Bob Mann: 2005 Chicago Marathon

Sun Oct 9, 2005

My first marathon was the Chicago Marathon on Oct 9, 2005. But it wasn't my first Race Report. I didn't write a report after that first marathon, nor did I carry a camera with me on the run. I started those traditions with my second marathon the following April at the New Jersey Marathon. After 33 Full Marathons and 1 Ultra, Chicago remained the only one without a Race Report. So I finally decided it was time to create one. This report is being written in May 2016, more than ten and a half years after the race. So my memory is bound to be rather fuzzy on certain details. But well, better late than never. I even have a few pictures to post later on as well, from the rest of the weekend spent in Chicago and a couple purchased (for tons of money) from the race itself. So finally, a Race Report will exist for every marathon I have completed.

First I'll start with some background. I had been wanting to run a marathon for most of my adult life. All the way back in college (at Tufts University outside of Boston) in the early 90s, some friends and I decided to train for the Boston Marathon. We knew nothing, such as the fact that you had to qualify to run Boston. We were blissfully ignorant. I believe it was the Summer of 1992 when we decided that it was about 9 months until the marathon in April, which should have been plenty of time to train. So we went out every night and ran, going a little farther each day, figuring that was the way to train for a marathon. Yes, blissfully ignorant. Not surprisingly, before long I developed shin splints. They were incredibly painful. And it stopped my marathon training practically as soon as it had begun. Every so often, I'd try to get back, but the pain always returned whenever I went more than maybe 3 miles. Before long, the school year began and we all got busy with other things, and the marathon idea faded away.

As the years went by, we all moved on. I still enjoyed running for exercise, but I was always scared of the shin splints returning. I had convinced myself that I couldn't run on consecutive days, and that I couldn't go farther than about 3 miles. Living within those rules kept my feet and legs happy and healthy for a good ten years. But I had never run a road race. I finally convinced myself to sign up for a 5 Mile race in May 2003 in my then-hometown of Summit NJ. Five miles was pushing the limits of what I was capable of, and frankly I was petrified heading into the race. Even now, I remember being scared that I would hurt myself, and also scared that I wouldn't know what I was doing and somehow make a fool of myself in my first race. Well, I survived that race, and had a blast. I wasn't very speedy, but I completed it. And I wanted more. But how could my injury-prone shins withstand any more?

All along, I had kept in touch with Larry, one of those running friends from Tufts. By now, he lived in California, but we kept in touch thru email. By this point, he himself had completed four marathons, and was the most experienced runner I knew. When I complained about my continued aches when I tried to run too far, he simply asked if I had ever bought running shoes from a real running store and had their fit verified by a running expert. Well, no, I had always just bought my shoes at a local big box sporting goods store, and I bought whatever I thought looked good. So I gave his idea a shot. I went to a running store and showed them the shoes I was running in. The guy immediately told me that I had the wrong shoes. My feet had high arches, but my shoes were for low-arched people. I had no idea. He had me try on a pair of Mizuno Wave Riders, which are meant for high arches, and he had me go outside and run slowly around the block. Immediately I felt support in an area of my foot that never had support before. I bought the Wave Riders, and I've been running in them ever since. Right away, I was able to run longer distances without any sort of shin pain. The shoes made all the difference. I only wish I had known about this earlier.

So I finally started running longer distances. Still, I remembered how painful those shin splints were, and I was wary about advancing my mileage too quickly. On Labor Day 2004, I ran the New Haven 20k Road Race in Connecticut. I grew up right next to the course, and remembered watching the race as a kid. I also remember watching Boston and NYC Marathon champ Bill Rogers run the race a couple times in the 1970s. I had always wanted to run it. In 2004, I completed it, and it became the longest distance I had ever run. I have now (as of this writing) run this race every year since, making it 12 straight years and counting.

After completing the 20k, I wanted to tackle a Full Marathon. I knew a lot more about running by this point, but there was still a lot I didn't know. Larry continued to offer me advice, and eventually he decided that he wanted to run another marathon himself. So we decided to train to run one together. Or at least run the same race. As a marathon newbie, I wouldn't be able to keep up with Larry during the race, but we could at least hang out together for a weekend. With him on the west coast and me on the east coast, we picked Chicago as a nice place to meet in the middle, and we signed up for the 2005 race. Chicago was one of the four that Larry had already completed and he really enjoyed it. I certainly didn't have any reason to dispute the choice, so Chicago it was.

The marathon was more than a year after my first 20k, and that might seem like a long time to wait before moving up in distance. Looking back, I'm glad I took that time. One of the best ways to get injured is to try to advance in mileage too quickly -- as I learned back in college. During my training, I slowly increased mileage. I also ran a couple shorter races, including the New Haven 20k again as a training run. I also got used to things that I had never done before. I occasionally took walk breaks during longer runs, I carried a water bottle of Gatorade, I started carrying energy bars or Gu, and I started to keep a running log (which I still keep now). These things were all new to me, but I got used to them during the Summer of 2005.

The biggest glitch I recall during my training was on my first attempt at a 20-mile run, three weeks before the marathon. The note from my running log on Sep 17 2005 says "DID NOT COMPLETE 20 MILES! Stumbled over something after about four miles, and right knee began to hurt after about 10. By 13.5, the pain was quite bad. Took a 10 minute rest at that point and tried to continue, but only made it one more mile before the pain caused an end to the run." I remember being somewhat freaked out that I might be injured. And I remember Larry stressing to me that the 20-mile run was an important component of marathon training. Well, how would I be able to run a marathon without a 20-mile run three weeks before the race, especially if my knee was injured?

As it turns out, the knee was sore for a couple days, but it healed quickly. Larry encouraged me to do the 20 mile run the following weekend, and thus take only a two-week taper. I had been strictly following the Beginner marathon training plan I had, and I didn't like this deviation from the plan. But I had no choice. I completed 20 miles the following weekend and felt fine.

In the last couple weeks before the marathon, Larry informed me that he had been dealing with some injury issues of his own and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to run the race. Just a few days before the race, he made the decision that he had to bail out and cancel his trip to Chicago because he was hurting too much. Obviously that was awful for him, but I was worried now because my de facto running coach wouldn't be with me.

At least my wife would be joining me on the trip for moral support. We flew out to Chicago a couple days before the race and settled in to our hotel. We made a good choice in our hotel because it was right across Michigan Ave from the start/finish area in Grant Park. That would come in very handy later.

So far, this Race Report has had nothing to do with the race itself. All this time later, I don't remember a heck of a lot about the race itself. I remember getting lost in the crowd before the race and having to jump a fence to get into the start corral. I remember hearing "Sweet Home Chicago" as the race began. I remember looking for my wife around the halfway point as the course wound back fairly close to the start line. There were just too many people (runners and spectators) so we missed each other. And I remember being completely drained of energy by about Mile 23. This was already the farthest I had ever run, and I remember feeling incredibly awful. I really wanted to quit. I probably would have quit if my hotel wasn't right near the finish line, and I would have had to walk back those last three miles anyway. I was really poking along at this point, and the thoughts in my head were on a continual loop: "This is stupid. Why am I doing this? This is the dumbest thing I've ever done. I'm never running anywhere ever again", over and over.

Finally I made my way back into Grant Park towards the finish line. The second I crossed the finish line, all my thoughts of "This is stupid" instantly switched to "Wow, this was great! I feel awesome! I can't wait to do it again!" All these years later, I find that most new marathoners get the "This is stupid" thoughts somewhere around Mile 23. A portion of them have the light switch moment that changes it to "This is great" like I did, and they become addicted to marathoning. The rest never have that original thought leave their heads, and they become one-and-done and never bother with marathoning again. I'm glad that I had the switch go off...

It didn't take long after the race for me to stiffen up badly. Suddenly, walking became very difficult. The race had a "family meet-up zone" with large signs with each letter of the alphabet so that runners could meet their families under the letter matching their last name. I stared at letter 'A', and I cringed when I saw how far it would be to walk to the 'M'. Thankfully, my wife happened to be in the same vicinity walking towards the 'M', so I didn't have to hobble all that way. I had stiffened up so much and was having so much trouble walking that I struggled to climb the curb as we crossed Michigan Ave on the way back to our hotel.

My final time in the race was 4:27:48. For my first marathon, my mail goal of course was just finishing. But I had a hope that I could finish in 4:15. With the slog of the last few miles, that wasn't going to happen. But I finished, and I was happy. I'm also happy that I continued marathoning and, as of this writing, I have completed 32 other Full Marathons and 1 Ultramarathon in the ensuing 10.5 years. And hopefully I still have many more marathons left in me... -May 11, 2016

And now the photos. Click any image to enlarge.