I am considering entering the Chicago marathon this year. I am looking to run mid 2:30s, so I am not worthy of the "Elite Development" Corral.
Can anyone provide some input on what starting Corral A is like? I see that the Corral is open for runners with a time under 3:10. Do you need to get there very early to get near the front of the corral to avoid working through the crowd?
(Any other input on the race is also appreciated, as long as you don't dwell on how hot it was last year.)
You'll be over the starting line in less than 30 seconds anywhere in A corral. It's pretty easy to move up as long as you don't wait till a minute before the start.
Remember, it wasn't hot last year according to rojo.......who wasn't there.
I did Chicago last year and was in corral A. I got there pretty early not knowing what to expect. It didn't seem like people were fighting to get right in the front, actually a lot of people were happy being in the back of the corral. Overall their corral system was really good.
What I had an issue was the elite development women got in my way for the first couple of miles. But at least there was some nice views.
I was in corral A last year and did not get there early. There was a bottle neck getting into the corral as they had a very narrow opening in a gate to feed 1000s of runners through. I was nervous I was going to miss the start, but did not. I pretty easily worked my way to the front of the corral and had no problems with congestion once the gun went off.
The corrals aren't bad, I was able to sneak from the open into A without any problem. From the A corral, the race thins out pretty quickly as the start splits and people run on two sides of the road. You just want to make sure you're on the outside of the first turn because it might slightly bottle neck everyone. I averaged about 6 minute pace for the whole thing and never had a problem with traffic, and I started basically next to the 3 hour pace group. I was passing people until about 16 miles.
As far as the heat is concerned, it affected me more than I realized. I finished the race with sun burns on my back and couldn't seem to ever drink enough water all day to catch myself back up to hydrate. The heat would not have been a problem had I drank significantly more water early on to combat it. It's hard to prepare for something if you don't know it's coming.
I was in Corral A last year, also. As long as you get there 45 minutes before the start, you'll be fine. I was running my expected pace from the start. It is actually hard to hold back, because you see hundreds ahead of you who start way too fast. I steadily moved up the whole race. I really didn't notice the heat until the last 5K, when I knew that I could hang on. It helped that I trained all summer in hotter weather than race day.
I was in A too. The Corral itself isn't that bad and wasn't crowded at all. It was getting into the initial seeded entry gate and then eventually to the corral A entrance. There was a big backup at the small opening. I cut it pretty close. As long as you plan on getting there a little early (nothing major) you should be fine on getting in and starting where you want. Just pay attention to when the gate to the seeded corrals and the corral itself closes because, if i remember right, these times are different.
I showed up 10 minutes before the race, snuck through the gate to the A corral and didn't have any traffic problems despite starting next to the 3:00 pace group.
CHI-TOWN. Overhyped. Be more creative SON!