Jimmy Nam's Staging Area

Flat and fast course with a big crowd – weather this year was nice for running. It was very easy to manage my effort since the terrain never changed – pancake flat course. Some things I would pass on to future Chicago Marathon Runners:

1) Spend extra money to stay within walking distance to the start and finish. This way you can avoid using the gear check.
2) Gear Check PickUp Sucks – the pick up process needs improvement. They put the bags in bins, so volunteers have to dig through them to locate bags. The gear check areas are sorted by waves, so while the lines at Wave 1 Red PickUp are about 30+ minutes deep – there is nobody at Wave 3 Blue. And I imagine that when the Blue runners came trickling in, Red gear check is close to vacant. Use some more real estate and line up the bags in order like they do at an Ironman. I saw that one volunteer was explaining to a woman how they likely misplaced her bag – not a very satisfying interaction was happening for that runner.
3) Morning Race Entry/Security Check takes a while – it took me 20+ minutes to make it through the queue. And that contributes to the prerace anxiety. I get it, there are a lot of runners trying to get to the start. Maybe have an express line for runners without gear bags?
4) Aid Stations are Great
The course is fast, and while the water & gatorade stations are not spread out evenly – there are a plenty of aid stations in about 0.8 to 2 mile intervals. And since the course is flat, you can see them coming. The volunteers are great. The aid stations are top-notch with drinks on both sides of the road. Gatorade in the front – with orange banners indicating the start of the sport drink tables – served in gatorade cups. Followed by a blue banner and water in white cups. You can’t mistakenly get the wrong fluid.
The only problem came from some clueless runners who just stop and block others trying to get water. These are the same clueless people that stop without signalling when they see friends on the course. Or the spectator that thinks its a good idea to cross the road. Runners should learn how to run in packs – it would be something good to include in the runners guide. Or maybe I’m just running so slow I’ve got more nooby runners around me? In any case, for a neighborhood marathon the field opens up pretty quickly. For Chicago, you are going to have thousands of runners around you for the whole duration.
5) Expo & Bib Pickup – The bib pick up was pretty efficient, but the Expo was so crowded. Overall, you have to expect some problems with so many runners racing. But they got the race off on time and moved almost 50k runners through the city.

The course is flat with the exception of a little spur out to the park. The temperature starts to warm up as the day goes on, but who doesn’t need an excuse to slow down during those finishing miles. The water stations were great – offering water and Nuun in different cups, so you wouldn’t grab the wrong beverage. And Clif product was on the course at a couple of spots. We stayed at the host hotel and just walked to the start in the morning – it was a little more expensive, but it was nice not having to get up earlier and drive and park. It is also nice to grab a shower after the race and enjoy the local restaurants and bars for a proper recovery. Originally, we were going to stay at a hotel closer to a shuttle stop, but we changed our minds at the last minute. I’m glad we did. As far as the running goes, it seemed like a lot of people participating in this Race-cation were more interested in having a good time with friends and family than setting PRs. Nothing wrong with that, but it follows the mellow and laid back vibe that goes with the beach. I would totally race here again.

I liked looping around Ojai for the start of the race, before the fast finish to the beach. I wonder if there is any way to map the course and add another mile or two up in Ojai so that you could finish as soon as you roll into the beach. Mile 25 was brutal – that little rise heading South was a killer. Or it could be that it is mile 25 and you should expect a little pain.

As someone who just barely qualified for the Boston Marathon, this race was a long time coming. With the months of training before my qualifier, it was just about two years since I started seriously planning on participating in this race. Boston and the neighboring towns really embraces the race and its participants. They make you feel like a running rockstar. I would definitely return to the event. Here are some of my comments and observations:

So many runners, it can be overwhelming. The race staging area is so crowded with runners and their support team. With the qualifying process, it seems that there are more fit athletes preparing for the race. And the way they assign race bibs based on qualifying times, everyone seems to be sizing people up based on the color and number of their bib. The official adidas windbreaker is worn all over the place – the whole hubbub of the Expo was a bit much for me. If I return, I would probably just order my official adidas merchandise online and skip the lines at the expo.
Getting to the race start in Hopkinton seemed to work well. It just requires people to start leaving Boston on buses as much as four hours before the race. You just really need to plan your nutrition and hydration. The cold weather this year also required you to prepare for sitting for a few hours before the race in the outdoors. They had nutrition and hydration available along with a few hundred honey huts – with nervous runners waiting in line about 10 deep.
Once they called your wave to the start corral, it was about a half mile walk to the line. People would start surrendering their warm clothes and water bottles. Hold on to your gear as long as possible, but once the wave starts you will cross the start line in minutes. There are 8 corrals in each wave. It took less than 5 minutes to get 7500 runners passed the start.
With everyone around me with similar qualifying times, it just seemed like there were always runners around me. And when I started fading in the last few miles, I felt like hundreds of people were passing me. It was nice having mile markers, kilometer markers and it was always clear when you were entering a new town. You just knew you were making progress towards the finish.
The aid stations were set up first on the right side of the road and further up on the left side.
And it was always Gatorade in the front and Water in the back. This allowed for less jostling for hydration. There was only one stop at mile 17 for Clif gels. But some regular spectators were offering orange slices along the course. And there were about three stations that were offering Vaseline.
After the race, you get your water, medallion, space blanket poncho and snack bag. Walking across the Boston Common to pickup your after race gear bag and catch the T back to our rented flat in Cambridge was the toughest segment of the race. It was brutal, it looked like Zombie-land with walkers moving slowly across the park. It took me 40 minutes to cover that 1/2 mile stretch – so painfully cold. The T was offering free rides for the racers. And walking back to the flat, people in cars would stop and offer congratulations. Although, it would have been better if they offered me a ride. Anyway, just a great experience. But I think running the marathon with my wife and friends just made the event more like a holiday. I can’t wait to go back again with more of my friends.

Just trying to qualify for Boston, and the December race date was ideal for the training calendar. I had seen the race course the previous year, so I was familiar with the rolling nature of the course. It might be net downhill, but I would be curious how much vertical distance is covered during the run.
The water stations were adequate, I didn’t carry water with me. There was ice on the road from spilled water at the aid stations in the morning. It was freezing before the start, and a few runners went down around me. I carried my own energy gels in case I couldn’t get some on the course. There were plenty of honey huts at the start, but getting to the starting point was a bit of a bother. Do you ride the bus or count on your crew to get you to the start on time? Pros and cons to both, but we had our crew shuttle us to the start.
I am glad that we stayed at the finish, and the Marriott Downtown honored a later checkout. Upon the finish of the race it was a short walk back to the hotel for a shower. I skipped the finish line snacks, grabbed a coke and mylar wrap and walked back to the hotel so I could grab a warm shower.
The best part of the race was the pace team, while I can’t speak for all the pacers. 3:25 Charlie was awesome, he offered some runners saltcaps, grabbed water for some others and invited runners to pass him for a heroic finish around mile22. I laughed and cried inside. I increased the perceived level of exertion to the MAX for the last couple of miles, which probably only increased my speed by about 10 s./mile. But once you get on L Street, you know you have to get all the way down to 8th Street. And when you see that you are on 20-something street, you know that you are still a long way from the finish.
BOTTOM LINE – great pacers/stay downtown