The Friday night before the big event was a tough night. The training manual had said to be sure to get a good night sleep since you probably won't sleep well the night before the race. Well, I tossed and turned all night. I got up early the next day anyway to get to the expo to pick-up my race packet before the crowds got thick. I arrived there at 9 AM as it opened and walked right up to pick up my packet. Then, I headed for the expo floor to check out the sponsors' booths. I tried a lot of the various types of PowerBars and equivalents. At the American Cancer Society table, I signed up and made a donation to run in memory of my bother, Eric. He passed away from a brain tumor and cancer exactly 5 years to the day of the marathon. They gave me a ribbon to wear on my back saying I was running in his memory and they also had me write his name on a ``brick'' (actually a square magnet) that they were displaying on a wall at the event. On Eric's I wrote - ``Eric Potter--lost his fight 5 years ago today October 24. We miss you.''
As the crowds started to build-up at the expo, I decided to head back home. On my way out of the convention center, I realized they had a line to test your chip - the timing device we were to wear on our shoe for accurate individual timing of the race. The line hadn't been there when I arrived. I got in it. Line-ups were what I had tried to avoid by being early - and here I was in one! And, of course, when I made my way to the front, my chip didn't work. So, another line - the line for people with chip problems - oh boy! At the counter, they promised me it would be programmed and ready to go by the race, but unfortunately there would be no way of testing prior to the Start. I headed home.
In addition to getting a good night sleep on Friday night, the training guide also suggested staying off your feet on Saturday. Well, I had just spent two hours wandering the expo and standing in lines. At home, my dog, Goliath, of course wanted to go for a walk! So we did. Then I put him in the car and headed to the airport to pick up my brother, Dean, who was flying in from Toronto to see the race. Thankfully at O'hare, Air Canada had a gate close to the main concourse, so I didn't have to walk very far. Dean's flight was late, so I took the opportunity to nap a bit in a chair by the gate.
When we got home, we snacked and then headed out for a *walk* on Michigan Ave. Hmm... that staying off my feet-thing just didn't seem to be happening. We wandered until dinnertime. I was struggling with what to eat before the race, but we settled on Houston's Restaurant where I could have a salad. Afterward, we walked home. Dean agreed to walk the dog while I organized my clothing and bag for the race the next day. I struggled with whether or not to wear some new shorts with pockets that I had just purchased, but in the end I opted to go with the "tried and true" - my black shorts and purple tank top. I pinned my number on and attached Eric's In-Memory ribbon. All set!
Heading to bed, I was a bit apprehensive about sleep. When I'm worried about getting to sleep it is usually even more difficult. Maybe it was all the activity of the day, but I was exhausted and went right to sleep and didn't wake up until my alarm went off at 5:15 AM the next morning.
Although the morning seemed to go well, I somehow ended up behind schedule and found myself, along with my brother, hurrying almost frantically to Grant Park for the race. I was to meet Gaby and Suku, my training friends from the Chicago Area Runner's Association (CARA), in the CARA tent at 7 AM. I arrived about 10 minutes after.
Following a few laps of the interior of the tent, I became very nervous that I wasn't going to find them. Unfortunately, at that point I had more important things to deal with - I hurried to the washroom line-up and scrambled through the flower garden to find a short line. That accomplished, I swung back to the tent for one more look for my friends. By now the loud speakers were announcing that the race would start in 4 and a half minutes. My heart sank. I tried to resign myself to the terrifying fact that I wasn't going to find them. I'd never run that kind of distance on my own, and as the race started, I felt sad and scared.
It was cold at the start, but I knew I would warm-up, so I handed Dean, my long sleeve T-shirt, leaving me with only a tank top and shorts for the race. Everyone around me was in sweatshirts and warmer clothing - I think it's my thick Canadian blood that seems to enable me to handle the cold when I run. I did, however, wear the nice little knit gloves (apparently meant to be disposable) given to us by the Marathon organizers in the race packet, and actually ended up wearing them right up to the end of the race.
The first mile was fine - we ran back the way I had just walked from home. Since I was late getting to the starting line after looking for Suku and Gaby, I jumped in somewhere around the 7 or 8 minute per mile mark, which needless to say, is much faster than I run. Knowing this, I tried to stay to the side and out of the way. But with the crowds, people weren't moving at any blistering speeds anyway. Clothes quickly became thrown along the route as people warmed-up.
The best thing about running with other people, and specifically my running buddies, is that we chat and the light conversation makes the time go by faster and it keeps our spirits high. The three of us are also very good at pacing one another. We run a very similar pace and together we stay steady and consistent. On my own, I was nervous about my pace and whether I would be lazy and tend to hold back for fear of over exerting myself. My first mile actually turned out to be a fairly quick one (for me given the distance) at 9:15 minutes. A bit shocked by this, I slowed right down for the next mile. And, as per usual, I needed to take a bathroom break at the first water stop. This brought mile two up to 10:45 minutes. Okay, I realized I needed to be able to find somewhere in between.
Whether it was nerves or perhaps I drank too much water before the start (I hadn't had anything for 2 hours prior to the gun as the book had suggested), I had to make another washroom stop just before mile 6. As I stood in line for the washroom, I watched the runners pass - and with them went any hope of finding my friends. Surely they were way ahead of me by now...
Back on the route, I ran with a gentleman from South Africa for a bit. It was his second marathon. He was hoping to have a 4 hour and 15 minute finish. His breathing seemed very labored and I wondered to myself if he'd pull it off. I lost him at the next water stop in the crowds.
Back on my own, I tried to look at the scenery, watch the cheering spectators that lined the street, read their signs, and listen and enjoy the bands that played along the route. I had heard that people who run marathons often miss all the sights and sounds they pass along the way because they are concentrating on getting through the race. I didn't want that to happen - I wanted the full experience (although I must admit, after the race I heard we had run through China town, but for the life of me, I don't remember seeing it). Then, I thought about my brother, Dean, who had planned to go out for breakfast after he saw me off at the Start. I pictured him warm and cozy, drinking coffee. He was then supposed to meet some of my girlfriends and Randy (the X-husband) back at my place around 9:30 AM. Together they planned to try to find me along the route and cheer me on. I pictured them meeting-up and opting to go out to eat rather than standing in the cold and attempting to find me in the crowds.
Just before mile seven, as I was reading the signs spectators were holding along the route, when I caught sight of a runner standing on the sidewalk. She was leaning on a light post and struggling with a small plastic bag. It was Gaby!! I cut across in front of the stream of runners to get over to the side of the street - I must have almost scared her to death when I ran up screaming "Oh, my god, I thought I'd never find you!!" I gave her a big hug. What were the chances with all those people that we would meet up?! Especially, since I was so far off my usual pace with my two unscheduled washroom stops.
As we started running I heard how, with the crowds, Gaby wasn't even able to find the CARA tent where we had agreed to meet before the race. She was feeling as lost as I was without our group. And, she was running slower than her usual pace too because she had been having some knee soreness that was slowing her down. She had stopped on the side of the road to take some Advil when I saw her. She said she had been watching for me at the washroom line-ups knowing that I normally have to make a few stops at the beginning of my runs.
All this time, I had assumed she and Suku were together. It had never even dawned on me that they were not able to find each other either.
Together, we fell into our usual stride - a nice consistent pace around 10 minutes/mile. She continued to have knee pain throughout the race and as we neared the halfway point my legs and knees began to ache too. We had trained along paths on the lakefront during our long runs, so seldom had we run such a long distance on roads and pavement. Luckily, Gaby had a Ziploc with 12 Advil. We rationed them between us for the rest of the race - high-5'ing each other at one point and calling ourselves "Team Advil".
At halfway, as we passed through the arch that had been built of balloons, our spirits were high. Gaby continued to have pain, but we were keeping a healthy pace. Chatting as we went we watched the scenery and people along the route. We suggested to each other that next year we would make signs and pay people to cheer and wave them at us along the way. We walked through most of the water stops and about every 5 miles took a break to stretch and take in the energy GU packets we had with us.
The sun was out and it remained cool the whole race. The streets were stilled lined with spectators even as we continued further into the south side of the city. Someone had told me to be sure to high-5 children along the route, which I did. It too helped to keep my spirits high. The runners had not thinned out much either, so we had to watch at all times for people in front and be prepared to dodge slower runners.
Just past the baseball stadium (White Sox), we attempted to take our last two Advil each. Both of us by this time were having various forms of leg, foot and knee problems. As I was taking the Advil out of the bag, I dropped one. Although I quickly bent down to pick it up, another runner behind me stepped on it! We continued running. I told Gaby I was desperate enough that I would have still taken it off the ground and swallowed it if he hadn't stepped on it. We laughed about being Advil-junkies and crawling around the ground for pills. Luckily, I had a couple of Tylenol with me that I used to supplement the Advil.
Just past mile 22, someone ran up beside me and said something about the race (I don't even remember what it was), I looked over and saw it was Randy! He jogged along with us for a while. Ahead, he pointed out Jayanthi and Debbie cheering and waving a sign (GO LEE), then Dean with a camera taking pictures. They said we looked surprisingly good for having run 20 miles - I corrected them that it was 22. What a great boost! We had been feeling like the only ones in the race without a support group - not true!
After we left them, we were feeling good - still sore, but breathing well, lots of energy and high spirits. Another extra boost came when we crossed over the Dan Ryan Expressway and started heading back north towards downtown and the Finish line. Until that point, it seemed like we had been going south for most of the race.
By now, we had about 5K left. The last few miles we had been trying to visualize where we would have been along our usual training route on the lake front if we had the same mileage to go. We knew we were close now and really started to pick it up - passing by water stops and working our way though the other runners we pushed toward the finish. By now, most people were really slowing down and getting around them became a real chore. I started calling out "excuse me" as we pushed our way past. Finding the energy to get through the crowds of runners that were now walking was not easy, so they either moved out of the way, or we pushed our way through.
The last few miles were surprisingly hilly for Chicago (for those of you not familiar with Chicago, we really don't have hills). We had 3 or 4 hills (more like overpasses) which we "attacked" and talked each other through. I could feel that Gaby had a lot more left in her than me - I encouraged her to go ahead. She stayed back with me for some time, then finally as the Finish came into view she went ahead. I was able to keep her in sight right up to the line. I pushed hard going in. I knew my goal of coming in under 4 and a half hours was really close. My watch said 4:29:02 - but I also knew I had started my watch a little late at the Start. Turns out it was about 32 seconds late. My actual chip time turned out to be 4:29:34 - just made it!
After we finished, the crowds were incredible getting through the shoot, past the food and out to the meeting area. At the designated location, we were able to meet up with Gaby's boyfriend, Dave. Then, we fought the crowds over toward the CARA tent where I had told Dean I would meet him after the race. And surprise! We ran into Suku on our way over there! He had a good race and ended up running with some friends he had driven with downtown from Evanston.
Arriving at the CARA tent, there was no sign of Dean and my friends. So, I stood as he and I had agreed under the "Fools" sign (somehow appropriate) waiting for him. About 2 minutes before they showed up, my stomach started to take a turn for the worse. I think it was all the Advil making me nauseous. I took the PowerBar out of my pocket and took a big bite to try to get something in my stomach. Dean and the group arrived at that point (they had walked back from the point where I had seen them at mile 22) - me with my mouth full and feeling sick to my stomach. After a few photos, we went in the tent and sat down. Sitting along with getting something on my stomach really helped.
After a good rest, we walked back to my place, about a mile, and then on to the restaurant for breakfast. And, boy, oh boy, did I eat!
***
Now that the race is well behind me and I look back, the marathon didn't seemed to take the physical and mental effort that I thought it would - perhaps I didn't run it hard enough. In some ways I think the training was tougher to get through than the race. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but I think by going out slow and having so much energy left at the end, made it much more of a pleasant experience - like getting out for a run with a friend on a sunny and cool fall day. And, don't let me understate the importance of the "friend" either - without whose company, this would have been a much different story.
Now, the question has already been asked, ``Will I do another?''
Probably, but I think I'm going to take a bit of a rest first.