Chicago Marathon Race Recap

Goals:

Goal 1:  PR (Sub 2:40:30)
Goal 2:  Sub 2:40
Goal 3:  Top 10 American Female
Goal 4:  Top Bank of America Employee Finisher

Actual:

PR
2:38:47 via 1:18:03 / 1:18:42
6th American Female, 14th Overall Female
1st Bank of America Employee Finisher (Male or Female)

Splits: 

5:53/6:05/5:51/6:10/6:03/6:01/5:58
6:04/6:03/6:01/5:59/6:03/60:6/6:01
6:03/6:06/6:07/6:01/5:58/5:57/6:03
6:09/6:07/6:09/6:03/6:10/1:22

What a year!  What a day for a race!  I'm about to PR!  After what I've been through this year? Caitlin, you're amazingly tough.    

Nothing too incredibly deep in the paragraph above, but you'll have to forgive marathon brain at mile 26, coming in to the home stretch to finish a marathon.  As I outlined in my blog in October, a lot of things changed in my life earlier this year, including my marital status and permanent place of residence.  Undoubtedly, as I ran down that final straightaway on Columbus Avenue in Chicago, I was really proud of myself more so for recovering emotionally from a setback than I was for running a personal best.  Let's recap the specifics of the race.

I arrived in Chicago on Thursday night, with an incredible excitement to see my good friends Laurie, Lauren and Rachel and, of course, to finally put my training to the test!  I'll skip out on the details of all the days leading up to the race, but want to ensure that I mention how phenomenal the race organization committee is at Chicago.  The entire team is professional, supportive and detail-oriented so that they do indeed successfully host one of the largest marathons in the world.  The elite coordinator, Tracey, did a fabulous job ensuring that our entire group was taken care of.  I felt so proud to be a Bank of America employee - after all, we have an entire team dedicated to organizing this race. 

After a pre-race dinner with my mom and dad, my brother Ben and my boyfriend Peter, I said good night and ensured everyone knew to meet in the VIP tent after the finish.  (Side note:  another perk of being an employee meant that I was able to secure tickets to the VIP tent for my friends and family, so that they were well-fed and sufficiently heated while I traversed the streets of Chicago).  

By the time the alarm went off at 4AM and I started getting ready, I was grateful to be rooming with Laurie, my friend and former training buddy from Charlotte, because we both are pretty calm and collected during race morning prep.  Not too serious, not too chill.  After a bag check, a metal detector scan, and a half mile bus ride, we arrived at the elite tent in the heart of Grant Park.  After what seemed like an agonizingly long time, we finally were ushered to the start line, where we waited another 20 minutes until the gun went off.  With a few final good lucks, fist pumps, high fives and high skips, we finally got into the starting position, poised for a (hopefully) great race.

The gun went off and Laurie, Rachel, Lauren and I all tried to stick together.  The first 5 miles were exceptionally difficult because so many men from Corral A, who are indeed running 2:30 or faster marathon times, kept passing us. I had no concept of what pace I was running, and the Garmin lap pace function wasn't reliable with the tall buildings. So when we came through the first mile in 5:53, I knew not to panic and Laurie and I both said to the group "let's dial it back".  

By the second mile, we came through right at 603, so my nerves calmed a bit....But by mile 3, we were back at 551 and I quickly dismissed thoughts that this would just become a repeat of CIM 2013, where I ran 1:18:xx and 1:22:xx. Instead, I reminded myself of what Terry had told me, which was "if you run a 5:50, you can run a 6:10." So, that's exactly what we did in the next mile. I remember the cumulative time on the race clock was right around 24:00 at this point, so I felt reassured I hadn't completely thrown this race in the crapper just yet. I could hear Rachel telling Lauren that it would be okay if we backed off a bit and I consciously did that.  Laurie was saying the same thing too, but what she really meant was "let's assess how we feel" and I could tell she was going to have a great day. Soon enough, Laurie took off with the Irish girl around 5 miles.  That would be the last time I saw her during the race.  Instinctively, I fell back a couple steps to be closer to Rachel and Lauren. By mile 7, we finally found a group of men trying for our pace and I tried to tuck in behind them, or at least alongside, because the cross/head wind was pretty strong. By mile 10, we had formed a fully functional group of runners, with two latinos fearlessly (and gladly) leading the way.  It's surprising to me that when these early miles of the race were some of the most stressful because I was fretting so much about hitting the right pace.  I probably wasted some precious energy just by being stressed.

The fortunate highlight during the first half of the race included the overall spectacular crowd support, including seeing my friends Mark and Jess, my family and Peter, and my high school coach.  The unfortunate highlight included dropping the first three of my elite fluids, which meant that I didn't get to execute my planned fueling strategy.  I could not believe that I literally dropped every single one through 15K.  I even asked Rachel and Lauren if they had any gels that I could borrow, and they didn't.  I cursed out loud after dropping the third one. I tried not to panic. Soon, I reminded myself that Terry had trained me to be prepared for exactly this type of situation.  After all, I had done numerous long runs without any water or gels.  I changed my strategy in two ways:  (1) I started grabbing my bottles with two hands instead of one to ensure the bottle would not slip precariously from my grip and (2) I drank more gatorade from the race aid stations.  I wanted to make sure that I still got lots of sugar or carbs to prevent any early bonking from occurring. The only negative was that it made my stomach feel kind of weird.  When I did finally have a honey stinger gel at 20K, I downed it so fast that it made my stomach churn. Not much later, that feeling passed. In terms of overall fueling compared to previous marathons, I consumed much fewer calories.

Around 12 miles, I heard and saw my high school coach who literally just drove up five hours and straight back home to see me at two different spots in the marathon. It was awesome! At the halfway point, I saw that we were right at 1:19:0x and I looked at Rachel and Lauren and said, "we're perfect you guys!" And for the first time in the race, Lauren spoke. She turned to me with a huge grin on her face and said "yeah, we are!" I felt so happy! Even though she hadn't said anything before, I always felt her calm, confident presence which made me feel so much more relaxed.

The pack forms

After halfway, I began to notice the wind a lot more. I'm not sure if it actually picked up, or if I turned more towards it, or if I was just starting to get tired. I tried as best I could to tuck in behind Nacho (from Spain) and Hector. They were my very gracious leaders of the pack. I offered my elite fluids to them at one point and they looked at me like I was crazy. :)  I found out later via Nacho's blog that he likes being at the front of the pack and didn't mind that I wasn't making any effort to break the wind for the group (PHEW!).  

At mile 16, Lauren pulled away slightly and I considered going with her, but decided that it was too early and that I should be conservative. I told myself to stay tucked in with my guys until at least 22 and then to make a decision to move past them. For a while, Lauren was just about 15-20 seconds ahead of me, but after mile 21, I could tell she was feeling great and was running 600 or right under. From miles 18-21 I passed at least 3 women, and I tried to tell each of them to tuck in with our pack. 

It also was extremely encouraging to pass through some latin neighborhoods because they went absolutely nuts when they saw Nacho and Hector who both had their country names proudly printed on their jerseys. Some of the fastest splits of my race were posted during these miles 19 and 20, mostly because Nacho and Hector were clearly energized by the support.  By 23, I noticed that the pace had slowed a bit, so I somewhat reluctantly moved to the side and tried to continue running the same pace. I began passing several guys, even though I didn't feel like I was speeding up and instead felt like I was barely hanging on. I was nervous to look at my splits at this point, but I'm really glad that I did because I saw that I was still under 6:10 pace. I was surprised, because I felt pretty shitty at this point.  Even if my legs felt pretty dead at this point, they were still strong enough to carry me to that finish line in a respectable pace! I was overjoyed!  At mile 25, I saw another decent split and told myself that I just had 5 more laps on the track. I saw Tim Meigs and told him good job, but that was all I could muster.  He said "I should have stayed with you" and I couldn't even respond.  Just get to the finish, I thought, and try to power through. I loved seeing the 800m to go sign and willed my legs to go faster. At the one "hill" in the race, I was really starting to feel the effects of running 6:02 pace for 26 miles, so I was grateful for the left turn to the finish line.
 
As I "sprinted" down the final straightaway, I heard the announcer say that I am a Bank of America employee who made the elite group. That was really special. I ran through the finish line and was immediately greeted across the fence by my family.  I smiled knowingly at them and turned around to check for Tim crossing the line.  After guzzling a water, I finally made my way outside of the finish chute and was pulled into hugs from my family.  They had experienced firsthand the struggles from earlier in the year, and I could tell my mom was a little overcome with "proud mom" emotions.  

After making my way to the elite tent (with my family as an escort) to gather my stuff, the day was made even more special to find out that both Lauren and Laurie had ran PRs.  It was exhilarating to feel the buzz of excitement and pride, the feelings of success contagious among us all. After changing out of my sweat-drenched clothes, Laurie and I got a celebratory mimosa in the VIP tent before taking our mandatory golf cart back to the hotel to check in with the race organizers. In the middle of all the post-race chaos, there was a voice in the back of my head saying:  I knew you would do it.  Afterwards, when I had time to reflect, I realized the true power of running, and its therapeutic effect to facilitate recovery, reflection and transformation.  With this, I was able to finally put into words what this race really meant to me:

This race represented so much more to me than just getting a fast time. It was about proving to myself that I can overcome struggles in my life with resolve, dedication and a happy spirit. Running helped me channel all of these qualities into the culmination of this race and it means so much to me that I was able to use those track workouts in Durham when my marriage fell apart, those runs with Jenna when she was training for Grandma's Marathon and I was recovering from my heart break and finding myself, those runs with all my new guys who weren't freaked out that I stalked them through Strava to find running buddies, to those late nights spent getting to know Peter who loves me....all of this helped me get to Chicago with an intense need to prove to myself that I'm one tough chick who can overcome anything. 

My support crew

Laurie (2:36:00) and Caitlin (2:38:47)

Immediately post race with my family

That's what a proud boyfriend looks like

Cal International Marathon Recap

Goal #1: Run the B Standard for 2016 Trials (Sub-2:43)
Goal #2: Run a PR (Sub-2:41:52)
Goal #3: Run sub-2:40

Actual: 2:40:28, 9th female, $1000, splits at bottom of post

As I got out of the car at the Charlotte airport on Friday, Garrett yelled at me "Get the A-standard!" before closing the door and zipping away. I shook my head at him, both for his unwavering confidence in my abilities, but also for shooting for the stars. Despite his vote of confidence, my goals were a little different. I knew that on a great day with perfect conditions, I was ready to run around 2:38-2:39. Given the fact that I Gallo-walked at the Olympic Trials Marathon in January 2012 and also failed to make it to the start line of Philly Marathon 2012, running that fast was somewhat daunting. I hadn't run a marathon in almost two years. However, my workouts and races over the past two months indicated that I was primed and ready to achieve my goals.

Sunday definitely wasn't perfect, but I still achieved a substantial PR, punched my second ticket to the Olympic Trials and earned $1000 for my efforts. I'm pretty damn happy!

The weekend unfolded on Friday with an early 6:00AM flight out to Houston and then Sacramento. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I didn't qualify for any other benefits besides an elite entry, so I spent almost $700 on the trip here including rental car, hotel, gas and food. This just provided me extra motivation to get the Trials standard and prove the coordinators wrong.

The rest of the day went like this: I drove to the Residence Inn in my bright red rental car, went for a solo five mile run along the river, picked up my race bib before walking to a delicious restaurant for whole wheat pasta. After eating at 4PM, I went to Safeway to get some food and decorated my water bottles before going to sleep at 6:30PM. During these hours by myself, I really wished that I had bought a ticket for Garrett to come out here with me. Meagan's flight landed around the time I was changing into my pajamas, so I didn't get to hang out with her until the next morning.

Meagan and I, along with Jeannette Faber and Brett Ely, jogged together on a beautiful Saturday morning. We all noted that this weather would be perfect for a marathon, knowing that the temperatures tomorrow would be about 20 degrees cooler. My legs felt absolutely great, and I knew that tomorrow at least one of my goals would be attained. The rest was the day was spent using as little energy as possible in the elite hospitality suite, my hotel room, or at a restaurant with Meagan and Brett. For lunch, we ate at a fabulous vegan restaurant, Plum Cafe, where I easily spent $40 on lunch and baked goods for post-marathon. Brett and her husband are vegan, so I was glad she was there to encourage us to go! Our group, with Jeannette, ate dinner again at a cute Italian restaurant that evening before we all headed back to our respective hotel rooms with our goals for tomorrow looming over our shoulders.

Dinner with Jeannette, Meagan and Brett

At 7:30PM, I went to bed and at 3:30AM, I woke up, got ready, and was waiting for a bus by 4:45AM with Brett, Matt, Drew, Jeannette and Meagan. There wasn't a dedicated elite bus, so this awesome guy escorted us in front of about 300 other runners, knocked on the door of an empty bus and kindly asked: "These are professional runners, may they load your bus now?" The bus driver responded: "Well, I'm a professional bus driver, so hop right on!" We all cracked up at that, and I was very appreciative since it was 24 degrees outside with a small headwind.

Waiting for the Bus - Brett's face got cut off :(

After 45 minutes on the bus, we arrived at the elite tent that was heated for about two minutes before the generator went out, taking the lights with it. For about 15 minutes, we had heat intermittently, until they finally figured out that they were given a generator without any gas. It was damn cold. We even put our shoes in our plastic gear bags because it helped a little bit. Once that was fixed, it was already time to start getting ready. Meagan and I jogged about five minutes together before we were told to leave the comfort of our warm tent. I did some strides, went to the start line and about thirty seconds later, had started the marathon that I'd prepared for over the last three months. There wasn't even a gun to signal the start. If there was, it was lost in the moment. My best friend Meagan was at my side and it felt like any other race we've run together.

The Start - Meagan is near the bottom left and I'm a couple of meters behind

The first six miles of the marathon were my favorite because Meagan was with me. We started out at 6:04 and 6:03 before the downhills got longer and longer, and our splits got faster and faster. It didn't feel hard and I willed myself to back off the pace, but at times it felt physically impossible given the downhill. Around mile 3, unbeknownst to me, there was a patch of black ice. My foot slipped, and my arm automatically wheeled up, smacked Meagan on the shoulder, all in the same instant that I shouted out "SHIT!" Miraculously, Meagan's sturdy shoulder saved my ass and probably my entire race altogether. (Side note--I read later that other runners behind me slipped and did indeed fall on this same patch of ice, so I am very lucky to have run away without a bruise). I didn't wear a Garmin, and my average pace through 6 miles was 5:57. If I wanted to run the A standard, I was on pace for it.

After the fifth mile, I could feel that Meagan was faltering. On the uphills, she fell back a little bit and her breathing was more labored. Around the 10k mark, she fell back and I telepathically willed her to stay with me, not just for her but also, selfishly, for me. I knew we would both run better together and not on our own. From that point forward, I just kept my eyes on the few people ahead of me and focused on what I came here to accomplish, solo or not.

Up until the halfway point, I continued traversing the rollercoaster course completely alone. The downhills got steeper and the uphills got longer. Not because I was imagining it, but because they actually were. I couldn't help but think that this course was tougher than most people are led to believe. Everything still felt easy, and my slowest mile had only been a 6:10 on one of the uphill miles. My stomach was fine, my fueling had been fantastic, and I felt strong. I came through the half in 1:18:20. Perfect.

But, I was still completely alone. And this took its toll on me.

One man in a white singlet passed me and I tried to keep him within sights. There were a couple of guys 50-100 meters ahead of me and I passed a few girls that had dropped from their pace. The next seven miles were spent battling my own mental thoughts. I calculated how much more time I had running (less than 80 minutes is really comforting actually when you're solo) and kept my eyes focused on the big picture--getting to the finish in one piece. I wished that Meagan or Brett or Laurie were with me, but they weren't so I had to be a big girl.

Get it done, just get it done.

This became my new mantra, and I wasn't even hurting yet. I passed a blind man and his escort and got a burst of motivation from both their presence but also their dedication. I told him, "You're amazing" and continued on my way. Around mile 18, I could sense that my legs were getting heavier, but my splits were still at 6:10 or below. We had turned directly into the wind, and at this point in the race, I didn't need anything from Mother Earth to make my quest to the finish any more difficult. Suddenly my entire face felt frozen and raw as the wind whipped relentlessly at me.

Mile 17 - Freezing

I continued to take all my fluids to provide me motivation. I stopped trying to get my elite bottles since they were so far away on the table and I had missed half of them at this point. Instead, I took the cups of water at the normal stations. At one station, I drank the water and my throat immediately burned, like someone had put chili powder in it as a sick joke, which I believed could be entirely possible. Immediately, I panicked. I thought for sure my throat was going to tighten up and that I was going to have an allergic reaction (even though I'm not allergic to anything). Instead, it was just that the water so damn cold that it burned my freezing cold, raw throat. After a minute, the burning sensation went away and I relaxed a little.

By mile 20, however, things began to unravel. I began to notice all the little things. The 10mph winds felt like 20mph. My face was numb from the cold. My left big toe was burning--I had a blister. My quads felt like bricks were tied to them.

The final 10k of a marathon is about how well you can push those very real, very bad feelings aside and dig just a little bit deeper and hurt just a little bit more.

In order to come to an agreement with the pain I was trying so hard to push away, I started to make negotiations with myself. I told myself to maintain 6:15s through the finish and that would still put me right under 2:40. I truly thought I could do it, until mile 23, when I began to hit 6:25s and a woman passed me. I tried to go with her, but she blasted by me, probably at 6:10 pace, which felt like a sprint. I was doing all that I could to put one leg in front of the other. The only solace I could find was that I had less than 20 minutes of running left and that I most likely was still going to PR.

Mile 21 - Closing my Eyes

By mile 25, the man in the white singlet was nowhere in sight. The odd part was that I wasn't the only one dying. I passed at least three men during these final miles, which was a pleasant reminder that I wasn't dying as bad as some. Even though I had hit the wall, I was still passing people.

My hotel finally came within sight and I knew that I had less than 5 minutes of running. I heard Jordan shout out for me and was slightly embarrassed for him to see firsthand how much I had died. I rounded the final turn into the finish and unceremoniously walked across the finish line, looking and feeling depleted. I tried to smile, but it was almost impossible because of the cold.

Walking over the Finish Line

I could barely smile

I spent the next five minutes blundering around the finish line area, desperately searching for Gatorade.  I was woozy and couldn't speak coherently and really just needed some damn sugar...and a warm bath.  I glanced back at the finish line and waited until 2:43 to see if Meagan or Brett would be there, but didn't see them come through.  Now I had to take care of myself.  Volunteers almost took me to medical, but I really just wanted Gatorade and somehow escaped them.  When no one could find any Gatorade, and only Coke, I asked for the Sutter House, where the elites got some special treatment. 

I found my way there, hobbled up 12 stairs, and basically fell into Meagan's arms in both relief and sadness. Despite a sore hip, Meagan gutted out 18 miles at 6:05 pace before making the smart decision to call it quits.  Despite this, Meagan put on the biggest smile for me, gave me the biggest hug ever and helped me as though I just was the most amazing person in the room.  I knew that Meagan was disappointed and I was so grateful for her warmth and generosity in that warm room.  Unfortunately for her, I didn't really offer any consolation on her race because I was too out of it, but she didn't care.  Now, that's a great friend. 

Jeannette finished in 6th place in 2:38:32 and also struggled desperately in that final 10k.  Jordan commented that everyone slowed down a lot over the last half, which is either indicative of the wind, or poor racing tactics.  I'll go with a combination of both.  We found out later that Brett had been on pace to OTQ at 24.5 miles, but her foot broke and she spent the rest of the afternoon in the ER. 

Until I settled into a warm bath, I didn't have enough energy to look through the flood of texts, phone calls and FaceBook posts that were filled to the brim with happiness for me.  I was humbled by all the support from my friends and family, who are all truly my teammates in this journey to the Olympic Trials.

As I let my legs submerge in the hot water, I thought about the ten different ways I could have executed the race to perhaps come out with a different result.  Then I realized that it didn't matter.

It may have been ugly, but I did it!  I qualified for another Olympic Trials.

And there will be many more marathons where I can run even faster.  Some day, I will achieve the goal that Garrett shouted out to me at the airport. 

But first I must savor these next couple of weeks in Kauai and Los Angeles.

Post Race Fun with Matt, Drew Jordan and Meagan (Photo Courtesy of Jeannette)

China Grove 5k HUGE PR!

Goal:
Win and run fast (sub 17:10)

Actual:
3.3 miles warmup
5k in 16:36(!!!!!!!!) in 5:18, 5:23, 5:23, :33, 1st place Female, 5th Overall, $250, Results
Course Record
Road PR by 25 seconds (formerly 17:01)
Just 7 Seconds off my college track PR (16:29)
3.5 miles total for ~10 miles

If you've never been to the China Grove 5k, it is an event you must do.  Unlike most Charlotte "night" races, which aren't truly in the dark, China Grove hosts a race that is quite literally in the dark of the night at 9PM.  The post-race food is definitely something to boast about as they never run out of Pizza Hut pizza, watermelon, bananas and unlimited bottles of water.  I'm pretty sure that the allure of this race also comes from the fact that the course is flat and fast, featuring a nice out and back course that has a few small inclines that won't really affect your time.  It also helps that Vac and Dash puts this race on because I'm pretty sure all of their races are just badass.

At this race, every year it is typical for summer storms dwell in the distance, with lightning cascading harmlessly across the sky, far away in the distance.  This year was no different, except the storms were even closer and more of an imminent threat.  To give you an idea of just how close that lightning was, as David and I were warming up, we seemed to be running straight into a lightning storm.  One bolt of lightning appeared above us, which resulted in the natural response from me to simultaneously jump, scream, and grab onto David's arm in a panic.  I knew at that moment that if there was lightning during the race, that I would not be able to prevent this panicked response from occurring even while I raced!

Fortunately, the lightning and rain only kept on for about thirty minutes, forcing only a fifteen minute delay on the 9PM start of the race.  We hung out in a very expansive and fancy Fire Station during the wait.  I sat around and did some dynamic stretching until they announced that the race was indeed still on.  Thank god for that message because I really felt ready for the race at that point and knew it was going to be a special night.  By the time we made it to the start line, there was only a light drizzle, which actually felt quite refreshing on the skin.  The race director didn't make us wait too long and after one false start, the bull horn finally went off to signal the (real) start of the race.

I got off the line without any incidents and settled into a nice, relaxed rhythm.  I wasn't wearing a Garmin and really just wanted to run a smart race using my own pacing powers and competitive spirit.  After the first 800m, the competition had already thinned out considerably, but I was able to keep picking off several guys.  By the time I came through the mile in 5:18, there were really only 4 other guys for me to pass before making it to David Willis, so I focused on them to catch.  After the mile, I passed two of my four targets, and continued rolling on what felt like a great pace.  By the turnaround point, I had caught the last two guys and we ran together until just past the 2 mile point (10:40), in which there was a slight downhill that I really tried to push hard on to break my goal.  I really knew that I had enough time to break 17, but I wanted to make the most of every single change in terrain that could help me be even faster.  With just under a half mile to go, I was able to make a move on both of the guys and hold them off through the finish line.  They really helped push me to break 16:40, so I was really grateful for their company!  As I crossed the finish line, I did something that I rarely do, by lifting up my arms in celebration.  I was celebrating the time even more so than the victory because this is something that I have been chasing for over two years.  It was nice to finally see all my hard work pay off with a huge PR.

I'm definitely thrilled with this race and it shows that I'm doing something right with my training right now as I don't really have a coach. I hope it translates to a good half in just two weeks!!!!!  I feel like I need to run another 5k to validate that I'm truly a sub-17:00 5k girl now.

The race start.  I'm in the middle with a purple top

The race start - I'm in the middle, to the left of the line

Finished - 16:36

Two Records were Broken - Fam in 14:19 and mine in 16:36
David was close to a PR in 16:06!