Robin

Chicago Marathon Race Recap!
Wow what an experience! I came away from Chicago with my 2nd star, a shiny new PR, and my 15th marathon under my belt. My official time was 3:02:53(6:58 min/mile avg pace) which was 3 minutes shy of my big shiny goal.
Starting the race I immediately felt that the A goal wasn’t in the cards for the day but I still thought I could go sub-3. At halfway I thought, this is doable, I can repeat that on the back half (running a strong final 10k of the marathon is usually my superpower), but by mile 18, my legs suddenly felt heavy and I could not get them to turn over fast enough. My pace dropped down a tier and I was never able to regain it. Interestingly enough my HR also dropped slightly with my pace. I have asthma and I usually finish a marathon on the verge of an asthma attack with lung inflammation lasting for days after - but this time my lungs were not troubled at all. It goes to show that the failure was not in cardiovascular fitness but in neuromuscular fatigue.
After some reflection, I think I made some volume mistakes during my taper, then, paired with the race day weather conditions (85% humidity being my true death sentence as a desert dweller), it just simply wasn’t my day.
Even though I’m disappointed that I didn’t meet the expectations I set for myself, I’m still proud of how far I’ve come and I’m more determined than ever to chase down that sub 3.
Next up? Boston 😈 I’m really more of a hills girlie anyway 💅

Shout out to my husband for being the best support crew not just on race day but for the months of preparation beforehand 💕
#chicagomarathon #marathon #running #runnergirl