Category: Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Bank of America Chicago Marathon (10.11.2015)

Bank of America Chicago Marathon (10.11.2015)

Over the weekend I successfully completed my fourth marathon & the second marathon to qualify for Marathon Maniacs!

Overall this was an awesome race . . .
  • Fun course!
  • Amazing crowd support!
  • Second race in the Chicagoland Triple Crown series done!
  • All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2 (VP2)!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: A Marathon Maniac is born!

This was my fun marathon for the year! *I know, I know – I just said fun & marathon in the same sentence . . . I need my head checked . . . BUT it is the truth!*

After running the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon last week – this weekend’s race was purely for the fun, the experience, & to top it off to qualify as a Marathon Maniac!

This has been a mission of mine ever since I found out about the Marathon Maniacs & this weekend – I successfully marked this bucket list item as completed!

THE BAD: Crowd Support.

I don’t think I have ever said this & I may not say it again . . . this is a positive & a negative . . . WOW there was a ton of crowd support!

I never thought that this could be a bad thing until they started crowding the course so much so that it caused numerous runners to trip over each other & in some places caused us to completely stop. YIKES!

On the other hand – there wasn’t a single inch of the course that didn’t have someone cheering on the runners. I have NEVER EVER seen so much crowd support.

In addition, to being amazing cheerleaders – several people gave out water, bananas, beer, Coca Cola, etc. That was awesome! I stole a banana that was strategically placed on a sign that a guy was holding up in front of him that said “Wanna have a taste of my banana??” How can a girl pass that up? I needed some potassium. *hee hee*

AND THE UGLY: Expensive Experience.

WHOA was this marathon expennnnnssssiiivvvvvee! Normally a marathon runs about $75 – $100 . . . this one has taken the cake!

  • Registration Fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $185
  • Expo Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$25
  • Race Day Parking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $25
  • Once in a Lifetime Chance to Run this Marathon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Priceless

SUMMARY:

Overall, this was a great experience & I’m glad that I did decide to make this one of my marathons! And I qualified for Marathon Maniacs to boot! And as a Double Agent . . . shhhhh . . . I’m secretly INSANE!!

Half Fanatic #: 12734

Marathon Maniac #: 11670

Double Agent #: 1775

 

 

 

 

Marathon Maniac Sign

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon (10.04.2015)

Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon (10.04.2015)

Over the weekend I successfully completed my third marathon & the first marathon to qualify for Marathon Maniacs!

Overall this was an awesome race . . .
  • Beautiful course!
  • Amazing weather!
  • Amazing, supportive volunteers & crowd support!
  • All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2 (VP2)!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: 1:08:21 minute PR! 

This is being renamed “THE AMAZING”!

The Wisconsin Marathon had its complications & I knew that I would PR on my next road marathon, but I’m ecstatic about the improvement!

I’m rather excited to see how my times shape up for year as I increase my weekly mileage & become more accustomed to regular 20 – 25 milers.

THE BAD: Cramping.

Although the morning started nice & cool – it did warm up as the race progressed.

Unfortunately, because of THE UGLY (see below) – I didn’t take my Tailwind as regularly as I should have & this lead to some muscle cramping / seizing.

Thankfully, I did have some salt tabs in my VP2 & within 15 mins of taking a few of those my muscle cramping / seizing subsided.

AND THE UGLY: GI Issues.

By mile 13 my GI was clearly not happy with me & I was doing my best to evaluate if I needed to find a porta potty.

My pace started to fall off from mile 13 through mile 19 until I could get my head back in the game and know that my system was going to be OK . Unfortunately, this prevented me from using my Gu as early as I should have, so I did briefly bonk until I could get my body some fuel.

SUMMARY:

Overall, an awesomely epic day! I don’t know if I have ever been so excited to run another marathon to see how much my time has improved. Next year, for the Mitten Challenge (Wisconsin Marathon on 05.07.2016 & Kalamazoo Marathon on 05.08.2016) – I may just push it on Wisconsin to see if I can improve even more! If not, I guess I’ll just need to add another marathon to my schedule for the hell of it!

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The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly Race Recap: Fox Valley Half Marathon (09.20.2015)

Fox Valley Half Marathon (09.20.2015)

Over the weekend I ran my first road half marathon since the end of May (North Shore Half Marathon) & although I went into this race hoping for a PR, the over arching goal was to start my taper for my upcoming third marathon.

  • First time running in Fox Valley area & it was surprisingly beautiful!
  • Supportive volunteers!
  • My first time running with a pacer!
  • First race of the Chicagoland Triple Crown series done!
  • All of my gear worked fabulously – especially my Orange Mud Hydraquiver Vest Pack 2!

Here area my key “take aways” from this race!

THE GOOD: Another PR!

As I said before – I was hoping for a PR, but this was not the goal of this race.

With that being said I was able to take 9 minutes plus off of my last road half marathon!

I feel great & well prepared to head into my next marathon – The Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon.

THE BAD: Bees.

My family has a history of reacting poorly to bee stings & the warm fall weather had the bees out in full force.

To me there is nothing worse than bees swarming the aid stations & the finish line goodies – especially, after running my fastest half marathon & my legs responding like limp spaghetti noodles. :/

AND THE UGLY: Rebel in disguise.

This was my first time ever running with a pacer & it was a learning experience.

Apparently, I respond better to positive versus negative encouragement. *This was not surprising to my Mom – at all!*

Ian (my long-time friend & pacer) was great sport about it all & by mile 11 we had it figured out with our friendship still intact. Although, I think he will think twice before snapping his fingers & telling me to quit dragging ass again! *Disclaimer: There may or may not have been expletives involved in a snarky response. LMAO.*

Every time I started to fall slightly below my target pace – Ian would either say or motion for me to pick up the pace – sometimes there were “positive” tones & other times there were “not so positive” tones. It took me a good 3 or 4 times of it happening before I figured out what was going on (& I was more than slightly amused with myself), but every time some “not so positive” tones were used, I subconsciously slowed down slightly more. And the exact opposite happened when positive tones were used! 😛

As I said – we figured it out by mile 11, a new PR was reached, & I now know how to tell pacers how best to manage me! 😉

SUMMARY:

I feel like this race was the kick off to the last part of my race season & I’m thoroughly happy with this year of running so far!

In the next two months, I will be running two more marathons & at least one more half-marathon before taking some time off to rest prior to 2016: Year of the Ultras!