Lessons Learned

My pink running shoes have been engaging me in a stare down since Sunday. I feel like it's a love hate thing right now. They are sitting in the entrance way basically daring me to slip them on. I look at them and want to put them on and then I remember the last time I put them on I was walking like some creature out of Lord of the Rings. I want to run because I'm feeling like a slob but my energy is pretty low. I have swapped out to my cushiony Nike Shox and I'm not certain when I'll slip into those pink monster's, but, hopefully, tomorrow as I'm hoping to do a smooth 2 miler.

As I wait to finish up my marathon report I thought I'd share with you some super inside info. about myself and life I learned from this marathon training.

1) I HATE cooking dinner every night of the week. Seriously, I don't like it. I prepared dinner every night of the week for the week of the marathon. I knew if I didn't do this it would be carryout and cereal which wouldn't cut it for race week nutrition. Somehow, someway, I'm going to turn my husband into a cook. At least a couple of nights a week. I don't feel great about myself for making yummy dinners every night; I get impatient and want it done so I can move on to something more exciting like Greys Anatomy! There is nothing therapeutic about cooking to me.

2) I thought I could eat pasta every day of the week and just knew that a life in pasta laden Italy would fit my taste buds perfectly This is not so! I was getting to the point that the thought of pasta made me gag. It's really such an easy way to get some slower digesting carbs in (if you go with the the whole wheat variety) but it gets pretty old, very fast. I just wanted to eat some fricking ice cream but that couldn't really substitute pasta. Ok, I might gag again just thinking about pasta.

3) My husband may not always save me first. While he purely did this marathon to support me (I still thank him for this everyday) he did let a little of his self preservation side show in the marathon. There was a point in the first quarter of the marathon where I looked down at my shoe to make sure my timing chip was on straight and I slowed down for an instant. Well, it only took that instant for me to receive a little two handed shove from a runner to non verbally say, "move it along." I turned and saw Kris over my shoulder. I said, "did you just shove me?" He said, "well, why were you looking at you shoe, I almost tripped." I asked him how he felt knowing he shoved his wife in the marathon? Marathon running wife shover.....

4) No matter how old you get, it's always nice to have your parents/family/friends cheer you on. I was always lucky to have my parents in the stands or by the finish line for every sporting event I always completed. I don't think I was fan less for one game/race. My mom was always the loudest and most positive supporter in the stands (note her use of the cowbell at mile 22). My dad would cheer but also talk shop before and after. Not in a bad way, but always analyze the game with me, not for me. Kids will always be kids and parents will always be parents.

5) Going along with number 4, I learned how much my mom did to help me participate in sports back in the day. I mean, my mom and stepdad would drive me to practices and camps and keep me outfitted in sporting clothes etc, but it was the other things that went unnoticed that were very noticable as I was responsible for myself during this first major "training for a sporting event" since flying the coop. The biggest thing was; laundry (also see, cooking). Seriously. I felt like I was doing two loads a week of just running clothes and sometimes we were doing a mad laundry dash at 9:00 at night when we realized we were out of running clothes. In high school I had a lucky pair of black underwear that always were magically clean for every race and every game. My uniform was always ready to go and I had plenty of socks. Oh, and my mom folded my laundry and usually put it away. Most of the time, my clothes never made it off the drying rack before putting them on.

Basically, I need to get myself a maid. Marathon training has taught me that I would really apreciate my own Mr. Belvedere. For these reasons, I encourage Kris to play the lotto as he is lucky and we would really benefit from a maid.

26.2; Hot or Not?

I delayed a little bit in posting my full marathon recap and I'm still not ready to put it out there. I need a little more reflection and time to remember it all. Right after I finished it was really such a blur. I could only truly recall three aspects of the race: 1) the pure joy I felt when we were in the coral waiting to start and then actually crossing the start line, 2) how excited I was each and every time we saw our friends and family on the course, 3) how horrible I felt from mile 13 to the finish. That was it! Those were the only thoughts that went through my head after I crossed the finish. Every couple of hours I start to remember more and more feelings and experiences that happened along the way so I'm slowly putting together my "recap." Like that website that was popular back when I was in college, I haven't really decided yet if my experience was Hot or Not! I do know that I'm elated to be a Marathon finisher. Finisher of training, finisher of pasta being shoved down my throat and finisher of aching feet. I do want to say,that each and everyone of our friends and family members that cheered us on was instrumental in me finishing the race. There are a million things that go through your head when you are running a marathon and at times, when it seemed so unbearable, a familiar face would appear or a thought of "I can't not finish when so and so came to cheer us on." Stay tuned for a recap that could need it's own post (see long).

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Instead of days, it's now down to hours until we cross the start line for the 2009 Chicago Marathon. It's an indescribable feeling at this point. We've had a lot of excitement in our house today wit;h all of the amazing supportive phone calls, the delivery of the keg by D and his dad, a visit from my sister, mom and auntie and the ceremony braiding of my hair by my friend Sarah C. I also had some great chatter from old running buddies on my facebook page which brings me back to a lot of great memories!

Kris and I spent most of the day getting everything together; bibs on our shirts, chips on our shows and the fashion show Kris put on. He tried on his entire outfit just to make sure. He is bugging about the weather. I love seeing his excitement and it kind of puts me at ease. I would never have been able to get through this without him and if he's ready then I'm ready.

We will meet D at "our spot" at 5:15 in the am. I hope to see everyone on the streets tomorrow. "Pain is temporary, pride is forever!"

Chips and Bibs

D, Kris and I met at the Chicago Hilton to take the free bus over to McCormack place to pick up our race day packets. I have to say, it was so exciting! I worked from home today and all over the tv were Chicago Marathon stories and Commercials and short promos on the news. It's thrilling to know that we are a part of this. Kris and D were willing participants in my goal to capture our Marathon weekend moments so I'm happy to share some pictures with all of you. The picture on the left is one of the many great banners promoting the event. Here is our journey to the expo in picking up our official race day necessities!

Here are D and Kris waiting for the free shuttle over to the Hilton. They are holding up our confirmation ticket which is on the back of a booklet we were sent a couple of weeks ago with a ton of information just for race day. There were definitely a unique mix of people waiting for the bus....runners are an eclectic bunch!

This is Kris and I on the free shuttle "displaying" our nervous excitement. Or perhaps Kris is expressing his deep down desire to punch me for bringing him into this mess. Hah!

And then we enter the Exposition Hall. We have to first pick up our packets to get our Bib numbers. Also in the packet are our timing chips which we tie to our shoes. The chips allow us to receive an official time in the Chicago Marathon. There are certain censors along the way that track our chip as we pass on by. Cool, hunh?

When we went to activate our chips, our names appeared on this screen to verify that it was complete and ready to go....So cool that all of our names were up there together, officialy

This picture actually shows a couple of things. First, we were so excited that the shirts are so fantastic. Our 20 miler shirts were so horrible, ill fitting and shiny. These are shirts we'll have forever. The other thing this picture displays is the ridiculous height difference between me and the guys. Seriously, who let that little person enter the Chicago Marathon!!!!

Ok, now this shot needs a little explaining. You can barely see the little man sitting at the table but that is THE Hal Higdon! Chicago Marathon Guru and developer of the training program we are following. I'm over his left shoulder, in the distance, giving a thumbs up. D and Kris insisted that I get a picture with him but I didn't want to buy a book.

I was excited to see there is an official program included in the participation bag. I love these types of things; like playbills at the theater. I save all of the programs even from the tournaments I coach for my basketball games.

The Expo was great. The buzz of new and old marathoners was wonderful and we tried a lot of tasty and not so tasty treats. I'm glad we decided to go on Friday night as it seems to extend this entire weekend into a great event. It was also nice to chat with and overhear other runners going through the same thoughts we were; what to wear, what to eat, hoping to finish with some dignity! Here's to 45,000 people uniting under one goal.

Horrible timing

Yeah, I'm pissed. Two days before the marathon, Amazon decides to have the worst timing for a deal of the day ever:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=cs_top_nav_gb27

I would buy it, but there is no way I am going to train for another marathon again.

Beats, rhymes and life

Real quick:

First-time marathoners concern themselves with many training issues, ranging from stretching, the right foods to eat, salt intake, pacing and resting, dehydration, and injury, among others. I’m a first-time marathoner . . . and I concern myself with none of these things. Other than the potential chance of dying, my only problem with running/training is sheer boredom. I’d rather sit through a Catholic wedding or watch a Merchant-Ivory film than run four miles. No wonder most hardcore runners are pretty much insane. Anyway, there are two main reasons why the, it feels likes, 28-month training season was somewhat enjoyable for me: (1) I ran with two very good friends (one talks; the other is silent support; but when he says something, it is bound to be important, and we listen) and (2) I trained with a brand new iPod Nano (I splurged on one instead of joining CARA). With the Nano came the Nike+ training package, and even though it isn’t highly accurate, it has a sturdy amount of features that allows me to monitor the timing of the run and gauge, sort of, the mileage (about a 1/2 mile off on medium runs and 3/4 off on long runs). I didn’t really do a good job of calibrating the device, so I’m not giving it a thumbs down (or up), but for $40, it might be something to think about before buying a $600 GPS watch. I bought it because I didn’t think I would ever be three-days away from running a marathon, probably nursing a hangover from the KU vs. ISU game on Saturday, spending that saved “watch” money on Hitachinos and making fun of all the marathoners for wasting their summer (wait, I do that now). But for some reason, and with the help of Kris and Starrin KP-Bentley-Hussein-Obama, I am ready to, well, cross the finish line and get it over with so I can get some sleep for god’s sake. I kid. It will be fun!

Music is very important to me, and I’ve always trained with my Nano. I leave one ear piece in, while the other is wrapped around my hand like I am using it to conduct an interview. I think I always have the volume pretty high because Starr sometimes asks what I am listening to (more like, “WTF are you listening to?”) and I can’t hear out of my left ear anymore. Surprisingly, I have used the same set list for every training run. I might’ve added or deleted a song every once and awhile, but I have listened to the same 70 songs, in the same order, for 6 months. Now, I ran a couple of weeks back with two very good “core” friends (Sara and Dave), and Sara brought her iPod along, allowing us to have a conversation about what songs are essential to a marathon set list. We share similar tastes, and even though I’m starting to believe she is going to leave this country and move to France (for the music), we had some of the same song ideas. A set list is very important; however, after running the 20-miler, the “arrangement” of the songs is key. I somehow, unintentionally, arranged 5 or 6 songs that came on around the 13-mile mark, which gave me a sudden burst of energy, causing me to insert my other ear piece, focus on passing the pack in front of us (see Starr’s previous post), and turn on the P-burners (i.e., go a lot faster) until crossing the finish line. And I felt great. Right now, I am concentrating on where to arrange certain songs, moving the harder songs from front to back (I used the loud stuff to wake me up at 4:30 in the morning) and the softer, uplifting songs from back to front (some I haven’t even gotten to since we haven’t ran over four hours). I rather start out all happy and enjoy the scenery and cheering crowds (going slow) with certain songs and use the hardcore beat songs for the big finish.

70 songs: exactly 4 hours and 54 minutes. I’m a nerd, so I have a rule where a set list shouldn’t repeat the same songs or artists, unless the musicians are NIN (two concerts this summer, so I am hooked) or the Wu-Tang Clan. And no Eye of the Tiger or Jock Jams. If I run out of songs before the end, I won’t be disappointed, as long as I finish. In the end, I’m just worried about being bored.

My not-in-order set list (wear a helmet because it might blow your mind):

Intro – The xx
Melt! – Flying Lotus
Silent Shout – The Knife
Where’s Your Head At – Basement Jaxx
Hey Boy Hey Girl – The Chemical Brothers
Indo Silver Club – Daft Punk
The Crystal Cat – Dan Deacon
March of the Pigs – NIN
Positive Contact – Deltron
Public Service Announcement – DJ Danger Mouse
Deep Space 9mm – El-P
Daytona 500 – Ghostface Killah
Silver Screen Shower Scene – Felix Da Housecat
99 Problems – Jay Z
Wolf Like Me – TV On the Radio
Hellz Wind Staff – Wu-Tang Clan
Run (I’m a Natural Disaster) – Gnarls Barkley
Dead Souls – NIN
Feel Good Inc. – Gorillaz
Comin’ Back – The Crystal Method
Deathtrap – Gravediggaz
What New York Used to Be – The Kills
Leflaur Leflah Eshkoshka – Heltah Skeltah
Who Can Say – The Horrors
Triumph – Wu-Tang Clan
Get Innocuous! (Soulwax Remix) – LCD Soundsystem
Obstacle 1 – Interpol
Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme – Edan
StarF@ckers Inc. – NIN
Chin High (Manuvadelics Version) – Roots Manuva
Tourist – Japanther
What You Know About – Two Fingers and Sway
Paper Planes – M.I.A.
Hung Up – Madonna
Hold the Line – Major Lazer
Remix!! – Plastic Little
Atlas – Battles
Funky Sh@t – Prodigy
Go With the Flow – QOTSA
Idioteque – Radiohead
Discipline – NIN
All Caps – Madvillian
Nowhere Again – The Secret Machines
The Way I Are – Timbaland
1979 – Smashing Pumpkins
Council Estate – Tricky
This Must Be It – Royksopp (Fever Ray)
My Friend Dario – Vitalic
Q.U. – Hectic – Mobb Deep
The Rat – The Walkmen
Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Uzi (Pinky Ring) – Wu-Tang Clan
Time to Pretend – MGMT
The Hand That Feeds – NIN
Vibrationz – Javelin
Make Her Say – Kid Cudi
Cars – Gary Numan
Ambivalence Avenue – Bibio
Spread – Andre 3000
All My Friends – LCD Soundsystem
Swing Tree – Discovery
Deadweight – Beck
Praise You – Fatboy Slim
Paranoid – Kanye West
All These Things That I’ve Done – The Killers
Crystalised – The xx
Halcyon & On & On – Orbital
List of Demands (Reparations) – Saul Williams
Arbeit Nervt – Deichkind
Go Round Payola - Jahdan Blakkamoore

We're causing Traffic Delays!

I was driving to work this morning and the big electronic sign on LakeShore Dr. was all lit up. It's the one they use when a big event is taking place downtown to warn drivers of serious traffic delays and road closures. This sign was shouting, "Chicago Marathon, Sunday, October 11th. I had to laugh because D, Kris and I are part of an event causing a traffic warning. So fun! "Caution Motorists! D, Kris and Starrin will be taking over the streets of Chicago on Sunday."

I have had so many friends and family members call/email the past couple of days to share in the anticipating excitement. Some are past marathoners and some are avid Chicago marathon supporters just as I was. Today I received quite a few emails about the pending weather. Sunday should be a low of 35 and high of 50...the real cold won't come until Sunday night. Sounds perfect to me. I would like to share some of the thoughts and suggestions that came my way. And yes, I have funny friends!

Jill K (finisher of multiple Chicago Marathons) provided some tips and here are two I'd like to share:
1) YOU HAVE TO PEE IN Lincoln Park! I know, it sounds so gross but EVERYONE will be doing it. I'm not kidding. It's about mile 7 or 8, just when everyone needs to take a major pee. And no one wants to wait in line at the port-a-potties so ALL RUNNERS, EVEN THE WOMEN find a nice big tree in LP and pop a squat. I've done it every marathon, then I'm good to go till the end of the race. This is not the time to be modest, just pretend you're camping.
2)I know I've said this before. But seriously.... Walking only prolongs your misery. It's inevitable to walk, just don't start liking it and walk for miles at a time. You'll regret it a few hours after the race thinking, "I could have finished xx minutes faster!"

Stacy C (completed 2 Chicago Marathons) said, "Many people just pee in their pants."

Jess M (avid Chicago Marathon watcher) sent some great quotes:
1) “We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.” - Emil Zatopek
2)"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." -Steve Prefontaine
3) "Marathon running is a terrible experience: monotonous, heavy, and exhausting." Veikko Karvonen (this one is pretty hilarious! it's brutally honest)

And then there's my dad who said, "just jump the fence and try to run with the elites!" Hahahaha! I guess he wants a dead daughter. By the way, he was dead serious.

Happy Pre-Marathon Thursday. For you runners out there, the marathon expo at McCormack Place is free and runs all day Friday and Saturday. They have some great stuff and lots of free samples.