by PatrickL » Thu Oct 11, 2018 6:41 pm
Thanks all! It was a great weekend in Chicago together with Brian, Johanna and my wife Johanne. And a great race indeed. I was feeling OK in the first kms so decided to push a little faster. Initially I didn’t know my exact speed because of the high buildings cutting off GPS reception. Then it started to rain quite hard and I prayed that would not last another 30km...
It just lasted about 30 minutes. Things were going well when I crossed the halfway point I must admit I sprinted for about 100m as I suddenly realized I may clock in the Half under 1:40! I think everyone around me was thinking this guy's nuts. I started telling myself ''maybe you're going too fast, you may regret this later''. Then things got a little more challenging as they usually do after 25k. My cushion started to erode slowly as I was clocking in each km at about 10 sec/km slower than my target pace. And then at km 35 I decided to give all I had left and go after that goddam BQ. These 7km were not easy, but I managed to cross the finish line exactly 89 seconds below the new Boston standard. Now I’m crossing my fingers that it'll be enough.
The hardest part: that sudden and unexpected hill just 300m before the finish line. What was that about??? I mean, Chicago is a flat course, there's just ONE hill, but why does it have to be at km 41.9??
Brian had an amazing race too and was able to shave about 10 minutes from his previous PR... Congrats that’s a huge accomplishment. We celebrated with beers, steak and decadent desserts. Until next time...
I hope to see you all soon, but maybe not this week at training. Cheers!!
