Chicago Distance Classic

To run or not to run? That was the million dollar question. Though I'd stopped running almost completely, the shin wasn't really feeling so good. Just walking on it has been painful. I did lace up a new pair of shoes and go out for a short, 4 mile slow run mid-week, to test out the shoes and to see if I'd have to quit.

When you train for something that takes so long, like marathon or ironman, it's helpful to make small goals for yourself along the way. It helps keep you focused and motivated. I had set a time goal for this race way back in the spring when I was signing up for the marathon. I didn't want to let that time goal slip away, but there wasn't much I could do. My plan was to go, start at the planned pace, hold it as long as I could, but to stop if the pain was too intense. Basically, I had come to the realization that this was going to hurt. In the back of my mind, I know my long runs should be much further than this already, so one little accomplishment would be to cover the distance.

When I got up in the morning and was walking around to get ready to get downtown, the shin felt completely fine. This was encouraging! I got dressed, pulled on a brace over the shin, put the new shoes on and jumped in the car. We got down close to the race site pretty quickly, but then began the hunt for parking. I wished we would've left a little sooner because it seemed all the street parking was full. We pulled into a lot to park, but the credit card machine was down and we didn't have enough cash. (we rarely carry cash) I started freaking out. I was supposed to meet Bern at the CARA gear check and I had to go to the bathroom. I kept my eye on the clock as we drove around in circles, passing pay lots with excruciatingly long lines and well, the saint kicked me out of the car. Said I was making him nervous.

So I left the gear check bag and rushed to try and meet Bern at the designated meeting place. It was humid out and I was already sticky and a little sweaty just from my vigorous walk to the CARA gear check tent. But Bern wasn't there. It was just 15 minutes before the start of the race. The porta potty lines were much too long. I decided to make my way over to the race start and try to line up where I thought I might find Bern. I looked all over for her, but I had no idea what she was wearing and, well, it's hard for short people to find others in a big crowd. I was a bit disappointed that more people didn't put on deoderant before the race. People - when you are wearing a singlet and it's this hot and humid out before a race, you smell. It really is OK to slap a little deoderant on before you run. It won't hurt, I promise. And I can't just blame it on one guy...as I scooted around the people lining up to run, there were several people with the BBO problem! And we hadn't even started running! Sheesh!

Then they started the national anthem and I gave up my search for Bern. I figured I'd see her as she ran by me in the first few miles. The gun went off and the we walked/shuffled to the start. This was the first race I was doing with my new Garmin Forerunner 305 and I thought, OK, if nothing else, I'll get some good pace/heart rate info for future reference. With the very first run step, the pain shot through my shin. I grimaced and thought, "OK, should I stop now?" Seemed that would be a waste. I kept going and the pain shot through my shin with every step. I purposely didn't take any ibuprofen, if it was going to hurt, I wanted to feel it. I didn't want to make this nagging injury any worse.

I clocked the first mile at faster than the goal pace. But deep down, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up this pace. It hurt and I knew it wasn't worth it. We ran over a metal bridge and I slowed down significantly. It was a little wet out and very slippery over the bridge. I also have this fear that I'm going to get my foot all caught up in those holes, and I was bummed they didn't have any areas of carpet covering the bridge. At the marathon, they have big sections of the same bridge covered by carpet for the runners.

The next mile, still a pretty quick pace and would've kept me on my original goal. But my leg hurt. Now, it wasn't hurting any worse than when I started, but thinking about it was mentally draining. More bridges, pain still there, pace slowing...I'm losing about 10-15 seconds each mile. Now people are passing me. I tried not to let that get to me. I was not going to make my goal pace, not that I really expected to, ever since the shin problem came up. So I decided, well, if I can't make that goal time, I don't want to beat up my body for a race that doesn't really matter. The pain is there, but it's not getting any worse, and I have this thing this year - NO WALKING.

We're now at about the half way point. My clothes were absolutely soaked. I've been having this little problem where the soap that has been left in my shorts from the washing machine suds up and runs down my legs. It looks like salt. I gotta figure out how to stop that from happening! I learned long ago that the answer to this is NOT to pour a cup of water down my legs to wash it off. That only soaks my socks and shoes and sets me up for some huge blisters! I don't remember feeling very hot, I guess it was just the humidity that made things tough.

The course made you cross over some grassy section around mile 8. I didn't really care for that. I then missed the next mile marker, but I kept hitting my splits and I was now pretty consistent. (consistently slow, but still consistent!) Other people I knew were passing me, asking how I was doing. Dude, you're PASSING me, how the hell do you THINK I'm doing? I tried not to complain about it, just said I'm not doing so good, but you look strong, so just go run. See you at the end. Yeah. I have to go to the end now, because I have no idea how to get to the finish unless I follow the course. I may have mentioned before, I am directionally challenged.

We ran on what is also part of the Accenture triathlon course. I've run this many times and I knew I'd be running this part of the course again in 2 weeks. I thought to myself, "Gee, sure hope I feel better to run this in 2 weeks!!" I kept waiting for Bill (KK's husband) to pass me so I could finish up with him. But I had no idea where he had started and I just hoped that he'd see me when he passed. The next few miles got a little slower, pain still present, but not feeling any worse than the first mile. I now knew that I could finish. It didn't feel good, but it wasn't so bad that I'd have to quit. It was all about finishing now. With just 3 miles to go, I just tried to keep an even pace. My heart rate felt high, but I didn't feel like I was going fast. Was it the heat?

Now we came into this zig zag thing. Back and forth, back and forth...what the??? The course wasn't like this last year. I could hear the announcer at the finish, but we still had over a mile to go. I didn't really like all the zig zagging. I just wanted to cut across and get it over with! But, of course, that's cheating and I can't do that, so I followed everyone on the ridiculous pattern to get to the finish.

Down the final stretch, people started to sprint. And in true MJ fashion, I have no "kick". I continue on my steady pace to carry me across the finish line. I'm not happy with how it felt, not happy with my time, but I am happy that I was able to cover the 13.1 miles without stopping. It gave me confidence that had this been Ironman day, I could've finished. OK, true, that's not the "A" goal, but until I get this shin thing under control, I'm going to have to settle for less aggressive goals.