Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Fox Valley Marathon


+You know you are addicted to the marathon distance when you decide to fly out to Illinois and stay two nights just to run a marathon in that state (Illinois -+-14th state for me).  By the time I had settled on doing this one for a September marathon, the field was already filled, except for the slots available to people who made a contribution to a charity.  I chose the Northern Illinois Food Bank and I was in.

The events (Half-Marathon and 20 Miler as well as Marathon) were held in St. Charles, Illinois, about 40 miles west of Chicago after I flew into Midway Airport.  The town was easy to figure out, with the main east-west street having the Best Western I stayed at about a mile out from the Fox River.  The expo and number pick-up as well as the race starts and finishes were all just a couple blocks off that street, just across the river.

The events were run mostly along a tree-lined paved path along the river.  With 2,400 participants among the three events, all starting together, the organizers sent people off in waves of about a hundred.  I had positioned myself behind the 4:20 (9:55/mile) pacer, figuring I'd be really happy to do that time, having not yet run under 4:28 in 2012.  Starting this far back, it took about ten minutes to move up to the starting gate. But, with the wave start and people cramming together to get through the narrow starting area, I was left behind the pacer in the next wave.

As I started out, in cool 50 degree weather with no breeze, I felt great and caught the pace group within a mile.  Then I went on past.  I started focusing on the next pace group, but wasn't catching it.  So I figured maybe I'd run between 4:15 and 4:20.  This plan worked well for the first half of the distance, but I knew the rolling nature of the path (which had been advertised as flat) was going to be taking a toll on my strength.  

By the time I turned around at 14 miles (it wasn't strictly out and back and crossed over the river eventually), the temperature had gotten up into the low 70s and was taking its toll.  Although I did the first half in 2:06+, I knew the slowing was going to happen.  I started thinking maybe I could do 4:22.  But then I got a side stitch, which was all the way around in my back.  I had to walk it off and did the next two miles at 12 mile pace.  Eventually I felt a bit better and picked it up some, but there were more rolling areas sapping my strength.  Somewhere around 21 miles, the 4:20 pacer passed me.  She said "Looking good!" to which I sort of snickered because I was feeling not so good.

In addition to a timing mat at 13.1 miles, for some reason this course had one at 22.5, meaning we got a split time for the last 3.7 miles.  In those miles, I had to walk again and averaged 13 minute miles.  Who wants a split of that?  48+ minutes of cover 3.7 miles!  Finished just under 4:36, but did win first place in the 65-69 age-group.  Later I saw how the other three guys in the age-group did.  The guy who came in second was only 15 seconds behind me at half-way, but finished ten minutes after I did.  He took 52 minutes on that last stretch.  I can only conclude that I'm only going to perform close to my potential best when the temperatures stay below 60 for the entire event.

The award I received is some sort of an acrylic plastic block (looks like crystal glass) with a winged shoe suspended in it.  The shoe must be plastic.  I'm told these things are done by laser.  The material apparently does not allow X-rays to penetrate.  Therefore, when entering the terminal for my return flight, the bag had to be searched and run through the scanner without the award in it.

Recommendation:  St. Charles is a nice town.  I found one bar that had dozens of beers on tap, and there are a number of other nice restaurants in the downtown area.  Mid-September is still going to have temperatures which get too warm for your best marathon effort.  If you just want to do a marathon in Illinois, this is a nice one.  If you want a better chance to perform well, wait for cooler weather.  Of course, as some of us know, even Chicago, three weeks later could be warm.