Sunday, October 2, 2016

The Second Half of the Chicagoland Series {Chicago Half Marathon Race Recap}

Race morning started pretty early (as usual I guess) with a 5am Uber pick up from the hotel. We drove about 30 minutes to the race site (or as close as we could get) and then walked about a block and a half to the closest corral where we could see other runners waiting. My mom, sister and I joined them...

We knew it was going to be a long morning. It was around 5:45 am and the race didn't start until 7am (for Sanya and me) and 7:45am (for my mom who was doing the 5K). But the time seemed to pass by quickly and we eventually exchanged good luck hugs with my mom, then Sanya and I went to find our corral. 

The corral staging was pretty organized, although no one really checked our bibs to ensure we were in the correct one...

The race implemented a rolling start so there were no time delays between each corral. This particular half marathon is the only one that completely shuts down Chicago's Lakeshore Drive so the rolling start concept helped facilitate getting everybody across the start line as quickly as possible. 

Right before we crossed the start Sanya and I saw our mom and we stopped for a picture...

Once we started we implemented a 5:1 interval strategy. We also planned to walk through every water station and stop for pictures along the course. We only ended up taking pictures once...
but we did stop for water at every station. It was a pretty humid day (even for me and I'm from Florida) and we were not running with water. The first water station wasn't until close to Mile 3, but after that the water stations were relatively close together. 

The course was really nice but I must confess that I didn't take in the beauty as much as I should have. I was busy trying to keep the bees away from me. Apparently September is when all the bees come out to frolick through the Chicago streets. There were quite a few of them pacing us through the 13.1 miles. Sanya said it must have been something in my leave in conditioner that was attracting them (thanks a lot Garnier Fructis). 

We kept up the 5:1 intervals until the half way point, then dropped to 3:1s and tried to stay consistent with that through the end. I wasn't running with music but Sanya had her earbuds in so I kept myself entertained by listening to the conversations around me and swatting bees away.

Finally we made it to the end...

And did the usual post race pic stuff...

We lined up to take the "finisher" pics before I had a chance to pick up my second medal for completing the Chicagoland series so the lady behind me kindly volunteered to lend me hers so I could take my pictures with both medals (I love random acts of kindness like that!)... 

After pictures Sanya and I went to get my medal, picked up our post race food, tried to eat it (it was pizza but I can't eat cheese), and then headed towards the shuttle {the race organizers provided a few shuttles to and from Millennium Park since the race was so far south}. 

My mom had finished her 5K long before Sanya and I were done with our races so we didn't see her in the post-race area but here are some of her race pics...

Sanya and I made our way back to Millennium Park and once we got there we met up with our mom, exchanged hugs of congratulations, and then took an Uber back to the hotel. The first order of business at the hotel was to shower and get ready as quickly as possible so that we could head to Shake Shack for the best burgers ever.

All-in-all the race was a great one. I may not repeat any of the Chicagoland series races next year but I will definitely do a race in Chicago in 2017 (as part of my never ending running Bucket List). I would recommend this race to others though. Apart from the humidity (and the bees) the race was great. I would have preferred if they had the first water station sooner since it was so humid (maybe before mile 2) but if you go into the race hydrated it's not too long of a wait before water.

The medal this year was huge (probably because of the 20th anniversary of the race)...
Although I love race bling it was a little bigger than I would have liked. But I really love the Chicagoland half marathon series medal and I have them both proudly displayed along with my other medals from my previous Chicago races...

I'm looking forward to figuring out what Chicago race will make my Bucket List next!

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