That amazing moment when you realize the trail is 18.5 miles out and then back. Bridge was up downtown so had to take a parallel detour down Michigan Avenue. Wouldn’t be 2020 without some kind of craziness on this run. Felt strong the whole time. So thankful for all the support.
The day went as well as I could have hoped for. Started at 6 am with Michael Ellenberger on the north end of the path. Lauren on the bike helped with hydration and overall encouragement! Wanted to stay nice and relaxed to start, with the slowest mile of the day being the first mile. Still pretty dark out and a calm wind out of the south, but only in the dark for a couple miles.
Picked up Ken at Fullerton, who joined for a 28 mile training run. Helped having him there to keep the pace in check and having the extra support knowing someone else was there doing a long training run.
Miles were clicking off and felt very relaxed, just didn’t want to mentally get too far ahead of myself. A few confusions between the split of the bike and running path, but kept it fairly well on path. Picked up Austin and Michael around mile 14 for their warm up, and ran with them for 3 miles. Nice having a little pack to run with. Got to mile 18 realizing the path was actually 18.5 miles so set myself up for a 37 mile run.
Got to the turnaround and didn’t stop, knew it would easier to keep the legs moving. Nice gentle wind out of the south was now a breeze at our backs and sometimes a crosswind, but felt cool. Made sure to keep up on hydration, swapping the handhelds with Infinit about every 12 miles and taking a Roctane GU every 10 miles.
Got to about 22 miles before picking up Austin and Andrew again. They just ran a hard 5k and were now “cooling down” with me! Miles were flying by and breathing and legs were still good. Ellenberger stopped around 25 miles, thankful to have him running with for that long! Kristina actually joined up with us around McCormick place to run back north with us.
Once we got to the bridge at Navy Pier, we saw that the bridge was up and was going to be like that for another 40 minutes. Decided to roll with the punches and headed west to Michigan Avenue to run parallel to the lakefront trail. I didn’t have any other choice at this point unless I wanted to stop. Going up the bridge was the biggest hill of the day, and I was a little riled from the detour so going down Michigan Avenue and avoiding people and stoplights made the next mile fly by. Andrew Rylaarsdam joined up with us once we got onto Michigan Avenue. We got back on the path at Oak Street and settled back into a nice rhythm.
Lots more people were out on the path at this point and knowing where I was felt like I was in the homestretch. Ken ran home after we got to Fullerton and Kristina went back around Belmont. The last few miles were me, Andrew, and Austin. Thankful for these guys to help the miles fly by.
Every time I wanted to slow down, the support kept me going. Finished my last mile with my fastest mile. With the thousands of miles I’ve run up and down the path, this run was probably one of the most memorable. No stops, all continuous, and rolled with the punches along the way. A day I’ll never forget. Thank you to everyone who made this 37 mile journey so fun.