Monday, August 15, 2011

Chapter 2 page 404 - Chicago Race Recap By the Numbers

Finished In: 03:02:13 - a NEW PR (by only 35 seconds, but still - it counts)!!!!!!!!  (7 seconds behind Al Roker . . . he finished only 9 people in front of me and at least 7 of them were his "people" who surrounded him during the race)

Overall: 14059 out of 15259 · Division: 1217 out of 1355 · Gender: 8532 out of 9480












Shall we look closer at those splits?  Okay - let's do:
1st 5K (miles 0-3.1) = 14:13 m/m pace (awesome pace for me - nice, easy, get out of traffic, get some confidence, don't start out too quickly)
 2nd 5K (miles 3.1-6.2) = 14:00 m/m pace (hmm, look at that, getting a little quicker . . . )
3rd segment (miles 6.2 - mile 10) = 13:46 m/m (wow - still getting faster . . . woo hoo)

final 5K (mile 10-mile 13.1) = 13:41 m/m (yeah, that's me negative splitting each segment of the race . . . this segment featured 15-20 mph headwind and driving tortential rain pelting directly in my face . . . oh and a hill at the 12.5 mile mark NICE!)

Average pace = 13:54 (not too shabby for doing it alone, in inclement weather, while wearing a tutu, and planning this race to be only a training run for my September Half)

One more thing about splits . . . I had written on my arm the splits to obtain a 3:10 finish = 14:30 m/m pace . . . .guess that went out of the window in the first 5K!

Let's talk a quick moment about my overall place:
I only beat 1200 people . . . not really all that impressive EXCEPT that I actually started the race with only 20 people behind me . . . . yeah, that's a bit more impressive, huh!  I was in the last corral and a bit late getting to it (such a LONG porta john line) that knowing this was only suppose to be a training run, I decided not to fight for a closer space.  Woot - I passed 1180 people!!!!!!!  That's slightly more impressive!

Next, I'm going to chat about the intervals I used :
you can skip this part (probably not that interesting to most of you):
Start line until the 15K mark:  I used 2:2 
15K mark until the 12 mile mark:  I used 4:2 (oh yeah, I did that!!!!)
Last Mile:  I ran the whole thing except the hill at the 12.5 mile mark which I elected to walk up (took 2 minutes) in order to conserve energy to push harder to the finish - really smart decision I think!
 What's important to know about my intervals?  I DIDN'T WALK THROUGH ANY INTERVALS!!!!


Fueling & Hydration by the numbers:
2 orange chomps before the start
2 tropical punch bloks at mile 3
2 tropical punch bloks at mile 6
1 vanilla gu at mile 9
2 tropical punch bloks at mile 11
In addition to drinking 1-2 glasses at each aid station, I drank one 16.9 oz bottle of on-board water








How about a few numbers about the weather (in honor of Al Roker beating me):





Race Start (6:30 a.m.) Stats:
temp:  61*
dew point: 64*
humidity:  91%
winds:  10 mph NW






During the race - there were cool temps and light sprinkles off an on - so nice and refreshing!

Final 3 miles Stats:
temp:  68*
dew point:  71*
humidity:  76%
winds:  20 mph N
precip:  DRIVING IN MY FACE DOWN POURING RAIN - the BIG DROP SIDEWAYS KIND!

9 comments:

  1. Girl, you did AWESOME. The negative splits, last mile, the tutu - you did it right. Can't wait to hear more and see photos.

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  2. @ Kimberly - you know me, there will be photos coming . . . it might be a few more days (MOA who I met at the race - story to follow - took AWESOME photos during the race. She's going to email them to me in a few days - those are definitely going to be worth seeing). Stay tuned!

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  3. I keep asking... Did you meet any bloggers on this trip?!

    Stats galore. My eyes are buzzing now.

    Great job once again!

    LOL on Roker needing "people" with him. Haha.

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  4. Wooo Hoooo!!!!! How impressive are you! A new pb whilst wearing a tutu ... bet Al Roker can't say that!

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  5. @ Holly - No, I didn't meet any bloggers on this trip. MOA, a reader of my blog, and I have been communicating for many months via email and she asked if I would do this race with her - I agreed, so we got to finally meet in real life.

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  6. I am so looking forward to your pictures from this race! Hooray for finishing just behind Al Roker - that's something to be proud of. I hope when I do a race there is someone famous that I can either be close to or beat. I know a friend who did a race with Bachelor Jake in it and she actually beat him! haha!

    Funny enough, my resident assistant from freshman year in college ran this race too!

    Do you think the crowds had an effect on your running? I keep telling myself that when I run F4F the crowds will keep me motivated to keep trucking when I don't feel like I can move another inch.

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  7. @ Jenn - yes there were definitely people along the route who were there to cheer on a group of runners from a church, but I befriended them and they cheered for me too. Definitely having the crowd support helped. More than the crowd, though, was the actual participants who cheered me on and inspired me. Those of us in the back of the pack are more talkative, supportive, and friendly - we're all about the party and less about the competition that is found closer to the middle and front of the pack . . . we all had a GREAT time together :). You'll be great!!! I also think writing quotes on my arm was hugely helpful!

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  8. Congrats on the PR, you're a rockstar!!!! Negative splits, Al better watch out, next time you're going to kick his butt. :)

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  9. Way to go on your PR! I'm so proud of you!

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