A goal of mine once was to walk a 5k. After that I thought I would try to run a 5k. After that day I thought I would never run again. I was so sore and I felt like I was 100 years old after the race. Those feelings though slowly started to disappear and I decided to go a little further and do a 10k. I did several 10 k's in combinations of runs and walks and was starting to feel that the distance I was going wasn't enough to actually enjoy the race..... and my myspace friend Cin gave me the inspiration to sign up for the Chicago Half Marathon.
It all started on Sunday September 14th at 5:00 a.m. My alarm went off and I rolled out of bed in my hotel room in Downtown Chicago thinking to myself that I was so crazy for getting out of bed so early on a Sunday. I looked out the window. It was still dark outside. I couldn't see what the day was going to bring so I kept my fingers crossed that it would be overcast and cool.
I got ready and left the hotel and walked out on to the street. There was a light mist and it was slightly warm. I walked to the bus stop thinking to myself that even a light mist wouldn't be that bad... It might actually help me continue to move. On the bus I saw a lot of people that appeared to be as crazy as myself. They had their numbers on and they were excitedly talking about what was going to come of the morning. I parked next to an older man from the Chicago area and he said to me.... "boy, I bet the bus driver never usually sees this many people on a Sunday morning." I giggled to myself thinking about how strange we must look to people that have no interest in Half Marathon Charades.... A group of guys in their early 20's got on the bus at the third stop and one of them looked around and said to his buddy, "wow, all of a sudden I feel less fit. I wouldn't run a block this early in the morning."
It was obvious to me that these boys were probably "still out" from the night before as they were sporting their blood shot eyes and wearing rumpled clothes perhaps because they passed out, after a long night of partying, at their friends house and were now on their way to their respective houses. The bus finally arrived at the starting point. As I excited the rain picked up a little bit. There were people everywhere trying to huddle underneath tents and wearing trash bag like rain ponchos. I looked at my watch. I had a half hour to start. I started to feel nervous and my stomach started churning. I stood in a long line for the bathroom and then made my way through the muddy fields of Jackson Park to get to the start line. I stood in the spot to start with people that were going to finish at 2 hours and 30 minutes. I didn't think I would finish at that pace I just wanted to give myself something to work for... The gun went off and it was about 10 minutes before I got to cross the start line.
Mile 1- not bad it was misting again
Mile 2- I saw my cheerleader standing on the sidelines and she was drenched. She didn't see me. I kept running thinking i would catch her gaze as I went around the loop.
Mile 3&4 - I was in good spirits joking with other runners and hamming it up for the camera men. It was raining quite steady now and I was headed throught the campus and toward the lake. Nancy saw me and yelled for me to keep going. She gave me confidence telling me there were at least a 1000 people behind me.
Mile 5- My feet were starting to get soaked and the rain was coming down steady and it was starting to get a little windy.
Miles 6-12 My feet were getting heavy feeling like I had 20 pound weights on each foot. The lake was choppy. All the water touching my body was starting to make me feel a little woozy. I had to go to the bathroom around mile 7 and it took forever waiting in line and then dealing with wet clothes. Along each mile marker at this point there was a person holding a green sign saying we were annointed to finish..... This basically told me so far they weren't closing the course due to conditions.
Mile 8 and 9- I started to get cold and I was feeling small electrical jabs in my side. I couldn't decide if it was my heart rate monitor or the contraband I Pod that I had hiding in my shirt. ( headphones weren't allowed but I snuck one in anyway. )
Mile 10 and 11- I was starting to feel like there was not going to be an end. I removed the I Pod, disconnected the heart rate monitor and held it all in my hands as I pushed forward. At this point I had given up on the running and was going at a fast walk. I could feel my cheeks getting windburned and I could see large waves rolling onto the road from the water. For a minute I almost thought maybe I could swim to the finish. I could tell that I had really slowed down a lot and was way out of my time range because people were already out cleaning up the course. Forget about cheering on the people in the end of the line... They had their winners and all they wanted to do was get into where it was dry too.
Mile 12- I felt like I couldn't go any further. I too finally felt like I had had enough. I could barely see....it was raining so hard. I saw some people in a little golf cart and asked them if they could just take me back to the park so I could go home. The man in the cart looked at me and said..." you know Andrea there is a little less than a mile to go. You sure you want a ride?" For a brief second I considered it then thought about all the work I had put into this and the expectation of getting my medal and being able to have the physical proof of my accomplishment. I turned around started running and tried to picture what the finish line would look like when I finally got to see it.... Step after step was painful. My toes, legs, and shoulders hurt. I caught up to three ladies that I had been playing "cat and mouse" with the whole way. We decided when we saw the finish we would all try to cross together. When I got to the finish line I saw Nancy my cheerleader and she was squealing with excitement. She had a huge smile on her face and I couldn't believe that this finish line that I was going to cross was finally my moment of truth. Proof to myself that I am far more capable of accomplishing things than I ever believed. I was in shock, Freezing, wet, tired and sore and all of a sudden all of the work that I went through to get here was all worth it.
Sure, I could have run a better race.... but that was not my goal. My goal was to FINISH!
Here are some race highlights as reported in the Chicago Paper:
Race Highlights -- 16,500 Total Entrants (largest field ever) -- 11,053 Total Starters -- 10,550 Total Finishers -- 95% Finish Rate -- Age of youngest marathoner: 16 -- Age of oldest marathoner: 77 -- U.S. states represented: 48 -- Countries represented: 28 -- Number of Corporate Challenge Teams: 4 -- Number of Charities Benefiting from the Race/Runners: 12 -- Number of volunteers: more than 500 -- Temperature at the start: 69 F -- Temperature at the finish: 64 F -- Race conditions: steady rain, heavy at times, and windy
