Well I ran Chicago and once again, I ran it badly. I had wanted to beat my time that I had run 20 years ago at the same race – 3:44. Normally, I should have been able to do it. But boy was it hot and boy was I tired.
I thought I trained well enough to run around 3:30 and I really did want to. But I wanted our family to have a good time in Chicago more. So we did the tourist stuff – we first visited the Lincoln Museum in Springfield (if you haven't been you need to – it's quit the production). Then we viewed the Sears tower, ate too much, didn't sleep enough, walked around the Museum of Science of Industry all day and then stuffed ourselves with pizza. It was a great time – until I woke up pretty much exhausted. Then it got worse as I walked out of the hotel the morning of the marathon and felt the heat. It was going to be a long day.
I shut it down pretty early and shuffled through my 26 miles. The crowds were great and although you can never run a marathon without feeling a decent amount of pain, the pain I experienced was relatively small.
In the end, it was a pretty uneventful run. My focus wasn't on the race but on the family. As a result, I was o.k. with running slower (by 15 minutes) than I did 20 years ago. But I got myself in decent shape – despite a job change and move- and now I'm ready for my next challenge – I'm going back to the Disney Marathon where I always seem to have a good race and a great time with the family.
That's the thing I love about marathons and distance events – there's always another race to run another goal to achieve another opportunity to succeed. There's always hope that the next run will be the best one. It might be the best time you've run but it may be the best you've felt or the best crowds you've experienced or the best you've done after you turned 42. There's always something that you can get out of a marathon. At Chicago – I got a great weekend with the wife and kids – and a t-shirt and a medal – oh and a real cool hoodie.
