Chicago Marathon 10.10.10

Last Tuesday, practically on impulse, I signed up for the Chicago Marathon! This will mark the first time I will have ever trained for a marathon, run over 16.5 miles, and ran for over two hours in my entire life...and I'm extremely excited!

I chose Chicago for a multitude of reasons including:
1) Bank of America is the official sponsor which means I got a $50 discount.
2) Chicago = Illinois = my homestate = my parents and high school coach can come.
3) Timing - allows me to get my feet wet in a marathon as my first serious effort, and gives me ample time to run another one if need be.
4) It's somewhat flat. Although there are lots of turns, and the weather can be iffy, it's got great crowd support!!

Luckily, there is an Athlete Development Program that both Danielle Walther and I qualify for, in which we get private toilet facilities, separate start/finish tents, and private gear check! It will be pretty cool to toe up to the third largest marathon in America with a fellow Charlotte Running Club teammate alongside me. :o)

Just signing up for the marathon showed me who really cares about me, and I was very appreciative of all the feedback I've received from people over the last week.

First, I was more thankful than EVER to have parents who love running and who have run a handful of marathons in their lifetime. Upon hearing the news, my dad immediately went into planner mode as my official Chicago guru. Since he wants me to have the most comfortable, stressfree experience as possible, he immediately recommended that I stay as close to the start line as possible. Upon hearing the somewhat expensive rates, he did not bat an eye, and said, "Trust me, Caitlin, it will be worth it...." Putting complete faith in his words, I clicked to reserve the Official Headquarters Hotel for the marathon, at the Hilton Chicago...approximately .4 of a mile away from the start!

In an effort to rationale paying two hundred some odd dollars for a room, it will reduce the stress of worrying about logistics of getting to the starting line. Most importantly, the closer I am to the start, the later I get to sleep in! It will also be a mini vacation for my parents and they always deserve to be spoiled. :o)

Next, I am tremendously grateful for Mark Hadley's advice as to which marathons would be good for me and also for allowing me to consult in his coaching expertise for some marathon training plans/ideas. He believes in me and is so enthusiastic in helping me to achieve my running goals.

My high school coach, Gary Holda, has run 50 or more marathons and he also has been instrumental in figuring out what the next steps are. Of course, Garrett Bullock is offering his undying support because he knows that I'm also doing this marathon to keep myself occupied when he's off playing for the Houston Astros on a minor league team somewhere.

Of course, all my CRC buddies have been awesome...Aaron might even train for an ultra, so that he can train with me some in the fall for my long runs. :o) With the shape that Chad is in, he and I might even be able to run the marathon together!

My goal is to go into this marathon and make the most of it as I can, given all of the circumstances at the time. Afterwards, you can definitely be assured that I will be attending a show at Second City, my favorite improv comedy club ever...that I have not been to in over 10 years.

A True Appreciation for Organization

My parents first visited Charlotte in September of 2008 for a short weekend trip. Since my parents are just as passionate about running as I am, I figured they would love to participate in a road race uptown. Admittedly, I also was using this race as a way for me to make friends in Charlotte since I was having a hard time meeting people. The race we chose, the inaugural Hog Jog 5k, is in conjunction with the Blues, Brews and Barbecue Festival that occurs annually in the fall, in which the main drag uptown, Tryon Street, is closed off for the entire weekend so that people can drink beer, eat pork, and watch pigs race each other from Brevard to MLK street. An ironic race for my family to participate in, considering both my mom and dad are vegans and also raised their kids (from birth) to be vegetarians as well, the three of us still woke up, exuberant about the running tour of Charlotte we were about to embark on.

The three of us warmed up the mile to the start of the race and picked up our numbers and chips. Eventually, it was time to start, and despite having a hellashish cloud of barbecue smoke hovering over the start line, everything was perfectly organized. The gun went off at the punctual time of 730am, right on time, and we were off.

At every turn, I was directed which way to go. At every mile marker, someone screamed out my splits. At various points in the race, a professional photographer snapped an action photo. At two points, they had water stops to relieve us all of the sticky summer heat.

Horribly out of shape, I finished the race and didn't really think too much about how great of a job the race director had done to ensure that the inaugural Hog Jog would be a pleasant experience for all runners. It was my mom, after she crossed the line, who made me aware of such a feat. She immediately asserted, "WOW! I don't think I've ever run a local 5k race where they closed a lane of traffic! There were police officers everywhere directing runners! There was plenty of water! That was great!"

Keep in mind that my mom has been running for as many years (if not more) as I have been alive. Despite that, Charlotte was the first town she had seen to successfully put on a race, even though it wasn't necessarily very large. Coming to Charlotte allowed her to see that local, small-sized races could still be well-organized, flawlessly engineered to cater to every runners' needs.

While I noticed the same organization at Hog Jog that my mom raved about, I did not think much more about. Subsequently, I continued to be impressed with the organization at other local races I've participated in Charlotte (Greek Fest 5k, Hit the Brixx 10k, South Park Half Marathon, Corporate Cup 5k), but I never truly appreciated the organization that takes much time, effort, and money for a race director and volunteers to make a race successful.

After having ventured to some other small towns for races, I have seen that what Run for Your Life and other race organizers in Charlotte have done is not a small feat to go by unnoticed. Races in Charlotte tend to be, for the most part:
1) High in numbers of volunteers
2) Extremely well directed (aka - people don't get directed off course often)
3) Fairly quick in the compiling of results for the awards ceremony
4) Safe - plenty of police to block traffic or close lanes
5) Accurate with their timing systems

Just two weeks ago, several of my fellow Charlotte Running Club teammates were directed off course and could not even finish a half marathon that they had paid over $50 to run. This past weekend, several runners in a 10k race were misdirected and missed out on potential prize money and a top three spot.

People put a lot of time and effort into their training and racing. It is refreshing to know that race directors realize this and, in return, put a lot of time and effort into their race organizing.