I had been looking forward to the inaugural Rock-n-Roll half marathon for months. I'm not planning on a fall marathon this year, so the half was one of the last big races on my schedule for the season. What I wasn't planning several months ago is that this race completed a '9 day marathon of racing' for me. The week before I ran a 5k, and a 10 mile race. That equals a half marathon, and the second half was Sunday. So I was less than fresh for it, but I'm not making excuses. I ran a pretty enjoyable pace, and enjoyed the bands along the course.
The build up to this race felt a little like a full marathon to me. There was a huge expo at McCormick Place, in the same room they use for the Bank of America Chicago marathon expo. The day before the race I found myself getting a little keyed up, drinking lots of water, staying off my feet, and even eating pasta the night before at a pre-race party with a bunch of my wife's friends who were running their first half-marathon the next day.
Those are all good things to do before a long race, but I wasn't really planning on doing much more than going on a hard training run. The distance is about the same as my normal weekend long run. So, I kept asking myself "why?" all day.
Race morning, I met up with my friend Greg Sanchez, with the idea of running together. He's recovering from an injury, and wasn't planning on going very hard either. We started together, but quickly found ourselves running a pretty good pace (7:15) for the first mile. Then the second mile. We kept agreeing to ease off the pace, but then the third mile was also the same pace. So we stopped at the nearest porta-potty, then started up again determined to really slow it down. This time we did. Part of it might have been the fact that the first few miles of the course are about the same as the marathon, through the loop. After that, the course heads south along Lake Shore Drive and then the Lakefront path.
So we took it easy, and enjoyed the day, and the bands along the way. There was some good music, and several bands we would have liked to stop and watch for a while. But we weren't taking it that easy. The highlight was just before mile 7 for us, when we were able to look over and see Kara Goucher just taking the lead in the race. She was coming up on mile ten, and she looked smooth!
There was much debate among my running friends over the days leading up to the race as to whether she would be able to win the overall race rather than just the women's division.. She is arguably the best female marathon runner in the country right now, and an accomplished Olympian. She was the only 'world class' level runner in the race. But there were some really good local runners among the men, including Chad Ware of the Fleet Feet Racing team, who recently ran a 2:20 marathon.
But he was no match for Goucher. She did win the race, beating Ware by about 20 seconds. She graciously mentioned during the awards ceremony that she would love to run 2:20 for a marathon. Her best is about five minutes slower. But her half marathon, which was a tune-up race for her, was only about 20 seconds slower than the American record, by Deena Kastor (who will be in Chicago for the marathon in October). I interviewed Goucher for the ABC7 Sunday morning newscast after the race, and she was truly a joy to talk to. I believe she genuinely had a good time in Chicago, and she said she will definitely come back, possibly to run the full marathon.
Most everyone I talked to after the race had a good experience. Most ran pretty well, including the group of my wife's friends running their first. I did hear several people suggest the course was a little longer than 13.1 miles, based on their GPS watches. I'm pretty sure that was the case during last year's race which was known as the Chicago Distance Classic. But I really doubt it this year. The USATF certification assures the distance, and in this case, there is an American record involved in getting it right.
After the race, Goucher, and her husband Adam (a great runner himself) were off to Europe, where she will compete in the World Championships at the end of the month in Berlin. Ware went home to prepare for his wedding this weekend! Greg and I went to our respective homes to take care of our kids! But before we left, we enjoyed some of the post-race concert featuring Susan Tedeschi. I am a big fan of hers, and she sounded great on the stage in Grant Park. It was a great was to end a really enjoyable morning. I will definitely put the Rock-n-Roll race on my calendar next year.
See you on the roads....
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