Showing posts with label long slow run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label long slow run. Show all posts
Sunday, September 23, 2012
last double digit run before the marathon!
i should be excited, right? ok, i guess i am! earlier this week my BFF got me to sign up for a race for today that was at a navy base, 10 nautical miles, which turns out, is 11.5 miles. since i was supposed to do 12, i figured it'd be cool. and like a MINUTE after i got my confirmation email i remember that saturday night was going to be a late night, getting together with college friends. ugh. so, i got home after 2am, and would need to be up and out the door by 5:15 at the latest in order to make it way up north and onto the last shuttle bus at 6:15. this is a short story: DIDN'T HAPPEN. so i ran my 12 miles along the lakefront after all, getting started at about 9am. here's the mileage breakdown:
Mile 1 10:23
Mile 2 10:33
Mile 3 11:07
Mile 4 10:52
Mile 5 11:24 (stopped for GU)
Mile 6 10:32
Mile 7 10:34
Mile 8 10:57 (had an "oh crap, where's my gatorade bottle" moment
Mile 9 11:40 (stopped for GU)
Mile 10 10:34
Mile 11 10:56
Mile 12 10:27
12 miles/2:09:58 (pace 10:50)
there were two casualties from this run. 1st one? lost one of my fuel belt water bottles. 2nd? my shin is hurting a lot. one of my friends sugessted i completely rest. the internet says that, as well as ice use heat, too. think I'm gonna try that. the number one goal of marathon training is to make it to the starting line!!!
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Another long run
It's the weekend, and you know that that means...another long run! I ran my 18 miles last week--technically a week early on my training schedule--with the idea of possibly getting in an extra long run, maybe another 18 miler, or even 19. However, as the week progressed I decided against it. My right hamstring has been noticeably sore, my knees generally hurting throughout the day. Not bad pain by any means, but just noticeable. So I decided against a punishing really long run and opted for a middle distance run of 11 miles. This week I will take it easy as well so that I'm in good shape for the Chicago Half Marathon next week. I'm going after another 1/2 P.R. (personal record.) September also kicks off Black Girls Run-Chicago's 100-mile challenge. What's Black Girls Run? Here's a link. Anyway, here's the stats of my run:
Mile 1 10:26
Mile 2 10:50
Mile 3 10:50
Mile 4 11:13
Mile 5 11:47 (Took a GU walking break)
Mile 6 11:15
Mile 7 11:10
Mile 8 10:48
Mile 9 11:42 (Another GU walking break)
Mile 10 11:24
Mile 11 10:52
I'm pleased with this run. I didn't run too hard (duh, the purpose of the "long, slow runs" in marathon training.) I feel good!! And I'm 11% towards my 100 miles for the BGR Chicago challenge.
Downtown Chicago with clouds hanging low, view from 3900 South on the lakefront path.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
20 Miles....DONE.
So despite the simple fact that I haven't run a long run past 15 miles or so (my 16 ended at 15 miles...mile 18 miler also ended unceremoniously at 15), it was clear to me that I MUST get in that 20 miles. Right before that disastrous half marathon two weeks ago, I decided to sign up for CARA's Ready to Run 20-Miler supported training run, because I've run 20 miles by myself before, and I didn't want to do it again. I signed up 8 days before the run. 2 days later I thought to myself "what's that scratchiness in my throat?" and then I didn't run again for 10 days. Sigh. So while everyone else is reveling in their marathon taper, I still had work to do.
Scenario: Taking Friday off anyway, b/c the kindergartner has the day off from school. Leave extra early and start off in the dark, hubby will watch the cherub until I get back.
Truth: Middle of the night my 3 year old wakes me up and asks me if she can have some tacos. True story. She cries herself to sleep when I tell her not right now. After over an hour of pleading and crying and whining and trying to go back to sleep. (Her, not me...well, I did try to go back to sleep.)
My alarm goes off at 5am but I don't hear it. At 5:40 I wake up and try to reason with myself why I should just put off the run until Saturday...but no. The prep involved for a 20-mile run is stressful enough, so I just decided to get up. Alas, the prep work was not enough. WHERE ARE MY SOCKS???? Because I was pretty tired still, it took me nearly an hour to get out the door, including two tries at socks, because when I finally went up the creaky stairs (worried that it'd wake up the girls) I GRABBED MY HUSBAND'S ALL COTTON SOCKS ON ACCIDENT. WHY ARE HIS SOCKS MIXED UP WITH MINE?!?! Two trips up the creaky stairs!
So I get out to the lakefront, this time from 31st Street Beach, and the sun is already peaking over the horizon. :( I eventually start running, with my new iPod in tow. (Yes! I got a new iPod. My old shuffle died, I THINK that morning I ran in the pouring rain. I don't know why I didn't think about that more. I'll have to post about the whole iPod saga later...)
Miles 1 through 4.5
From the very start of my run, my nose instantly started running. My short sleeve shirt became a necessity. Throughout the ENTIRE run, I was blowing my nose into my sleeves. As I explained to my husband later, "I don't do snot rockets." Anyway, right around 2.5 miles, I started coughing like crazy!!! But I kept going. The coughing last intermittently for about 2 miles, but never enough to make me stop. It was just annoying. At one point I had to spit out some stuff, just in time for some guy to pass me by. I wonder what he was thinking, I'm sure the whole scene was disgusting.
Mile 4.5 through 10
Right at Mile 4.5, I was at Ohio Street Beach, where there is a drinking fountain. I decided to take a Gu here. As I enjoyed the scenery for a minute (beach, tall buildings, cars on Lake Shore Drive zooming by, I decided maybe I will take a few pictures during my run with my cell phone camera. Leaving the water fountain I got my first opportunity for a picture. (See pictures at the bottom of this post.)
Along these miles, I decided to take the eastern side of the path that stays right next to the lake, instead of the route I'm more familiar with, which crosses over the Drive at North Avenue, and winds through Lincoln Park. It was beautiful out, and I found myself looking down at my Garmin at the 10 Mile mark right near Wilson Avenue. That's 4800 North (and I started at 3100 South.) Whew. So I stopped at a park district bathroom, took a short break and there...and as far as public bathrooms, this one was pretty nice. I decided to take another Gu, and then also decided to "mix up" some more Gatorade. HUH, you ask? Yes, in the FIND OF THE CENTURY, I found some Gatorade Mix, NOT in the hideous lemon lime flavor, but in my favorite Riptide Rush flavor. So I mixed up three 8 ounce bottles. While it was cool to be able to do this, I will never do it in a race, and maybe never again in a training run. It took FOREVER b/c I was worried about spilling the granules, it took like 10 minutes for my whole break. Ridiculous! So finally, I was on my way back south. The first 10 miles were fairly, uh, "easy" (it's all relative). So what's 10 more? Let me say here that I was so glad to go out 10 miles, b/c it FORCED me to do 20 miles, one way or the other. I was worried that if I went less, and told myself that when I got back to my starting point, that I'd run the other way for the remainder of my miles, well, that my resolve would fade during the later miles. I know myself all too well. So an "out and back" run this would be.
Miles 10 thru 17
Terrible. I was beat. Famished. Miles 10 thru about 13.5, I walked once each mile, for about 2 minutes at a time. My goal was to just keep going...each step is a step closer to 20 miles. For the entire stretch along between Oak Street and Ohio Street Beaches, I WALKED..and up under the bridge, too. (That was about a mile and some change of straight walking. At 15 miles, my left hamstring and my right...I dunno, achilles, maybe? They started siezing up, like clenching fists. I've had this happen before, on a 20 mile run and an 18 mile run, but never this early in the run, usually towards the end. Ah...the lack of training, catching up with me. But I got myself together and run-walked, shuffling along, muscles siezing every few minutes or so.
Miles 17 thru 20
So I'm downtown again. Just 3 miles left. You can do this. (As I calculated in my head how long it would take "on-pace", for which I hadn't been on for quite some time now, and how long if I just walked it in.) I kept shuffling along, run some, walk a bit, run, shuffle, OUCH, run, shuffle, OUCH. Downtown and heading south there was some kind of benefit walk, I saw all these people in their cotton t-shirts, half of them complaining about how long the walk is. Hhmph. BTW, there were some interesting snippets of conversations I heard throughout my run, when I didn't have my iPod on:
"I wonder if Miles has a pre-nup." Two cyclists riding by.
"Margaret is the worst commander ever, she's incompetent." Two cops riding by on bikes.
"He's a filthy beast! I hate him." Two chicks walking by.
Anyway, during the last mile, I couldn't help but mentally calculate how long it would take me to complete an additional 6.2 miles on marathon day.
Overall, the run was not pretty, but I got it done. And while it would be easy to say "how on earth will I run another 6 miles on top of this," the point is that I will. When I ran that terrible half marathon the other day, I remember thinking "how on earth will I run another 7 miles on top of this for the 20-miler?"
The answer is: ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER.
And now, bring on the taper and obsessive checking of the 15-day weather forecast on accuweather.com. Because really, can we really have THREE marathons in a row where October weather hits the upper 80's? I'm going to look fate dead in the eye and say "I THINK NOT!"
p.s. I had just ONE bad cramp later in the afternoon. Just one. So I guess I hydrated well and ate enough afterwards. This has been a problem in the past.
p.p.s. I didn't eat more than I usually would during the day. But dinner? Dinner on a 20-mile kind of day: 5 tacos that included a total of about 7 or 8 ounces of meat, probably an ounce of cheese per taco, fresh garden tomatoes, spinach (try it!), two whole avocados (I kid you not) mashed up into my own homeade guacamole and.....in an ode to my dad, HEINZ KETCHUP, not taco sauce. And a banana and two Suzy Q's for dessert. I know, that's probably not a good dessert. But, in a small victory, I did NOT get up and get a Suzy Q in the middle of the night, even though they kept calling my name from the pantry all night.
Scenario: Taking Friday off anyway, b/c the kindergartner has the day off from school. Leave extra early and start off in the dark, hubby will watch the cherub until I get back.
Truth: Middle of the night my 3 year old wakes me up and asks me if she can have some tacos. True story. She cries herself to sleep when I tell her not right now. After over an hour of pleading and crying and whining and trying to go back to sleep. (Her, not me...well, I did try to go back to sleep.)
My alarm goes off at 5am but I don't hear it. At 5:40 I wake up and try to reason with myself why I should just put off the run until Saturday...but no. The prep involved for a 20-mile run is stressful enough, so I just decided to get up. Alas, the prep work was not enough. WHERE ARE MY SOCKS???? Because I was pretty tired still, it took me nearly an hour to get out the door, including two tries at socks, because when I finally went up the creaky stairs (worried that it'd wake up the girls) I GRABBED MY HUSBAND'S ALL COTTON SOCKS ON ACCIDENT. WHY ARE HIS SOCKS MIXED UP WITH MINE?!?! Two trips up the creaky stairs!
So I get out to the lakefront, this time from 31st Street Beach, and the sun is already peaking over the horizon. :( I eventually start running, with my new iPod in tow. (Yes! I got a new iPod. My old shuffle died, I THINK that morning I ran in the pouring rain. I don't know why I didn't think about that more. I'll have to post about the whole iPod saga later...)
Miles 1 through 4.5
From the very start of my run, my nose instantly started running. My short sleeve shirt became a necessity. Throughout the ENTIRE run, I was blowing my nose into my sleeves. As I explained to my husband later, "I don't do snot rockets." Anyway, right around 2.5 miles, I started coughing like crazy!!! But I kept going. The coughing last intermittently for about 2 miles, but never enough to make me stop. It was just annoying. At one point I had to spit out some stuff, just in time for some guy to pass me by. I wonder what he was thinking, I'm sure the whole scene was disgusting.
Mile 4.5 through 10
Right at Mile 4.5, I was at Ohio Street Beach, where there is a drinking fountain. I decided to take a Gu here. As I enjoyed the scenery for a minute (beach, tall buildings, cars on Lake Shore Drive zooming by, I decided maybe I will take a few pictures during my run with my cell phone camera. Leaving the water fountain I got my first opportunity for a picture. (See pictures at the bottom of this post.)
Along these miles, I decided to take the eastern side of the path that stays right next to the lake, instead of the route I'm more familiar with, which crosses over the Drive at North Avenue, and winds through Lincoln Park. It was beautiful out, and I found myself looking down at my Garmin at the 10 Mile mark right near Wilson Avenue. That's 4800 North (and I started at 3100 South.) Whew. So I stopped at a park district bathroom, took a short break and there...and as far as public bathrooms, this one was pretty nice. I decided to take another Gu, and then also decided to "mix up" some more Gatorade. HUH, you ask? Yes, in the FIND OF THE CENTURY, I found some Gatorade Mix, NOT in the hideous lemon lime flavor, but in my favorite Riptide Rush flavor. So I mixed up three 8 ounce bottles. While it was cool to be able to do this, I will never do it in a race, and maybe never again in a training run. It took FOREVER b/c I was worried about spilling the granules, it took like 10 minutes for my whole break. Ridiculous! So finally, I was on my way back south. The first 10 miles were fairly, uh, "easy" (it's all relative). So what's 10 more? Let me say here that I was so glad to go out 10 miles, b/c it FORCED me to do 20 miles, one way or the other. I was worried that if I went less, and told myself that when I got back to my starting point, that I'd run the other way for the remainder of my miles, well, that my resolve would fade during the later miles. I know myself all too well. So an "out and back" run this would be.
Miles 10 thru 17
Terrible. I was beat. Famished. Miles 10 thru about 13.5, I walked once each mile, for about 2 minutes at a time. My goal was to just keep going...each step is a step closer to 20 miles. For the entire stretch along between Oak Street and Ohio Street Beaches, I WALKED..and up under the bridge, too. (That was about a mile and some change of straight walking. At 15 miles, my left hamstring and my right...I dunno, achilles, maybe? They started siezing up, like clenching fists. I've had this happen before, on a 20 mile run and an 18 mile run, but never this early in the run, usually towards the end. Ah...the lack of training, catching up with me. But I got myself together and run-walked, shuffling along, muscles siezing every few minutes or so.
Miles 17 thru 20
So I'm downtown again. Just 3 miles left. You can do this. (As I calculated in my head how long it would take "on-pace", for which I hadn't been on for quite some time now, and how long if I just walked it in.) I kept shuffling along, run some, walk a bit, run, shuffle, OUCH, run, shuffle, OUCH. Downtown and heading south there was some kind of benefit walk, I saw all these people in their cotton t-shirts, half of them complaining about how long the walk is. Hhmph. BTW, there were some interesting snippets of conversations I heard throughout my run, when I didn't have my iPod on:
"I wonder if Miles has a pre-nup." Two cyclists riding by.
"Margaret is the worst commander ever, she's incompetent." Two cops riding by on bikes.
"He's a filthy beast! I hate him." Two chicks walking by.
Anyway, during the last mile, I couldn't help but mentally calculate how long it would take me to complete an additional 6.2 miles on marathon day.
Overall, the run was not pretty, but I got it done. And while it would be easy to say "how on earth will I run another 6 miles on top of this," the point is that I will. When I ran that terrible half marathon the other day, I remember thinking "how on earth will I run another 7 miles on top of this for the 20-miler?"
The answer is: ONE FOOT IN FRONT OF THE OTHER.
And now, bring on the taper and obsessive checking of the 15-day weather forecast on accuweather.com. Because really, can we really have THREE marathons in a row where October weather hits the upper 80's? I'm going to look fate dead in the eye and say "I THINK NOT!"
p.s. I had just ONE bad cramp later in the afternoon. Just one. So I guess I hydrated well and ate enough afterwards. This has been a problem in the past.
p.p.s. I didn't eat more than I usually would during the day. But dinner? Dinner on a 20-mile kind of day: 5 tacos that included a total of about 7 or 8 ounces of meat, probably an ounce of cheese per taco, fresh garden tomatoes, spinach (try it!), two whole avocados (I kid you not) mashed up into my own homeade guacamole and.....in an ode to my dad, HEINZ KETCHUP, not taco sauce. And a banana and two Suzy Q's for dessert. I know, that's probably not a good dessert. But, in a small victory, I did NOT get up and get a Suzy Q in the middle of the night, even though they kept calling my name from the pantry all night.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Running while traveling...and doing other things...
Sunday 8/9/09, 5:15pm Live from New York City, in the Borough of Queens
So I’m sitting here in Laguardia Airport with a flight delay, cuz those are really fun. For some reason I can’t get a decent internet connection, so I’m writing in Word and will paste this up in my blog whenever I get the chance.
The “weekend” was great (Thursday to Sunday.) I tried to do things I don’t normally get to do, but I also wanted to get my 8 mile run in, too. So for list number 1, here are the things I did:
• Saw 4 movies, 1 per day!
-The Hangover (Thursday night): hilarious!
-Perfect Getaway (Friday night): uh, not typically what I’d go see, but since I wanted to go see a movie each day, we rolled with it. It was fun.
-In the Loop (Saturday night): a British satire about the lead up to our most recent war. It was funny, but I was tired and dozed off a few times
-Orphan (Sunday morning): another one of those “this kid living in my house is a stark raving mad, murderous lunatic, please get her out” kinda movies. Again, it filled the requirement of seeing a movie each day, and it wasn’t Harry Potter, which I haven’t started reading and watching now, so why? I mean, if I’m going to embrace it, I’d prefer to start with the books, and in sequential order.
• Did not have one home-cooked meal (AWESOME
-Ate Mexican, Caribbean, Southern BBQ, Italian, Thai and of course a few sugary treats from a few places.
• Ran
• Went to a Russian/Turkish Bath House (kind of like a sauna except WAY hotter), with different rooms that had dry heat and steam heat. Some of the rooms were dark, there was a Eucalyptus room. I went here after my 8 mile run, so I was already beat. I dripped buckets of sweat within 2 minutes. It was interesting. I only stayed inside the super hot rooms for a total of about 20 to 25 minutes. I wanted to avoid passing out. ;)
• Stayed out all day, each day.
I didn’t even go to Brooklyn, which is a first for me. Since I lived there for nearly 2 years before my last little stint up in Harlem, you’d think I would have gotten back there. But I didn’t. Sigh.
But alas, this blog is about running, so let me tell you about my run. I got up a little later than usual on Saturday morning, about 6:20 or so, slowly got ready to go run, I think I was a little nervous about not knowing exactly how to get down to the running path. So I made my way down the street 3 blocks to the entrance of Riverbank State Park, and voila, a guard was on post at the booth, so I asked and he provided excellent directions to get down to the path. So a few minutes later, with my beloved Garmin ready to roll, I was off.
The running path is sandwiched between the Hudson River and the West Side Highway, along the western edge of the island of Manhattan. I was running from the north, heading southward. Just on the other side of the highway is Riverside Park and a steep uphill climb to Broadway and the rest of the city, so the trees along Riverside Drive that are already up higher than the shoreline tend to block that (evil) morning sun that can sometimes be a dealbreaker when running in the morning. Kinda nice! And yes, this would be the same Hudson River where a few hours later a small plane collided with a tour helicopter. Imagine the people running who happened to see THAT. Horrendous.
Anyway, Back to my actual run. The running part. The first thing I noticed is the big yellow boxes marking where you could call for help. I’m not sure if that should make me feel more nervous or more secure, but I thought that was something nice, since I don’t think we have anything like that on the lakefront. Well, I suppose half of us carry our cell phones anyway, but maybe those boxes everywhere serve as much as a deterrent as anything. They were like every couple 100 feet, for the first mile I ran on. Also, this area was kind of under a bridge, so maybe the area is a little more dangerous.
Anyhooooo…my run started out well, I was running a bit fast, but it felt good. I wasn’t sure how far I’d have to run down, so I was glad my Garmin was working so well. The blocks go quickly in Manhattan from street to street going in the north/south direction (and contrary to the east-west avenues), but it was still a bit unnerving when I seemed to reach 125th so quickly, then 96th and so on. (I could see the exit signs from the West Side Highway.) Right around 91st street there was a detour sign, the path was closed off. From 91st to 84th, it read, we’d head up into Riverside Park. Holy Canolli !!! To get into the park, there was a big, gigantic hill. Ok, maybe it wasn’t gigantic, but since Chicago is flat as a pancake, this qualified as a major hill for me. For my fellow Chicagoan runners, it was way steeper than that “hill” at Michigan/Roosevelt just before the marathon finish line, and steeper than that big hill near 47th Street on Lake Shore Drive…
Anyway…I was DETERMINED to run up that hill, even if I had to slow down to a snail’s pace. My breathing was HARD, but I did it, and didn’t walk at the top, either! The way back to the running path was also a hill, but not as steep.
Ok, so another interesting thing about their path, is that they have this whole separation of runners and all-things-on-wheels. In some parts, there is a big line, and on one side of the line there are markings for cyclists and rollerbladers, and on the other side there’d be markings for “pedestrians only.” That was nice, considering the near misses and crashes I’ve seen, not to mention the ones I’ve heard about. Seriously, people, I know of someone who nearly died and was in a coma for awhile, and I’ve read about other horror stories. There were other sections that also separated runners from the rest, but instead of runners on one side of the cyclists, there was a smaller, narrower section for runners on both sides. Either way, it seems a bit safer than ours.
On the down side, there were VERY few water fountains, and only one bathroom that I saw. I also didn’t see many runners, which I find to be odd. Maybe I was too far north in Manhattan from where training groups start. Maybe they train in Central Park. Who knows.
My turnaround was just shy of 69th Street. 145th Street to 69th Street! Wow. Sounds like a lot, no? I’m quite proud of my run, though. I realized during the half marathon that just passed that I’ve gotten way to used to stopping for water and stuff. My priority for this run was to NOT STOP, drink on the run, and walk while taking my Gu. Mission accomplished! Here’s my mileage breakdown, and you can probably tell when I walked and had my Gu.
Mile 1-11:20
Mile 2-11:37
Mile 3-12:10 (must have been where that hill was)
Mile 4-11:46
Mile 5-12:39
Mile 6-11:58
Mile 7-11:44
Mile 8-11:40
My total time was 1:34:57 (actually ran 8.01 miles to be exact!) and the overall pace was 11:52!
Immediately upon returning from my run, I had to stretch, take a quick shower and head out with my friend to the Russian Bath House to sweat some more. Literally, like within 30 minutes from walking in the door, I was on my way back out.
Well that’s all folks, my weekend adventure without kids and stuff is over, pending this wait for the plane. They say we’re leaving an hour late. But them other folks over there say that a big storm is supposedly heading our way. Sigh. And no internet connection, this may get posted tomorrow.
******
And so I get our CES team newsletter today and now I read that we shouldn't be taking Gu until we're at around 18 miles. SOmehow I missed that memo, and I've always made it a point to take it if my run was going to last more than 7 miles or so. Ok. Learn something new everyday, eh?
So I’m sitting here in Laguardia Airport with a flight delay, cuz those are really fun. For some reason I can’t get a decent internet connection, so I’m writing in Word and will paste this up in my blog whenever I get the chance.
The “weekend” was great (Thursday to Sunday.) I tried to do things I don’t normally get to do, but I also wanted to get my 8 mile run in, too. So for list number 1, here are the things I did:
• Saw 4 movies, 1 per day!
-The Hangover (Thursday night): hilarious!
-Perfect Getaway (Friday night): uh, not typically what I’d go see, but since I wanted to go see a movie each day, we rolled with it. It was fun.
-In the Loop (Saturday night): a British satire about the lead up to our most recent war. It was funny, but I was tired and dozed off a few times
-Orphan (Sunday morning): another one of those “this kid living in my house is a stark raving mad, murderous lunatic, please get her out” kinda movies. Again, it filled the requirement of seeing a movie each day, and it wasn’t Harry Potter, which I haven’t started reading and watching now, so why? I mean, if I’m going to embrace it, I’d prefer to start with the books, and in sequential order.
• Did not have one home-cooked meal (AWESOME
-Ate Mexican, Caribbean, Southern BBQ, Italian, Thai and of course a few sugary treats from a few places.
• Ran
• Went to a Russian/Turkish Bath House (kind of like a sauna except WAY hotter), with different rooms that had dry heat and steam heat. Some of the rooms were dark, there was a Eucalyptus room. I went here after my 8 mile run, so I was already beat. I dripped buckets of sweat within 2 minutes. It was interesting. I only stayed inside the super hot rooms for a total of about 20 to 25 minutes. I wanted to avoid passing out. ;)
• Stayed out all day, each day.
I didn’t even go to Brooklyn, which is a first for me. Since I lived there for nearly 2 years before my last little stint up in Harlem, you’d think I would have gotten back there. But I didn’t. Sigh.
But alas, this blog is about running, so let me tell you about my run. I got up a little later than usual on Saturday morning, about 6:20 or so, slowly got ready to go run, I think I was a little nervous about not knowing exactly how to get down to the running path. So I made my way down the street 3 blocks to the entrance of Riverbank State Park, and voila, a guard was on post at the booth, so I asked and he provided excellent directions to get down to the path. So a few minutes later, with my beloved Garmin ready to roll, I was off.
The running path is sandwiched between the Hudson River and the West Side Highway, along the western edge of the island of Manhattan. I was running from the north, heading southward. Just on the other side of the highway is Riverside Park and a steep uphill climb to Broadway and the rest of the city, so the trees along Riverside Drive that are already up higher than the shoreline tend to block that (evil) morning sun that can sometimes be a dealbreaker when running in the morning. Kinda nice! And yes, this would be the same Hudson River where a few hours later a small plane collided with a tour helicopter. Imagine the people running who happened to see THAT. Horrendous.
Anyway, Back to my actual run. The running part. The first thing I noticed is the big yellow boxes marking where you could call for help. I’m not sure if that should make me feel more nervous or more secure, but I thought that was something nice, since I don’t think we have anything like that on the lakefront. Well, I suppose half of us carry our cell phones anyway, but maybe those boxes everywhere serve as much as a deterrent as anything. They were like every couple 100 feet, for the first mile I ran on. Also, this area was kind of under a bridge, so maybe the area is a little more dangerous.
Anyhooooo…my run started out well, I was running a bit fast, but it felt good. I wasn’t sure how far I’d have to run down, so I was glad my Garmin was working so well. The blocks go quickly in Manhattan from street to street going in the north/south direction (and contrary to the east-west avenues), but it was still a bit unnerving when I seemed to reach 125th so quickly, then 96th and so on. (I could see the exit signs from the West Side Highway.) Right around 91st street there was a detour sign, the path was closed off. From 91st to 84th, it read, we’d head up into Riverside Park. Holy Canolli !!! To get into the park, there was a big, gigantic hill. Ok, maybe it wasn’t gigantic, but since Chicago is flat as a pancake, this qualified as a major hill for me. For my fellow Chicagoan runners, it was way steeper than that “hill” at Michigan/Roosevelt just before the marathon finish line, and steeper than that big hill near 47th Street on Lake Shore Drive…
Anyway…I was DETERMINED to run up that hill, even if I had to slow down to a snail’s pace. My breathing was HARD, but I did it, and didn’t walk at the top, either! The way back to the running path was also a hill, but not as steep.
Ok, so another interesting thing about their path, is that they have this whole separation of runners and all-things-on-wheels. In some parts, there is a big line, and on one side of the line there are markings for cyclists and rollerbladers, and on the other side there’d be markings for “pedestrians only.” That was nice, considering the near misses and crashes I’ve seen, not to mention the ones I’ve heard about. Seriously, people, I know of someone who nearly died and was in a coma for awhile, and I’ve read about other horror stories. There were other sections that also separated runners from the rest, but instead of runners on one side of the cyclists, there was a smaller, narrower section for runners on both sides. Either way, it seems a bit safer than ours.
On the down side, there were VERY few water fountains, and only one bathroom that I saw. I also didn’t see many runners, which I find to be odd. Maybe I was too far north in Manhattan from where training groups start. Maybe they train in Central Park. Who knows.
My turnaround was just shy of 69th Street. 145th Street to 69th Street! Wow. Sounds like a lot, no? I’m quite proud of my run, though. I realized during the half marathon that just passed that I’ve gotten way to used to stopping for water and stuff. My priority for this run was to NOT STOP, drink on the run, and walk while taking my Gu. Mission accomplished! Here’s my mileage breakdown, and you can probably tell when I walked and had my Gu.
Mile 1-11:20
Mile 2-11:37
Mile 3-12:10 (must have been where that hill was)
Mile 4-11:46
Mile 5-12:39
Mile 6-11:58
Mile 7-11:44
Mile 8-11:40
My total time was 1:34:57 (actually ran 8.01 miles to be exact!) and the overall pace was 11:52!
Immediately upon returning from my run, I had to stretch, take a quick shower and head out with my friend to the Russian Bath House to sweat some more. Literally, like within 30 minutes from walking in the door, I was on my way back out.
Well that’s all folks, my weekend adventure without kids and stuff is over, pending this wait for the plane. They say we’re leaving an hour late. But them other folks over there say that a big storm is supposedly heading our way. Sigh. And no internet connection, this may get posted tomorrow.
******
And so I get our CES team newsletter today and now I read that we shouldn't be taking Gu until we're at around 18 miles. SOmehow I missed that memo, and I've always made it a point to take it if my run was going to last more than 7 miles or so. Ok. Learn something new everyday, eh?
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Running Demons and Birds
Hooray! A week where I got in all 4 runs! I'm prety proud of myself for getting in my 4 runs and 20 miles, and not thinking about the fact that my total 4 runs probably equals Deena Kastor's morning run on an easy day....little steps, people, little steps! (And not that I could ever be Deena, either.) Does my excessive use of italics bother you? I'm sorry. Really, I am.
But let's get back to my long run. Remember last week when I bailed on my 10-mile run with the group? So I really meant it when I said I'd make it up next week. Bright and early Saturday morning, I woke up just before 5am. For some reason I lolly-gagged around getting ready and it was like 5:40 before I even left the house.
I decided to NOT go to 63rd Street Beach in order to ward off the running boredom blues, and neither did I want to travel up to the north side. That just takes more time and there's never a guarantee for decent or free parking. So I decided to try starting from somewhere I've never started. Oakwood, which is 3900 South. (You know I love my 31st Street Beach, but I knew 5 miles north would take me well into the concrete monster at Ohio Street Beach, and mentally I was just not gonna be able to handle that--surely in my fragile state of just being able to get out the door, that morning sun would chew me up, spit me out and leave me for dead.) So I parked in the brand new parking lot, right next to some young 20-somethings who were ending their night of partying and went on my merry way!
So for a few miles I was feeling good. Honestly, I was feeling good most of the time. But mentally, maybe 3 miles in, I kept having to push back those little running demons "You know, you're doing 11 miles next week, you don't have to run 10 miles today." "Girl, you should just run 8 miles and call it a day!" "Oh GAWSH, do you really want to run under that bridge at Wacker Drive? YUCK." I fought these voices in my head from about mile 3 until I turned around. And I opted to turn around just before that bridge when you're like a sandwich, you're running under Lake Shore Drive, but next to Wacker Drive with probably billions of car fume particles in the air, and the river below you. Yeah...skipped it. Turned around about 2/10 of a mile early. Yeah, cuz running past my car at the end of a 10-mile run isn't challenging. :-/
So anyway, I stopped at the Fleet Feet aid station and guzzled, then headed back south. As I'm heading back around the Shedd Aquarium, happy to take the route again that had been closed for at least a year due to construction...wait. Ok, so the new part of the underpass that helps you avoid the maddening museum traffic is super nice. But the weird thing is, the part of the path that went unused for about a year is now looking pretty raggedy! Anyway, so I'm running along minding my own business, and as I'm about to pass a water fountain, SWOOSH! A STUPID BIRD BRUSHED MY HEAD AS IT CAME IN FOR A WATER-FOUNTAIN LANDING. So I looked at the bird like "WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING???????" I mean, for real? You have the who-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ole sky, and for some reason, that just isn't enough for you?! I was so mad! You may not know this, but birds DISGUST me. They are filthy little lice-infested vermin. When I was in the second grade I wrote a poem about a bird pooping on me, after having been inspired by watching an old friend (Kendera Ream, are you out there?) get pooped on. So yeah, I looked at the bird with all this bouncing around in my mind, and I swear if that bird could talk, he would have given me one of those "SORRY!" that really wasn't an apology at all, but a forced and sarcastic response. He looked like he was saying "What do you want me to do? SORRY!" So I looked back at him and said with my eyes "Look, I don't want any trouble here. You do my part, and I'll do mine." All of this imagined conversation took place in like 1 second. So what to do, but keep running? But instantly my scalp started itching like crazy, or at least it seemed to be. So at the next fountaion, I poured water all over my head a few times. My scalp is starting to itch again as I write this. Stupid bird.
So heading back south I pass McCormick Place, then the Chicago Firefighters Memorial, when up ahead I saw two runners I know from college. (GO ILLINI!) We waved, but I was instantly dismayed. I knew that from where they usually start running, they would be turning around in a bit, most likely, and they run pretty fast, like a 7:30 pace, to my recollection. I had about 1.5 miles left to go. UGH. The thought of them closing in on my gigantic behind in this next stretch of path for which you can see up ahead for 1/2 mile stretches at a time was disheartening. I imagined it would just look bigger and bigger and bigger and finally when they would pass me, they would think or maybe even say to each other, "wow, it really was that big!" I am not kidding, the thought of this kept me moving along at a decent pace for the remainder of the run.
So at 9.85 miles or so, I passed my car. It was hard to do that, but at the same time, there was no way I was coming this close to running 10 miles and not doing it. I ran the remainder of my run out, then had a nice cooldown walk back to my car. I stretched very nicely and as I was doing so, they ran by. Whew!
Next Saturday? 11 miles!
Let's see if I can remember that poem:
Birdie, birdie in the sky,
Why'd you do that in my eye?
What's that thing coming down,
in a blob, in a white form?
I scream and I frown.
And, I mourn.
When it hits, I dance around.
Birdie, birdie in the sky,
why'd you do that in my eye?
Hey I was 7, I didn't say the poem was any good.
But let's get back to my long run. Remember last week when I bailed on my 10-mile run with the group? So I really meant it when I said I'd make it up next week. Bright and early Saturday morning, I woke up just before 5am. For some reason I lolly-gagged around getting ready and it was like 5:40 before I even left the house.
I decided to NOT go to 63rd Street Beach in order to ward off the running boredom blues, and neither did I want to travel up to the north side. That just takes more time and there's never a guarantee for decent or free parking. So I decided to try starting from somewhere I've never started. Oakwood, which is 3900 South. (You know I love my 31st Street Beach, but I knew 5 miles north would take me well into the concrete monster at Ohio Street Beach, and mentally I was just not gonna be able to handle that--surely in my fragile state of just being able to get out the door, that morning sun would chew me up, spit me out and leave me for dead.) So I parked in the brand new parking lot, right next to some young 20-somethings who were ending their night of partying and went on my merry way!
So for a few miles I was feeling good. Honestly, I was feeling good most of the time. But mentally, maybe 3 miles in, I kept having to push back those little running demons "You know, you're doing 11 miles next week, you don't have to run 10 miles today." "Girl, you should just run 8 miles and call it a day!" "Oh GAWSH, do you really want to run under that bridge at Wacker Drive? YUCK." I fought these voices in my head from about mile 3 until I turned around. And I opted to turn around just before that bridge when you're like a sandwich, you're running under Lake Shore Drive, but next to Wacker Drive with probably billions of car fume particles in the air, and the river below you. Yeah...skipped it. Turned around about 2/10 of a mile early. Yeah, cuz running past my car at the end of a 10-mile run isn't challenging. :-/
So anyway, I stopped at the Fleet Feet aid station and guzzled, then headed back south. As I'm heading back around the Shedd Aquarium, happy to take the route again that had been closed for at least a year due to construction...wait. Ok, so the new part of the underpass that helps you avoid the maddening museum traffic is super nice. But the weird thing is, the part of the path that went unused for about a year is now looking pretty raggedy! Anyway, so I'm running along minding my own business, and as I'm about to pass a water fountain, SWOOSH! A STUPID BIRD BRUSHED MY HEAD AS IT CAME IN FOR A WATER-FOUNTAIN LANDING. So I looked at the bird like "WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING???????" I mean, for real? You have the who-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ole sky, and for some reason, that just isn't enough for you?! I was so mad! You may not know this, but birds DISGUST me. They are filthy little lice-infested vermin. When I was in the second grade I wrote a poem about a bird pooping on me, after having been inspired by watching an old friend (Kendera Ream, are you out there?) get pooped on. So yeah, I looked at the bird with all this bouncing around in my mind, and I swear if that bird could talk, he would have given me one of those "SORRY!" that really wasn't an apology at all, but a forced and sarcastic response. He looked like he was saying "What do you want me to do? SORRY!" So I looked back at him and said with my eyes "Look, I don't want any trouble here. You do my part, and I'll do mine." All of this imagined conversation took place in like 1 second. So what to do, but keep running? But instantly my scalp started itching like crazy, or at least it seemed to be. So at the next fountaion, I poured water all over my head a few times. My scalp is starting to itch again as I write this. Stupid bird.
So heading back south I pass McCormick Place, then the Chicago Firefighters Memorial, when up ahead I saw two runners I know from college. (GO ILLINI!) We waved, but I was instantly dismayed. I knew that from where they usually start running, they would be turning around in a bit, most likely, and they run pretty fast, like a 7:30 pace, to my recollection. I had about 1.5 miles left to go. UGH. The thought of them closing in on my gigantic behind in this next stretch of path for which you can see up ahead for 1/2 mile stretches at a time was disheartening. I imagined it would just look bigger and bigger and bigger and finally when they would pass me, they would think or maybe even say to each other, "wow, it really was that big!" I am not kidding, the thought of this kept me moving along at a decent pace for the remainder of the run.
So at 9.85 miles or so, I passed my car. It was hard to do that, but at the same time, there was no way I was coming this close to running 10 miles and not doing it. I ran the remainder of my run out, then had a nice cooldown walk back to my car. I stretched very nicely and as I was doing so, they ran by. Whew!
Next Saturday? 11 miles!
Let's see if I can remember that poem:
Birdie, birdie in the sky,
Why'd you do that in my eye?
What's that thing coming down,
in a blob, in a white form?
I scream and I frown.
And, I mourn.
When it hits, I dance around.
Birdie, birdie in the sky,
why'd you do that in my eye?
Hey I was 7, I didn't say the poem was any good.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Alive and Running
Today was one of those runs that you’re all like “YES! I love running! I live for running! Running is life!” I had a bad run on Saturday, as you may have noticed by my little graph over there on the side, I ran what appears to be a random 5.34 miles…well that was supposed to be 10 miles. Mid-run, I ditched Lou, Meg and crew. I was exhausted and I just knew my heart wasn’t in it.
The day before I worked for 16 hours (almost straight, sans an occasional Michael Jackson break to watch a video and reminisce and be sad.) I baked and decorated 600 cookies for an event, standing most of the time, because that’s how I do my cookies, I cannot sit down, it makes it harder for me. (Don’t bother the artist while she’s at work, this is how she works, and that’s that.)
So by some miracle I was able to wake up and arrive on time, but after 5 miles I was DONE. Fast forward to today…still didn’t want to be out there running, but managed to make a go of it. After all, it was barely 60° and relatively low humidity! And it was a great run. At my 22:30 turnaround point I realized I’d gone farther than usual and thought there was no way I could keep up that pace, but I did. Towards the end I realized I had a shot at 4 miles. 4 miles in 45 minutes! That is rock star status in my penguin-slow book. So I kicked it into high gear for the last two minutes or so. Not only that, I managed to pull off a negative split. AND my last mile, according to my beloved Garmin, was 10:57. Not 11:57….10:57. Wow. Nice work.
And nearly the whole time, I was still thinking about Michael Jackson and the whole family (minus Papa Joe.) I know, I really do have issues and might be cracking up. However, a college friend of mine countered that I’m not so crazy, and that you can’t help but to be sad. Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, and then in college in the 90’s when we put together choreographed stepshows each year, MJ was the soundtrack/dancetrack of our lives. Saying goodbye to him is saying goodbye to a little piece of yourself. And that, my friends, is hard to reconcile sometimes.
The day before I worked for 16 hours (almost straight, sans an occasional Michael Jackson break to watch a video and reminisce and be sad.) I baked and decorated 600 cookies for an event, standing most of the time, because that’s how I do my cookies, I cannot sit down, it makes it harder for me. (Don’t bother the artist while she’s at work, this is how she works, and that’s that.)
So by some miracle I was able to wake up and arrive on time, but after 5 miles I was DONE. Fast forward to today…still didn’t want to be out there running, but managed to make a go of it. After all, it was barely 60° and relatively low humidity! And it was a great run. At my 22:30 turnaround point I realized I’d gone farther than usual and thought there was no way I could keep up that pace, but I did. Towards the end I realized I had a shot at 4 miles. 4 miles in 45 minutes! That is rock star status in my penguin-slow book. So I kicked it into high gear for the last two minutes or so. Not only that, I managed to pull off a negative split. AND my last mile, according to my beloved Garmin, was 10:57. Not 11:57….10:57. Wow. Nice work.
And nearly the whole time, I was still thinking about Michael Jackson and the whole family (minus Papa Joe.) I know, I really do have issues and might be cracking up. However, a college friend of mine countered that I’m not so crazy, and that you can’t help but to be sad. Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, and then in college in the 90’s when we put together choreographed stepshows each year, MJ was the soundtrack/dancetrack of our lives. Saying goodbye to him is saying goodbye to a little piece of yourself. And that, my friends, is hard to reconcile sometimes.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Wow, what a weekend!
So Friday night I get home from work, and I just had this feeling. I had a feeling that I'd had a good run without DH (dear husband) having to be out early on a Saturday morning and thus allowing me to make my group runs with Chicago Endurance Sports. And I was right. So this week's 9-miler was going to be on my own. :(
The second "feeling" I had, was that with the predictions of horrible storms headed our way in the evening hours, I thought to myself "You'd better get these kids fed just in case the power goes out." And in just 15 minutes after we finished eating? The power went out. :(
I had a terrible night's sleep, waking up every 30 to 60 minutes, checking to see if the power had come back on. Finally, I noticed my clock blinking oo:30 in red, at about 4am (according to my cell), which meant the power came on around 3:30am. Getting up for an early run at 5am? NAH!
Besides, I rationalized, I could instead make up that 30 minute run, and then run my 9 miles on Sunday after a good night's sleep. So before running a few errands with the girls, I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill. Cool.
Fast forward to Saturday night. DH is going to see his brother in some show up on the north side, and I've convinced BF Annah that she should just stay overnight and run with me on the lakefront. And by with, I mean that we're both running on the lakefront at the same time. She's a 9:30 pace, or so.
Sometimes I'm anxious before a long run, especially when I'm going to be on my own, so it took a little while to doze of. I finally did though, and just got into that sleep where your body is all like "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Sweet, glorious sleep." When all of the sudden I hear cars screeching, car doors opening, "GET DOWN ON THE M.F. GROUND! GET DOWN!! GET DOWN!!!!! M.F. DIDN'T YOU SEE MY UNIFORM GET DOWN!!!!" To say this was a rude awakening is an understatement to the tenth degree. My mind and heart were racing. From my second floor window, I peek out to see both undercover cops and regular cop cars/SUVs slamming to a halt right at our corner, jumping out with guns drawn, and one woman (the one screaming all the obscenities) pointing a gun at a dude's head, who was laid out spread eagle ON MY FRONT LAWN! (HOLY $#!T!!!!!!!!!!!)
So I come downstairs because, for one, althought the doors were locked, they were open so that the ceiling fans could get some sort of cool air, since it's so frikkin humid out....so I thought maybe I should shut the doors? Also to try and figure out what to do, if anything. As I'm coming down the stairs, I see cops with guns drawn on BOTH sides of the house, going to the backyard! WHAT?!! So I get downstairs and Annah is looking all crazed and wild-eyed, too! More and more cops are pulling up and they are now combing all of the backyards along the alley that we all abut.
So I can hear them talking and they're looking for one other suspect, and wondering if he could have scaled the concrete wall and barb wire to get into the cemetery. As one of the cops gets closer to our back door, I told him that our door lock doesn't work, and to check inside the garage. So they did. I was just hoping and praying not to hear any gunshots or have a cop get shot on the block....but even while all this was going on, I guess I felt like, that for the present moment with all these cops, we're likely the safest block in the city. They were out there for over an hour, and they didn't find anyone, to my knowledge.
It took me FOREVER to fall back asleep, maybe like 1:30 or 2am. Managed to at least get up at about 5:15am, watch the weather reports suggest that it was 74 degrees and 97% humidity at the lakefront, get kamikazi'd by a wasp in the bathroom, and finally make it to the lakefront just before 6am.
So the run itself was uncomfortable, I was hot, tired and just plain spent. My left knee felt like it was swelling in tune with the humidity. I walked A LOT. Maybe even 2 miles worth. Crazy thing is, Annah ran/walked the whole thing with me. I felt kinda bad because I know she would normally go way faster than me. I kept telling her to go ahead, but she didn't. Truthfully, only 2 miles in, I wanted to call it quits...but I didn't. I don't know that I wouldn't have, had she not been there. Overall my pace was well over 13. If I hadn't had such a great 8-mile run last week, I'd wonder about my ability to run 9 miles, or even 10 miles next week. But the truth is, if I can run 8 miles, I can run 9 miles. I guess I'm ok with just getting the distance in, regardless of how bad of a "run" it was.
Hopefully the stars will align and I will get some decent sleep, and the humidity will ease up a bit.
The second "feeling" I had, was that with the predictions of horrible storms headed our way in the evening hours, I thought to myself "You'd better get these kids fed just in case the power goes out." And in just 15 minutes after we finished eating? The power went out. :(
I had a terrible night's sleep, waking up every 30 to 60 minutes, checking to see if the power had come back on. Finally, I noticed my clock blinking oo:30 in red, at about 4am (according to my cell), which meant the power came on around 3:30am. Getting up for an early run at 5am? NAH!
Besides, I rationalized, I could instead make up that 30 minute run, and then run my 9 miles on Sunday after a good night's sleep. So before running a few errands with the girls, I ran 30 minutes on the treadmill. Cool.
Fast forward to Saturday night. DH is going to see his brother in some show up on the north side, and I've convinced BF Annah that she should just stay overnight and run with me on the lakefront. And by with, I mean that we're both running on the lakefront at the same time. She's a 9:30 pace, or so.
Sometimes I'm anxious before a long run, especially when I'm going to be on my own, so it took a little while to doze of. I finally did though, and just got into that sleep where your body is all like "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Sweet, glorious sleep." When all of the sudden I hear cars screeching, car doors opening, "GET DOWN ON THE M.F. GROUND! GET DOWN!! GET DOWN!!!!! M.F. DIDN'T YOU SEE MY UNIFORM GET DOWN!!!!" To say this was a rude awakening is an understatement to the tenth degree. My mind and heart were racing. From my second floor window, I peek out to see both undercover cops and regular cop cars/SUVs slamming to a halt right at our corner, jumping out with guns drawn, and one woman (the one screaming all the obscenities) pointing a gun at a dude's head, who was laid out spread eagle ON MY FRONT LAWN! (HOLY $#!T!!!!!!!!!!!)
So I come downstairs because, for one, althought the doors were locked, they were open so that the ceiling fans could get some sort of cool air, since it's so frikkin humid out....so I thought maybe I should shut the doors? Also to try and figure out what to do, if anything. As I'm coming down the stairs, I see cops with guns drawn on BOTH sides of the house, going to the backyard! WHAT?!! So I get downstairs and Annah is looking all crazed and wild-eyed, too! More and more cops are pulling up and they are now combing all of the backyards along the alley that we all abut.
So I can hear them talking and they're looking for one other suspect, and wondering if he could have scaled the concrete wall and barb wire to get into the cemetery. As one of the cops gets closer to our back door, I told him that our door lock doesn't work, and to check inside the garage. So they did. I was just hoping and praying not to hear any gunshots or have a cop get shot on the block....but even while all this was going on, I guess I felt like, that for the present moment with all these cops, we're likely the safest block in the city. They were out there for over an hour, and they didn't find anyone, to my knowledge.
It took me FOREVER to fall back asleep, maybe like 1:30 or 2am. Managed to at least get up at about 5:15am, watch the weather reports suggest that it was 74 degrees and 97% humidity at the lakefront, get kamikazi'd by a wasp in the bathroom, and finally make it to the lakefront just before 6am.
So the run itself was uncomfortable, I was hot, tired and just plain spent. My left knee felt like it was swelling in tune with the humidity. I walked A LOT. Maybe even 2 miles worth. Crazy thing is, Annah ran/walked the whole thing with me. I felt kinda bad because I know she would normally go way faster than me. I kept telling her to go ahead, but she didn't. Truthfully, only 2 miles in, I wanted to call it quits...but I didn't. I don't know that I wouldn't have, had she not been there. Overall my pace was well over 13. If I hadn't had such a great 8-mile run last week, I'd wonder about my ability to run 9 miles, or even 10 miles next week. But the truth is, if I can run 8 miles, I can run 9 miles. I guess I'm ok with just getting the distance in, regardless of how bad of a "run" it was.
Hopefully the stars will align and I will get some decent sleep, and the humidity will ease up a bit.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
What a week!
This is starting to sound like a broken record, but last week I was due for another rough week. Big deadline for a project at work, complicated with the matters of my older daughter being done with Pre-K but her summer program not having started. What did that mean? 2 days at Grandma's, 1 day with the hubby, and 2 days of trying to work from home. ARGH!!! But I knew that even as hard as it would be to run, it would do my mind and body good. ESPECIALLY given my 8 miles I'd be running on Saturday.
And so I made time for myself and I DID IT. I ran twice during the week, 40 minutes each. You all KNOW I love to run in the mornings, and tend to think of a million excuses in the evening if I put it off til then...well on Thursday evening I forced myself to get on that treadmill and just DO IT, since I decided to work early in the morning instead, since I'd be home all day. On top of that, two other days I managed to fit in a whole-body strength training session and 30+ minutes on the elliptical each time.
I capped off this great week with a fabulous 8-miler along the lakefront with my training group. This is the longest run since the Indy Mini, and since I took my "I have a soar calf muscle" hiatus, so I was a bit nervous. But all went well.
Our group consisted of me, Lou & Meg (who are BOTH pace leaders now), and two newbies, Sal and Jenny (not to be confused with Coach Jenny.) We knocked it out pretty efficiently. There were occasional moments, only fleeting, where I was worried I might not make it....is that my calf tightening up? Are you crazy to go from 5 miles last week to 8 miles this week? (I missed our 6 and 7 mile runs due to said calf.) The conversation drifted from whether or not there are a lot of dead bodies in Lake Michigan (don't ask), to Oprah's former abode and whether or not Tom Cruise lived in the same building too, to Sal's bragging about drinking and dancing the night before (eyes rolling)...we had a nice route, heading south first along the lakefront, then going back up north past our starting point for another 2 miles, before heading back for the final two.
During the last mile or so, we got the chance to run with "running royalty," as Coach Jenny rode along next to us on her bike, chatting us up for a good while. (For those of you not privy to Coach Jenny, you can find her here, or you may have seen her coaching one of the runners in the Spirit of the Marathon, or read her Ask Coach Jenny column in Runners' World. (Dude, I'm so mad at that magazine right now, but I will save that rant for another post.) Anyway, I really appreciated her rolling along side of us, because sometimes as the slowest pace group, you sort of get the feeling that people are just putting up with you. So we chatted about past races, the importance of strength-training, etc... it was really cool.
So 8 miles down. My legs were super-sore last night, but feeling good today...and ready to hit the road tomorrow morning for a full 45 minutes! I think. :-O
Thanks for reading my completely self-serving, self-congratulatory post!
Have a great week, friends!
And so I made time for myself and I DID IT. I ran twice during the week, 40 minutes each. You all KNOW I love to run in the mornings, and tend to think of a million excuses in the evening if I put it off til then...well on Thursday evening I forced myself to get on that treadmill and just DO IT, since I decided to work early in the morning instead, since I'd be home all day. On top of that, two other days I managed to fit in a whole-body strength training session and 30+ minutes on the elliptical each time.
I capped off this great week with a fabulous 8-miler along the lakefront with my training group. This is the longest run since the Indy Mini, and since I took my "I have a soar calf muscle" hiatus, so I was a bit nervous. But all went well.
Our group consisted of me, Lou & Meg (who are BOTH pace leaders now), and two newbies, Sal and Jenny (not to be confused with Coach Jenny.) We knocked it out pretty efficiently. There were occasional moments, only fleeting, where I was worried I might not make it....is that my calf tightening up? Are you crazy to go from 5 miles last week to 8 miles this week? (I missed our 6 and 7 mile runs due to said calf.) The conversation drifted from whether or not there are a lot of dead bodies in Lake Michigan (don't ask), to Oprah's former abode and whether or not Tom Cruise lived in the same building too, to Sal's bragging about drinking and dancing the night before (eyes rolling)...we had a nice route, heading south first along the lakefront, then going back up north past our starting point for another 2 miles, before heading back for the final two.
During the last mile or so, we got the chance to run with "running royalty," as Coach Jenny rode along next to us on her bike, chatting us up for a good while. (For those of you not privy to Coach Jenny, you can find her here, or you may have seen her coaching one of the runners in the Spirit of the Marathon, or read her Ask Coach Jenny column in Runners' World. (Dude, I'm so mad at that magazine right now, but I will save that rant for another post.) Anyway, I really appreciated her rolling along side of us, because sometimes as the slowest pace group, you sort of get the feeling that people are just putting up with you. So we chatted about past races, the importance of strength-training, etc... it was really cool.
So 8 miles down. My legs were super-sore last night, but feeling good today...and ready to hit the road tomorrow morning for a full 45 minutes! I think. :-O
Thanks for reading my completely self-serving, self-congratulatory post!
Have a great week, friends!
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Let the Marathon Training COMMENCE!
Email on 4/23/09 at 10:52am:
Registration Has Closed for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago MarathonOpen Registration for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon closed today when it reached its capacity. If you would still like to take part in the 2009 event, entries can be obtained through our affiliated charities and international tour groups. For more information on these registration options, visit chicagomarathon.com.
Celebrate the Excitement with 45,000 Runners
Thank you to all those who have registered for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Although registration is closed, everyone is encouraged to be a part of the 2009 event, whether as a runner, volunteer or spectator. The Chicago Marathon is world-renowned for its dedicated volunteers, enthusiastic spectator support along the 26.2-mile course, and the best Health & Fitness Expo in the industry.
Celebrate the Excitement with 45,000 Runners
Thank you to all those who have registered for the 2009 Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Although registration is closed, everyone is encouraged to be a part of the 2009 event, whether as a runner, volunteer or spectator. The Chicago Marathon is world-renowned for its dedicated volunteers, enthusiastic spectator support along the 26.2-mile course, and the best Health & Fitness Expo in the industry.
+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*
Down at the Marathon Office I'm imagining a scene of confetti, balloons dropping from the ceiling, corks popping, and a whole lot of hooting and hollering...er, I suppose it's not all that dramatic, but I should think it calls for a 2-hour lunch or something.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
A Run with a View: Why I love (running in) Chicago
So I decided to show you all why I love running in Chicago and what makes running on the lakefront special, taking a cue from RBR (Stacey), whose camera is pretty much standard running gear for her. One of my favorite places to start my run from is 31st Str
eet Beach, because although it's on the south side, it's not too far south, yet there aren't hundreds of runners and cyclists mowing people down...plus there is a beachhouse (with bathrooms), a playground (for the kids), a pier, etc... Oh. And free parking! ;) Here is the Beachhouse. Ahead on the lakefront path are two friendly walkers and a man lugging his fishing gear, clearly prepared for a full day of fishing. I would like my dad to come fish out here some day. I think he would enjoy it.
Once I head north from here, you can begin to see why I like this area. It's got some great views, and is clos
e enough to downtown where you can really see a lot of the city. Up ahead you can see downtown in the distance, and McCormick Place, the country's largest conference center. This is where marathoners in October will pick up their marathon packets (and pay a fortune for parking.) The mile before you reach the backside of McCormick place is peaceful. In the mornings, the sun is coming up and there are some magnificent views, because when running north, the angle of the path is such that the sun is essentially over your right shoul
der, and not smacking you in the face making you wonder why the heck you still refuse to wear sunscreen while running. Shortly before arriving at the 1 mile point, there is a bird sanctuary off to the left, and then the Chicago Fire Department's "Fallen Firemen and Paramedics Memorial Park." There are several of these boot/hat statues, two big stone CFD logo things, and lots of sitting places that face the lake. Very nice. I've never seen anyone there, though I do think I saw some sort of burial going on earlier this year, while driving along LSD (Lake Shore Drive.) But anyway, it's a nice way to remember those who have lost their lives while protecting others.
In this sa
me area, there is a manmade waterfall "fountain" that is usually on in the summer, which is great when the slight breeze draws mists of water your way. I can always hear it about a 1/4 mile away, even with my ipod on, so I knew it wasn't on way before I got there. Leaving McCormick Place, Burnham Harbor is on the right, empty now, but in the summer, boats and yachts are docked there. Downtown still seems to be way off in the distance, but you're really not that far away now. Up next? Soldier Field, the Museum Campus and downtown Chicago!
Soldier Field is where our beloved Chicago Bears (da Bears) play. It may look like a spaceship has landed on some old greco-roman colonades to you. In Chicago, depending on wher
e you stand in the issue, it's really is just the new architectural gem/blunder that the powers that be fought for/against a few years back. It is what it is. The original Soldier Field is a memorial to American soldiers who died at wars. The Soldier Field 10-Mile is held in May on the Saturday before Memorial Day. The highlight of the race is at the finish, when you enter through the stadium past the locker rooms (I think) and onto the field. It's really pretty cool. I did it last year, but I'm not doing it this year. Maybe next year?
After leaving Soldier Field and all its glory, you pass a memorial to fallen Chicago Police Officers. Right now, there is a detour that has been underway since last fall. Normally, you would run behind the Shedd Aquarium, but today I found myself running in front of it and along side the Field Museum where another runner with a REAL camera was taking pictures. I never noticed the statue on this side of the Aquarium, some dude (probably of some significance had I gone over to take a closer look) hugging/holding a fish.
Running around the bend....ahhhh! Runner's reward: downtown, in all it's architectural splendor! The picture on the right is Shedd Aquarium again, with Adler Planetarium in the background.
Grant Park is to your left, the scene of many exciting marathon finishes, and plenty of other races and
events, too, like Taste of Chicago, Lollapalooza, Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, etc... One of my favorite places to visit is Buckingham Fountain. This is the view from the running path. Every 30 minutes, a big burst of water shoots about a hundred feet up into the air, at the delight of all the spectators. In the summer, you will find lots of young families, wedding parties and their photographers, and teenagers hanging out. There are lemonade stands and other vendors, but unforunately, public bathrooms are few and far between, as a then 3-year old Jada found out a few summers ago. :(
When you leave downtown, you might think that you've seen all there is to see, but that's not so. Up ahead there's this "underside" of the lakefront path. It's kinda lonely, Lake Shore
Drive is separating from the path and heading up (bridge) and the path is positioned downward, closer to the lake. Here is a big yacht that always seems to be stationed as a reminder of the money you don't have...and probably won't have, LOL. Directly across the path from here is where the local Fleet Feet or sometimes CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) set up aid stations for runners, just to be nice. To me, this site is the "Ghost of Runs Past," where runs see
m to make or break me. It's where, in my 18-mile run with Meg, I had to stop and pray for strength. Or another time when Meg stopped to discuss with Coach Brendan about the cramp along the underside of her shoelaces. It's where we were turned away from idiot "Team in Training" Sponsors who refused to give us a sip of their Gatorade on a hot summer day when the other tables weren't set up "This is for OUR runners." Or the time there was just no one there. Lots of bad or shaky running memories lie here!
Leaving here, you approach the bridge, where Lake Shore Drive is directly overhead, a
nd you are running along what I think is Wacker Drive. You are also on a bridge that spans over the Chicago River as it feeds into Lake Michigan. Although the bridge plays evil tricks on one's Garmin Forerunner (and I suspect all GPS devices), the views are pretty cool. This "luxury residential tower" is one I always call (to myself) the grand piano building because it sorta looks like that to me. I heard a rumor that Oprah has a place here, one of many. I have no idea if this is true. Situated directly across the street, eastwards, is Navy Pier. It's a major tourist trap, but it also houses the Chicago Children's 
Museum, where we plan to take the girls next week. Once you exit the bridge, the path splits northward or eastward, with the easterly direction taking you right in front of Navy Pier. (I always take that route, since that is the officially mile-marked pathway.)
Up next? Oak Street Beach and the Concrete Monster! This is where, to me, the lakefront becomes "the northside." See, to me, the lakefront is "the southside," "downtown," and "the northside." Maybe you could add "WAYYYY up north" as another segment. Approaching Oak Street Beach, there is another mile marker, which for me signaled 4.5 miles into my run, only 1 mile til turnaround, yipee! About 20 feet from this milemarker is a water fountain, where people and dogs lap water endlessly. Yes, I said dogs. And trust me, on the occasion that you are 12 miles into an 18 mile run and the sun is beating down on you mercilessly, you tend to relinquish some inhibitions. I mean it even sounds gross to me as
I type it (shudder), but I've done it before and will no doubt do it again. To the left is a view from the water fountain, looking northward at what I call the "concrete monster." All concrete, sun beating down even on a nice 40 degree day like it was, smacking you in the face and rendering you useless if you aren't in the right state of mind. I must admit I had a real tough time. There were lots of runners and running groups out this day, including Chicago Endurance Sports, my former and soon-to-b
e training group again. I looked for Celia, but didn't see her, so I wasn't sure if these runners were training for the SF 10-Mile or a spring marathon. Anyway, I recognized a few people and even saw Coach Brendan. I smiled but I'm not sure if his nodding back was in recognition or one of politeness. To the right is the view at my 5.5 mile turnaround, with the Hancock Building looming overhead. (Wait a minute! Come to think of it, I think I've also heard Oprah owns a floor here, too. Who knows. Oprah is like the Queen of Chicago, so everyone secretly wants to know where she lives/dines/etc... )
At this point during the run, I really started to crack. The sun?! Why was it so mean to me and smacking me in the face? I started coughing again and felt like I was going to go all out into an asthma
attack (I have exercise-induced asthma.) So much so that someone from CES stopped to ask if I was ok. (Awwww, thanks!) I got it together and soldiered on, taking a few more pictures for your benefit. Back downtown I noticed one of those cool solar trash cans, which under the power of the sun, compact the trash down so that much more trash can be shoved in. Pretty cool. Well...I saw one down in the subway tunnels though, and wondered how on earth it was going to work down there. A-duh.
Back downtown I really enjoyed the view of the Field Museum, so here it is... lovely, isn't it? The banners across the front are touting its Pirate exhibit. (Raising one eyebrow.) They really do have some fascinating exhibits, I need to get back there. I haven't been there since the Opening Reception of the American Planning Association in 2002. That's an annual conference I attend, work-related, and I will be headed to this year's conference in Minneapolis this weekend.
The last two miles of my run were difficult, but not as horrendous as it could have been. I walked a few times, no more than a minute at a time, sucking down what was left of my Gatorade and telling myself out loud "Just 1.5 more miles!" "Just 1 more mile!" That blessed 31st Street Beachhouse was a sight for sore eyes, and just like that, my run was over.
2:15:50, pace 12:21. That'll do.
I hope you enjoyed my run in pictures, and maybe you can see why I love running in Chicago!
eet Beach, because although it's on the south side, it's not too far south, yet there aren't hundreds of runners and cyclists mowing people down...plus there is a beachhouse (with bathrooms), a playground (for the kids), a pier, etc... Oh. And free parking! ;) Here is the Beachhouse. Ahead on the lakefront path are two friendly walkers and a man lugging his fishing gear, clearly prepared for a full day of fishing. I would like my dad to come fish out here some day. I think he would enjoy it.Once I head north from here, you can begin to see why I like this area. It's got some great views, and is clos
e enough to downtown where you can really see a lot of the city. Up ahead you can see downtown in the distance, and McCormick Place, the country's largest conference center. This is where marathoners in October will pick up their marathon packets (and pay a fortune for parking.) The mile before you reach the backside of McCormick place is peaceful. In the mornings, the sun is coming up and there are some magnificent views, because when running north, the angle of the path is such that the sun is essentially over your right shoul
der, and not smacking you in the face making you wonder why the heck you still refuse to wear sunscreen while running. Shortly before arriving at the 1 mile point, there is a bird sanctuary off to the left, and then the Chicago Fire Department's "Fallen Firemen and Paramedics Memorial Park." There are several of these boot/hat statues, two big stone CFD logo things, and lots of sitting places that face the lake. Very nice. I've never seen anyone there, though I do think I saw some sort of burial going on earlier this year, while driving along LSD (Lake Shore Drive.) But anyway, it's a nice way to remember those who have lost their lives while protecting others.In this sa
me area, there is a manmade waterfall "fountain" that is usually on in the summer, which is great when the slight breeze draws mists of water your way. I can always hear it about a 1/4 mile away, even with my ipod on, so I knew it wasn't on way before I got there. Leaving McCormick Place, Burnham Harbor is on the right, empty now, but in the summer, boats and yachts are docked there. Downtown still seems to be way off in the distance, but you're really not that far away now. Up next? Soldier Field, the Museum Campus and downtown Chicago!Soldier Field is where our beloved Chicago Bears (da Bears) play. It may look like a spaceship has landed on some old greco-roman colonades to you. In Chicago, depending on wher
e you stand in the issue, it's really is just the new architectural gem/blunder that the powers that be fought for/against a few years back. It is what it is. The original Soldier Field is a memorial to American soldiers who died at wars. The Soldier Field 10-Mile is held in May on the Saturday before Memorial Day. The highlight of the race is at the finish, when you enter through the stadium past the locker rooms (I think) and onto the field. It's really pretty cool. I did it last year, but I'm not doing it this year. Maybe next year?
After leaving Soldier Field and all its glory, you pass a memorial to fallen Chicago Police Officers. Right now, there is a detour that has been underway since last fall. Normally, you would run behind the Shedd Aquarium, but today I found myself running in front of it and along side the Field Museum where another runner with a REAL camera was taking pictures. I never noticed the statue on this side of the Aquarium, some dude (probably of some significance had I gone over to take a closer look) hugging/holding a fish.Running around the bend....ahhhh! Runner's reward: downtown, in all it's architectural splendor! The picture on the right is Shedd Aquarium again, with Adler Planetarium in the background.
Grant Park is to your left, the scene of many exciting marathon finishes, and plenty of other races and
events, too, like Taste of Chicago, Lollapalooza, Blues Fest, Jazz Fest, etc... One of my favorite places to visit is Buckingham Fountain. This is the view from the running path. Every 30 minutes, a big burst of water shoots about a hundred feet up into the air, at the delight of all the spectators. In the summer, you will find lots of young families, wedding parties and their photographers, and teenagers hanging out. There are lemonade stands and other vendors, but unforunately, public bathrooms are few and far between, as a then 3-year old Jada found out a few summers ago. :(When you leave downtown, you might think that you've seen all there is to see, but that's not so. Up ahead there's this "underside" of the lakefront path. It's kinda lonely, Lake Shore
Drive is separating from the path and heading up (bridge) and the path is positioned downward, closer to the lake. Here is a big yacht that always seems to be stationed as a reminder of the money you don't have...and probably won't have, LOL. Directly across the path from here is where the local Fleet Feet or sometimes CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) set up aid stations for runners, just to be nice. To me, this site is the "Ghost of Runs Past," where runs see
m to make or break me. It's where, in my 18-mile run with Meg, I had to stop and pray for strength. Or another time when Meg stopped to discuss with Coach Brendan about the cramp along the underside of her shoelaces. It's where we were turned away from idiot "Team in Training" Sponsors who refused to give us a sip of their Gatorade on a hot summer day when the other tables weren't set up "This is for OUR runners." Or the time there was just no one there. Lots of bad or shaky running memories lie here!Leaving here, you approach the bridge, where Lake Shore Drive is directly overhead, a
nd you are running along what I think is Wacker Drive. You are also on a bridge that spans over the Chicago River as it feeds into Lake Michigan. Although the bridge plays evil tricks on one's Garmin Forerunner (and I suspect all GPS devices), the views are pretty cool. This "luxury residential tower" is one I always call (to myself) the grand piano building because it sorta looks like that to me. I heard a rumor that Oprah has a place here, one of many. I have no idea if this is true. Situated directly across the street, eastwards, is Navy Pier. It's a major tourist trap, but it also houses the Chicago Children's 
Museum, where we plan to take the girls next week. Once you exit the bridge, the path splits northward or eastward, with the easterly direction taking you right in front of Navy Pier. (I always take that route, since that is the officially mile-marked pathway.)Up next? Oak Street Beach and the Concrete Monster! This is where, to me, the lakefront becomes "the northside." See, to me, the lakefront is "the southside," "downtown," and "the northside." Maybe you could add "WAYYYY up north" as another segment. Approaching Oak Street Beach, there is another mile marker, which for me signaled 4.5 miles into my run, only 1 mile til turnaround, yipee! About 20 feet from this milemarker is a water fountain, where people and dogs lap water endlessly. Yes, I said dogs. And trust me, on the occasion that you are 12 miles into an 18 mile run and the sun is beating down on you mercilessly, you tend to relinquish some inhibitions. I mean it even sounds gross to me as
I type it (shudder), but I've done it before and will no doubt do it again. To the left is a view from the water fountain, looking northward at what I call the "concrete monster." All concrete, sun beating down even on a nice 40 degree day like it was, smacking you in the face and rendering you useless if you aren't in the right state of mind. I must admit I had a real tough time. There were lots of runners and running groups out this day, including Chicago Endurance Sports, my former and soon-to-b
e training group again. I looked for Celia, but didn't see her, so I wasn't sure if these runners were training for the SF 10-Mile or a spring marathon. Anyway, I recognized a few people and even saw Coach Brendan. I smiled but I'm not sure if his nodding back was in recognition or one of politeness. To the right is the view at my 5.5 mile turnaround, with the Hancock Building looming overhead. (Wait a minute! Come to think of it, I think I've also heard Oprah owns a floor here, too. Who knows. Oprah is like the Queen of Chicago, so everyone secretly wants to know where she lives/dines/etc... )At this point during the run, I really started to crack. The sun?! Why was it so mean to me and smacking me in the face? I started coughing again and felt like I was going to go all out into an asthma
attack (I have exercise-induced asthma.) So much so that someone from CES stopped to ask if I was ok. (Awwww, thanks!) I got it together and soldiered on, taking a few more pictures for your benefit. Back downtown I noticed one of those cool solar trash cans, which under the power of the sun, compact the trash down so that much more trash can be shoved in. Pretty cool. Well...I saw one down in the subway tunnels though, and wondered how on earth it was going to work down there. A-duh.
Back downtown I really enjoyed the view of the Field Museum, so here it is... lovely, isn't it? The banners across the front are touting its Pirate exhibit. (Raising one eyebrow.) They really do have some fascinating exhibits, I need to get back there. I haven't been there since the Opening Reception of the American Planning Association in 2002. That's an annual conference I attend, work-related, and I will be headed to this year's conference in Minneapolis this weekend.
The last two miles of my run were difficult, but not as horrendous as it could have been. I walked a few times, no more than a minute at a time, sucking down what was left of my Gatorade and telling myself out loud "Just 1.5 more miles!" "Just 1 more mile!" That blessed 31st Street Beachhouse was a sight for sore eyes, and just like that, my run was over.
2:15:50, pace 12:21. That'll do.
I hope you enjoyed my run in pictures, and maybe you can see why I love running in Chicago!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Exhausted!
It's been a tough week. I mapped out a plan to run 3 times midweek, run my long run of 9 miles on Saturday, all while hitting the weights again with two upper and two lower body workouts, and up my elliptical days from one to two. All this, and a HUGE project deadline at work on Wednesday. I knew Wednesday might get funny, so I gave myself permission to slack a bit on the elliptical stuff if necessary.
Well Tuesday night turned out to be an all-nighter for me. Ok, not technically since I did manage to grab a little bit of sleep from 5:30am to 6:50am. (You're thinking I should have gone to the gym then, aren't you? Kidding.) I have been tired ever since. I even downed a bottle of that 5-hour energy stuff they sell on the counters of 7-11's round' the world. I took it at 4pm, in fear of falling asleep while going to get the girls, or having a hellish evening of preparing dinner while my face was plastered to the couch. So that bottle of 5 hours netted me about 3.5, and I'm not complaining! I even played Sudoku in that time span, so consider that my rave review for the stuff--when absolutely necessary.
Anyhoo, then my mom called and asked if I was coming to their church's annual Easter Egg Hunt for kids (read: you bad parent, you, for not having planned any Easter festivities, purchased Easter dresses, committed to any egg-decorating EVER IN THEIR LIVES). In order to get there in time on Saturday morning, I would have to leave early enough that would prohibit my 9 mile run...unless I want to take the girls in their pajamas, and that's never a good look. Long story short, I ran it today.
So here's my rundown as to why I am so rundown:
Monday & Tuesday: 3 mile runs both days, felt great, swopping upper body and lower body workouts. On Tuesday's run, I did some ol Biggest Loser type stuff and really hit it hard in the last few minutes. Body check: what's that? Is that my right calf hurting a bit?
Wednesday: Nada (well, not working out, at least.) I was so busy at work all I had time for was a small bag of beef jerky (that I bought when I bought the 5-hour energy shot). It was tasty. Got home and ate my face off. Yelled at hubby when he told me to get off the couch and go to bed. Went to bed, but not before setting my phone alarm for 4:45. Make that 4:40, I might need an extra 5 minutes.
Thursday: After waking up at 5am, I still went to the gym. Thinking about maybe running Friday instead of Saturday, I did just 2 miles on the treadmill and FORCED MYSELF TO GO SLOW. I also did a workout of both upper and lower body in one day, which I absolutely hate doing...and not for any other reason other than I just don't like being around weights and beefcakes for too long. Body check: I think my calf hurts still. Hmm.
Friday: Let's do it! Take the morning off. Go run that 9 miles! I even got my sweet beloved Garmin working again. (AND FORGOT IT!) So I'm heading up Lakeshore Drive (honestly people, is it Lakeshore Drive, or Lake Shore Drive? I've seen it both ways.) And I notice the wind wh
ipping up the waves something fierce and decide on a "NO" for the concrete monster, that's what I call the area near Oak Street Beach. It's a beast in the summer when the morning sun comes up over the horizon and slaps you on your face with no shade to be found. (There it is on the left, only this picture is obviously during warmer times. Those people off in the distance on the right? Well that was all water today.) While driving, I also pinpointed the area of the S-curve's latest victim that I read about yesterday. I wonder how many lightpoles along LSD have taken people out.
ipping up the waves something fierce and decide on a "NO" for the concrete monster, that's what I call the area near Oak Street Beach. It's a beast in the summer when the morning sun comes up over the horizon and slaps you on your face with no shade to be found. (There it is on the left, only this picture is obviously during warmer times. Those people off in the distance on the right? Well that was all water today.) While driving, I also pinpointed the area of the S-curve's latest victim that I read about yesterday. I wonder how many lightpoles along LSD have taken people out. Anyhoo, so I park just north of the History Museum on Clark. At a meter. Gatorade? Check! Gu? Check! And I get out of the car and WHOOOOOOOSH! The wind hits me and I'm frozen immediately. As I walk over to the Ben Franklin statue in an effort to conjure up the good vibes of the 2007 training season with CES (and that's where we used to meet), I was coming up with all kinds of excuses...you don't even have your Garmin (b.s. there are half mile markers up and down the lakefront. In theory.)...you saw the forecast, it might be warmer on Sunday morning. (b.s. you're already HERE.)
So I just started running. Into the wind. And it sucked. I was so slow, although I don't exactly know how slow, because I looked at my cell phone at the beginning and at the end of my run to gauge some sort of time. I was cold, my hands were cold, my stomach...MY STOMACH was numb from the cold wind. I stopped to stretch like three times, my right calf telling me "You'll be sorry you did this!" But I made it to my turnaround point, took a Gu, and then everything became effortless. I don't know if it was due to less wind or the Gu, but I was in the zone. And then I finished. One hour and 54 minutes later. Crappy pace of 12:40, but now I only have one more long run before the Indy Mini Marathon.
I realize that my training for this race is less than ideal, but I'm glad that I've been able to make these "make or break" runs, regardless. It probably won't be fun, and I certainly have run other races more prepared, but at least I'm covering the distance, one way or another.
My calf has been hurting all day now, but sitting at my desk at work probably isn't much help, either. Extra stretching all weekend, and no working out AT ALL.
Week Totals:
Mileage: 17 miles, 4 runs
Strength: 2 upper, 2 lower
Elliptical (Cross training): 0
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The Week that Kicked Butt (or more appropriately titled "The Week that Was")
AWESOME WEEK! I bounced back from a terrible Shamrock Shuffle and living on the fringe of lethargicness for quite some time now. So here is my weekly wrap up:
Tuesday:
-Up at 4:45, out the door at 5am, at the gym by 5:15!
-Ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym. They have some NICE treadmills!
-Lower body weight training. I like the idea of splitting up lower/upper body, because then I have more time to add extra machines in that I might not have time for if trying to fit it all in during one session.
Wednesday:
-same up-and-at-em moves
-Ran 3 miles on the treddy again. 2 days in a row?! Wow, that hasn't happened in a long time!
-Upper body weight training. HATE IT, my arms are weak. WEAK.
Thursday:
-up nice-n-early again, this time waking up before my friendly alarm
-Elliptical for some cross training of sorts. A nice change of pace.
-Lower body weights. LOVE IT. My legs are very strong, and I always feel like Superwoman when I get done. I plan on no knee injuries like last year, or at least due to a lac of strength training.
Friday:
-2 miles easy breezy
-Upper body weights. Chest and arms still soar from Wednesday.
Saturday:
-7 miles! This is my farthest distance this season, HOORAY. I was very nervous, and my poor sweet Garmin was not working, so I had to gauge time by my cell phone. My finish time of 1:26 puts me just over pace at 12:18. That finish time doesn't include the 5-minute coughing fit I had when pausing for some Gatorade. UGH!
Anyway, I'm just happy I met every goal this week. I hope to string many similar weeks together like this and achieve some good results come the end of the summer. WOO HOO!!!
Well it's late and I'm tired, sorry my writing isn't any more entertaining.
Tuesday:
-Up at 4:45, out the door at 5am, at the gym by 5:15!
-Ran 3 miles on the treadmill at the gym. They have some NICE treadmills!
-Lower body weight training. I like the idea of splitting up lower/upper body, because then I have more time to add extra machines in that I might not have time for if trying to fit it all in during one session.
Wednesday:
-same up-and-at-em moves
-Ran 3 miles on the treddy again. 2 days in a row?! Wow, that hasn't happened in a long time!
-Upper body weight training. HATE IT, my arms are weak. WEAK.
Thursday:
-up nice-n-early again, this time waking up before my friendly alarm
-Elliptical for some cross training of sorts. A nice change of pace.
-Lower body weights. LOVE IT. My legs are very strong, and I always feel like Superwoman when I get done. I plan on no knee injuries like last year, or at least due to a lac of strength training.
Friday:
-2 miles easy breezy
-Upper body weights. Chest and arms still soar from Wednesday.
Saturday:
-7 miles! This is my farthest distance this season, HOORAY. I was very nervous, and my poor sweet Garmin was not working, so I had to gauge time by my cell phone. My finish time of 1:26 puts me just over pace at 12:18. That finish time doesn't include the 5-minute coughing fit I had when pausing for some Gatorade. UGH!
Anyway, I'm just happy I met every goal this week. I hope to string many similar weeks together like this and achieve some good results come the end of the summer. WOO HOO!!!
Well it's late and I'm tired, sorry my writing isn't any more entertaining.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
This blog sucks....and other less obvious things going on...
Hola! I'm still here, barely doing anything other than stuffing my face. But today marked something just short of miraculous. I actually ran TWO DAYS IN A ROW. And today I threw caution to the wind and ran 4 miles even though I probably wasn't quite ready for that. Whatever, I have a half marathon to run in like 6 or 7 weeks, SHEESH! Gotta ramp it up. I've shitted around long enough.
I'm feeling good, watching my intake and actually eating a good amount of protein, which i've never done much of, so hooray for me. ANd in all my cookie backing today (8 dozen to be exact), I managed to eat only 2.
I will try to write more and attempt to be more entertaining, but I make no promises.
Goals this week:
1. Run 3 to 4 times, including a 6 mile long run on the weekend.
2. Get gym membership activated to begin my cross-training two days per week.
3. Continue watching balance between carbs and protein. Protein is my friend! (and milk ain't half bad with a little protein powder in what would otherwise be a dreadful, milkbreathish experience.)
toodles, friends.
I'm feeling good, watching my intake and actually eating a good amount of protein, which i've never done much of, so hooray for me. ANd in all my cookie backing today (8 dozen to be exact), I managed to eat only 2.
I will try to write more and attempt to be more entertaining, but I make no promises.
Goals this week:
1. Run 3 to 4 times, including a 6 mile long run on the weekend.
2. Get gym membership activated to begin my cross-training two days per week.
3. Continue watching balance between carbs and protein. Protein is my friend! (and milk ain't half bad with a little protein powder in what would otherwise be a dreadful, milkbreathish experience.)
toodles, friends.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Run #76 I (Barely) get by with a little help from my friends
Date/Time: August 16 at around 6am
Place: Lakefront, 31st Street Beach up to Oak Street Beach and back, and then another 1/2 mile south and back, upper 60's
Mileage: 10 miles
Time It Took: Here's where it gets ugly....2:16:43
Pace: Um....13:40
Miles this week: 13
Miles this month: Does it matter? If so, 26
2008 Goal: 449.09/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Where do I begin? I can't even figure out where. ABout a mile in I noticed my knee, well, just under my knee, it was slightly hurting. Uh-oh. But it wasn't horrible, so I just kept going. I did the whole "walk one minute" after each mile, but then that turned into about 3 minutes twice, and only in the first half of my run. At around 7am or so, near Navy Pier, I SWEAR I saw Lou's boyfriend..but I've only seen picture of him on her blog, so I wasn't too sure.
I got to the water fountain at Oak Street Beach (4.5 miles), and I stopped. I stopped Ye Olde Garmin and just stopped and stretched. Drank. Watched about 5 CARA pace groups go by hoping against hope to see Lou...didn't happen. I thought "Maybe I could trail a long with her for awhile, it'd be like old times." This spot was a happenin spot, not only were all the running groups stopping there, but people were donning wetsuits to go swim in the water, there were people on bikes, etc....So after an eternity of just taking in the sights, I decided to be on my way. I ran another half mile before walking some more. PATHETIC. Then I ran another half mile.
But then up ahead and the mile marker...WOW! There's my old pace group that I ran with just a few times before my knee injury. I really only two of them, and of course they remembered me. They were at their turnaround for a 14-miler. So I ran with them and they were nowhere near running a 12:00, and I didn't even care. We ran a half mile and then we stopped at the bathroom...oh yeah, I forgot that one chic has to go to the bathroom like TWICE in a run. Anyhoo, I was not trying to ditch company, so I waited with them. Watch off. Then we're off again, shuffling along at 13:00 , and this time I didn't stop til back at 31st St, nine miles. Then I went another half mile south with them, and then the last half mile I was along again, but headed in the right direction...towards MY CAR.
It was a horrible run, and I'm not sure why, and I'm not trying to overanalyze it. I do think I might join the group next week and run the first half of my run with them. We'll see.
Sigh.
Place: Lakefront, 31st Street Beach up to Oak Street Beach and back, and then another 1/2 mile south and back, upper 60's
Mileage: 10 miles
Time It Took: Here's where it gets ugly....2:16:43
Pace: Um....13:40
Miles this week: 13
Miles this month: Does it matter? If so, 26
2008 Goal: 449.09/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Where do I begin? I can't even figure out where. ABout a mile in I noticed my knee, well, just under my knee, it was slightly hurting. Uh-oh. But it wasn't horrible, so I just kept going. I did the whole "walk one minute" after each mile, but then that turned into about 3 minutes twice, and only in the first half of my run. At around 7am or so, near Navy Pier, I SWEAR I saw Lou's boyfriend..but I've only seen picture of him on her blog, so I wasn't too sure.
I got to the water fountain at Oak Street Beach (4.5 miles), and I stopped. I stopped Ye Olde Garmin and just stopped and stretched. Drank. Watched about 5 CARA pace groups go by hoping against hope to see Lou...didn't happen. I thought "Maybe I could trail a long with her for awhile, it'd be like old times." This spot was a happenin spot, not only were all the running groups stopping there, but people were donning wetsuits to go swim in the water, there were people on bikes, etc....So after an eternity of just taking in the sights, I decided to be on my way. I ran another half mile before walking some more. PATHETIC. Then I ran another half mile.
But then up ahead and the mile marker...WOW! There's my old pace group that I ran with just a few times before my knee injury. I really only two of them, and of course they remembered me. They were at their turnaround for a 14-miler. So I ran with them and they were nowhere near running a 12:00, and I didn't even care. We ran a half mile and then we stopped at the bathroom...oh yeah, I forgot that one chic has to go to the bathroom like TWICE in a run. Anyhoo, I was not trying to ditch company, so I waited with them. Watch off. Then we're off again, shuffling along at 13:00 , and this time I didn't stop til back at 31st St, nine miles. Then I went another half mile south with them, and then the last half mile I was along again, but headed in the right direction...towards MY CAR.
It was a horrible run, and I'm not sure why, and I'm not trying to overanalyze it. I do think I might join the group next week and run the first half of my run with them. We'll see.
Sigh.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Run #74 Crazy Eights
Date/Time: 8/8/8 at 10:00am
Place: Lakefront, starting from my old meeting place when I ran with Chicago Endurance Sports, right from the statue of Ben Franklin. Mid to upper 70's by the time I finished.
Mileage: 8
Time it Took: 1:40:04
Pace: 12:31
Miles this week: 8
Miles this month: 13
2008 Goal: 436.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: So I get out there on the path, I'm feeling fantastic, my mind is just right, only thinking about today's run and nothing else. Following the advice of an article I recently read about coming back from injury, I walked after each mile. Just one minute. My goal was to run 7 to 8 miles, but once I got started I realized that it's 8-8-8, so how could I NOT run 8 miles? BTW, happy birthday to one of my best friends, RABIYA!.
So I'm running out there on my old stomping ground, and it was like an old friend greeting me "So good to have you back, you've been gone to long!" Flashbacks from last year's group training runs, like the first run when I wore a cotton t-shirt, or when we came around the bend and happened upon the 11:00 pace group giving cpr to "Sam" who'd had a heart attack, or the 16-mile run when we dodged raindrops, ginormous puddles, and branches still left behind from the storms earlier that week. What about that 18-miler during my spring marathon training when I stopped at St. Joe's Hospital after running out of gatorade...stocking up on pretzels and lemonade. Aaah the memories!
At the turnaround point, I stopped ye olde Garmin and went to the bathroom, stretched, had a gu and chugged some water.
During the return trip my legs were a bit tired. This was my longest run since MID-JUNE. A few thoughts tried to creep in, thinking too far ahead in the future.
But by the end of the run, I felt 100% fantastic about meeting my goal for TODAY. I won't be running in this weekend's Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, but I should be on track for the half marathon at the end of the month that I'm registered for as well. I"m headed off to the health and fitness expo in awhile to pick up my packet, even though I'm not running. There's always some cool vendors.
Place: Lakefront, starting from my old meeting place when I ran with Chicago Endurance Sports, right from the statue of Ben Franklin. Mid to upper 70's by the time I finished.
Mileage: 8
Time it Took: 1:40:04
Pace: 12:31
Miles this week: 8
Miles this month: 13
2008 Goal: 436.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: So I get out there on the path, I'm feeling fantastic, my mind is just right, only thinking about today's run and nothing else. Following the advice of an article I recently read about coming back from injury, I walked after each mile. Just one minute. My goal was to run 7 to 8 miles, but once I got started I realized that it's 8-8-8, so how could I NOT run 8 miles? BTW, happy birthday to one of my best friends, RABIYA!.
So I'm running out there on my old stomping ground, and it was like an old friend greeting me "So good to have you back, you've been gone to long!" Flashbacks from last year's group training runs, like the first run when I wore a cotton t-shirt, or when we came around the bend and happened upon the 11:00 pace group giving cpr to "Sam" who'd had a heart attack, or the 16-mile run when we dodged raindrops, ginormous puddles, and branches still left behind from the storms earlier that week. What about that 18-miler during my spring marathon training when I stopped at St. Joe's Hospital after running out of gatorade...stocking up on pretzels and lemonade. Aaah the memories!
At the turnaround point, I stopped ye olde Garmin and went to the bathroom, stretched, had a gu and chugged some water.
During the return trip my legs were a bit tired. This was my longest run since MID-JUNE. A few thoughts tried to creep in, thinking too far ahead in the future.
But by the end of the run, I felt 100% fantastic about meeting my goal for TODAY. I won't be running in this weekend's Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, but I should be on track for the half marathon at the end of the month that I'm registered for as well. I"m headed off to the health and fitness expo in awhile to pick up my packet, even though I'm not running. There's always some cool vendors.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Run #73 Slow is the new fast
Date/Time: August 2 at about 6am
Place: lakefront, 70 degrees but 82% humidity
Mileage: 5 miles
Time it Took: 1:02:32
Pace: 12:30
Miles this week: 8.16
Miles this month: 5
2008 Goal: 428.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: "Don't give up, never give up...keep trying, you'll get it back" I SWEAR TO YOU these are the words coming out of the mouths of the Yo Gabba Gabba crew that Zoe is watching as I sit here and type.
Anyway, so slow is the new fast, and 5 miles is the new long run...I think I've decided that I will just increase my mileage now each weekend (yes, I have a plan but I won't bore you with the details), and Im not gonna worry and stress about "will I make it to the marathon?" b/c that does me NO GOOD mentally when I'm out there just trying to complete what needs to be done for the day. I'll just take it as it comes, and my performance on these long runs should give me my "answer" soon enough.
Anyhoo, this 5-miler included a walking break about each mile, and I'm not even mad about it, whatever.
So in getting to the lakefront today, I couldn't even go to the usual place, I totally forgot, the South Shore triathlon is today. It was just about to start, I think, when I finished up. If I'd have gone any longer in my run, I would have been stuck in the parking lot.
Place: lakefront, 70 degrees but 82% humidity
Mileage: 5 miles
Time it Took: 1:02:32
Pace: 12:30
Miles this week: 8.16
Miles this month: 5
2008 Goal: 428.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: "Don't give up, never give up...keep trying, you'll get it back" I SWEAR TO YOU these are the words coming out of the mouths of the Yo Gabba Gabba crew that Zoe is watching as I sit here and type.
Anyway, so slow is the new fast, and 5 miles is the new long run...I think I've decided that I will just increase my mileage now each weekend (yes, I have a plan but I won't bore you with the details), and Im not gonna worry and stress about "will I make it to the marathon?" b/c that does me NO GOOD mentally when I'm out there just trying to complete what needs to be done for the day. I'll just take it as it comes, and my performance on these long runs should give me my "answer" soon enough.
Anyhoo, this 5-miler included a walking break about each mile, and I'm not even mad about it, whatever.
So in getting to the lakefront today, I couldn't even go to the usual place, I totally forgot, the South Shore triathlon is today. It was just about to start, I think, when I finished up. If I'd have gone any longer in my run, I would have been stuck in the parking lot.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Run #65 400 miles and still running
Date/Time: June 14th at 6:45am
Place: lakefront, 60’s, low humidity
Mileage: 9 miles
Time It Took: 2:02:02
Pace: 13:33
Miles this week: 15.80
Miles this month: 26.90
2008 Goal: 404.47/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: So my run started out ok, a little stiff. I was already having a bit of sore knee issues during the week, but everything seemed fine. But around 3.5 miles in, it really started bothering me. So I took a few walking breaks here and there. At our turnaround point, this old man on a bike, one of the “helpers” (I say helper b/c I don’t think he’s a coach) said “you need to strengthen your knee, do some deep knee bends.” I’m like yeah, what-the-fuck-ever dude. I mean, maybe the strengthen part is true, but the way my knee felt at that point, deep knee bends weren’t gonna help. After he rode off, my pace leader said to get it checked out before doing anything.
After the turnaround, I ran another solid mile before taking a walking break. This one a little longer. At one point, I walked an entire half mile. UGH! So my time TOTALLY sucked, but that’s why.
Even after icing my knee on Saturday, it still hurt just getting around, and especially getting in and out of the car. I also noticed that holding Zoe made things worse, too…and she must know this because she has been begging me to pick her up a lot of the past few days.
Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow at Athletico, so stay tuned. Until then, no running.
Place: lakefront, 60’s, low humidity
Mileage: 9 miles
Time It Took: 2:02:02
Pace: 13:33
Miles this week: 15.80
Miles this month: 26.90
2008 Goal: 404.47/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: So my run started out ok, a little stiff. I was already having a bit of sore knee issues during the week, but everything seemed fine. But around 3.5 miles in, it really started bothering me. So I took a few walking breaks here and there. At our turnaround point, this old man on a bike, one of the “helpers” (I say helper b/c I don’t think he’s a coach) said “you need to strengthen your knee, do some deep knee bends.” I’m like yeah, what-the-fuck-ever dude. I mean, maybe the strengthen part is true, but the way my knee felt at that point, deep knee bends weren’t gonna help. After he rode off, my pace leader said to get it checked out before doing anything.
After the turnaround, I ran another solid mile before taking a walking break. This one a little longer. At one point, I walked an entire half mile. UGH! So my time TOTALLY sucked, but that’s why.
Even after icing my knee on Saturday, it still hurt just getting around, and especially getting in and out of the car. I also noticed that holding Zoe made things worse, too…and she must know this because she has been begging me to pick her up a lot of the past few days.
Anyway, I have an appointment tomorrow at Athletico, so stay tuned. Until then, no running.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Run #62 I needed a cold shower
Date/Time: June 7th at 6:45am
Place: lakefront; 76˚ and 85% humidity
Mileage: 8
Time It Took: 1:44:45 (includes several water stops)
Pace: 13:05
Miles this week: 11.1
Miles this month: 11.1
2008 Goal: 388.67/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: Well this run wasn’t so bad, considering my lazy-funk I’ve been in and haven’t run since Monday! Also, it was hottttttt. 70+ degrees is already pretty warm for running, but that humidity was AWFUL! Anyway, enough about that…
Today was the first time I ran with my new group, even though they've been running for about a month now. Despite searching for any excuse in the world that would keep me away, I couldn’t find one. Jada and Zoe slept all night and didn’t wake up before I left. It wasn’t pouring down rain. My legs felt fresh…so off I went to meet a new set of running friends.
They were pretty cool. Just about everyone lives on the south side like me…everyone but a few people are black, which in the running world, well sometimes you feel like you’re one of “the few, the proud” when you’re out there running on the north side. We chatted about lots of things, including Obama, what if Chicago gets the Olympics, which races we’re running this year in addition to the marathon, etc…
And the best thing about it is when I got home and took a nice cold shower I thought to myself…”maybe I’ll go out for a quick run tomorrow morning.” I think after two weeks of lackadaisical running, I’m feeling up to it again.
Place: lakefront; 76˚ and 85% humidity
Mileage: 8
Time It Took: 1:44:45 (includes several water stops)
Pace: 13:05
Miles this week: 11.1
Miles this month: 11.1
2008 Goal: 388.67/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: Well this run wasn’t so bad, considering my lazy-funk I’ve been in and haven’t run since Monday! Also, it was hottttttt. 70+ degrees is already pretty warm for running, but that humidity was AWFUL! Anyway, enough about that…
Today was the first time I ran with my new group, even though they've been running for about a month now. Despite searching for any excuse in the world that would keep me away, I couldn’t find one. Jada and Zoe slept all night and didn’t wake up before I left. It wasn’t pouring down rain. My legs felt fresh…so off I went to meet a new set of running friends.
They were pretty cool. Just about everyone lives on the south side like me…everyone but a few people are black, which in the running world, well sometimes you feel like you’re one of “the few, the proud” when you’re out there running on the north side. We chatted about lots of things, including Obama, what if Chicago gets the Olympics, which races we’re running this year in addition to the marathon, etc…
And the best thing about it is when I got home and took a nice cold shower I thought to myself…”maybe I’ll go out for a quick run tomorrow morning.” I think after two weeks of lackadaisical running, I’m feeling up to it again.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Run #8 Last run with my winter training group
Date/Time: Jan 12 at 7:45 am
Place: Lakefront, 30˚
Mileage: 6 miles
Time It Took: 1:11:29
Pace: 11:54
Miles this week: 18.03
Miles this month: 36.03
2008 Goal: 36.03/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Today was the last run with the Chicago Endurance Sports Winter Warriors training program. Fully into the taper for the Cabo San Lucas Half Marathon that’s next week, we only did 6 miles. (No, I’m not doing that race, but I wish I was!) So anyway, my trusty Garmin didn’t pick up a satellite until we’d already started running for a minute or so. (so my 6 miles is probably more like 6.1, and the pace even a little quicker, but oh well.)
It was just me a “K”, and 2 miles into our run, she had stomach troubles so she stopped to go to the bathroom. I told the pace group right behind me b/c we’re supposed to let the coaches and pace leaders so that they’re not worried about us or anything. And not 5 or 6 minutes later (into my 10-minute wait where I just stretched and tried to stay warm), lo and behold, one of the coaches came riding by on his bike looking for us, so that was nice—made us 12:00’ers feel loved and appreciated, AWWWWW. If it hadn’t been for St. Joseph Hospital allowing runners to come in and use the facilities, she would have been in trouble! I was trying to be cool about it, since they all stopped for me that one time I had to “cop a squat” up by Foster Beach, but 10 minutes?! UGH. But it was fine, she was fine, and we finished our run among the last of the pack with the run/walk folks.
Place: Lakefront, 30˚
Mileage: 6 miles
Time It Took: 1:11:29
Pace: 11:54
Miles this week: 18.03
Miles this month: 36.03
2008 Goal: 36.03/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Today was the last run with the Chicago Endurance Sports Winter Warriors training program. Fully into the taper for the Cabo San Lucas Half Marathon that’s next week, we only did 6 miles. (No, I’m not doing that race, but I wish I was!) So anyway, my trusty Garmin didn’t pick up a satellite until we’d already started running for a minute or so. (so my 6 miles is probably more like 6.1, and the pace even a little quicker, but oh well.)
It was just me a “K”, and 2 miles into our run, she had stomach troubles so she stopped to go to the bathroom. I told the pace group right behind me b/c we’re supposed to let the coaches and pace leaders so that they’re not worried about us or anything. And not 5 or 6 minutes later (into my 10-minute wait where I just stretched and tried to stay warm), lo and behold, one of the coaches came riding by on his bike looking for us, so that was nice—made us 12:00’ers feel loved and appreciated, AWWWWW. If it hadn’t been for St. Joseph Hospital allowing runners to come in and use the facilities, she would have been in trouble! I was trying to be cool about it, since they all stopped for me that one time I had to “cop a squat” up by Foster Beach, but 10 minutes?! UGH. But it was fine, she was fine, and we finished our run among the last of the pack with the run/walk folks.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Run #4 Group Run with NO GROUP!
Date/Time: Jan 5 at about 7:45am after larger training team meeting
Weather: 35 degrees and windy-NICE!
Mileage: 8 miles
Time It Took: 1:36:13
Pace: 12:01
Miles this week: 18
Miles this month: 18
2008 Goal: 18/1000
Thoughts/Comments: My group of 12:00 minute milers has been small to begin with, a few people trying the 11:30 group, and others trying the 12:00 and 12:30 5/1 run/walk group...but this week, I knew that two others might not be coming, due to post holiday commitments. I brought along my iPod just in case. Well neither were there, so I started out with the 11:30's. About a half mile in, and noticing they were going at a 12:00, I decided to move ahead and see what I could do for the day. I came across the 11:00 group and ran with them awhile. Their pace leader has a cool English accent that I enjoyed for awhile. I dropped back a bit to listen to my iPod. That lasted about 2 miles before I didn't feel like listening to it. I've gotten used to listening to the sound of the lakefront instead of music on Saturdays, fancy that.
At about the halfway point, I stopped and had a GU and kept rolling. I was starting to feel really tired, and I'm not sure if it was starting out fast, my legs not being as fresh from the slight jump in mileage (haven't run more than 12-14 miles/week since October), not sure....so I took a few walking breaks to drink Gatorade and stuff.
Mentally I was just not there either. I kept thinking, how the heck am I gonna train by myself for Cincinnati? Who the heck do I think I am to try and run a marathon? Maybe I should stick to half marathons. I guess we all have days like this as runners. Sometimes its hard to just think about the task at hand. And really, that's the whole point of marathon training...no, I probably shouldn't try to run a marathon TODAY or TOMORROW. But with good preparation and training, I can. Sigh. Today is a rest day and then off to week #2 in January. My goal for this week is 16-18 miles, which will require a longer midweek run since my last run for Winter Warriors next Saturday is only 6 miles.
Toodles!
p.s. Between Christmas and New Year's, I ate like you might imagine a rescued castaway would, big quantities, fast, a little of everything....I KNEW I was going to gain weight, and I went to my WW meeting anyway to weigh in. I figured if I "let myself off the hook" by not seeing the numbers, I might continue the tailspin.
p.p.s. I've been subject to horrible cramping in the past, see here and here from my old blog, if you care to read it-kinda long. Late last night those same cramps hit me BAD. I had my cell phone next to me, so I called dear hubby and asked him to bring me some water and some salt. Dummy! (me, not him!) Then I realized, after I ran, I didn't drink or eat until like NOON b/c I went to WW, then came home, then took a really long bath, then got the girls dressed who were still in their p.j.'s, then got them lunch, and THEN I ate. And then I hardly drank anything for the rest of the day, which is unusual. Not even my beloved diet pepsi. Live and learn. And keep learning.
Weather: 35 degrees and windy-NICE!
Mileage: 8 miles
Time It Took: 1:36:13
Pace: 12:01
Miles this week: 18
Miles this month: 18
2008 Goal: 18/1000
Thoughts/Comments: My group of 12:00 minute milers has been small to begin with, a few people trying the 11:30 group, and others trying the 12:00 and 12:30 5/1 run/walk group...but this week, I knew that two others might not be coming, due to post holiday commitments. I brought along my iPod just in case. Well neither were there, so I started out with the 11:30's. About a half mile in, and noticing they were going at a 12:00, I decided to move ahead and see what I could do for the day. I came across the 11:00 group and ran with them awhile. Their pace leader has a cool English accent that I enjoyed for awhile. I dropped back a bit to listen to my iPod. That lasted about 2 miles before I didn't feel like listening to it. I've gotten used to listening to the sound of the lakefront instead of music on Saturdays, fancy that.
At about the halfway point, I stopped and had a GU and kept rolling. I was starting to feel really tired, and I'm not sure if it was starting out fast, my legs not being as fresh from the slight jump in mileage (haven't run more than 12-14 miles/week since October), not sure....so I took a few walking breaks to drink Gatorade and stuff.
Mentally I was just not there either. I kept thinking, how the heck am I gonna train by myself for Cincinnati? Who the heck do I think I am to try and run a marathon? Maybe I should stick to half marathons. I guess we all have days like this as runners. Sometimes its hard to just think about the task at hand. And really, that's the whole point of marathon training...no, I probably shouldn't try to run a marathon TODAY or TOMORROW. But with good preparation and training, I can. Sigh. Today is a rest day and then off to week #2 in January. My goal for this week is 16-18 miles, which will require a longer midweek run since my last run for Winter Warriors next Saturday is only 6 miles.
Toodles!
p.s. Between Christmas and New Year's, I ate like you might imagine a rescued castaway would, big quantities, fast, a little of everything....I KNEW I was going to gain weight, and I went to my WW meeting anyway to weigh in. I figured if I "let myself off the hook" by not seeing the numbers, I might continue the tailspin.
p.p.s. I've been subject to horrible cramping in the past, see here and here from my old blog, if you care to read it-kinda long. Late last night those same cramps hit me BAD. I had my cell phone next to me, so I called dear hubby and asked him to bring me some water and some salt. Dummy! (me, not him!) Then I realized, after I ran, I didn't drink or eat until like NOON b/c I went to WW, then came home, then took a really long bath, then got the girls dressed who were still in their p.j.'s, then got them lunch, and THEN I ate. And then I hardly drank anything for the rest of the day, which is unusual. Not even my beloved diet pepsi. Live and learn. And keep learning.
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