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Slayed attempts the Chicago Marathon!

Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
Yes, after nearly 6 months of training the time has finally arrived!

I'm on my way to Heathrow now, flying out to Chicago in the morning, and getting ready to run 26.2 miles on Sunday with 45K equally stupid individuals :p.

So why am I partaking of this idiocy?

My mate Richard's been asking me to join him in the London Marathon for a few years, but that means training over the winter and I like to go into hibernation.

However when he asked me about the Chicago Marathon, I no longer had the same excuse so gave in :p.

I'm also running for charity, since my wife's currently cycling across Jordan (the country, not the tart) for a baby health charity - she'll be finishing just before I start.

Before I started training for this the longest event I'd run was the Great South Run which is 10 miles. Since then I've done the Newark Half Marathon and managed a 22 mile run last month (which bloody hurt!).

The training schedules say you have to "taper" the training in the last 3 weeks, which means apart from a few 10Ks I've had to back off, which feels weird. I'll find out on Sunday if it worked or not!

The race should be starting at 1:30pm UK time, and I'll be trying to keep up to date on Twitter during the run (Slayed06).

Right now I'm excited and scared in fairly equal measure!

I'll let you know if I survive :p.
 
P

Peter

Hyper Poster
Good luck mate. :)

I forgot to ask you at the weekend, are you getting any credits over there aswell? :p
 
Ollie

Ollie

CF Legend
Good luck Slayed. A bit far to go for a run though.
Hopefully you'll reward yourself with some credits. ;)
 
P

peep

CF Legend
Good luck Mark! Hope it all goes well for you. Are you doing it for the same charity that your Wife chose?
 
Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
Thanks guys!

Yes Peep, it's the same charity (run by Prof Winston, the one with the 'tache on BBC documentaries).

I'm in the biggest Premier Inn ever at Heathrow, it's hooge!
 
Error

Error

Strata Poster
If I totally had money and didn't have school, I would go and wish you luck.

Good luck, though!
 
Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
^Nice thought Error! I'm assuming it'll be heaving on the day anyway :).

Raining like mad in Chicago at the moment, so that's a no for a quick credit run! Meant to be dry for Sunday though.
 
ECG

ECG

East Coast(er) General
Staff member
Administrator
Good luck bud! If all goes well, perhaps next time you can stay at my place when you come over for the NYC marathon. :wink:
 
LiveForTheLaunch

LiveForTheLaunch

CF Legend
Wow! That's such a long run.. But it's awesome that you're doing something like this and that it is for a good cause. Chicago is a really nice city too.. Have fun!
 
Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
Lol, let's get this one out of the way first Jerry :p.

It's literally freezing in Chicago! Gonna be fun at 06:30, def. gloves out.

6 hours to go, eek! Better get some sleep....
 
E

Emmett

Giga Poster
^I couldn't find anyone showing it when looking through the tv lisitngs so far.

Good look Slayed, at least you will heat up quickly when running in the cold. Hopefully all the training pays off for you.
 
Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
I reckon the best chance of catching it is either on a US news channel or online, somewhere like http://www.universalsports.com/ or http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/.

05:15 now, just starting to get ready. It's amazing how much tat runners accumulate! BRING ON THE VAS! :wink:

It's 0C outside so the funny hat shall be making an appearance (Peter, Ciall & Martyn already know what it looks like - for once Thorpe didn't fail :p).

And OMG, just discovered this - looks like next year could be sorted then! http://www.disneylandhalfmarathon.com
 
Slayed

Slayed

Hyper Poster
^It's to stop sweat going into my eyes :).

Well that was an experience!

Got up at 04:30, got ready, made our way to the race start at 06:30 - and it was -1C!! Cowing freezing!

With there being 45000 people around, it was chaos at the start line, and I could only get to the 12 minute mile mark - I wanted to be at 10. This meant I spent the first 10 miles overtaking people!

Did I mention it was freezing? I've never run in that kind of temperature, it's not ideal. But I was feeling good and the support from the crowd was fantastic, they were loving the hat!

Got to the half-way mark by 2:11, about my best time, felt fine. But then my left foot started hurting - I knew from training that if you keep running it eventually goes numb and bearable :p.

I stuck my welsh flag on as a cape at 14, which helped with the temperature, and was going fine (if a little slower) when disaster struck at 19!

My right thigh suddenly cramped, I've had this in my big training run and it's debiltating. I had to stop and basically beat the crap out of it until it let go - I couldn't bend my leg otherwise!

From that point on, it kept cramping to some extent every mile or so, which meant stopping and sorting it out. Time was slipping, I could see my 4:30 finish was out, but I was determined to finish in under 5 hours.

I just kept pushing on and eventually got to the last mile. By this point my right leg hated me. I blanked it out and pushed on, but it basically was running hell!

Finally the last bends were in sight, up the incline, turn into the final straight, and I just said "**** it" and sprinted down to the finish! With accompanying roars of success :p.

Stopping is not good - your legs whinge like mothers and you spend 15 mins trying to walk :lol:. But I did it!

chicagoresults.jpg


Thanks for all the support, it really helped to make sure I wouldn't give in :p.

Will I do a marathon again? No ****ing way! Half-marathons all the way from now on! :) *sips champagne*
 
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