So, as always, numbers first:
- 10 Marathons down and we're just a little over $300 away from $3000 for the second half of the fundraiser and the total goal of $6000! We're so close thanks to everyone's support!
- Two people guessed my finishing time of 2:57:29 within 10seconds (both were only off by 3 seconds!) and 4 people guessed within 20 seconds for a total donation of $80.
- 10 marathons complete, cumulative time of 29:41:13, average time of 2:58:07. That keeps the average finish time at #Sub3ForPtR and 7 out of 10 have been under 3 hours.
So the hardest thing about the weekend might have been holding myself to one beer the day before the race! I always have a beer the day before but when I sat down at the bar next to my hotel I found myself in a bit of a conundrum. They had Three Floyds' Zombie Dust and Toppling Goliath's Pseudo Sue on tap. First world problems, I know. Ultimately I resisted temptation to have both and went with the Pseudo Sue since I'd yet to have it on draft.
With that challenge overcome all that was left was to run the marathon! For those that have been reading all the write ups you'll probably recall that my July marathon was what got me into Chicago. And perhaps you'll recall the detail that it awarded me the opportunity to be a part of the American Development Program. This translated into a separate tent near the start line with water, Gatorade, Vaseline, and a warm, dry place to stay until just a few minutes before the starting gun. There was also a small, paved loop in the nearby park for warmups and separate port-a-johns. Needless to say, this was a very nice perk for a race with roughly 50,000 runners!
Promptly at 7:30 the race started under cloudy skies and temps right around 60. With the exception of a few light showers the conditions stayed constant for the entirety of the race. And in spite of Chicago's nickname, the winds were pretty light the whole time as well.
For the first 10k I was sitting comfortably just ahead of the 3 hour pace group. I got a little itch to start moving around 10k so I picked it up a bit for the next 20k. Around 15k I saw my friends Jeremy and Brenna out on the course cheering and they snapped the photo of me you see in this post. Somewhere during this 20k was also where I saw the funniest sign "You've made more intelligent choices when drunk!"
After getting through 30k I realized I didn't feel fantastic and since I had a decent cushion I figured it best to dial back to my starting pace to ensure success. Sure enough I stayed pretty consistent the rest of the way and finished in 2:57:29. Another #Sub3forPtR !
I am happy to report that after 10 marathons this year I'm still feeling strong and very capable of finishing these last two in 3 hours! I'll be pacing Monumental in Indianapolis next month and perhaps California International in December.
As always, thanks for following me on this journey and your continued support is greatly appreciated!
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