Of course it's about running.

So it's been a couple days now, plenty of time for thoughts to settle. First, how'd I do? I finished in 4:17:25 (overall & 5k split times here), not quite what I was hoping. Context: last year I finished in 4:57:55, and this April in St. Louis I finished in 4:08:53. Much better than last year, though not a personal best.

It was chilly race morning with a little wind and some mist/drizzle during the first 8 miles or so. I was cold at the starting line but once we got going I felt pretty good temperature-wise. I was running at a very steady 8:30/mile pace through the first 10k and 15k and while I was able to keep it going through 20k I noticed it was getting harder to maintain. I passed the halfway point in 1:51:21, just two minutes slower than my best half-marathon time.

At the halfway point the course (Chicago course map in PDF) turns west for about 2 miles, goes south for one block, then back east for another 1.5 miles, a pretty boring stretch. This is where I started to slow down - my splits really start to trail off here. By mile 18, in the middle of Little Italy I was really dragging. I managed to slog through the next four miles but had trouble during 23. I was crossing the bridge over the Dan Ryan highway when my left calf and the innermost quads in both legs started to cramp. I managed to walk it off, but after that my shot at a personal best was over.

Coming up Michigan Avenue during 24 to 26 was long and tough, but I just put one foot in front of the other, regardless of the cliche factor, and kept moving. Finally I crossed the finish line just happy to get there under my own power.

So that's the downside: a colder, wetter, slower and more painful marathon than I'd hoped. But how about the positive side: I finished! I ended up 15874th out of 33633 finishers, and every single one of us got lots of encouragement from the bazillion people on the sidewalks cheering us on. All the effort and hard work and pain were totally worth it in order to get to go through that experience - almost every other race will be a step down. The crowds were universally positive and encouraging and cheered just as loud for us non-elites as they did for the winners.

Finally I had a chance to do some tiny bit of good by running with, and raising money for, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. The thousand or so people who ran and/or walked the marathon on Sunday collectively raised over $2.5 million for blood cancer research, and I was very proud to be a part of it - and one more big Thanks! to everyone who donated.

So what's next? Disney World, the Indy Mini-Marathon, Green Bay, then either Marine Corps or New York next fall. In between, some 10k and 8k events, or maybe even a 5k. Strength training, hill work, flexibility & stretching, maybe some speed work, and improved nutrition as always. My goal for Green Bay next May 20th is 3:59:59 or better, so I'll get started on that right after my final post-race indulgence: McDonald's for lunch on Wednesday.

With just one day left I can finally stop worrying about whether I've trained enough and finally concentrate on worrying about whether I'm carb-loading enough. Today is the expo (where you pick up your T-shirt, bib number, timing chip and loads of free stuff) so that should distract me for a while.

In other news I finally cleared my Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fundraising goal of $1400 - Big, huge thanks to everyone who donated. In some ways this was more difficult that training for the marathon itself, but overall I'm really glad I did it. Everyone on the Chicago North team (and I'm sure all the other chapters) is relentlessly positive and upbeat and always encouraging about training and fundraising. This has been a great experience and I will probably do it again sometime.

Now it's time to get my stuff together and start the last day before the race. Woooo!

A week from right now I should be eating a celebratory deep-dish pizza or something similarly prohibited from my current race-prep diet. This week that diet will consist of stuff like chicken, pasta, rice, potatoes, lots of fruit, oatmeal, bagels etc. Traditionally this packs on a couple pounds during the last several days before a race, but that's no big deal because it's mostly your body storing the carbs needed for energy. (Plus you're not burning as much via training.)

The tough part at this point is psychological, when your miles drop by a large margin (I'm down to 9 total training miles this week), plus it's now been over two weeks since the last long run. A year ago I was worried that I had lost fitness and would be underprepared for the race, but sure enough on race day I was rested, my muscles fully recovered from the long training runs and was fully carb-loaded and energized.

This year I'm looking forward to the race knowing I'll be in that ideal spot again, and this time the trick will be to avoid going out too fast in the early miles. I'll plan to follow the 3:45 pace team (very close to an 8:30 pace). I could go faster but again I want to ensure I don't start too fast.

Finally congrats to Jill for finishing her first marathon in Baltimore yesterday with an impressive 4:22. Wooo!

Less than two weeks until the Chicago Marathon. Two looooong weeks. This week is the worst of all, since it is too far from the race to really start getting ready (like planning those last few meals, getting gear together etc) but close enough that there are no more long runs (last Saturday was 12 miles, and until the race I won't go longer than 8) so I start feeling antsy about not spending time running. It's "taper madness" and it's annoying.

In the meantime I'll take this space to thanks everyone who has contributed (so far!) to my Leukemia and Lymphoma fundraising effort - see http://www.active.com/donate/tntil/joelcorbin for more information and my up-to-the-minute fundraising total. So far, runners in the Chicago area alone have raised over $750,000 for blood cancer research, and you are all a part of that. Thanks!

The Chicago Marathon is now less than three weeks away, so after my second 20-mile training run I'm going to taper off in my training. Two weeks ago my first 20-mile run went ok - it was the quickest I had run that distance but I really dragged the last 4 miles. After a "step-back" weekend (the two 20-mile runs are separated by a 12-mile weekend run) I ran the 20 again three days ago, and this time did even better. I had an overall average pace of 8:30, which is exactly what I'm shooting for during the race.

Not only that, but I was very consistent too - instead of going out faster and dropping off late, all my mile splits were within 25-30 seconds of my overall average. That's good because it means I'll probably be able to hold that pace for a longer distance than just the training run.

So now what? Now that the majority of the training is over it's time to gradually reduce the weekly miles, which keeps me in shape but puts less stress on the body, in turn helping it recover from training and prepare for the actual race.