Lakefront 50K Personal Record - 4:31:26 ave 8:39 pace

Who would have known that running extra miles and resting before a race would offer a better performance.  I pushed my miles up a notch to just over 300 miles for the month of October and as a result had a great 50K at the Lakefront 50K here in Chicago.  We had great weather and the flat course was just what I needed for a PR.  My time of 4:31:26 came without much pain and it was a very evenly paced event start to finish.  My splits are as follows:

8:43
8:11
9:51
8:19
8:14
8:45
8:15
8:17
8:13
8:14
10:04
8:17
8:23
8:30
8:35
10:10
8:04
8:24
8:13
8:15
9:05
8:20
8:51
8:22
9:22
8:43
9:05
8:47
9:11
8:40
8:10
2:51
4:31:26
ave 8:39

Chicago Marathon 3:47:24

I had a fantastic time at the marathon this weekend.  I swore that I would not bandit another race, but I just might do it next year.  This race is big enough that it will not hurt anyone; I'll start late and be sure not to take any water and stay way on any outside lane so not to hinder any of the competitors.  The race organizers had an area for "bandits" to exit the race course, so that will not be a problem.  The crowd was just incredible and I don't need another medal or shirt however, I couldn't pass up that experience and the feeling of over a million spectators out there pulling for you and the tour through the city was out of this world! 

My time wasn't the best, and I don't have an excuse.  I was having a hard time breathing after about mile 17 and just slugged it in for the last 10 miles.  I lost interest in my struggle and just focused on having a good time, so all in all I'm not too worried.  Maybe my fat gut that is sitting at 186 pounds is part of the problem.  I know that I have not trained seriously doing mostly junk miles; I'm sitting at 1687 for the year right now and that is only about half of what I need to preform at a higher level and I know that.  I'm a long way from qualifying for Boston again and I'm ok with my level of performance and I'm ok with the fact that I will probably take much of this winter off considering the cold weather that we will suffer in Chicago.  I'll see how it goes and have a 50K (John Dick Memorial; gotta love the name) that I'm thinking about signing up for in Feb, but we will see. 

Anyway, will I be a thief again next year for Chicago....maybe I will not be able to do it; all that negative feedback haunts me.  Don't cast your judgement yet, I'm just thinking about it; no thought crime.  If I do I will not be dumb enough to write about it; but hey I'm an outstanding American right and I owe it to Bank of America to pay the $140 to run on those city streets that I pay taxes for; and they need my money even though there is no opportunity cost lost on permits/protection; they will be the same.  If I don't bandit the runners will realize a lower cost, uhh no.  I will enjoy the benifits they get out of the race such as a t-shirt, medal, name in a lasting database, experience of going through the shoot, etc....oh I will get none of those, but still I will be very evil, I guess I will not do it because of what an evil guy I would be. Also, I will never post an electronic picture from a race that I didn't buy.  All those evil people who have done that and have them on their blogs are so un-American and thieves that should be rotting in jail; if they didn't do that the costs to us who pay for them would be so much cheaper; creeps.