Chicago Marathon 2014, Eyes on Boston.....

Chicago Marathon October 12 2014 
Race Report by Rick Schnell, Team Lupine Racing USA

Perfect weather for the 38th running of the Chicago Marathon as I exited the Blue Line Subway at Jackson St. I walked to the race start in Grant Park in the dark. I'm amazed at how organized things are for the 50,000+ runners.  7:30AM was my Wave 1 start, and the starters gun was fired and we were off.  I ran a very conservative 1st half as I was concerned that USARA Nationals, the weekend before, had taken its toll on my legs. 

I was on pace to run a 3:47 at the half, and run a qualify time for Pikes Peak Marathon (2015). I felt strong, and decided to increase my pace in order to try to run a qualifying time for Boston, which for my age is 3:40.  As I clicked off the miles, I kept doing the math in my head (which is a very tough thing to do when your running a marathon).  I knew I was going to be close and I kept hammering out the miles. Allot of my last miles were sub 8 minute miles, but in the end, I came up short.  3:40:22   I'm still happy with my time.  I'll run Pikes Peak next year, and I'll be going to Arizona in January to run another Marathon.  Happy running ya all!  Remember, Old runners never die, we just get resoled!