So I've not updated my blog since May 2018 after the 10 Marathons in 10 Days challenge. I guess I never intended to, I didn't think running would be big enough again to blog about. I mean how do you follow 10 in 10?
You'll see from my 10 in 10 summary post, it was tough for me both physically and mentally after the 10 in 10 challenge (read about it here 10 in 10 Thoughts ) . I needed something else to focus on. I decided I was going to push my times and try and get into some World Major races, to do this I needed to do a few things:
1: Join a running club - joined Hyde Village Striders
2: Qualify for a Major - ran sub 3 hours 20 in Chester to qualify for Chicago Marathon
3: Get some proper advice - Hyde Striders Coach Dominic Sexton
4: Lose some weight & sort my diet out
5. Set an ambitious target - to run sub 3 hours in Chicago
To cut the long story short, I did all of those things starting in November 2018, joining the club was great, running had become a bit stale for me, I felt I had no direction after the 10in10 and joining Hyde gave me a kick up the arse, met some great friends and overall brilliant advice and support.
I'd never seen the point in 5 and 10k races, after all I'm a marathon runner, what's the point? But again, good advice got me racing at all distances to improve my speed work which has helped immensely, in fact, I even enjoy racing other distances now!
So over 2000 miles and 12 months of training, eating better, running races, training with the club, park runs, long runs, along with some strength work and lot of physio I was here in Chicago ready to go to work.
We left the hotel at about 5:15am, the race starts at 7:30 for my corral , so we wanted to get there in good time, had my usual porridge pot and coffee and off we set. No worries about wondering where to go, 100's of runners and their families were heading in the same direction. After some lengthy security checks we got settled in the hospitality area we'd booked, a very wise move indeed. It was a dry morning but bloody cold, only a degree or two above freezing. Excellent food and drink available in the hospitality area, highly recommend if you do this race, $125 each, including physio and private toilets!
At just after 7am I headed down to my start Corral, I was in B, I wanted to be in A but my qualifying time wasn't quick enough , Corral B was for 2:55 - 3:15 runner. I'd told everyone I wanted sub 3 today, which is true, but I was targeting sub 2:45 and qualification for a place in the London Marathon Championships running for Hyde. I kept this secret, only Dom my club coach, my Physio and Andy Charlesworth from the Club had any knowledge of this, It was a lofty goal and I didn't want to let anyone down so kept my powder dry, I also knew even if it didn't happen Sub 3 would still be amazing.
In the start zone I waited, I looked over to the Corral A runners with jealousy, I needed to chase them down and get amongst them, so the usual tactic of setting off steady was out the window. Strangely I wasn't nervous or scared, I felt confident, I felt I deserved to be here, in fact I felt I should have been placed in the faster Corral and couldn't wait to get going.
The national anthem played (singer was a bit dodgy I thought), and we were away, I went out fast! and very quickly found myself running with the Corral A runners. My Garmin was a mess though, one minute I was running 9 min miles the next 5 mins, it was all over the place and so was I. I quickly lost confidence and felt I was working too hard for the pace I was running, too slow, too up and down, with no rhythm. Next thing I need a piss, FFS I thought, a novice mistake! Dom had told me to split my watch at each mile marker, well I'd already missed the second marker and my Garmin said I'm 11min running! So I hit the split button twice, and then it was just numbers, I felt like I had an aliens watch on, made no sense.
I still needed a piss, I was a bit unsure of US law around pissing, but was pretty confident I'd be shot dead if I stopped here, so I struggled on at my unknown pace. I came across some portaloos in Lincoln Park and dived in, do you know how long it takes to have a piss when you are chasing a 2:45 marathon with a dodgy Garmin? an eternity!
I blasted out of the Loo like a greyhound out of the traps, I noticed the 3hour runners had just gone past and ran past them like they were gong backwards, once past I looked at my watch and hit the manual split on 6, boom! It was working, 6:15 per mile, it was back on, I really thought I'd blown it. As the miles ticket by I was blown away by the noise from supporters, absolutely amazing. I began working with some other runners for the next 10 mile or so, some quality runners out there and really helped me tick along. I felt good, my confidence was back, I started thinking of all my family, friends and friends back at Hyde Striders tracking me which gave me event more of a boost.
I told myself, and the group of runners I was with I'm going for it at mile 20, I'm wasn't going to hang around and wait for the race to eat me alive, I was going to attack it. I'd never tried this before, but come mile 20 the hammer went down and I was moving at 6 min miles, the group broke up a bit which I felt a bit bad about if I'm honest and there was just two of us left by mile 23. I took the last turn just after mile 23 on to the last home straight, the crowd was amazing. It felt like a dream to be running this race, my first world major, I couldn't believe the scale and size of the event.
I took my last gel as I ran over the Chicago floor graphics, this signaled the beginning of the end! For the first time in the race I started to get nervous, I was so close now, less than a park run to go, if I can run a sub 19 min park run I've done it!! I know I can do this, just the small matter of a 23 mile warm up behind me. I ran my fastest three miles of the race, I had a small wobble on the last 300m where there is a small incline, but the crowd noise just lifted me again and I was in. I couldn't believe it, it really didn't sink in for a while. But I came over the line in 2 hours 43 mins and 26 seconds. Over the moon was not the word. 
It's a good job Americans like high 5's, because everyone got one, all the volunteers at the end, the people handing medals and water out, even the photographer that took the above picture. I was on cloud nine. I'd had the race of my life! I headed back to the hospitality area for a massage and met up with Sarah, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the messages on social media, and still couldn't really believe it was me.
That evening we headed out to one of the post race events, we went to Hard Rock Café Chicago, the place was buzzing and everyone (even me) was wearing their medals. After just a couple of beers and the biggest plates of food you could imagine we headed back to the hotel.
Chicago - you were amazing - I'd love to return one day, if you ever get the chance to run this race in this amazing city please do, it truly is the city of dreams for me. We had a blast x #Mychicagomarathon
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