Rock and Roll Half Marathon Recap
Good morning and happy Tuesday! I am so excited to share this half marathon recap with you guys. First of all, for anyone who hasn’t raced the Humana Rock and Roll Chicago Half Marathon and 10k, I highly recommend it! As large as the race was, (over 20,000 runners (!) everything was very well organized and the volunteer support was amazing!
Let’s start from the beginning…
Unfortunatley, my phone was dead the entire race, so I wasn’t able to snag a single picture (which was a major bummer!) So bare with me, through the minimal photos.
Landon and I got to the race, early enough to run to the gear check area, do some light jogging, and get into our corral. Based on our time, we were put in corral 2 and there, we met up with a blogger/run coach friend of mine!
It is SO fun to meet up other bloggers and run coaches! After chatting a few minutes we were off and the race was under way.
Landon and I ran together the entire way, pacing each other. My goal was to stay around an 8 minute mile or so, in order to keep injuries at bay, while still having a good time for the race. Unfortunately, thanks to Chicago’s massive buildings, my Garmin lost track of my paces and Landon and I had to go off our bodies and his Strava app on his phone for our paces. Thankfully, Strava seemed to be working well and we hit our splits pretty well.
Miles 1-4 flew by and I enjoyed seeing all of Chicago’s downtown while running. I think my favorite way to tour a city is through running. 🙂
Once we hit miles 6-8, my legs started cramping up a bit and feeling h.e.a.v.y. I don’t know if I didn’t have enough electrolytes in me or water, but instead of pushing through, Landon and I walked through a few of the aid stations, in order to loosen up my legs and avoid any major cramps!
I really, really dislike stopping (even if it is for a quick second, like our stops were) during a race, but you got to do what will help you finish, healthily!
After mile 8, I remember telling Landon that my legs finally felt alive and ready to rock, lol! Racing is so funny sometimes. After mile 8, my legs felt light and happy with me. I took a few GU chews around miles 6 and I think that may have had something to do with the sudden burst of energy.
The race was packed and every mile and a half the street was lit up with live music and cheering from spectators and water stations! One of the best parts about this race was the misting stations that lined the streets.
When I first heard about the misting stations, I pictured a light, gentle watery mist. Instead, they provided a full on shower. And it felt amazing. Thankfully, the weather was cool (for July) but the humidity was pretty high.
Humidity = lots of sweaty runners.
The last 3 miles were filled with hills, which is not my favorite timing for hills in a race, but it definitely made us stronger runners 😉 at least mentally…
After a few hills, we sprinted toward the finish line and crossed the finish line holding hands. < Which is something I’ve been dreaming of doing for a LONG time!
We finished with a total time of 1:52:50 with an average pace of 8:30 a mile. I was only three minutes away from a PR, but after the initial disappointment and a pep talk from Landon, I remembered that this race was a training run/race for my full marathon in September and it is better to focus on finishing healthy than crushing a PR.
Overall, I was super happy with this half marathon and running the entire race beside Landon made it the most special race I’ve ever run! Here’s to racing many more races together Landon and crushing that half marathon PR next half!
Have a great day friends!
Questions of the Day
- Have you ever run the Rock and Roll half series?
- What is your favorite race distance?
- Do you run with your significant other?