italy and a few blocks later and saw Steve standing there with a white poster board sign saying, "go Kym!" I almost started crying. I ran up and my mom finally saw me and realized what was happening. She fumbled to get the camera out. I fumbled to get Snap Chat going. The she shoved fig bars in my mouth and handed me the electrolyte water I asked for. It was getting really hot at this point. I drank some of the water and ended up dumping the other half on my head less than a mile down the road; partly because I was tired of hold the bottle.

beer celebration!

I don't recall what mile it was but it people were definitely pooping out. I remember seeing a group of runners facing a brick wall and squatting to stretch. It was at this point that I saw a guide leading a blind runner. I needed to see that for inspiration.

Going through Pilsen was like a shot of energy. I saw the mile 19 mark. I heard house music - always energizing! There was a mariachi band and dancing paper machete heads. It was so amazing. Then, the best thing happened: a woman handed me a bag of ice. I distributed the ice between my mouth, shorts, head, and bra. Yeeeees! I missed Karen, Vero and Shanelle on the North Side. I was hoping they would have moved to Pilsen.

Evelio told me he was stationed in Chinatown as a course marshal but I never saw him. At least it kept me distracted looking for him. The people in China town weren't too excited to see us. They all stood there and stared. It was like that stinky Chinatown 5k all over again. Oh no! was I going to smell rotting garbage  during this race too. Unfortunately a little rotting garbage and a bonus of cigarette smoke! I saw a bank sign that said it 74 degrees out. Not too bad for October but keep in mind that when you run your body heats up 20 degrees. I think this was mile 20.

After leaving China town I knew Kelly would be near. Another person to look forward to! There she was, at mile 21 with a giant bowl of pretzels. I was doing ok but it was getting hot. I must have looked worse than I felt because she kept asking if I was OK. My top priority was seeing the screen onmy phone so I could Snapchat video this moment! 

All I had to get to was mile 24 and I would see Marcee and Maggie. I was really surprised to see so many people on the South Side part of the route. I was told it was going to be completely boring and desolate. That wasnt the case at all. The crowds and strangers calling my name really kept me going. 

Mile 24 approached and there were Maggie and Marcee. I ran up and Marcee handed me the water bottle with a dissolved nuun tablet that I brought her to bring to me 2 days before. She put an ice cold rag around my neck. What a nice surprise! Again, I had to Snap video this moment. I gave them  a hug an apologized for my sweat and headed off to the finish line. 

The course took a turn somewhere and we headed north. This was it. All my hard work was going to soon pay off and this magical moment of crossing the finish line was upon me. I wanted it to end but I didnt. The crowds thickened the closer we got to the finish.  I remember seeing a few folks passing out shots of tequila to runners. Ick! 

The course markers get more frequent the closer you get to the finish. They count down the meters which threw me off because I don't do meters. That measurement means nothing to me. Turning right from Michigan Ave on to Roosevelt is like a game of Space Invaders. There are tons of aggressive course marshals checking to make sure runners are wearing a bib. The guy next to me was being videoed by his friend and wasn't wearing a bib. The space machines were in my way running backwards trying to block the illegal runner. They were swerving to avoid the space machine and pushing me in to the path of more space machines. After so many hours of running your mind starts to go; it's hard to think straight sometimes. So I have this crazy situation, it's as hot as the surface of the sun outside and I cant think straight enough to comprehend what the heck is happening. I was just trying to get to the finish. Why are these idiots blocking me? So the Space machine guys are yelling for the video man to get the hell off the course and video man is yelling, "no, I have to video my friend." Has your friend ever heard of the rear facing camera on his own phone?

After that chaos the course took an easterly turn onto Roosevelt. The marathon has a name for this stretch called Mount Roosevelt. I had no idea of this name until I got to the Expo and saw apparel with "Mount Roosevelt" on the front. I think they were trying too hard because no one ever calls it that.  It's not going to stick. 

During our hour long wait in the start corral I remember Millie firmly advising me to, "walk the hills!" What hills? This is supposed to be a flat course. A PR course for many. I followed her advise some of the time. I heard her in my head as I ascended Mount Roosevelt and quickly dismissed her advice. I was going to tackle the hell out of this hill! It was the end. After this climb I knew it was over in a matter of seconds. I wasn't going to clonck out now! I felt  powerful and   charged full steam ahead like the bad ass I am and ran it in to the finish.

The closer I got to the finish line I was preparing to ball my eyes out but it never came. I think I had cried with excitement and pride in anticipation of the marathon the past few months I was plumb out of tears. That's fine. Picture time was coming.

I crossed that finish line and pulled out my phone to document the moment via Snapchat. I took a video of myself and said something like, "...I'll never do that again. That's not true..." Someone giggled as they walked by. Then I saw someone from training and we congratulated each other. I walked on a few feet and saw Emily. She finished two minutes ahead of me but waited. We grabbed our medals and goodies and proceeded to get our free beer!

I didn't think I would want a beer after running a marathon but I wanted nothing else at that moment. A beer is refreshing. A beer is celebratory. This beer was earned. Then with beer and a boar load of goodies in tow we got our pictures and headed out. We walked slow. Partly because walking was painful-isa and I wanted to savor the moment. I remember a steep step as we walked out the runners area into Grant Park. It took a minute to get down it. Emily headed back south to go to her Charity's home base and I headed to runner reunite to meet my parents. My mom was so thoughtful. She brought me turkey and some other snacks.