Running the Marathon: Zhenya's Perspective
Waking up
My day started at 5:00 AM, though I had been tossing and turning in bed since around 2:00AM. After wandering around for a few minutes between the bathroom, the kitchen and my living room, I put on the outfit that I laid out the day before, packed my backpack, filled up my water bottle, grabbed a banana, a Kate’s real food bar, and some Cheerios, took a sip of coffee, and headed outside. It felt surprisingly warm. “Much better than Saturday'' - I think to myself. Janet and I had gone to the Nike shakeout run Saturday morning, and it felt chilly running along the lakefront, so I was worried race day would be too cold. But race day was beautiful - 45 to 55F degrees, cloudy, slight wind - perfect PR weather.
Race day outfit (plus new double bra trick!)
Starting Area
I headed to the Palmer House Hilton hotel to meet up with the rest of my CARA training crew. It was so great to see everybody! When we got to the Grant Park gate, I noticed how long the lines were. We should not have procrastinated, and should have left the hotel before 6:45 am. With only 20 minutes to get into the corral I started to feel a bit panicky. The corrals were packed, and while some of us crowded outside the entrance, some chose to climb the fence. Luckily, once corrals A & B started moving, we were able to get inside corral C. I quickly found my 3:20 pacer, who to my surprise, was a running friend from the neighborhood - Solomon! I saw a few of my other running friends around me, and said to myself what I say at the start of every marathon: “It will be over before you know it.”
Palmer House gathering of CARA runners
Race Mantra
I had 2 thoughts going into the race. My word of the day was “patience”, my mantra was “No bargaining” (thank you Des Linden for that one). I crossed the start line right before 7:40 AM. Surprisingly, I didn’t get emotional at the start. I was really excited to be running the streets of Chicago again!
A New Gel Storage Trick!
They say ‘Nothing new on race day”, but I ran in a pair of borrowed Nike arm sleeves (thank you Janet!), my Nike Vaporfly 3 shoes, which maybe had 10 miles on them, a barely worn pair of Oiselle shorts and two bras. I saw Meghan Featherstone use this two bra trick when she ran Berlin - you essentially double bra, or you wear a bra and a bra tank, and you put your gels in between the two bras. The gels never touch the skin and they don’t fall out. Since I was running with UCan gels (the pouches are much bigger than other gels), I wanted to make sure they weren't going to weigh my legs down by putting them in my shorts side pockets. I was able to store three gels in my bra and 2 in my waistband. That left my shorts side pockets empty and free from extra weight.
I knew my husband Sam was going to meet me on the course at miles 14 and 17. I had prepared two water bottles and rubber banded a UCan pouch to each one for extra nutrition and water to be passed to me on the race course.
The Race
The first 10 miles flew by, as they always do. As I was running I caught myself speeding up ahead of the pacers, so I mentally kept going back to the word “patience” and stayed on track. Pull back, pull back. CIM. CIM. (I am due to run CIM in 8 weeks and did not want to overdo it in this race.)
By mile 14 my handheld bottle was empty and I was scanning the crowd for Sam. I see him and Janet on the left side. We executed the water bottle exchange flawlessly. I got another 16 oz of LMNT in my hands. I was 3 gels in, I was feeling good.
Mile 14: gel/bottle handoff in action - perfectly executed!
Soon we were in the last 10 miles and Solomon kept checking in on me. This is also when I started losing focus, saw many people starting to walk (usually runners who were cramping) I had to battle my inner demons and remind myself that I went into this race with the “No bargaining” mindset. “Just don’t let me drop you” I say to Solomon. “I won’t. I will hold your hand if I have to."
Somewhere in Little Italy I heard that a new world record had been achieved by Kelvin Kiptum, who ran the marathon at 2:00:35. This was the second marathon I ran with a world record achievement (Berlin 2022 was the first time). How cool is that?!
It got easier once we were past mile 23, turning the corner on 35th Street/Indiana Ave and heading north. Home stretch. I ran this route last Sunday with my friends. I’ve got this. “Open your stride, put your head down”. I had 1 gel left.
As I go towards mile 25, my friend Andrew runs alongside me, yelling my name, taking a video. He had done the same earlier this year in Boston. I have the best friends! Chicago and all of the running community is amazing.
Andrew running alongside me at mile 25
I pass my apartment building near mile 26, and with 800 meters to go, I know I am almost done. It is the best feeling ever. I smile, turn right onto “Mt Roosevelt”, then left towards the finish line. I didn’t cry at the finish. I scanned the crowd looking for Deena Kastor. She isn’t giving medals out this year. My watch is dead. I don’t have my phone on me. I have no idea what my finish time is.
After
I head back to Palmer house to change, get stretched out and see my friends! I think everyone I ran with PR’d! What an amazing day all around. I can’t wait to do it all again next fall! I finally check my phone. 2023 Chicago marathon is complete in 3:19:22. My 3rd and fastest Chicago marathon to date. My 9th marathon overall.
Chicago 2023 by numbers:
TIme 3:19:22
Average pace 7:37
Gels: 5 UCan, all Pineapple
Liquid 32 oz of LMNT Mango Chili
2 Imodium (fast acting)
Spectating the Marathon: Janet's Perspective
I have a newfound admiration for the 2 million spectators who come out to cheer for runners during the marathon. While I have always appreciated their loud cheers as a runner, I don’t think I quite understood the effort involved until I spectated the Chicago Marathon this past weekend. Spectators travel from location to location, navigate dozens of closed streets, wait around for hours at a time in chilly weather, just to get a glimpse of their runner for a few seconds. We love and applaud their effort!
Getting There
My day started at around 7:30am, just as the runners were leaving their corrals. The plan was to meet the Cheer Crew at mile 14, cross over to mile 17 one street over, then head south to miles 23 and 25. Where I live is completely hemmed in by the race course, but luckily, we were able to get onto the expressway by McCormick Center and drive to the West Loop, where miles 14 and 17 were located. The Cheer Crew assembled at 8am at Mile 14 with coffee and pastries, sent a picture to our friends that we would be on the corner of Adams and Peoria on the left side (important to note so runners know which side of the course to run on), and proceeded to wait for the next few hours to see all of our runners come through.
The quiet before the race...
Watching the Elites
It was a thrill to see the elites - leader Kelvin Kiptum (and eventual world record breaker) came through first with his pacers - he was so far ahead of the pack! Watching the elites like Kelvin Kiptum, Siffan Hasan, Des Linden and Emily Sisson running by is something else…they are practically floating above the ground and do not even look like they are putting in that much effort!
Elites at Mile 14
Tracking the Runners
We were tracking 15-20 runners amongst us, each running at different paces, and waited 3 hours to see them all come through. Some runners were doing great, others struggled with nausea and cramps. We tried to help them by offering salt pills, water, or sometimes, just words of encouragement. After the elites, Zhenya came through first, at mile 14, and then we crossed over to 17 to see her again. I was able to successfully pass off gels that I had been holding for some of the runners (phew!) before heading south to the next viewing point.
The rest of the Cheer Crew biked south, but I decided to run it. It had taken almost 3 hours to see our last runner come through miles 14/17, and the challenge was to get to miles 23/25 before our first runner arrived there. A friend saw me sprinting down State St and wondered why I was rushing! There were so many street closures that I had to change my path every few minutes. I had run about 3 miles south to mile 24, and was planning to head further south to the CES tent at mile 23 when I got a text that the bike riders were stuck behind barriers and could not go further south. We abandoned our plans to go to the CES tent, and I ran back north to mile 26 to meet them. There, we stayed for the next 2-3 hours to watch all of our runners finish the race.
It was so fun to cheer our runners on! We were a LOUD bunch and had all lost our voices by the end of the day. It took a lot more effort to get around than I had anticipated and, strangely, felt almost as stressful as actually running the race. But to see the runners' smiles and excitement when they heard us screaming their names at the top of lungs was totally worth it!
Congrats to all the marathoners! We are so proud of you!!
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