2005 Chicago Marathon

Well folks, the marathon day has come and gone and Ben and I are still standing. I decided to plot our paces over the course of the race using the electronic chip/mat data (approx. every 5 km) and personally recorded lap times from my stopwatch. As you can see, we started out strong, gradually losing steam. For me, the pain started at mile 20 when casual calf-tightening progressed to debilitating cramps (reminiscent of my 2004 Napa debacle) that stayed with me for the rest of the race. Several runners offered me encouraging words when they saw me jogging in an awkward, limping manner and I reached deep inside to battle it out the rest of the way, although I am paying for it now with my still painfully strained calves. No PR (personal record) this time out, although I got a top 4 time (behind LA2005, SF2004, and Chi2003). Ben has informed me that the anomalous spike in his pace at about halfway represents a pit stop stemming from a GI bug that he thinks he picked up at a CPK dinner two nights before.