I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2:29:47 – a 4 second PR in a race that was much more grueling than imagined. I felt strong and somewhat relaxed for the first 20 miles of this race – even though I started out a bit too fast with poor GPS signal early on - but I had given back enough energy along the way and came through half right on target - 1:13:46. Unfortunately, as the weather warmed up and humidity continued to rise, things started to get weird. Some athletes have specific muscles that tend to cramp up when it’s warm, but it’s my stomach that starts to go, twisting and tightening with every step. After stopping a handful of times in the last 6 miles, I still managed to grind my way to the finish for a small PR.

As much as you can over analyze every little detail that goes into marathon prep and race day, I always make an attempt to brush them off quite quickly. It was a warmer day than I would’ve liked, so I try not to overthink it. I was just happy to be back training and racing.

Rewind almost a full year…Coming off CIM in December 2023, where I broke 2:30 for the first time, but also felt like I slightly underperformed - I wanted to have a big 2024 and finally put together some strong racing. Unfortunately, in early February, I started to get some lingering shin splints – a pain I was deeply familiar with. I’ve had on-and-off shin splints for most of my athletic career. I’ve since learned to manage them, but most flare ups have been caused by either bad footwear, poor mechanics and this most recent one, weak calves that just couldn’t handle the force from my track work. I let this go a little too far before I decided to take it seriously and ended up paying for it. Lesson learned.

I didn’t run for about 6 weeks in February & March and shifted my focus to holding on to any fitness I could by cross-training on the bike. It helped keep me sane and on my normal routine. Between doubles on the bike and a long ride each weekend, I was probably biking on average 250+ miles a week. Alongside the cross-training, I did a lot of lower leg strengthening and was laser focused on my nutrition and recovery - really anything to help speed up my body’s recovery process. Come April, I eased back into running again, starting with run/walk intervals getting up to 30-40 miles a week. By June, I felt back in my groove. I was hitting 70-80 miles a week and feeling strong in my workouts. There’s no doubt the time on the bike helped me get back to where I was pre-injury, quicker. July, August, and September were strong. Consistent 85-95, even a few 100+ mile weeks prepping for my only race of 2024, the Chicago Marathon.

While this may be my “personal best” marathon to date and I'm incredibly proud of the effort that went into the build up to it, I know I have much more to give.

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