Ready for the Chicago Marathon!

A photo of my beloved training grounds at Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville, IL. I now leave this place behind for the streets of Chicago for the marathon on Sunday, 10/11. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

It's Friday as I write this, and I'm relaxed, if a bit nervous about what's going to transpire in just two days. I spent a good chunk of Thursday worried if I was getting sick or not, even after several days of downing every Vitamin C supplement I could find!

The weather is forecast to be in the middle 30's at start, with the high around 52F. It's got me a bit worried, but more so about what I'm going to wear. It's a toss up between wearing my singlet and arm warmers, or a long sleeve, Dri-Fit thermal underneath my singlet. I'm afraid I'm going to get just too warm for the long sleeve, so the arm warmers may be it, similar to this:



I'll just wear a long sleeve to keep warm for the first mile or so. But this is pretty close to the final outfit- name on my shirt and all:



I'm hoping it will be warm enough, but anything is better than the 85F from last years effort!

I'm going to do my best to stick with the 9 minute-per-mile pace group for a finish in about 4 to 4:30 hours. I'm optimistic that I'll do okay, but I'll be leaving it in the Lords hands come 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning.

Here is my pace chart for those of you keeping time.

And these are the times I hope to be in during these mile markers:

Miles 1-5: 7:30-8:15

6-11: 8:25-9:10

12-17: 9:19-10:05

18-23: 10:14-11:00

24-26: 11:09-11:30

Here is a great spectator guide courtesy of Timeout Chicago

Official Chicago Marathon spectator guides can be found here.

Track me during the marathon via TXT or email here. Just search for "Jesse Mendoza"

See you all on the flipside of 26.2 my friends.