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The race went very well. I guess I didn't realize how different it would be running in a big race until I got on the plane to Chicago and about 2/3 of the people on the plane were going to run the race. The whole city was geared up for the race. Everywhere we went there were runners. The expo was pretty good, not as big as I thought it would be though, probably about 3 times the size of the one for Motorola.
I didn't realize until the night before that I had left my running shorts in Austin, but luckily I had brought an extra pair (now aptly referred to as my "lucky running shorts"). I had planned to take a train from my hotel to the race, but ended up getting a ride from some runners that were driving by as I was walking to the train station. The prerace setup was pretty typical (not enough portatoilets) however I was very impressed that the portatoilets that they did have were accompanied by porta sinks.
The race started out well, I crossed the starting line about 4 minutes after the gun went off, but fortunately this is the first race I have ever run where the people I was next to wanted to run the same pace as me, I didn't have to pass hardly anyone in the first couple of miles, and almost nobody passed me, it was amazing. Chicago was really nice. It was cool to see the city and there were spectators Everywhere. Someone later said that there was approximately a million spectators on the streets. The weather was not as cool as I would have liked, it was in the high 50s and low 60s, but it was a lot better than Texas in August. The course really is flat. I did have to (chose to) walk twice for about two minutes each time, but that is about the only thing I would change about the race itself. If you ever get the opportunity you should run the Chicago Marathon, and if not Chicago just a big race in general, it is a lot different experience than Mototola.
Also, I can't say enough about the benefits of Austin Fit for beginners, however, after you run Motorola this year (and are an experienced marathoner), you should consider training with one of RunTex's marathon training groups. I ran in Mixon Henry's group (a coach I Highly recommend) and had a really great experience. RunTex's groups are geared more towards people who have already run marathons, however, we had a guy who had never run one in our group and I didn't feel out of place having just run in Motorolla. The training was a little more challenging, but I never felt like I was being pushed to hard.
See you at the races,
Robert Liddell
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