2022 Chicago Marathon Race Recap

Showing up in Chicago, I felt mentally and physically ready for the marathon. If there was anything on my mind that was making me nervous, it was knowing how the last couple of weeks my feet were dealing with the onset of blisters that I hadn’t dealt with since the first week of July which left me feeling confused and unsure of what shoes and/or socks I should go with. Turns out blisters would be the least of my concerns.

Everything at the beginning of the race felt great. My body felt rested with no residual fatigue from the week before or from all the walking I had been doing at the expo and in the city. 

The forecast for race day showed a chilly start in the low 40s with temperatures reaching mid to high 60s. In other words, absolutely perfect running weather! 

To help with the morning chill, I brought with me the extra hand warmers that I’ve had since the Philadelphia Marathon in 2019. Turns out they don’t expire until December and they still worked!

I love the Chicago Marathon for so many reasons. The aid stations and volunteers are top-notch, the race is so well organized (as it should be for being a World Marathon Major), the course is wonderfully flat, and the crowds are electrifying with their nonstop energy and support! You only needed to go a short distance between music blasting along the course so it pumped you up to keep running. I didn’t even need or want my own music.

It can be easy to get caught up with the atmosphere and go out too fast, but I felt comfortable. Compared to how I felt in the 2016 race where I was training upwards of 50 to 70 miles a week because I was focused on a much different and longer race down the pike, I was a stronger fitter runner back then. I’m not in the same conditioning as I was but I didn’t feel as though I was trying to push the pace at all.

I ran by feel because if there is one thing Chicago is not, it’s that it’s not a race for GPS tracking on your watch. My watch was off by 0.82 miles ahead of the mile markers. One of the speakers suggested using a digital watch and manually tracking pace. I for one do not like to do much maths during marathons so I used my GPS watch and figured out how off it was. But 0.82 is a big leap especially when you see on your watch that you’re close to mile 20 when you’re not even at mile 19 yet. 

At the halfway point I was feeling the usual tiredness and soreness from completing a half marathon. My energy was beginning to wane but I managed to take in a few Canaberry Spring Energy gels that agree with my stomach. The temperature kept them cold so they actually tasted like a smoothie! 

Somewhere during mile 15, I felt an unusual discomfort in my right calf. Whenever a new ache comes on, I ask myself, is this a normal response my body would make during a marathon? Or is this something completely out of the norm for what I should be feeling? It was something out of the norm. 

All throughout training, I get the same sore muscles but never had pain in my calves to the point where I couldn’t run. Ever in my life. But this is where I was at. 

I would run a minute before the pain started up, and then I was down to 30 seconds. I told myself I would run until I needed to walk because it didn’t hurt as much to walk. Eventually, those 30 seconds of running dwindled down to 10, and then it was immediately when I started to run. It progressed quickly. 

At mile 16 I couldn’t get past a second or two of running before my right calf made me imagine tiny shreds of muscle fibers being torn away with each landing. I’m not entirely sure that’s what was really happening but that’s where my imagination lead me and it made me question whether this is something I want to ignore for the sake of timing and the potential risk of suffering an injury. It was extremely difficult to ignore and I couldn’t.

I can normally plow through the discomfort that comes with marathons but this was something entirely out of character for me. The pain was different. Each running step I took on that right calf told me I would be making a damaging mistake if I continued to push on it. Meanwhile, my left calf was having the time of its life!!

And so I walked.

From mile 16 on, I walked even making several attempts to run and the result was always the same: my right calf telling me, “Oh you’re going to regret this.” My goal was to get in a shuffling groove that I could sustain for the last 10 miles but it was difficult. I even applied Biofreeze which was available on the course with no success. It didn’t make any difference to ease the pain. This was something much deeper. 

Each mile marker that passed was a triumph and as I slowly made my way down the streets, I took in all the sights and cheers from the spectators and soaked it all in. I may not have been able to control what was happening to my right calf at that moment but I could control how I got through the remaining miles. I just kept moving forward one painful foot in front of the other because my feet were kind of killing me for the last 10K. Not to mention my back, arms, shoulders, and pretty much everything else.

Soon after passing mile 22, we make a right turn onto Michigan Avenue where I see runners headed in the opposite direction on the other side of the street. Looking across the median, I see mile 24. Oh, dear. This was new and there is nothing more mentally challenging than seeing that.

Once we turn around and make our way back onto Michigan Avenue, I focused on counting down the streets to 12th because that is the final turn onto Roosevelt also known as “Mount Roosevelt” which is the only real hill in the entire race. At the top of the hill, we make a left where the finish line is patiently waiting to greet us and I crossed it!!

I’m not sure where this right calf issue stemmed from since I’ve never had it before but it picked a fine time to show up! But I’m extremely proud of getting through this challenge. It wasn’t easy and I did attend a little pity party for a minute after I finished but then the pity party was over and I began celebrating! Marathons are unpredictable no matter how well you may have trained.

Now I’m going to rest, recover, refocus, and then start again when I feel ready. I have officially started my off-season and I am ready for it!

Thank you to the race organizers, all the fabulous spectators, and wonderful volunteers for making the Chicago Marathon one of the best marathons and my favorite despite how this year went for me! Hopefully, I can be back again at some point.

Also, thank you to everyone who has offered supportive and encouraging messages throughout my training and for the race itself. They mean the world to me!!

And thank you for reading my daily post on my Chicago Marathon training which started on June 6, 2022.

p.s. I didn’t get one blister.