Any posters running Motorola

Kevin lives in Syracuse,Peter DLC in Alamosa,Masai and Jared in ABQ/ Kentucky,Pavel in ABQ/Estonia,Andrei ABQ/Poland,Leonid ABQ/Russia,Hoff ABQ/South Africa, Janko Bensa in Flagstaff.

All the rest are in ABQ all year.

Eddy

Austex,

Heard you coming up on me at the end. I'm having trouble with stairs as well... Those early downhills punish you later -- my legs were aching the last 3 or 4 miles.

Wind was brutal when it was in your face -- that stretch from 13 to 16 1/2 or so was unreal. I was running alone so no chance to take turns trying to break it with anyone. Went from running 6:00's or so (1:19:07 at halfway) to above 6:30, then back to 6:00 or just above for 2-3 miles before slowing some at the end.

Dan and Jay, nice job in the half. Nice meeting you guys. Van, nice meeting you also.

Anyone thinking about Chicago this year?

David

Yes, I am thinking about Chicago, but have Boston to deal with first. What is Chicago like? Obviously it is fast but what about wind? Also, is it completely flat?

Bigtex,

I'm from Chicago and have run it a couple of times. Was hurt last year but ran it in 2001.

The course is almost completely flat. The only hills are bridges and exit ramps. Since it's a loop, whatever wind there is will get you for part of the race. Sometimes in mid-October, you can get a 40 or 50 degree day with no wind, and if so, the course is lightning fast. Last year it was colder, around 30 I think, with a pretty stiff wind out of the north (in your face the first 7 or 8 and last 3 or 4). It can also be pretty warm that time of year, but if you're coming from Texas my guess is that's unlikely to be a problem for you.

Crowds are great in the first half, but the second half is pretty desolate other than in a couple of neighborhoods.

It is a huge event -- I think they raised their limit to 40,000 this year. Extremely well organized. Some people complain that the crowd of runners is so thick that it's hard to run for several miles, but if you get a seeded number (3:10 for men), I haven't had any problems with that. The nice thing is that you're likely to have someone near you the whole way. At Motorola Sunday I ran from 3 miles on virtually alone -- caught a few people from 10k on but never found anyone to run with for any length of time.

Good luck at Boston.

I was behind you Sunday a good ways (2:56)......just decided to run it on spur of the moment as a "hard" long run. Would like to try to break 2:40 at Chicago, but realistically will probably be in the low 2:40's. Thanks for your input on Chicago. How's your quads feeling? Mine are sore but I am not walking backwards downstairs-ha, although taking them slowly!

Quads are very sore. I caught a 2:00 flight back, which got me home a lot earlier than I expected, but I'm sure it didn't help that I sat all afternoon right after the race. I'm not walking downstairs backward but still slowly and a little bit sideways...

Hoping to get under 2:40 at Chicago also. Hopefully we can get some groups together.

I don't think you'll have any problem going sub 2:40 on a somewhat more "normal" weather day. the few guys i talked to after the race all said they were 3-4 min's slower than what they expected. i think your 2:42 sunday is worth 2:38 -2:39 any other year at motorola. btw, when you said you "heard" me coming up on you, are you refering to the pathetic wheezing and whining noises i was making or the dull thwack of my non-functioning feet slapping the ground? congrats again on a tough race. good luck w/ the rest of your season.

Well, since I was making my own pathetic sounds and my own non-functioning feet were slapping the ground pretty hard as well... and my brain was in a fog... not sure what i heard...

Good to hear that others thought the day pulled the times down. Thought I was working awful hard to see the time slip away like that.

Congrats to you too on toughing it out and good luck with your season as well.

David

Way to go all,

hopefully there'll be a good letsrun turnout at Chicago.