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This is one of the best race stories I’ve ever had… it’s the one where I accidently ran a far longer race than I had planned.
On Sunday morning I was supposed to run the Rock n’ Roll 5k, and then cheer for Melissa with her friend Jill as she ran the half marathon. Melissa and I lined up together in the corral, and proceeded to slowly shuffle forward for almost a full half hour before finally crossing the starting line of Rock n’ Roll Chicago. I’d heard SO much over the years about the Rock n’ Roll series, and I was so excited to be running my first race. Melissa and I ran together for just under a mile before the course split, but it was nice to start with her.
Once we split, I took off and enjoyed running along the lake, past Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, and Grant Park before the LONG road into the finish line. Honestly, I loved getting to run with views of the Chicago skyline in front of me- it was beautiful! I ran a solid first two miles, but had to slow down the 3rd mile due to the heat, leading to a 34 minute finish time. Overall, I was really happy with my race though!
I went through the finishing chute and then ran back to the finish line, where I stood right at the line to watch Shalane Flanagan finish (and win) the half marathon in 69 minutes- I’m SO impressed! Can you even imagine running at that pace? Jill and I walked around for a few miles as I ate a bit and drank some gatorade.
Being this close to her finishing was AWESOME.
At this point this is where it gets interesting. Melissa sent a text asking us to meet her at mile 10 (well- that’s what I assumed she meant out of the garbled mess that was texted while running). It was hot, and I know she gets really dizzy in the heat, so I was immediately a bit worried. Once we started walking backwards on the course, I saw multiple people collapsed on the ground with medics around them, and I got especially worried. Jill was in flip flops and couldn’t run, so I told her to stay put, handed my stuff off to her (except a partly drank water bottle and my phone), and started sprinting down the course as fast as I could, trying to find Melissa. I realized how hilly those last few miles were as I was throwing myself down them as fast as possible. The second mile I ran clocked in at 7:52- something I couldn’t ever do in a normal circumstance, but I guess I was worried enough about her to keep it moving. Somewhere around mile 11 (I think) we popped down into a dark tunnel, and I was worried I’d miss her there, but I kept my eyes peeled. Once I hit mile 10, I realized that either she had been pulled off the course or I had missed her, so I called Jill to let her know that I was turning around and then tried to hurry back as soon as possible.
It was HOT, like I said, and the shortest way back to the finish line was to run the course, which I did. However, since I hadn’t paid for the half marathon, I didn’t feel like it would be fair for me to take in water or gatorade. So, keep in mind that I’m out there without any fuel, my pace had been way faster than it should, I was in my old running shoes (which are fine for short miles, but totally inappropriate for long distance), and it was getting hot.
I trudged along until melissa finally called me to say that she was at mile 12 and would see me in “just a minute” (she didn’t realize where I was in the course). I kept trucking along, definitely feeling the heat get to me. I DID cave when they were giving out cold wet sponges on the course, and grabbed one. I just couldn’t refuse, and it was honestly one of the best things I could imagine at that moment. At least there were some great things to look at.
As I mentioned, there were HILLS the last few miles of the course, and they were rough. Right before the finish, I started noticing that a blister was forming on the bottom of one of my toes, and it hurt to put pressure on it. I slowed to a walk so I wouldn’t injure myself, and once I hit the finish line (I had walked off the course at that point), I had another mile or so to walk to meet Melissa (who ran an awesome race! And-by the way, she just wanted to toss her shirt to us at mile 10- she was fine otherwise.) and Jill.
So, in total, I ended up running a half marathon on Sunday without intending to do so at all. I think the story is so funny (it’s much better in person!), and Melissa and I have spent quite a bit of time laughing over it. While I only get credit for the 5k, I’m definitely counting this as a “0.5 half marathon”.
I’m really proud of my body right now. I busted out 13 miles without training, with very little fuel, and with shoes that I set my half marathon PR in 2 years ago (so they have very little tread left at all but are fine for walking around a city in). I know that I probably couldn’t do that if I didn’t think it was an emergency, but I did it, and I’m pretty happy!
My knee was (understandably) hurting a bit after the race, so I headed over to a medical tent where I wrapped some of my blisters (I’ve never gotten blisters before in a race really- at least like this), and got my knee wrapped with some ice.
Honestly, although everything happened pretty quickly on Sunday morning, I had a really fantastic day, and this might be my favorite race day ever (ESPECIALLY because I got to see Shalane run)!
I was so thankful I had worn my BioSkin Compression Sleeves! Click here for more race recaps!
I have more recaps of my Chicago weekend coming up over the next week, so stay tuned!
Friday: “COME QUICKLY, I’M INJURED” “Okay, one minute.”
Sunday: “Cab u cony to 10” *SPRINTS LIKE A CRAZY PERSON*
I love you dearly!!!
hahahaha. I try my best. LOVIES.
omg this is brilliant! You are the bestest friend ever.
Well thank you. I laugh every time I tell the story because it’s ridiculous, but I think it’ll be a fantastic race memory 🙂
That’s such a crazy race story! It’s cool you got to run a good 5k and Shalane finish, and those extra 10 miles are just proof that you can handle anything! Great post!
I definitely learned a lot about what my body can do and handle right now! It definitely is a crazy story 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
[…] for the Rock n’ Roll Festival Weekend. Make sure to check out the posts about the races: My 5k Turned Accidental Half Marathon and Meeting My Running Idol & My First Spectating Experience. I’m pretty sure that this […]
[…] story of what had happened while I was out in my own little world just running. (You must read Car’s recap about all of this… it does make for a great […]