Mag Mile Women's Half Marathon 2015

September 6, 2015

4th Half Marathon - Mag Mile Women's Half

Time: 2:45:36 Pace 12:43

Place: 1103/1491 overall; 1054/1426 female; age grade 41.58%

This was my worst half ever! And I'm totally OK with that. Wanna know why? I did 5 miles before this race even started as part of my marathon training program. My half was finished at mile 8. It was hot and I didn't have any breathing problems so this bad time is nothing to me. I made it. I finished. I got a nice necklace in lieu of a medal.

I wanted to run this race because part of the course was right on Michigan Avenue. This is one of the craziest streets in Chicago that one never gets to be on it car free. The bummer is that we were on it for a short time. If I train for a marathon next year I am making sure any race I do coincides with the training schedule. The weekend of the 16 miler I split up the miles over two days because of Fort to Base. That was probably stupid because it's not really about the number miles but more about the number of run consecutively. I knew I couldn't do that again.

I got up a little after 4 am and got ready to go. Anything I took with me was going to be on me for a long ass time. I checked Uber and a ride was going to be $28! Ugh. But it was dark out. I didn't want to stand on the corner and wait for a bus. This has become my usual race morning dilemma. I don't want to get killed or attacked but I don't want to spend the money for a cab. I have bills to pay! Screw it. I was going to risk my life and wait on the corner and pray the whole time.

Well I wish I would have known that one of the bars on the corner closes around 5. I waited for the bus with a bunch of burly gay dudes. I was confident they would protect me if needed. I got on the bus around 5:30 and since it was still dark I decided to get off the bus where ever I was at 6 am. That was at North Avenue; way to close to the start line and way to close to some jancky intersections. Oh well. I'm sure I can outrun any strung out whacko so I wasn't worried. 

By the time I got down to the race start line I still had around 2 miles to get in. I ran up and down Columbus, through the park, all over the place! By the time I got the start corrals the race had gone. I crossed the start line with 4:39 on the clock. Waiting in those corrals is rough so no big loss there. I run slow but I knew there would be walkers to catch up to and pass.

The time on Michigan Avenue was short but it was pretty cool. There was one major cheering group that had an original sign that read: "Run like your phone is at 1%!" That's one of the best ones yet. The one people need to retire already is: "13.1 causes you're only half crazy" or some crap like that.

The rest of the course was on the path. Originally I was only going to do the 5k as I can run the path for free any time I want....and I do. But this race fell on an 18 mile marathon training day so why not do the half?

At mile 8  my half marathon was done. It was getting a little hot. There was no cloud cover and I was about to die! Technically it was gorgeous outside. The sun was making it miserable running conditions. I started to stop at water fountains for a little face and wrist dip in the water. I was also struggling with my shoes fitting right. I stopped at least 5 times to adjust my laces.

It was a rough 18 miles but it was my first 18 miles so it was the best! I have to say it was the best because I friggin' did it! It was also my first 16 and 17 miles. And the best part?.....I didn't have breathing issues. My first few half marathons and on a few of our really long runs I would have breathing issues. One of my running buddies mentioned that she had something similar. Her doctor suggested it was because of her iron deficiency. Iron  helps deliver oxygen to the blood. If your blood isn't all it should be it's not going to do its job and help keep your heart and lungs working properly when running.

I had a comprehensive blood panel done by an integrative chiropractor which revealed I was iron deficient. I had started iron supplements, cleaned up the diet a little more and have been breathing better ever since. I also had my food sensitivities retested and have eliminated foods on that list which could have also played into the issues.