On Sunday October 13th, I ran the 2019 Chicago Marathon. It was my 3rd time running Chicago and 15th marathon overall! While the race did not go as I expected (it was a total garbage fire), it was still a great way to end my road running focus before turning back to ultra marathons. Below is my 2019 Chicago Marathon race recap!

Training

The details from most of my training are on the blog in the Weekly Rundown Sunday posts.   In general, training was…. blah. A rollercoaster to say the least.

In May, I felt like I was making a lot of progress.  In early June, my running was on FIRE and even ran my fastest mile ever.  Workouts came easy and I looked forward to pushing myself further.  After not making the Windrunners time qualifier at the Shamrock Shuffle, I felt hopeful I could requalify or at least get close to a 3:10 time.

But then, as I detailed on the blog, I decided it was time to focus on lingering health issues from my eating disorder (ie: mission “Get my Period Back“).  My running took a major hit, as did my confidence.  It felt like I couldn’t string together a week of good workouts.  Paces slowed, self-confidence spiraled negatively downward, and my motivation to race Chicago wavered.

Although running finally started to improve after doing a 30-day nutrition detox, I was pretty depressed about it all.  By September, I had adopted the unfortunate mindset of “let’s just get through Chicago,” and wasn’t thriving in training anymore.  That’s one of the reasons I went pretty quiet on the blog during taper.  When I drafted my race plan, I backed off my initial goal and planned for a 3:25 finish. That seemed about where my fitness was.

Expo

Race week arrived whether I was ready or not!  On Friday, I went to the expo around 11am.  Here I was thinking I would come just after the morning rush and beat the lines.  NOPE.  After getting the bib, we had to walk all the way to the back to get the t-shirt and gear check bag.  The t-shirt looked like it had been shrunk in the wash, and I needed to exchange it for a larger size.  I also bought a tank top and a long sleeve because my credit card has a mind of its own at Expos.  At least the Expo validates parking!

Weekend Events

2019 Chicago Marathon had SO. MANY. EVENTS.   Thursday a panel of elite runners answered questions.  Thursday was also my friend’s book launch.  Friday evening, EDGE held our team dinner.  Each coach gave a good luck speech and there were definitely some happy/grateful tears shed.   The final Nike pop-up race and Take the Bridge were that same evening, but I opted for sleep instead.  My Achilles tendon was sore and I was sniffly after spending the week in PreK classrooms.  Didn’t want to chance anything!

Saturday morning EDGE hosted a 2-3 mile shakeout run.  It was FREEZING – tights, long sleeve, hat and glove weather.  After the shakeout, I spent most of the morning there in the ice bath, using the e-stim machine, and sitting in compression boots.  We watched Kipchoge’s record-breaking run as motivation.  SO COOL!  In the afternoon, I set out my Flat Becca and throwaway outfit.  Dinner, relaxing with a book and in bed by 8:30.

Race Day

I awoke at 4:30 with the plan of leaving my house by 5:15am.  For breakfast I had overnight oats with a banana, dates and almond butter.  Also drank a glass of water, a glass with Ultimate hydration mix, and a few sips of black tea.  After foam rolling, I changed into my outfit and throwaways and headed for the train.  The weather could not have been more perfect – upper 30s, clear skies, slight wind, and a gorgeous full moon.

My plan for the morning was to take the Red Line to the Palmer House Hotel.  Since I had raised money for The American Cancer Society, I had access to their Race Day Resort at the hotel.  There was gear check, pre-race food and post-race celebrations.  I planned to arrive by 5:50 or so and leave for Grant Park by 6:10 because security to enter can be long.

But, by 5:30, no train had arrived. Soon it was 5:40… then 5:45… then 5:50.  Anxious runners paced the platform, and we only started to get more anxious.  When Google Maps showed that the next Red Line train was delayed until 6:15, I decided to hop on the inbound Brown Line train instead.  I had to jog about .5 miles to the hotel, and arrived around 6:25.  A quick bag check, bathroom break, eating a banana, and I jogged over two blocks to the security lines.

When I saw the flood of people waiting to enter, I panicked a bit.  After a few minutes, a guard announced that the farthest left lanes would be for people without a bag.  Good thing I had checked it with ACS!  By 6:45 ish I was in the park.

Warmup

Since I ended up jogging to the hotel, my warmup was a bit scattered.  I didn’t want to run too much more, but I still needed to warm up.  I decided to lightly jog for about 10 minutes, but then had to nervous pee.  In hindsight, I should have gotten in the bathroom line before jogging.  By the time I was out and ready to do some dynamic stretching and drills, I was cold again.  Something to remember for next time.

I was seeded into the A start corral.  HA HA HA!  How, I have no clue.  The runners in that corral were aiming for 3:05 or faster.  But I was able to see my friend Matt who was pacing the 3:05 group, and Shawna who was volunteering, and they were good boosts.  Corrals closed at 7:20 and by 7:30 we started.

2019 Chicago Marathon Race Recap

Have you ever had a weird out of body experience during a race?  I did.  Around mile 2 as we were cruising through the city, I had this sensation that I was not running the race.  Instead, I felt as if I were watching everyone around me run the race.  I was looking around at all the participants thinking, “Oh look at them all go,” while being disconnected with my own running, and the sensation that I couldn’t feel my body. It was something I’ve never experienced before.

By mile 3, I knew something was off.  My right hip flexor and quad started twinging and it felt like I running through really dense air.  The other runners zoomed passed, probably contributing to my feeling like I was running extra slow.  On the positive side, I was able to see a bunch of EDGE athletes and other running friends during the race and shout encouragement as they sped away.

By mile 10, I was ready to be done.  I swear, I was wearing lead shoes.  Energy low, muscles already fatigued, pain in my quad was now a 5/10.  So far, I had been able to keep pace just under an 8 minute mile.  But then I ran through my neighborhood and had the realization that it would be HOURS before I was back there… and I began to waver.

One of the few positives from the race was the amusing confusion I caused.  Apparently, the Cs I wrote in duct tape were hard to read. Everyone kept shouting “GO BELLA!” For a while I thought there was this other woman running with me until a spectator shouted, “Go BELL – Bec…- Becca? Go Becca!”  Whoops!

My mom stood around mile 12.5 on the opposite side of the street, holding a sign eagerly looking for me.  But she was out of reach and out of ear shot and didn’t see me.  That was kind of a metaphor for the rest of my race.  Feeling SO FAR AWAY from finishing.  The mental wheels fell off.

By the time mile 15 rolled around and we headed west, I was running with a limp.  Mentally, I told myself to just get to the EDGE station at 18.  Prior to the race, we had all submitted a pump-up song to play as we ran by.  My song was “Ain’t Gonna Die Tonight” by Macklemore.  When I was about a 100 yards away from the station, I suddenly heard ‘my song’ cut above all the other noise and erase all the negative thoughts in my head.  I let out a little sob of happiness, and was able to pick up my pace to come through the station.

EDGE left me so emotional and I cried a bit as I ran away.  The energy boost left and I returned to running with a limp.  Around mile 19, I saw an EDGE runner stretching on the side and I called out to him to run with me.  We were able to stick together for about a half mile before he had to stop and walk.  I continued on, but it was like a mental seal had been broken, and soon I was walking as well.  The physical wheels fell off from there.

The rest of the race was a shuffle/walk.  My right hip flexor and quad were on fire and I couldn’t easily bend that leg.  So it was kind of like a shuffle, walk, drag.  The goal now was JUST FINISH.  Soon I arrived at November Project mile 22 cheer station and hobbled through.  When I saw Dani cheering, I stopped for a hug that left me so emotional I cried for the next mile.

I’ve NEVER been that emotional during a race before. Nor have I experienced that level of physical fatigue and pain.  I continued my slow progression through until the end, final time of 3:44:56, my slowest marathon out of all 15.

Post-Race Recovery

After the race, I went back to the Palmer House for a massage and to change into warmer clothes.  Walking there was a struggle, and I was so grateful to be finished.  I made it back to EDGE for an ice bath and compression boots as well.  In the evening, I met up with Evelyn to celebrate the end of the season (she got a MONSTER PR to boot!)  We treated ourselves to ice cream (dairy free peanut butter and chocolate truffle for me!), and then headed to the NP Pizza Party.  Throughout the rest of the week I celebrated all the great races and accomplishments that friends had.

What’s Next

This race taught me the lesson of needing a solid WHY.  The body can’t do what the mind doesn’t want to do.  As I look to switch back to trails, specifically 50 mile races, I need to take time to pick a race that really resonates with me.  The WHY is key.

For the rest of Sunday and most of Monday I felt pretty upset about my performance.  I’ve never had a race experience like that.  It was a total garbage fire.  But then Tuesday rolled around, and for the first time in 8 years, I got my period. The whole race suddenly made sense – the fatigue, the feeling heavy like I couldn’t run, the intense emotions.  My body was dealing with a whole lot under the surface.  As Robyn said, it was a poetic end to the season. If only it could have waited another week.

The 2019 Chicago Marathon did not go AT ALL like I planned, but I am completely ok with it knowing that my body is reaching balance again.  Did you run the 2019 Chicago Marathon?  How was your experience? Let’s stay in touch!  Follow me on Instagram or Facebook for more food/fitness related posts.  

Happy running,

Becca