Please pardon the title, I'm in a Chicago state of mind.
The Chicago Marathon is in two weeks, and you know what that means!
It's crunch time, where I am officially overwhelmed with work and running and physical therapy and keeping up with life in general.
*Cue sad violin music*
It was around this time last year, before the San Francisco Marathon, that things started to get real, so I knew I had it coming. (See what I did there? Another Chicago reference. I am brilliant.)
I've already started to analyze the 10-day forecast and predict what the weather will be like. I read and re-read the participant guide and did a Google street view of parts of the course. I began my list of to-do's, such as buy more Gu, order a Chicago-themed Sweaty Band, and finalize race day attire. I start to look back at my training and worry I haven't done enough, and worry I haven't had a strict enough diet.
To add to the mix this year, I have my piriformis to worry about.
One thing I do have going into this year is the confidence that I can finish. One other unfortunate thing I have going into this year is a time to beat.
I finished San Francisco at 3:58, which is around a 9:04 pace.
At the beginning of training, back when my hip was OK and I was going to my weekly track/speed workouts, my goal was to get my average pace down to the 8:40's or lower 8:50's. To give you an idea, that's a finish time of between 3:47 and 3:52. I figured with the flat course Chicago is known for, it was definitely an achievable goal.
Then, after taking almost a month off and then having to re-start training in the middle of the season and not even certain that I would make it to Chicago at all,
that goal changed to "just finish".
that goal changed to "just finish".
My goal deep down is to still beat my San Francisco time - that's just the competitor in me.
But, if I don't, especially after all the pain and the stretching and the Advil and the massage and the physical therapy, I will still be more than happy to simply cross the finish line.
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