NRC Coach Ian Banzon’s Running Journey in the Chicago Marathon

The recently concluded Chicago Marathon 2018 welcomed more than 44,000 runners from more than 100 countries at the finish line. The race’s iconic course takes runners through 29 vibrant neighborhoods on an architectural and cultural tour of Chicago. It was another epic race when Mo Farah won the Men’s Division by only 13 seconds ahead of Mosinet Geremew.

Among the finishers is Coach Ian Banzon coach from Nike+ Run Club. Coach Ian is a competitive swimmer and started running as a cross-training at the age of 12. Today, she continues to be active in different fitness and sports.

“I’m a triathlete – so I swim and bike too. I also teach indoor cycling at Ride Revolution. A few times a week I also do Calisthenics classes, Jiu-Jitsu and also learning to play soccer now. I go to the gym, for maintenance strength and conditioning as well. I also do yoga and Pilates.”

Being selected to join the Chicago Marathon brought mixed feeling to Coach Ian. She was both excited and happy to be part of such prestigious event while at the same time felt nervous as she considered the training and preparations that needs to be done for the full marathon.

And being one of the coaches for the Nike+ Run Club had its advantages while training for the marathon. Coach Ian had 26 weeks to train and her training plan was mostly the same since she runs regularly. She also used the “My Coach” feature of the NRC app which is available for FREE in iOS and Andriod.

But the preparation did not go without some challenges as the race day got nearer.

“Squeezing in long runs, longer training time was a challenge in itself. However, one of the more serious challenges I encountered was having a minor injury during training, I felt like I pulled a muscle on my foot when I was doing one speed run session. It was maybe 6-7 weeks until race day.”

For the Chicago Marathon, Coach Ian wore the Nike Zoom Fly Flyknit, a running tights with the pockets (where she can keep her my phone and gels) and a running tank top.

This year’s Chicago Marathon had less than ideal conditions. The weather was cold at about 10-12 degrees. It was raining before the race started and continued to rain in some parts of the route. But these didn’t damper Coach Ian’s determination to finish the race.

“For the first half, I was trying to think about my pace and sticking to the game plan, but at the same time I was trying to soak in the experience. Towards the 18th mile, I was just trying to take it one mile at a time. I actually set my gps to miles rather than the usual kilometers because it just seemed shorter mentally to complete 26 miles than 42 kilomters.”

Annually, an estimated 1.7 million spectators line the streets cheering on the runners from the start line to the final stretch down Columbus Drive. Here’s Coach Ian describing the scene.

“The crowd was amazing and motivating too, people had all sorts of posters and gimmicks. There was live music, people dancing and a lot of cheers going through almost 90% of the whole distance.”

But her most memorable moment came during the final stretch.

“The last mile was actually very mental and also memorable. Coming in to the last 5 kilometers, I knew that I was almost exactly on pace for a 4:00 finish. So I had to maintain or speed up. So I tried to pick up the pace a little bit and run as fast as I can go along that whole stretch. I finished just under 4 hours (I actually didnt know I hit sub 4 until after the race). When I crossed the finish line, my legs really were super sore, but we still had to walk around a mile after crossing. That was also one of the longest miles ever.”

Coach Ian’s official time at the Chicago Marathon is 3:59:36 with a half marathon split of 1:54:31.

“Running (one of the) World Marathon Majors is such a unique experience. I think I’ve never seen a city invaded my so many athletes, and that only happens on world marathon majors. That whole weekend, you will literally see athletes of all shapes and sizes everywhere you look in the city.”

Finishing a sub-4 hour marathon is an amazing feat. A 4-hour finish can put you among the top 50 male/female runners in full marathon races in the Philippines.

So how can you be one of the fastest runners out there like Coach Ian?

“Set a goal and trust your training. Make sure you are comfortable with a 5:30/km pace during training and long runs.”

Train with Coach Ian at the Nike+Run Club (NRC) every TTH at 7:30 pm in front of Nike Park BGC.