10/13/2025
Chicago Marathon Recap. My slowest race in 8 years! This cycle had a major hiccup in the peak weeks when a foot injury took me out for 3 weeks. I let myself recover and jumped back into training. I wanted to run the Chicago marathon and I wanted to go on the girls trip I had planned with my friends who were also running. My ft@it was started coming back just a few weeks ago. I had high hopes of going something like 10 min slower than my PR. That felt very doable. But the marathon throws things at you and yesterday I didn’t seem to have the inner grit to overcome them. I followed all the plans- my carb load and fueling were perfect, I just came in slightly undertrained due to injury and didn’t fully realize that until I was deep in the race.
What’s funny about this race is I really had fun! I was running a great race for the first 19 miles. And I expected the wall, I’ve run through it several times and was prepared for it. But then it happened and along with the mental wall I was cramping and I allowed myself to walk for just 30 seconds and that was it, I couldn’t get my legs back up. And some part of me was OK. This may have been my favorite marathon, I really loved the course, the crowds were the best (yes I said it! I’ve run NYC a few times and I stand by this!) the course was flat and fast and even though it wasn’t my fastest it just might have been my most fun. My takeaway is this- every time I run a marathon I’m proving I can do hard things, I’m showing my kids we can do hard things, not all finish lines are the same, this was my slowest but I had fun and isn’t that what it’s all about? Don’t let yourself believe that’s it’s about PRs, it’s not, it’s about showing up for yourself for months to run the miles and whatever happens on marathon day- you know you can and do do hard things. Onto the next. Thanks for the smiles