And I think it’s just an honest fact that until we clean up our planet, I’m going run crappy 5-hour marathons. Can someone pinpoint a date for me on when that’s going to happen? Because it would be nice if it were during my lifetime. Anyhow, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Seriously, how could it be this hot in Chicago two years in a row?

The short version: It was hot. That pissed me off. I died at mile 15. Then I cried.

Now I’m okay with things. You can stop here if you like because an extremely long and unnecessarily detailed version is up next. And basically, it says the same thing. (Click on pictures to make them bigger)

This was such a long trip. Michael and I left Tuesday before the marathon. Our plan was to stop and visit and many family members and friends as we could along the way there and on the way home to rack up as many brownie points as possible.

Tuesday we arrived in Little Rock and met up with Michael’s college buddy and his wife to have dinner and watch my friend Obama kick some serious ass during the debate. That was fun. Michael rode in Arkansas and the next morning and I got my final 3-mile run in and then we drove to Memphis and had dinner with our cycling friend/financial adviser. The next morning Michael rode and I took it easy before we drove to Champagne, IL. Michael rode the Friday morning and we headed into Chicago. We had a great hotel on Printer’s Row downtown only a few blocks from the start and finish line. Really, it was the perfect hotel location for the race.

Immediately after checking into the hotel we met up with Michael’s sister-in-law and some cousins and had lunch. Then we headed for the expo. I wish I had pictures, but I don’t. It was well organized but the school bus ride there was hot, and by the time we arrived at the expo I was having anxiety hot flashes. I picked up the essentials and headed back to the bus. (FYI – Those hot flashes didn’t end until we checked out of our hotel on Monday morning)

Friday night was fun. We went to a great steak restaurant and then to a fabulous jazz bar. It was so relaxing. A few glasses of wine and a few martinis was just what we needed after FOUR DAYS of driving and visiting.

Michael got up early on Saturday and headed over to Lake Shore to ride. (thanks psimet) I was a little freaked out when I saw him ride his bike through traffic down Michigan Avenue – luckily is was a Saturday and traffic wasn’t that bad, but I halfway expected him to die along the way – call me paranoid, but Chicago drivers are crazy. By the time he got home and cleaned up it was time for lunch. I was starving. We walked over to a nice bar and grill and had a wonderful lunch.

Our plan was to meet up with David and Mrs. T. at the Art Institute, but I was still so tired from the drive and Michael enticed me back to the hotel for a nap and a massage. I ended up sleeping for two hours. And it was wonderful. After the nap we got ready for our pre-race dinner with David, Mrs. T. and the Schneiders. It was a fabulous restaurant with wonderful company. We planned out race morning meet-up and everyone was excited. I was so prepared for a 4:30 – 4:40 marathon I could taste it. David even brought a detailed marathon chart of all his marathons pinpointing all his strengths and weaknesses by mile. I was impressed. The only thing I could think of was “Why haven’t I done this before?” – Note to self: get new Garmin before next race.

Race morning David met Michael and I at our hotel and we walked down to the start line checked our bags and took a few photos and a video. There is a whole big long phone story here that I could go into details about, but basically I carried a different phone and let Michael keep my iPhone instead of checking it with my bag. My mistake.

Chicago Marathon 2008 Start from Runner Susan on Vimeo.

It was hot at the start line – already high 60s or low 70s. I checked the weather before I left the hotel and it said the high for the day was going to be in the low 80s. I figured it would wait until later in the day to get hot. We got to the start line and chatted with a few folks before the start. I hopped a fence to pee and cure my nervous bladder. It wasn’t 20 minutes or so before we crossed the start line – much better than New York, but elbow-to-elbow runners, which it stayed that way until the finish.

David and I ran a respectable first half – right on target around 10:30s – 10:40s, but I could feel the heat getting to me. I was dying slowly. We saw Michael and my sister’s family a little after the half. It was nice to see them and I passed off the phone I was carrying because it was getting soaked. Chicago was well prepared for the heat this year and volunteers were spraying runners with hoses left and right. Whether you wanted it or not.

David was kind enough to carry my baggie of race supplies and at mile 14 I knew I needed to get it back because I didn’t want to hold him up – he was running a great race and I was slowing up. That made me sad, because I really didn’t want to run alone. We stayed together for another few miles and then it all started to fall apart – the same heat related fatigue that I’m so familiar with here in Texas. You would think training in Texas would prepare me for the heat. But obviously, NOT. My back was achy, but surprisingly was never a problem.

I started walking a lot around mile 18. My ipod died because it was filled with water. Around mile 20 volunteers with megaphones were blasting “we are now in a CODE RED” “CODE RED”. Which meant it was officially over 80 degrees. I saw sign somewhere that flashed 89 degrees, but I doubt it was that hot, although the megaphone people kept saying it was 92 degrees on the pavement. Yeah, I’m still not sure what that means. Was the pavement 92 degrees or were the runners 92 degrees because we were on the pavement? Either way there was no breeze and my clothes were so wet and steamy hot it felt like someone had microwaved them while I was wearing them.

I finished, official time 5:10:58. This was the first marathon I ever considered DNFing. I’m glad I didn’t but I was sad, I trained so hard. As I walked through the shoot a volunteer handed me a mylar blanket to warm me up. Um, okay. Why? I didn’t want one. I didn’t need one. I found my way to the bag pick up and looked for David. I really wanted a post race picture. I looked some more, but since I didn’t have a phone I couldn’t call him. I figured he left to meet Mrs. T since he finished so far ahead me. I headed back to the hotel and I was just sad. I trained so hard. It wasn’t my fault it was hot, it wasn’t Chicago’s fault it was hot. It was just hot which is why I’m blaming too much global warming.

When I got back to the hotel I cried on Michael’s shoulder a while. Told him I was never ever going to run another marathon again. He rolled his eyes, and said okay. He knows me. Then I decided that I was not going to let this get me down because I had an anniversary to celebrate. And boy, did we celebrate. I figured if Katie could wear heels after her marathon, so could I. And you don’t get calves like that from sitting on your booty all day long.

We checked out of the hotel the next morning and headed to Lafayette, IN where we had lunch with my sister and he kids (AKA: my cheering section). We then drove to Indianapolis where Michael rode and we visited with my parents and then to dinner with them and my brother and one of his kids, little Lucy. (Don’t mess with me or my brother will beat you up!)

I didn’t feel so good during dinner. I thought it was just travel fatigue. After dinner we took dessert over to visit my nearly 90-year-old Grandma and I ended up spending the next 30 minutes lying on her bathroom floor vomiting. Yeah, I don’t know what the deal was there. My Grandma blamed that “foreign food” spaghetti.  We were supposed to make one more stop in Arkansas on the way home, but I was so tired and I just wanted to sleep in my bed. We drove 15 hours straight through till we made it home. It was a busy eight days.

Now I’m home, I don’t feel so horrible about my time. I’ve been reading other people’s blogs and it seems the heat was a factor for everyone (except David who ran really fast anyhow), even though it was not as hot as Chicago’s marathon last year. It was well organized, and the volunteers were spectacular.

I lot of things happened while training and running this marathon. I worked hard and I’m in the best shape of my life. (thanks Cindy) I’ve learned cross-training and weight-lifting are good. I also learned that I’m a pretty good sprinter (thanks Ewen) and it might suit me well to actually train for some shorter races. I may never qualify for Boston, my body just isn’t meant to do so, but I also know that somewhere in me, if I still work hard, is a 4:30 marathon. I just need the right conditions for it to pop up.  I can guarantee you this, my next marathon will be low key and not with 40,000 other runners.

I’m just not sure what to do now. I’m running a half marathon in a few weeks, which I totally plan on rocking. But I just don’t know about another marathon. Whiterock is around the corner and Austin is whispering to me, but I’ve yet to make any decisions. How about you David?

You can see all the pictures of the race and pre/post-race in my flickr accounts.

*Grammar, spelling, sentence structure, cohesiveness or punctuation doesn’t count on race reports – at all and ever and you can’t use it against me.