My Magnificent Weekend/Mag Mile 1/2 marathon recap

The moment I heard that Lauren Fleshman was pacing the 1:45 group at the Women's Mag Mile 1/2 marathon in Chicago, it was a done deal...

I was going to run a local 1/2 marathon right in town that same day, but there was NO way I was going to pass an opportunity like this up. For those of you that don't know who Lauren Fleshman is, she's a pro runner for Oiselle(the same company I run for) except that she's way faster than I am and holds records such as a 14:58 5K and 2:37 marathon. She really caught my attention with the "keep it real" movement that encouraged women to be proud of our bodies and imperfections. Basically an all-around, real and inspiring woman runner that I and soooo many other women look up to.

The weekend started with packet pickup in downtown Chicago at Fleet Feet. Lauren was going to be there along with Coach Jenny Hadfield(another amazing and inspiring woman). I drove myself there and of course got there way too early and sat around the store waiting for the 3 mile shake out run that they were going to host. I heard a voice say, "hi" and I turned around and saw Lauren walking toward the store. I was able to mutter "hey!" back and just watched in amazement as she walked by. I looked at the girl sitting next to me and I could tell she felt the same way I did...total fangirls! We were both like, "oh my God, that was her!"

 

 

Coach Jenny and Lauren giving us a pep talk before our shake-out run

I felt like a creep taking pictures of her, but she was so amazingly nice and humble and was more that happy to get into photos with all of her fans. I met up with Sarah(@mahaney2) and we did our 3 mile shake out run together. We basically talked about our upcoming marathons and how we were feeling. After the run, I saw an opportunity to get a pic with Lauren. So I grabbed it! Meeting her was the highlight of my entire summer for sure.

 

 

 

 

The next morning was race day and I was up at 4am getting ready. I threw on my Oiselle singlet and never felt more proud to wear it, knowing I'd have other teammates wearing theirs too. My husband was kind enough to drive me out to Chicago and support me before he went into work that afternoon and my mom had my daughter for the night. I totally was getting flashbacks of the Chicago Marathon I ran last year, except there was way less runners at this event. Between the 1/2 marathon and 5k, there were about 5,000 runners instead of the 40,000 I ran with at the marathon. So parking and walking to Grant Park was easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It didn't take long before I saw other women wearing their Oiselle singlets and immediately we acknowledged each other and offered words of support and encouragement. Even though we had never met each other, there was definitely a sense of empowerment and friendship between the Oiselle runners. That singlet is powerful. I met up with Sarah and Jessy(@momonthe_run) and did a warm-up with Lauren Fleshman as she offered more words of support. Then before we knew it, we were lining up in our assigned corrals.

 

 

All 3 of us were starting in Corral A, so we were about 10 feet away from toeing the start line. A few minutes later, we were off and running. I ran alongside Lauren who was pacing the 1:45 group for almost 2 miles. It was like a dream to me to have an opportunity like this to run with her. My legs actually felt amazing, even in the middle of marathon training with the Hanson's Plan(which is brutal) so I ran ahead of the 1:45 group and ran my own pace.

 

 

 

 

 

Around mile 4

 

 

 



The beginning of the race was of course down the historic Magnificent Mile in Chicago. From there the course ran along the Lakefront bike path and was an out and back course. I found my husband, Doug, at mile 4 standing alongside the course ready to cheer me on which was a huge mental boost for me. I was running crazy strong until about mile 10 then I could feel myself fading a bit. Chicago had 100% humidity that day and running along the lakefront there was hardly any shade, so the sun was taking a beating on me. I could feel the sweat dripping down my legs and flying off my fingertips as I ran. I just kept telling myself, "I can handle anything for 3 more miles, I've got this"

 

 

 

 As I entered Grant Park toward the finish line, I finished strong with an official time of 1:42:21. My Garmin showed I had ran 13.25 miles, so I'll go with that, ha!  It was no PR for me, but considering the heat and humidity and being in the middle of a brutal marathon training plan, I feel like I'm on the right path for a great marathon this November. I kind of walked in a daze to get my medal(I was so tired)chugged down 2 bottles of water, and turned around to see my husband walking up to me to give me a big hug. Perfect ending to an amazing weekend! I laughed and told him, "Man, it's going to be tough to do that for another 13.1 miles in a couple months." He replied by telling me that I've done it before and I'll do it again...but a lot faster!

 

 



 

The love of my life and biggest supporter :)





I was pretty happy to see my official results online later that day. I finished 63rd overall out of 2,571 total half marathoners and 17th in my age group out of 507. Congrats to all who finished and what an honor to be able to run with thousands of strong, inspiring women. Here's to finishing the rest of fall marathon training successfully and bring on the 50 degree temps! :)