On September 11th I ran my first half marathon. Putting my experience into words proved to be much more difficult than I thought it would be. So much so that it took me much longer to write about running a 1/2 marathon than it did to actually run it... but here it is at last!
Moments and Memories of My First Half Marathon
*The excitement and energy of the Expo at Navy Pier
*A lovely Saturday evening the night before at Andy & Steve's civil union celebration at the new
South Branch Tavern & Grille on the Chicago River
*A welcoming glass of wine and the world's largest shower at the newly renovated
Wheeler Mansion
*Up at 5:00 a.m. on race day when I ate my untoasted waffle with peanut butter and honey (forgot about not having a toaster available), got dressed and ready and at 5:45 a.m. we were on our way.
*Don getting us on Lake Shore Drive just before the barricades went up - he was quite pleased with himself while I, on the other hand, was getting nervous and cranky and crabby as the traffic.quickly.slowed.to.a.crawl - I would later learned this was me going "runzilla". Thanks Melissa and John!
*Getting to the Museum of Science and Industry with plenty of parking still available *phew*
*Walking from the museum to Jackson Park as the sun was coming up while happily deluding myself into thinking the cool morning air was a good sign of perfect weather for the race...
*Finding a short-ish line for one last portapotty stop, no toilet paper, but I came prepared, crises averted and mission accomplished!
*Making our way to Corral N where I found the 2:45 pace group. (I eventually positioned myself to start ahead of this group so I might have a chance of actually finishing with them.)
*Only took 12 minutes to get from Corral N to the start line and I was off and running
*Seeing co-worker, Nancy S. up ahead at the water/gatorade station and yelling "Thank you Nancy S!" as I ran by
*Noticing someone with a camera and a tamborine for a noise-maker and thinking "A tamborine - cool idea.... hey that's Linda!" She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her and she took a few photos.
I'm looking ridiculously happy - it was early in the race and I was still in the shade!
*Since
the course was mostly an out and back route on Lake Shore Drive it was exciting to watch and cheer for the leaders passing by on their last few miles.
*All of the runners in red, white & blue in honor of the 10th anniversary of September 11th
*Asking spectators if they had seen
Apolo Ohno go by and finally one guy told me he was at about a 1:40 pace. I had just seen the 1:45 pace group so I kept looking, however.... I was thinking I needed to make a bathroom stop.
*Making the choice to stop at a bathroom therefore missing my chance to see Apolo Ohno run past. Nature calls!
*After waiting in a short line at the park district bathroom, I came out only to see the 2:45 pace group running by and as hard as I tried, I never did catch up with them.
*Seeing a woman holding and reciting this sign:
"There will be a day when you can no longer do this. Today is not that day!"
*The amazing volunteers with an abundance of water/Gatorade at the aid stations. Not a chance of getting dehydrated at this race.
*Hearing the announcement that the course level was now "Yellow" - slow down, walk if you need to, stay hydrated... yup, I was feeling it.
*Sun, sun, and more sun.
*Feeling my running slowing down as it got hotter and sunnier, thinking I wasn't sure I could finish - but of course I can finish! I just don't know when?
*Getting to the point a where I started alternating walking and running... but I'm a fast walker; Don & Ruby don't call me "quick Bickford" for nothing!
*"Toasting" the volunteers with my water/Gatorade cups
*Finally, finally, finally crossing the finish line. As you can see my first 5 miles was faster than my second 5 miles and my last 3 miles were sloooooooooowwww. I think between the excitement, the adrenaline, and the crowd, I went out a bit too fast. Next time I'll start out painfully slow and save some for the end!
Constance Bickford #2058
Chicago, ILAge: 49 Gender: F| Distance | HALF MAR |
| Clock Time | 3:03:16 |
| Chip Time | 2:51:03 |
| Overall Place | 10985 / 11891 |
| Gender Place | 6003 / 6690 |
| Division Place | 415 / 469 |
| 5Mile | 1:01:26 |
| 10Mile | 2:07:40 |
| Divtotal | 474 |
| Sextotal | 6745 |
| Pace | 13:04 |
First half marathon in under 3 hours and didn't get kicked off Lake Shore Drive. Goal achieved.
And yes, you read that right, I did say next time...
