My First DNF

I did not finish the Chicago Marathon.  I made it to mile 14 and then I had to stop.  I really knew from mile 3 that I wasn't going to make it.  I think I am glad that I tried though.

Overall, the weekend was a lot of fun.  Ryan and I dropped off the kids at my sister's house.  (I owe a huge thank-you to Katie and Bart for watching my kiddos.  She has three children of her own and had 6 kids under the age of 7 at her house Saturday and Sunday.  Wow-not that is hard work!)

When we arrived in Chicago, we picked up our packet.  Then we ate at Lou Malnatis.  Yummy!  I love deep dish pizza.


I slept ok on Saturday night.  We had the best hotel room possible.  Thanks to my mom who got the room for us!  It was a lot of fun watching them get organized in the morning from our window.

I look ready but I am not

View from our room

I met up with Jacque, Aimee, and Meghan at 6:30 and headed to the start.  The corral was packed.  Their goal was a 4:15 marathon and I was just going to follow them along.  We were so packed in that it was hard to get off to a good start.  Also running with 4 people in such a huge marathon is difficult.  I felt like I was constantly looking around for them.

I never got into a groove during my short run.  My foot was painful from the first step.  My form was off from the first step.  I knew after a few miles that I had the wrong decision to run this race.

The crowds were amazing!  The best cheering I have ever heard!

At mile 10, the pain in my foot really intensified.  Then at mile 12, my right hip started hurting.  I knew this was because my form was so off.  When I saw the medic tent at mile 14, the decision to stop was easy.  I was talking to one guy that had also stopped because he was also running on a stress fracture in his foot.  We described the exact pain.

Moral of the story:  DO NOT RUN ON A STRESS FRACTURE!

Ryan met up with me and we walked back to our hotel room and that was it.

Now it is time for me to take care of this foot.  I will not be running for awhile.  Lots of swimming and biking.

I need some time to heal my foot and my pride.  I have plans to run many more marathons in the future.  I just need to get my body healthy first.

I also think that I will stop blogging for awhile.  Maybe when I start running again, I will start back.

In the meantime, if you run...keep going.   If you are thinking about running...do it!  It may feel hard at first but if you stick with it, I promise it will be worth it.

Happy Running Everyone!