Chicago Monster Dash 2012 Race Report

So, October 21 was my second half marathon of the year. Training wise, I felt better for this race than pretty much anything else I've done this year.

I've added sprints and lots of interval runs to my training and my diet was WAY better going up to this race than the Latebird Tri.

Early results were really good. I was trekking along at better than 8 minutes per mile pace. Much better than the last time I ran a half.
Around mile 7, I stumbled over a transition in pavement and something went wonky in my knee. I kept trying to push but by the end of mile 8, I realized I was in a LOT of trouble. I was positive something was torn. I couldn't stride and was in immense pain. I saw the 8 min pacer then the 8:30 pacer pass me by while I tried to get my knee to relax.
I ended up having to stop every half mile to try and stretch my quads.
By the end, I was at the breaking point, but I managed to finish.

I ended up with a PR by 6 minute over my spring half which also had an injury issue, but this time I started out much faster.

Team Ortho knows how to put on a great event. They always have really good swag and their medals look really nice too. Highly recommend this run as it's a great jaunt down the lakefront pathway. I could do without the hairpin turn at the halfway point, but it's a great course all around. I'll definitely be doing the Polar Dash in January then the Lucky 21k again in March.

As for the injury, appears I had micro tears in my hamstrings which messed up my knee. On top of that, I hurt my neck on the following Wednesday. Battling injuries absolutely blows.

Taking a couple races off, then doing a small 5k on November 17th before the Turkey Trot in Naperville on Thanksgiving.