I finished at 4:20. I trained to finish under 4 but started to develop some knee pain about a month ago so I just decided to take it easy and enjoy the race. The Chicago Marathon is really something to see. There are 1.7 million spectators that line the streets to cheer you on. Really made it a lot of fun. I’ve spent some time in DC vacationing, I bet that would be a great run as well.
4:20 is a great time! I thought about doing Chicago, mainly because of the crowd and a good flat/fast course.
Yeah I was kinda following all of that. It’s hard to imagine running a single mile in under 5 minutes let alone running 26 straight. It almost doesn’t even seem possible. The weather in Chicago was perfect for the run , a little windy though.
Not to sidetrack this thread, but I agree with the last statement of your post. Well, actually the entire post. But I've heard some dispute that running helps. I can say with 100% certainty that after getting into distance running, the time that it use to take me to acclimate to the altitude has shortened dramatically, and I have nowhere near the issues as before with packing over mountains and fatigue. Even my elk hunting partner immediately noticed the difference.
That would be me, I fit into that category, I run just twice a week, but I can't imagine ever training for a Marathon, that's commitment.
I didn’t even start running until I was in my forties. I totally agree on the recovery aspect. I can get my heart rate and breathing elevated extremely high and it seems like once I stop everything drops back to normal very quickly. I never really noticed that before I had built up my cardio.
