2022 Chicago Marathon

 C H I C A G O 🏅 M A R A T H O N

2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣2️⃣

🚨🚨🚨 Long Post Alert 🚨🚨🚨

Flat Dan Ready to Represent

Walking to Grant Park

Found my Gate

Found my Corral

Waiting to go in as once you're in you can't leave

Throwaway pants staying on

Throwaway jacket also staying on

Pants are off...almost ready to go in

Sun is slowly making an appearance

Corral view

Lots of choppers covering the event

Running through ‘29’ neighborhoods & I have to say the crowd support was absolutely amazing 📣. 

I have not seen so much support in a city. It is like nothing I have ever seen from any of the races I have done. The city really did an amazing job. 

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I had zero time goal going into this & I just wanted to soak in the experience of the Chicago Marathon race weekend. 

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The first 5K I was in the zone & keeping my continuous running pace. I passed the hotel & there was Mei-Ling with a sign made from a cheer card from 2022 Team Imerman Angels: Berlin, Chicago and New York City Marathons along with Isabelle, Mireille ‘a sister, I tossed my gloves to them & carried on 🫣. 

Moving up to the start

Last selfie. Jacket is now gone.

tuning out the anxiety and getting ready

almost go time

Seeing ML and Isabelle at the hotel was great.

I was doing well through to 10K at the 9/10K mark I had to hit the porta potty as it was still early on in the race so I went off to the “relief zone”. Once I got back on the road I was focused  and feeling great 👍🏽 . The crowds were still unbelievable! They really made this enjoyable. 

Still moving

Charity lane

I hit the halfway point of the marathon and still doing well. 

Once I hit about 23K I was feeling some pain in my left quad so lucky there was an aid station with Bio Freeze. I lathered up & kept going but that didn’t seem to last long. I went another couple of K & had to finally walk 😭 & I needed to stretch. I’m pretty sure many others were feeling the effects of the warm weather and leg cramps. 

United Center

So many thoughts went through my head.

Was I not hydrating? 

Did I not fuel properly? 

Was that left hamstring injury ailing me the week before? 

Was it the 5K & then walking about 36K steps the day before? 

So many doubts hit me hard. I posted on my story that I had hit my max & that I would keep plugging away at it. 

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Throughout the course many of the Gatorade Endurance stations I used but then I found that the electrolytes were not working for me & making my gut feel off. Also running through a big city the smell of raw sewage 🤢 hit me on top of that did not help. So I added more water to my bottles. 

(One thing to mention is that hydration vests with bladders were not allowed but I saw many with vests but with soft flasks which I could have used to carry my own nutrition but that didn’t help me on this race had I known 🤷🏻‍♂️. I’m sure I read it somewhere but I didn’t want to take the chance as it was they didn’t even check my hydration belt. 🙄)

As the race wore on so did the increase in temperature 😰. By the time I hit the Mexican/Chinatown areas I had texted Kiera & Mei-Ling  saying I had to walk 😓. Legs were cramping no matter how much I stretched. Although the quad stretch was a nice relief but as soon as I went back to the road the cramping started back up. 

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I told them I don’t care I will finish this race no matter what & that is what I did. The family knows me well enough I’m too stubborn to throw in the towel. The beauty of the tracking app is following my little avatar along the checkpoints. 

Also my chat group also told me to just enjoy the event!

The next 10 kilometres were small bits of running cuz you know race photos 🙄🫣📸

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Selfie Fail while running

Entering into one of the loud sections

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I persevered & carried forward. At one point I saw Mireille & ran with her for a few moments & we were both on the struggle bus. She was focused & just kept moving. I let her run her race & I fell back. By the time the 23 mile marker came I was 5K out. More bouts of running & bio freeze. It just wasn’t happening. I came across a fellow Team IA & we compared notes & we both went with the mantra to get it done even if we had to walk it in. 

About 32K where Mireille kept going

Almost there

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If you have not done this race the last mile has you turning from a Main Street to an on ramp back to the finish. It was about a 400 m slow climb & I had to stop part way & walk to the top before I could reach that finish. Once I saw the finish line in my sights I picked up my pace & didn’t look back. I pushed through the pain & not sure if my face showed the grimaced look but I did it upright. Maybe not smiling but I finished a world major marathon. 🙌🏽

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Kudos to Mei-Ling for travelling with me on this journey and being my personal valet for these crazy races. We had a lot of lessons learned being in Chicago. Navigating in a city that neither of us have never been before. We both put in a lot of steps and experienced a lot of the city together. 

Architecture Boar tour - day after the Marathon

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Another shoutout to Michelle who we hung out with a lot on this last race weekend & letting us tag along on her 2nd Abbot World Major event. I’m pretty sure she can get to her six ⭐️ medal!!

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Also thanks to Brent Smyth for the flight bookings & allowing me to represent Team Imerman Angels. I may not have hit my goal but their Halo Hospitality & inspiring team were top notch 🙌🏽

Enjoy the photos/videos I did take while on course. 

Team Imerman - 2022 Canadian Edition 

Heartwise Webinar

 I was asked many months ago if I was interested in sharing my experience with Atrial Fibrillation. I was not sure what they wanted but if you know me I'm always happy to share my story via social media, podcast, interview. I'm all about awareness for all that is out there to help promote a healthy lifestyle. I'm not talking diet specifically but more the direction of doing physical activity because you can. It doesn't matter what activity you are committing to whether it be as simple as yoga or tai chi to endurance sports like ultra marathons or triathlons. If you have a goal to do any of these to help you get through your diagnosis or maybe to return to that activity then this was the focus of my webinar. I was paired with two doctors as part of the panel and was able to lead off the discussion basically talking about me. Now some of you who have come across my blog have seen me in some form of doing some form of talk or being interviewed but this was my first chance at actually in a panel. I did not expect questions as I am not a medical expert so I left that to my fellow panelists Dr. Mehrdad Golian (my electrophysiologist) and Dr. Jennifer Reed (Director of Exercise and Cardiovascular Health.

Overall I had a pleasant experience. I had prepared a bunch of speaking notes, but I totally went without them. I started looking at them but then basically just went with the flow. I had eight (8) minutes to do my part and hand it off to the rest of the panel. I was warned and somewhat relieved that I would not get any questions, but definitely I wasn't too worried if I didn't get any 😉

If you want to sign up for other Heartwise webinars then click here and register to be on the email list.

Direct link to my Zoom feature here

Back to In Person Racing

Syracuse Half Marathon 

It has been well over a year since I have posted on this blog, but I know it is way overdue but a lot has happened since my last post and it is coming full circle.
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣2️⃣ started with some lofty goals to keep a consistent training regime; however, tweaked my back twice in January meant shelving myself until I could return ti some physical activity. By February the motivation was gone but then a few people kept posting these Peloton workouts and I wasn’t ready to return to the gym yet. 
So as in the past two years more stuff in the pain cave. 
Knowing the Syracuse half was in March I thought could I do 60 days of spinning and other stuff? Well it seems I must have done something as January/February totalled a whopping 36 km combined. Most of it walking. 

Kit Pickup at Fleet Feet

So fast forward to what you want to read. The half I signed up for back in November seemed like a good idea at the time. Border restrictions lifting and return to in person racing was imminent. Well then Omicron added some stress to the equation and I didn’t have much choice as I hate deferred race entries if I could avoid it so I decided within the last week Suzanne and I would take the risk and do our first in person racing with Michelle who’s the seasoned veteran for this race as she has done this a few times and got her sub 2hr 1/2 marathon here so it is definitely special. 
So Suzanne and I left the hotel at 7:30a as the first wave started at 7:53a sharp (according to the email) and they were bang on. We listened to the national anthem and then We found Michelle and Ryan chatted for a bit & snuck into the corral somewhere. 
We did a quick selfie and then we were off. 
I stuck with them for about a km but they were going at a good clip so I pulled back to conserve my energy as I was warned repeatedly about the hills. 
So the first hill was about 15-20 mins into my run and it was a steady climb to 179m and then from mile 2 - 10 there were a series of rollers all over the place. 
The first hill I had caught up to the gals but then they passed me again until I eventually caught up around the five/six mile mark and then eventually passed them and kept plugging away. 
I kept my 9/1’s up until the 10 mile mark and then I was at a point I needed to get this over with so a few extra walks kept me moving. 
Eventually at about the 11 mile mark my legs were getting cranky. After a few more walks and weaving around town I managed to pick up a bit of the pace at the last kilometre and saw one person ahead and decided to try and chase her down. I have no idea if I passed her but I made the best of it. Could be a photo finish. 😅🎥📸
Overall this was a great live and in person race with some definitely cool swag. Thanks to the organizers, volunteers, SOS EMT’s & all the spectators out cheering people on. 

Most of all thanks to Michelle for keeping us honest and showing us her wise shopping and dining ways. Also Suzanne my travel companion 
Highly recommend you give this race a try. 

Official race photos

Photo Booth Photos and some creative license

Very pleased with this time

As a reward, Suzanne and I had stumbled across a truck with the Hamilton logo. That meant the touring company was in Syracuse. I asked Suzanne "Let's just go and see if they have any tickets?" So we found the box office and asked the lady at the window by chance if they have any tickets available? Sure enough she had two tickets in the Orchestra section in Row Z. Brace yourself for $129 USD!!!

Suzanne and I looked at each other she was all over it and she made the impulse purchase and we had an impromptu date night to see Hamilton that evening after the race! It was written in the stars! This made the weekend experience so rewarding in many ways.

We both had an amazing time and even after we got home we the music was in our veins. We didn't throw away our shot. Thankful we were in the room where it happens!