Chicago Marathon

At the Marathon Expo at McCormick Place Convention Center the day before the race.

My wife and I dipping our feet into Lake Michigan the about eight hours after the race!

Downtown Chicago on our last day (day after the race).

Before, during and after!

The Chicago Marathon is the 11th marathon I have completed!  My goal was to break 3 hours and 10 minutes, but I fell short of this by crossing the finish line in 3:11:58!  The weather was a bit warm at the start, which hovered in the low 60's.  It soon soared to 79 degrees at around the half way point.  It didn't bother me because we were still running through streets with tall buildings that provided much needed shade and there was a nice breeze keeping us cool.  It wasn't until the final miles where we ran in street with no buildings!  For me, the last 7.2k took a toll on me!  You can see just by looking at my splits:

5k   - 00:23:12 (7:28 p/mile)
10k - 00:45:20 (7:08 p/mile)

15k - 01:07:22 (7:06 p/mile)

20k - 01:29:26 (7:07 p/mile)

Half- 01:34:15 (7:04 p/mile) (13.1miles)

25k - 01:51:14 (7:01 p/mile)

30k - 02:13:22 (7:08 p/mile)

35k - 02:36:32 (7:28 p/mile)

40k - 03:01:00 (7:53 p/mile)

Fin  - 03:11:58 (8:03 p/mile)

Average Pace per mile = 7:19

I wish the weather was cooler!  I was on pace to finish with a 3:08:30!  I can't complain as weather is one element no one can control!  This was my second fastest marathon.  The fastest marathon I've complete was the Philadelphia Marathon in November 2008 with a time of 3:11:43, which is also the coldest marathon I've completed!  Temperature at the start was 27 degrees and at the finish, it was about 32 degrees!

Always a Runner...