I got into the Chicago Marathon by earning a spot in the AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championship through the 2022 age group rankings. Not only was I excited to run Chicago for the first time, but I was also pumped to be competing in the Age Group World Championships against some of the fastest masters’ runners. The AGWC is in its third year of existence.
My buildup for Chicago went extremely well. If I was to compare this buildup to my other marathons (even though I don’t like to compare them because I think each one is different in their own ways) I’d probably say that this was the best one. In the 14 weeks of training, not including the last two weeks of taper, I averaged 102 miles/week with 12 of the 14 weeks at 100+ miles. I think the only downside of my buildup was that I did not run a tune-up half-marathon or any races in the lead up to gauge my fitness. However, I was okay with it because I’ve trained for many marathons and knew that I can determine my level of fitness based on how my marathon-specific workouts went.
My time goal going into the race was to run under 2:30. But I’d also be happy with a 2:30 finish time since it’s the only marathon time between 2:29 and 2:39 that I haven’t ran. As for a non-time goal, I wanted to place in the Top 3 of the M45-49 division as part of the Age Group World Championships. Based on the last two AGWC, I’d have to run sub 2:30 or low 2:30 to have a chance at a podium finish.
The weather on race morning was perfect for the marathon, mid 40 degrees with a high of 55, cloudy and about 8mph winds. For my warmup, I jogged very slowly from the Wanda AGWC tent to the start line. I was lined up in Corral A about five rows back. About 20 minutes before the start, the professional and elite field were marshaled to the start. Moments later, a couple hundred runners as part of the American Development Program assembled behind the pro/elite field. When the gun went off at 7:30am the pro/elite and ADP field took off while Corral A was at a standstill. I was confused, but immediately realized that we had a different start time.
One minute later a second gun sounded, and we were off. I couldn’t believe how many runners were in front within the first half mile to a mile. There had to be about a few hundred or so runners, and that wasn’t including the pro/elite and ADP field. The first mile felt very pedestrian, and I knew I was running much slower than marathon pace. I came across the first mile marker in exactly 6:00, about 15-20 seconds slower than goal pace. I stayed calm and did not worry because once the front pack thinned out, I’d slowly pick up the pace. I did just that, splitting the next two miles in 5:34 and 5:37. The first three miles were manual splits at the mile markers. I did not rely on gps pace/splits early on, because the tall city buildings were causing significant inaccuracy. I remember my watch reflecting that I was running well over 6:00 pace when I knew I wasn’t.
I stopped manually splitting my watch after the first three miles. I wanted to focus on running by feel and not rely on the watch. After 34 marathons I know my body well enough and what the effort should feel like. The plan was to put the legs into cruise control at marathon pace, and then let the brain go to sleep for at least the first half of the race. When I get to 20 miles I’d then have to dig deep and run strong over the last 10k. Of course, this is easier said than done.
I came through 10K in 35:32 and 15K in 53:24, right on pace for a 2:30 or just under. At around 10 miles I started to feel some tightness in my right hamstring. It didn’t feel like a cramp was developing, but just some tightness that would be concerning if it didn’t go away. Luckily, the tightness disappeared after about a mile.
One of the things I liked about Chicago besides the flat and fast course and great weather on marathon day was that there were a ton of runners to run with. At no point along the course was I ever running solo and in no man’s land. There was always a small pack of runners to run with or a string of runners up front to chase after. However, despite there being some runners to run with, I still stuck to my race plan of running my own race and pace.
I went through halfway in 1:15:05, which was 25 seconds slower than my half split at the 2022 Boston Marathon when I broke 2:30. At this point I was feeling good and comfortable, so I thought I’d have a good shot at negative splitting or at least running even splits in the second half.
As part of the Age Group World Championships, all AGWC runners wore a custom back bib displaying their age group division and last name. At first, I thought this was a dumb idea because it’s an easy target for other masters’ runners behind you to key off and chase after. Well, it turned out to be a good thing because I was one of them chasing and overtaking other runners. During the first half of the race, I passed a good number of runners with AGWC back bibs. It was especially motivating each time I caught and passed a runner in the same M45-49 age group.
From miles 15 through 22, I felt great and was clicking off miles at just under 5:40 pace. I kept telling myself to stay relax as there were still lots of running left. I also reminded myself that pushing a few seconds faster than MP can easily turn into 30 seconds added onto each mile late in the race. Around the 21-mile marker, I heard a spectator yell out 2 hours 35 seconds. At first, I was wondering what the hell he was talking about, but then wondered whether Kiptum just ran a new world record of 2:00:35.
At around 24.5 miles, I caught up to a small pack of runners with a couple of them wearing AGWC back bibs, one with a M40-44 bib and another with a M50-54 bib. I was trying to decide whether to hang with the group or continue pushing through. Since I was still running well at this point, I decided to push through. Moments later I felt a slight cramp flirting with my left hamstring. Interestingly, I experienced the same type of cramp in my hamstrings this late in the race in my past two Boston Marathons. I stayed calm because I knew how to deal with it. At the next aid station, I downed 3 cups of Gatorade. The Gatorade helped subside the cramp, just as it did in Boston. Luckily the aid station was only about 100 meters away from when I felt the cramp or else the cramp would have gotten worse before it got better.
About a half mile later there was a sign telling us we had One Mile to Go. I don’t remember exactly what my watch read with a mile to go, but I do remember thinking that I was on track for a sub 2:30 and possibly match my PR.
Just before the 26-mile mark we make a right turn and run up a short hill on the highway bridge before making a left towards the finish. This part of the course reminded me exactly of the Boston Marathon’s infamous finish “Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston”. I didn’t think the short hill was tough at all, but that’s likely because I still had some legs under me. After I crested the hill and made the left turn towards the finish, I checked my watch and realized that I could possibly PR by a few seconds. I made one final push on the straightaway and crossed the finish line when the clock read 2:30:38. At first, I was like “What???”, and then I remembered that I started the race a minute later than the pro/elite field. I stopped my Garmin and it read 2:29:39, so I knew I broke 2:30 and PR’d. My official time was 2:29:38, a new personal best by 10 seconds and the second time going sub 2:30, both as a master’s runner.
I was happy to have achieved my time goal of a sub 2:30 and new PR, but I was even happier when I found out I placed 2nd in the Age Group World Championships M45-49 division. As a top 3 finisher in my age group, I was invited to attend the Chicago Marathon Champions Reception later that evening. This was an awesome experience as I was recognized and celebrated with the top performing athletes, to include the new World Marathon Record Holder Kelvin Kiptum, Sifan Hassan, Emily Sisson and Conner Mantz.
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| L-R: M45-49 2nd, 1st, and F45-49 1st Place |
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| New Marathon World Record Holder Kelvin Kiptum, 2:00:35 |
Overall, I loved the Chicago course. The course is flat and can be very fast when there is good weather, and on October 8th we had perfect weather for the marathon. It can get very windy (I guess that’s why they call it the Windy City), but on the day the 8mph winds didn’t have much of an impact. I thought the crowd support was good. I didn’t notice any dead spots of crowds along the course, so that was a big plus.
I’m a big fan of running an even split or preferably a negative split race. I ran negative splits with the second half 32 seconds faster (1:15:05 / 1:14:33). Official 5k splits below.
Nutrition: I stuck with my pre-race/raceday nutrition plan as it has worked for me in my previous marathons. The night before the race I drank one bottle of Maurten 320 drink mix to stay hydrated and load up on more carbs. In the morning, I had my breakfast 2.5 hours before the race and then sipped on a bottle of Maurten 320 about an hour before the race. I took one caffeinated Maurten gel 10 minutes before the start and an additional five gels over the course of the race. I took one gel alternating regular with caffeinated gels about every 4-5 miles (miles 4, 9, 13, 17, and 21). In addition to the gels, I alternated drinking Gatorade and water at the aid stations.
Shoes: Nike Alphafly Next% 2 (orange).
