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.

Extraordinarily Ordinary

Today was the last Sorta Long Run. This is the last Wednesday that entails looking at the running calendar trying to fit in big time chunks for running in the middle of the week. It’s kind of strange to think that this time next week I won’t be thinking about running for survival. I mean, I know what I’ll be doing this time next week: absolutely nothing! But, it’s really difficult to wrap my head around the fact that this long 18 week training process is coming to an end. In life “they” always say it’s the Journey that counts and not the Destination. Well, it’s been some journey, that’s for sure.

I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned about myself is, I can strive for a goal purely out of self fulfillment and not because of some competitive objective. I have set many goals just to prove I can “win it” or beat someone else. I was worried that I would start my marathon training and feel like I was sucking so bad that I would talk myself right out of it. Historically, if I feel like I am just awful at a certain task, I will talk myself right out of doing it. I began my training by setting lofty time goals and it was quite probable that if I didn’t feel up to achieving this, I wouldn’t finish my training. Well, I have come to find out, that I’m ok with sucking.

My goal for this marathon is purely to finish and if I can do it under 5 hours, it will be a bonus. This training process has reminded me how hard you truly have to work at something just to be ordinary at it. I have seen this statement made a couple of times, “A marathon is something extraordinary that an ordinary person can accomplish.” Trust me, I am an ordinary marathon runner. I am not looking for an award on October 11th or to fulfill any life long dreams or to make a statement to those around me. I’m running for me. I am running to achieve an extraordinary goal while just enjoying the sheer accomplishment of it. Perhaps some day I will get back into competitive running, but this is not the day. It’s a weird thing this marathon does to you, and I haven’t even stepped foot to the starting line. To think, Starrin would ever be ok with “just a participation trophy.” But yes, it’s true! I’m extraordinarily JV and proud of it.

Calm and Coooooool.

The weather is trending to be pretty cool on Sunday and I love the thought of that. I prefer to run any distance under 50 degrees and it looks like the morning low will be about 35 right now topping off at 50. Blame it on my years of running in the Chicago area. I spent many of my teen years running in hail, sleet, snow and crazy wind. I had some wicked electric pink spandex that went under my Jr. high uniform that were a necessity for track season. The snow man like bright orange warm up suits supplied by Crystal Lake Central were a God send in the fall and the spring.

D and I ran our final long run this Saturday. Kris sat this one out because he's experiencing some minor shin splints in his right leg. He's working on it and should be good to go race day. D and I ended our run for chocolate milk at Sark's. I feel like we are their mascots. We saddled up to the bar, placed our order (straight up, please) and they asked where our third runner was. So cute, we are now and identifiable group. The bartender even offered to give us a refill "on the house." I'm thinking maybe we need to go back for a regular old breakfast after the race.

I'm starting my checklist for the week. I need something to focus on and checklists are a great distraction. I have to keep things in mind for Kris as well or we'll be running to the store at 9:00 on Saturday night. Here we go to get things started:
1) Decide on what we want to put on our shirts (any suggestions)and buy some letters to apply.
2) Get extra gels...I prefer strawberry banana as they taste more like yogurt and Kris likes these raspberry ones. D would prefer anything that tasted like Coca-cola but can't seem to find any of those anymore; not sure what he'll get
3) Decide on what clothes I can wear to keep warm at the start and would be willing to part with for eternity. Supposedly all clothing that is discarded gets rounded up and donated to charity. We'll have to be in the start coral for at least 45 minutes and we'll need some layers.
4) Get a new pair of socks at Nike Town
5) Study the Course for aid stations
6) Determine what time we will leave from the house (5:00 is seeming like the way to go, yick!)
7) Buy more bananas to eat this week!
8) Get some gloves (D suggested skeleton gloves which would be awesome!) in anticipation of the frosty morning
9) Make the decision on what to have for dinner Friday and Saturday night...do we go with normal pasta or the chicken and pasta dish I made for the 20 miler. Can't decide. Ugh!

Ok, that will keep me preoccupied for now. Would love any shirt phrase suggestions.

Ready or Not.....Countdown is Official

I thought October would never come! When Marathon training started about 17 weeks ago, October seemed like a distant future. Even when we were doing our peak mileage at the end of August and September, I thought this month would never arrive. Training felt like a never ending cycle of; sleeping, running, eating, stretching, repeat. And now, it's here. And now, I'm freaking out!

Seriously, I am an erratic mess. I had a bout with a cold earlier this week and I was kind of down in the dumps. I was so tired and just put all marathon thoughts out of my mind and focused on feeling better and getting well. Now, I’m in a panic. I sit here, on October 2nd, worrying that I wasted this entire 2 weeks before the marathon doing nothing as far as preparation has gone. I’ve done my running for the week with my dos amigos, but that’s it. No icing, no hot tubs, no foam rolling, NO ICY HOT! I have not studied the course and focused on where the aid stations are (as suggested by my marathon newsletter update). I haven’t planned out my meals for next week. I’m not set on what bag I’m going to bring or what I’m going to put in the bag. I usually have all my long runs planned out; what time I’m going to get up, my gear I’ll need for the run, when I’ll stop for water, when I’ll have my gu packs and I also plan on multiple back ups if my first inclinations don’t pan out. I am a planner, I plan! Now, it’s October 2nd and I have 9 days left. Nine days that I’m sure will go way too fast.

I am going to take a deep breath, stretch out the ‘Ol hammies and refocus. We have an 8 mile run on Saturday and I can’t believe it’s our last long run on the lakefront and chocolate milk at Sark’s in the Park. Oh, one last thing. A couple of years ago someone made a great documentary about the Chicago Marathon entitled, “Spirit of the Marathon.” If you are a Netflix subscriber, you can watch it for free on your computer and I believe Hulu.com shows it for free as well. I think you could probably rent it at your local video store or even library. It’s a great documentary and a fun watch. Happy October! Yikes

Odds and Ends

I just realized today that we have 16 days until the marathon. Deep breath, don't panic. It has been a while now since I stopped obsessing every 15 minutes or so about whatever training run I had next or worrying about if I was ready to tackle the next increase in mileage. I think I've come full circle and the 15 minute rule will start to apply. Wow, 16 days; that doesn't seem right.


I did actually take a couple of pictures from our 10 miler that I wanted to share with everyone.

The first picture is what my counter looks like about 1 1/2 hours before a long run. I make a bowl of instant oatmeal for Kris and me (two packets, he has maple brown sugar I have apple cinnamon) and we both have a banana. I drink a cup of coffee and some water and I can't be certain Kris actually drinks anything. He just eats standing up halfway sleeping. I also have our pretzels and gel packs laid out to take with us.

This next picture sums up the type of humor that engulfs most of our training runs. This is about 5:45 in the morning after picking up D at his house.

We often are treated to beautiful sunrises over the lake if we are up early enough. We have never been to Foster Beach quite this early and we were greeted by a gorgeous site.

Finally, here is a picture of the three of us after the race. We ended up putting long sleeve shirts on because it felt a little chilly about 10 minutes after we finished. I'm not sure if it was from the sweat drying, or what, but I actually had the chills.

I also want to share this great video I saw today on Runnersworld.com. It's a nice 4 minute animated clip and actual video of the Marathon Route. It might help you get a better understanding of where our 26.2 miles will take us.

New and Improved?

We're in the middle of taper week number 1 out of 3. I think I might end up just doing 2 out of the 4 runs this week and letting my feet recover a bit after the 20 miler. We did 8 last night and for some reason, we ran at a pretty fast pace. I think we just wanted to get it over and done with.

I forgot to mention that I ran in some new shoes this past weekend. Last week, I went back to Fleet Feet to get another pair of my Asic's Kayano's; my original ones were pretty worn out and I needed to swap them out with some time before the marathon. Well, when you go to Fleet Feet they make a big stink about "not picking shoes based on color." They even post signs everywhere. I get the point they are trying to make. My first pair of Asic's were a light blue. Not my first pick by any means but it was the only color in stock for the shoe that was needed for my wonky feet.

So, before I went to Fleet Feet this time I went online and checked to see what other colors this style of shoe came in. They have one called "lightning" which is a cool orange/red color. I just knew I had to have lightning. Sounds fast and sporty, right?

I go in to Fleet Feet, tell the 22 year old shaggy haired guy what model and size shoe I need and ask him to, "bring me some Lightning Baby!" Ok, I didn't say it quite like that, but I did ask him to check for that color. He came back with a couple of boxes and I was excited. He opened the lid of the box and time kind of stood still for a second. I blinked a few times and my brain registered what my eyes saw. Arghhhhhh! Pink Shoes!

Pink Shoes? I looked at Shaggy and said, "umm, do you have any other colors besides pink? I see your sign over there, but I don't know if I can get these." He said, "yeah, umm, I get it, but this is all we have left." He looked at me with pity as he slipped on what were soon to be my first pair of pink athletic shoes. I really needed to get these shoes that day, but I had to think long and hard about that fact that I would be running the marathon in pink shoes. Now, please understand, I think pink shoes are cute and I even like them on other people, but they just don't say, "Starrin."

I took the shoes, and as soon as I walked in the door I told Kris. I didn't even have to explain. He responded with an "ooohhhh no!" When I went to work out with my trainer the next day he noticed right away and said, "what's up with the pink shoes, Starrin!" D had his new shoes on the next morning and he was worried they looked to white (his previous pair were CLC orange). I said, "take a look at MY pink shoes," he kind of replied with a low ,"unhhhhhhhh" and probably was thinking white wasn't so bad.

Who knows, maybe the pink power will project me to glory on October 11th. I'll be passing those ladies with lightning color Asics at mile 20. Yeah, lightning is for losers! I didn't want those anyway.

To the Tippiest Indiana Smoke Stacks

The Big 2o Miler! I had to make sure I had some time to settle in to write about this event as it was almost 4 hours of running and an event total of 6 hours. So, without further ado, this is the story of my 2009 CARA Ready to Run 20 Miler.

Our goal was to run 20 miles south beginning at Foster Beach and following the running path along the lake to the South Shore Cultural Center. The morning started with Kris and I picking up D at 5:45 just before dawn. We drove to Foster Beach which ended with us parking at Montrose Beach due to the majority of the 5,000 participant’s decision to drive to the event. We began our walk to the gear check and port-a-potties with a gorgeous view of the sunrise over Lake Michigan. It's moments like those that make me appreciate this great running town we live in. Not sure if it made me "ready to run" though.

We checked our gear and D all of the sudden realized he left all of his gels in his bags. Uh-oh! I think I'm going to make him a check list for the marathon. I think we were all pre-occupied with everything going on around us. By this time, 6:30am, people were already beginning their runs as waves of runners took off every 30 seconds to the sound of an air horn and a chipper woman over the microphone. You knew what waive you were in by a number on your bib which reflected the pace time requested at registration. The three of us all went to D's "69 waive” of an 11 minute pace which was to take off at 7:03 am.

I almost began this race the same way I ended the CL half marathon (reference, "projectile vomit”). The bathrooms were so gross and there must have been a lot of nervous runners. Ok, I'm gagging right now thinking about it. Kris said he almost puked himself and D avoided the bathrooms at all cost.

Our waive was called, we went to the start line, the countdown started, the horn went off and our fricking pace lady sprinted off the start line. I was ticked off! This woman was supposed to know what she was doing and lead the 15 or so of us in the group to a 20 mile run that included staying alive! Seriously, I wanted to pull the lady by her pony tail and say, "Slow the eff down, you are going to kill us." I was enraged! I don't even remember running that first mile because I had steam coming out of my ears. She had no intention of slowing down so the three of us quickly settled into our own 3-some, just like old times. I relaxed and had a feeling I would be seeing that pace lady somewhere near mile 18, crawling alongside the running path.

We ran with various pace groups for the first couple of miles and chatted briefly with different people. Around mile 3 D said if he felt good at mile 18 he would push it pretty hard for the last 2 miles. One woman quipped that he would probably feel like dying at mile 18. Nice, thanks for that. I'll have you know, she was wearing a running skirt.

It takes me about 4 miles to hit a comfortable stride in these long runs. Yes, I know, for those of you who haven’t run a marathon, that sounds crazy…it takes me 4 miles blahblahblah. When I say these things they sounds crazy to me too. But, it’s my new truth. Ok, so, I was feeling pretty good around Diversey and then the dreaded hip tightness settled in. I tried doing some adjustments and I'm pleased to say that by mile 8 the tightness had disappeared. One small victory less than half way in gave me some hopefulness.

Around Soldier Field D went a little bit ahead of us and picked a woman to use as his "rabbit." A couple of minutes later a middle aged guy with a "do-rag" decided Kris and I were going to be his "rabbit." Well, this was not good. I'm not sure what was up but it sounded like he had a peg leg and I could feel his breath on my neck. Step, clomp, step, clomp, step, clomp. As noted by my childish desire to pull the pacers pony tail, my tolerance during athletic events is non-existent. I can handle few annoyances. I told Kris, "we have to get out of here," and we speed up to run with D. We told him some guy with a peg leg was driving me nuts and he responded with, "I didn't know they let pirates run the marathon." Hehehehe.

Pretty soon we were as far South on the running path as I had been. I think this was definitely helpful in our endeavor to conquer 20 miles. The scenery was gorgeous and I made sure to take it all in. It was starting to get later in the morning and more people were coming out for after church morning strolls and were faced with thousands of runners invading their, I imagine, usually serene space. Instead of getting grouchy many cheered us on and one guy said, "You guys are bad, (as in Michael Jackson bad) it's Sunday morning and you're out here runnin’." I love Chicago! Just after the MJ impersonator made this comment, the three of us hit mile 13 and passed the majority of the people from our "69 waive” group." They were walking! That pace lady killed these runners. The pace lady wasn't there so she obviously did not feel responsible for her group and that really left me feeling disappointed. The running community is so supportive and she is a bad egg. Boooo to you pace lady, boo to you!

By this time it seemed like the path was getting very crowded with big groups of runners clumping together to help manage the run. I actually don't mind running in a pack. I'm happy to tuck in behind some people and just run with them and not think about it for a while. D hates this! He went ahead and Kris and I decided to stay with one group whose leader seemed to really know what she was doing. We stayed with them for about miles 14-16 until Kris couldn't take the group anymore; too crowded for his long legs. This is when I realized I had no idea where we were. We were no longer following Lakeshore Drive and the neighborhood was very unfamiliar.

Kris pointed out the smoke stacks that you could see in Indiana. He said we would probably be running to the "tippiest Indiana Smoke Stack." It sure seemed like we were running to Indiana. This is also the time I started to get a little nervous. I had such a great 15 and 16 mile run and a horrible 18 miler that I was worried the wall would come crashing in front of me. I could be the person crawling along the running path with people looking at me with pitiful eyes. I have to admit, I was scared at the possibilities; the unknown. Then we hit mile 17 and my prayers were answered...Clouds! It had been such a sunny morning and the clouds offered instant relief. I also received a little boost of energy which I think came from my last gel intake at 15. I decided to just settle in and put it in my mindset that we had just a 3 mile run; our house, to the lake and back. Sometimes you have to play these little games to get through something as ridiculous as conquering 20 miles..

Next, Kris and I had a run in with Debbie Downer herself. There was a building that looked like it could possibly be what one would call the "South Shore Cultural Center” but it was definitely too close to truly be the finish line. Well, Debbie starts yelling (by yelling, I mean speaking too loudly to no one in particular with a hint of hysterics) that if that is our destination and they make us run past it and loop around, she is going to be pissed. She was having a verbal temper tantrum. Nobody was responding to her complaint and she looked like she might start kicking and screaming so I just told her that no matter what, 20 miles is 20 miles. She said, "I guess," then took off in a sprint. We passed her 5 minutes later as she was walking. It was a pure example of how mental this marathon training/running is. If you let it inside your head you are a goner.

Mile 18 and 19 felt pretty good for both Kris and I. My glutes started feeling a little fatigued but my quads felt pretty good which is where I normally get the most fatigue. When we hit mile 19 I started to get excited. This was the farthest we had ever run! The Indiana smoke stacks were truly in clear view! The possibility of finishing 20 miles without foaming at the mouth was a reality! With about a 1/2 mile to go Kris and I kicked it in high gear and wove around the many turns that faced us at the finish line. People kept saying, just around the corner. This almost tried my patience because there were about 20 corners. However, we kept up the pace and crossed the finish line at 3 hours 48 minutes and D met us there with a red, happy face. He finished about 8 minutes ahead and said he felt great too.

I grabbed my Gatorade and SIPPED it to the post race party. I was surprised how well I felt. A little light headed at first and my feet were sore, but that's really it. I was super excited to see an area of Physical Therapist students who would stretch you out. I waited in line for about 5 minutes when this super nice girl stretched out my legs while I just laid there. After a little bit of chatting, I found out she is cousins with my neighbors from growing up. These were neighbors who I babysat through all of high school and grew very close to. Such a small world!

We didn't hang around the party for too long. We had some bagels and amazing "Pucker Pickles." Delish!!!! I actually wanted the two beers we were given for finishing the race but none of us brought ID's. Someone did give D a beer when he gave them our tickets. D shared it with me (‘cuz that's what teammates do) and it might have been the best beer ever. I never did see our original pace lady and I have a feeling we may have passed her but I was feeling so good I didn't even notice!

Our bus ride back to Foster Beach was over half an hour. It made us realize how far we actually ran; almost to the tippiest Indiana smoke stack. We walked to our car, turned the radio on and I started getting that runner's high! We had run 20 fricking miles and the next three weeks would offer less and less mileage; a break we all needed. As we rounded Lakeshore Drive, "Baby Got Back" came on the radio. Hollllaaaahhhh! Who doesn't love that song; instant smile! I sang, Kris drove and D texted. We are quite a group. A group that ran 20 miles this weekend.

Put it in the Books

Our 20 miler is over and the taper can now begin! All three of us felt really good and actually enjoyed ourselves for the almost 4 hours of running. I'll post tomorrow about the entire "Cara 20 Mile Ready to Run" event, but I did want to let everyone know we are all alive and kicking :). I'm laying on the couch with a little bit of a swollen foot with and ice pack. I think it might have been due to the multiple pickles I ate at the post race party and the superpower icy-hot like product "Bio-Freeze" I put on my foot on the bus ride home (I think I read somewhere that it is bad to use topical ointments after a long run but remembered it after seeing my puffy foot). I'm pretty content just watching the Emmy's and even better; i feel great after a tremendous dinner. My sister, Brittany, came over and cooked dinner for Kris and I and it was an awesome treat. Tomorrow was declared "National Pajama Day" by a woman on our run and i will definitely be following this decree.

Skirting the issue

There is a new trend sweeping women's running and I have to say, I hate it! I've tried to hold off on sharing my disdain but I can't do it anymore. It's the ridiculous running skirt. Yuck.

I imediately have images of the movie, "A League of Their Own," and the women having to wear skirts to offset the fact that they are playing a mans sport. I say, leave the skirts to tennis where the Williams Sisters have taken them to new fashion heights. Skirts have never been a requirement in women's running and I sure hope they don't show up on the proffesional circuit. I would hate to one day have a daughter and have to say, "Go run your hardest and don't forget your skirt."

I was in the store a couple of months ago when i showed Kris one of those puke worthy pieces of clothing. A woman piped up and explained that she felt more comfortable running in the skirt because it covered more of her backside. I kind of took a moment and understood her point and considered it for a while. Then I saw multiple women at the gym with their tight short skirts on and their cropped shirts and realized that the running skirt is now what the unitard thong was to jazzercise in the 80's. Ridiculous. I'll also have you know that Kris and I saw many women with running skirts on at the CL half marathon and while they may have felt more covered up, all it took was for a light wind to blow their skirts to the side and defeat their purpose. Also, encouraging these athletes to cover up vs. being confidant with their bodies takes away what running truly offers women. If you really don't feel comfortable, take it from a female runner who has seen better fitness days, and go with the running capris.

Down with the skirts! Seriously, running is a sport. I'm all for looking cute, but I don't like the conotations a running skirt brings to the playing field. To me, the running skirt just takes a woman athlete down a notch. Just my 2 cents.

Second Wind

I think I'm back on track with some excitement for this marathon training. I'm running 20 miles this weekend and I'm ready to run baby. Perhaps the heavily bearded man at the coffee shop this morning slipped something in my drink to give me this reborn giddy feeling. Really, I think it's the notification I received about spectator information for the big race. I love watching the marathon! I love the fact that this is one of the few events in Chicago, besides St. Patrick's Day, that can pull hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans out of a deep Sunday hang over sleep to cheer on strangers. It's a definite Chi-Town bonding moment. Kris, D and I have gone many times to cheer on friends and arrive early and stay late to see the thousands of road warriors we don't even know. This year we'll be with them and can't wait.

For those of you looking to spectate, I have some info. for you supplied from the Bank of America Chicago Marathon Site. First is a spectator's guide which lists a way you can track us via text messaging and some fun events on the route and the second is a one sheet of the course map. I know that some Chicago locals will be boarding their bike's in the attempt to follow us at as many stops as possible, but I'm going to share a recommended route that my friend Jess M. and I did to follow Stacy C when she ran. We saw her at 4 spots and it was not stressful and quite easy.

1) Feel free to use our house as a base. The gun goes off at 7:30 so you can probably watch most of the elite runners finish on tv before heading out to see us. We'll figure out the details later about who will be there to let people in etc. We could start anywhere between 8:00 and 8:30 depending on how far back we are.

2) Walk up to Fullerton and Clark at mile 9 3/4's and stand by Emilio's Tapas. Estimated time of arrival is anywhere between 9:30-10:00 depending on when we start. We will be running with a pace group and they will have signs held high in the air. We'll post later what pace group we will aim for and this should help locate us. If you're adventurous, you could run across Fullerton and see us at mile 6 just down to Stockton, but that gets dicey!

3) Walk back West to Halstead and get on the Halstead bus going South. Exit at Adams. You'll be able to see us at miles 13 1/2 and 16 1/2 without crossing the runners paths.

4) Grab a cab to finish and climb up into the grand stands to watch our glorious and hopeful non stumbling finish.

Now, the one place everyone says is so great is China Town, however, I think it's kind of crazy to get from there to the finish if that's your goal. Either way, you can use the spectator guide to plan out your day to your likings!

If it Hurts, it Must be Working!

So, I just went for my second treatment today of ASTYM for my tight glute and hip. From my previous post, you might recall my "electric" but pleasant experience with e-stim. Well, when I went back for my second treatment last week there was a floating therapist who took my case on and after a few questions she declared, "you would be a perfect candidate for the tool." Boy was I excited! I was only imagining what a great massage "the tool" could provide. Hahaha, silly me! I soon learned "the tool" referred to the not very well known procedure, ASTYM, which has a nickname of; scraping! I can't recall anything that is as painful as ASTYM.

You can look up the procedure but basically it involves the therapist rubbing a plastic like squeegee over areas that cause problems. It causes the sking to get red and puffy and feels like someone is ripping the skin away from your muscle. It sounds like scratching sandpaper! The proccess is used to stimulate the recovery process of your body to repair your tissue. The therapist encourages serious stretching and working out which is great news for people who don't want to Rest to Recover!

When she did the therapy I was literally squeezing my pillow and gritting my teeth. At one point I just started laughing because I couldn't believe the pain. Of course, I wasn't going to cry uncle! The aftermath is not pretty. My whole right leg looks like I was hit by a car. When people see it, their eyes pop out and they hold their breath for a second. Kris just laughs at me and my sister squealed with crazy amazement. I'm trying to figure out how I can post some pictures without showing too much of my glute because you would never believe it until you saw it. Really, though, the pain was only temporary and the bruises don't hurt. I'm having a lot more relief than from the e-stim, so much so, that I went back today and I'm typing this with a puffy leg and glute. A lot of professional athletes use this so it must be good, right? Plus, I kind of come from the school of it hurts, it must be working. I'm really learning about a lot of random stuff during this marathon training.

There's No Place Like Home

Kris and I completed the Crystal Lake Half Marathon on Sunday morning and had a great time. My first thought after running this race was, "what the heck am I doing training for a full marathon, the half is really the way to go!" We stayed at my in-laws house on Saturday night and it was like a running re-treat. They cooked for us all weekend with specific meals tailored to our running needs and did all of our dishes...we were spoiled rotten.

We arrived at Lippold Park around 7:00 am and signed up for the race rather quickly. We figured out there were around 600 runners. I also was quickly reminded that C.L. is a running community. Most of the runners were very fit and very competitive. For a second I wanted to go out and run hard but then remembered our goal. After a mile warm up and some stretching we loaded ourselves into the starting area for the 8:00 am start. I had us go to the back 1/4 of the group out of respect to the "racers for the day." We were just kind of standing there and all of the sudden we heard a "Bang" and everyone took off. No announcement, no "Attention Runners."

About a mile into the run Kris and I met this middle age gentleman whose shirt read, "50 marathons in all 50 states plus D.C." I asked him if he did this and he said it took him 17 years, but yes, he definitely did. I asked him if he had any suggestions or tips for our first marathon and he responded with, "tape your nipples." I was hoping for some inside tip and that was all I got.

While we were definitely back of the pack runners for this race, I knew that we would be passing some people towards the end. There were about 100 runners who were more of the social training groups whose goal was to just train for this race and hadn't done many runs over 8 miles. We picked a goal (we needed something to make us feel like we were some type of racers) to pass all the women who were from the Crystal Lake Running Depot with their orange singlets. Kris also wanted to make sure we passed the guy who had his IPhone strapped on his arm playing music for all to hear. When he ran by us, Rush was blaring out so we called him Rush. The good news is, we hit our goals! Rush was close, but we passed him right in the last mile. As we passed each person/group that we had our eyes on we said some generous words of encouragement, but inside our heads we were really saying, "see ya' later sucka's!"

At one point along the race route there were some young kids who wanted to give us high fives but Kris reminded me, "give them your elbow, you don't want swine flu!" So, sure enough we went elbow to elbow with the 7 and under crowd. We also received words of encouragement from one of the fire/police stations as the goal of the run was to raise money for families of fallen police officers and fire fighters. It was a nice reminder of an extra bonus to running this race.

As for race conditions, it was pretty stinking hot outside. The late 8:00 start didn't help and we ran on a lot of open roads with some major hills. The plentiful Water/Gatorade stops were helpful and I took advantage of pouring the water on me. This is a huge help in cooling off as it gets rid of the resting salt on the skin. And trust me, I get salty. So salty, that I could attract deer! If it ends up being hot on marathon day I will definitely be more aware to do this more often. I may even have some friends/family hold some wet towels for me on the sidelines.

The high school kid volunteers were great, clapping at every aide station and turn that kept us on course. The only negative was how they were a reminder of how old I was and how quickly I became the opposite of what they are now; a competitive runner. One kid was wearing a St. Thomas grade school sweatshirt and I said to him, "Hey, I graduated from there in 1992." Wow, that sounded archaic!

At the end of the race I was pretty pooped out and just as we saw the finish line ahead, we had a great greeting of our friends Jeff and Terri Templin, their adorable son Brody and my father-in-law/Kris's dad. I didn't think having people at the finish line would be that big of a deal but it was really a nice treat and an extra incentive to finish quickly! We finished in about 2 hours 18 minutes which was a little faster than planned but sometimes we couldn't help ourselves with the pace. We received our ribbons (side note, Kris was happy to get a ribbon until he saw another guy walking around with a medal. He got all pissed and I told him that he was probably a top finisher and if he wanted a medal, all he has to do is run faster) and a bottle of water. That's when I threw all caution to the wind and paid the price.

I chugged my ice cold water! I couldn't help it, I was so thirsty. I then went to the car after saying hello/goodbye to the Templins and chugged my Gatorade. Within 5 minutes, I felt so nauseous. We drove home to Kris's parents, walked in, and smelled the yummy smells of breakfast cooking. However, I kept feeling worse and worse. I thought the cure would be to chug a chocolate milk. I felt instant relief...for about 30 seconds. Then, the smell of bacon filled the house and I sprinted to the bathroom and basically projectile vomited right into the toilet. Thankfully, I have good aim. I had to miss out on the great breakfast and it took about an hour and some cantaloupe and pineapple to cure me. All of the tips I have read say to, "sip, sip, sip," after a long run. Well, I learned my lesson the hard way.

I'm enjoying the day off of running today heading into the most difficult week of training. We have 5, 10, 5 and thennnnnnnnnn TWENTY! 'Nuff Said.

A Girl Running a Marathon is Still a Girl

This weekend Kris and I will be running in the Crystal Lake Half Marathon. D is a distant maybe as it turns out he will be hosting some out of town guests. We're hoping he makes it but I'm sure he'll get his 14 miles in with his buddy or maybe running the Chicago Half that is on Sunday.

Kris and I are using the CL half as just another training run; we aren't racing for time, but instead, looking for some new scenery. I'm going to use this half as a test for my Marathon Day outfit. It specifically says in the training guides to train in the clothes you are going to run in the day of the race one or two times, so I carefully tested a few shirts, pants, hats and I think I have it all set. I asked Kris what he will be wearing and he looked at me like I had 4 heads for asking. Hey, I'm still a girl!

I guess I should start with the shoes. All three of us purchased our shoes at the top notch running store here in Chicago, Fleet Feet. They see how you run, analyze your gait, and suggest a couple of shoes specifically for you. I kind of dread this because I know that they will never steer me towards my favorite athletic shoes; Nike! I can't help it, I love Nike! I think it goes back to my first pair of racing flats with the big black swoosh on the side or perhaps the counting down to getting my first pair of Air Jordan's that my dad promised to me when I made Varsity Basketball. Or the great runner "Pre" and his testing of the original Nike Trainers. Needless to say, according to the running experts, Nike does not tailor to my needs. I wound up with a top rated (read, most expensive) running shoe, Asics Kayano 15 in blue. I will say they have great technology that allows the shoe to expand as your feet swell over distance. Since I basically have Fred Flinstone feet, this is a great feature for me. I've been happy with them and I'm excited to use them with my orthotics once they arrive.

Because I can't have Nike running shoes I will be all decked out in full Nike running gear. Maybe Nike will reimburse me when they see how great I look on race day. The goal of my race day outfit is comfort and to also wear something that I would standout in so friends and family could find me. I've had friends tell me, "I'm the one in the white shirt." Hah! To avoid D's suggestion of wearing Kiss makeup, I'm going with a purple shirt or as Nike calls it "Red Plum." I love this style because the sleeves are long and don't cut into the arm pit. I also have fallen in love with the Nike running capri's and will run in these that have a matching purple stripe. There is a convenient pocket in the back for running gels, pretzels etc. I also have a matching long sleeve shirt to wear over the shirt because I'm planning on a cold Oct. 11th. The good news is I bought both of the tops on sale at my favorite store, REI. Finaly, I'm be wearing my trusty training white Nike visor. I think it's actually a golf visor but it's light weight, keeps the sun out my eyes, and keeps the hair back. Sometimes it's hard being a girl. So many decisions to make! I'm hoping to get a picture of the outfit on Sunday so I can post so you will definitely know what to look for on Oct. 11th. 4 weeks and counting; Yikes!

Virtual Buffet

Last night was our midweek sorta long run of 9 miles. Yep, we usually run in the mornings but sometimes life (exhaustion) gets in the way and we have to adapt. We started our run just after 6:30 pm and we really realized how summer is quickly coming to an end as it was dark for the majority of the run. We also realized that the lake shore path becomes infested with gnats after sunset. I think, between the three of us, we swallowed an entire swarm. Nasty!

It was actually a really nice run. At one point, I put some imaginary blinders on and looked straight ahead and felt like we were running on the paths of the English Garden in Munich. Kris, his parents and I did a Mike's Bike Tour through it on a mild day and between the misty cool weather and the lamp posts, I was in the mood for a pint of beer and a large pretzel.

This brings me to what became a discussion of a "virtual buffet." None of us ate dinner and around mile 6, hunger settled in and a dialogue of what we wanted to eat kicked in. I have to tell you that it was a nice change up to our normal running conversation which usually weighs heavy on the frat house late night topic discussions. Here is a little sample of how things went last night:
Kris: I'm starving, I really could go for something heavy
D: If we keep running on Fullerton, we could stop at Burger King
Starr: That's disgusting, sick, gross, I'm gonna throw up.
Kris: I want matzo ball soup, a big heavy matzo ball (side note: I'm not sure Kris has ever had matzo ball soup and his Norwegian Christian family does not serve this up)
D: I want sushi, roll your own sushi from Dirks
Kris & Starr: Oooh, that sounds good
Kris: Papa John's!
Starr: I want the new cinnamon dough. Only $12.00 for 2 large pizzas and cinnamon dough
D: That's it, I'm doing roll your own sushi on Friday.

In the end, Kris and I ended up having a pot of Mac N Cheese because that's all the energy we had in us.

Peaks & Valleys & Pesky Dementors

Anyone that participates in sports or even watches sports has heard a coach or tv analyst comment on how an athlete is “peaking at the right time,” or perhaps has “peaked too early.” Basically, they are speaking to the entire goal of any training program; to be in the best situation to run your perfect race or play your best game when it really matters. In the NCAA tournament, you do not want your team to have its’ best game in the Final Four (ummm, hello UofI) you want it to be in the championship. Our marathon training plan also follows this traditional formula with the goal of getting to the starting line with the best opportunity to finish.

For D, Kris and me, this means that right now we should pretty much be running ourselves into a deep Grand Canyon like valley so that when we taper off our mileage 3 weeks before the marathon we will be hitting the highest peak possible. Have no fear my fellow blog readers; by no means did I peak too early. I was basically swimming upstream in the Colorado River for the last 2 miles of our 18 mile run on Saturday. That means I'm right on track to dig myself out of a ditch by our 20 miler...Can't wait!

Our Saturday run was just under 3 ½ hours and, in retrospect, it went ok (by ok, I mean, I didn't sieze up and stagger to an awkward finish). We had some crazy fog roll in which got us on a very common reference of Harry Potter (all three of us are Harry Potter geeks). When anything kind of creepy happens, we chalk it up to a Harry Potter event. We were running north on the path by Foster Beach and it was gorgeous! We came back south 10 minutes later and you couldn't’t even see the water which was about 25 yards from the path. It was rolling in so quickly we could feel the cool mist. Our only explanation, “Dementors!”

Perhaps the Dementors sucked the energy right out of me because right around this 14 mile marker is where I felt tired. I used my secret weapon, 10 pretzel sticks, and this gave me an extra two mile push but I was left with some cement legs for 2 more miles. D asked me if I wanted to walk and I replied with, “heck no, after all this time, I’m gonna run this 18 mile _ _ _ _ _ (runs with witch).” I have no idea who heard me, but I think it was loud. I finished with a little half mile kick out of pure self motivation to end that run. I was pretty useless the rest of the holiday weekend. I didn't have a “my feet and legs are tired feeling,” it’s an overall exhaustion; like sleep deprivation. Or, like a battle with the Dementors!

Non-bucket List

This weekend we ran 18 miles. I can now check that off the list of things I couldn't care less if I ever did in my life or not. In a couple weeks we have a 20-miler. That's on my list too.

A Shocking Experience

Today I hit up the physical therapist to get a little treatment on my hip. I went for a consultation a few weeks ago and the therapist told me to work on some shoe inserts and if I still had some pain (which is all muscular) to come see her with a script from my Dr. so she could do some "electric stim." Basically, it's an opportunity to get a serious massage covered by insurance. Also, basically, I had no idea what i was getting myself into so I got a script yesterday and made an appointment.

After some massage of my glute and hip area by the therapist, she did some ultra sound to the hip region. It was messy because she put that jelly on my hip and just rubbed what looked like a video game controller over my sore area. It didn't really feel like anything but the therapist said it would break up some of the sore tissue. Ok, I'll try anything that seems legitimate. I think I remember my sister telling me she received ultra sound for her knee therapy. Well, now comes the "electric stim," part.

The therapist pulls out this pack of square stickers and placed four of them on my glute and my hip. She then rolled over this machine that looked like it came right out of a 1980's Sci-Fi movie; all knobs and a meter reading. It was beige. Next was the attachment of cords to each sticker that looked like tiny jumper cables. Pictures of ET flashed before and I wanted to rip the stickers off just like the hero Elliot did. But, I didn't move. The therapist then said, "ok, I'm going to turn this on and you tell me when to stop...you'll know because it will be right before it really hurts." Before I had a chance to ask a question, she turned the knob and I felt a small electric shock in four places. Of course, i didn't want to seem like a wimp so I waited until the pulse was almost too much to take. She then placed a large pillow sized ice pack over my entire hip area.

After a minute or so, the sensation died down a little bit and I kind of settled in. All of the sudden another patient came over and started talking to me about his broken back and his therapy. Here I was, getting my One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest therapy, and this guy was telling me his story of his life. I wanted to say, "look buddy, I'm doing all I can from running out of this crazy house, so could please close the drape around my table and move away." But, I smiled and listened while my hip was vibrating in crazy places.

After 10 minutes, the therapy was done, I stood up, and.....I, Felt, Awesome! About 50% better. I made another appointment for Wednesday and look forward to my next shock therapy.

Are We There Yet?

Fatigue is definitely starting to set in. Not necessarily physical fatigue, but the long mental haul of training for the marathon. We have now been training for about 13 weeks. We have just over 5 weeks left to go and while that really isn't such a long time, it's 5 more weeks that limit what we can do. Anytime anybody asks me what is going on I feel like my answer is "uhhhhh, running!" At first it was great and exciting and now I feel like a broken record! I mean, I'm still excited and love when we are out on our runs, but I look at my calendar and would enjoy seeing an excursion outside of Chi-town.

It has taken its' toll on our summer fun. Kris and I would love to go camping or up to Door County this weekend, but with an 18 miler on the calendar, it's a no go. I miss Saturday morning Farmer's Markets and long walks with the dog. I know D could have a packed social calendar with the holiday weekend, but again, 18 miles. Basically, most of Saturday is kind of spoken for and we'll have to be in bed early Friday night. After our 16 miler, I tried to drive around Chicago 2 hours after the run and there were lapses in time that I can't even remember. I was worse than a driving teenage texter!

The commitment part of the marathon is definitely the most difficult part. I think that anyone can do it if you put the time in. It's just finding the time or wanting to find the time that separates those who do and those who don't You aren't just putting the time in during the run; you have to account for stretching time and icing time and making sure you're eating and drinking enough (and correctly), and of course, sleeping enough. The senior citizen bed times have come so easily. Oh Stephen Colbert, how I miss you!

I'm sure the next 5 weeks will fly by and I'll soon be posting that, "help me Jesus, help me Oprah, help me Tom Cruise, I wish I had another month of training." I kind of anticipated this fatigue would happen (the shine always starts to wear off new things, just like Cabbage Patch Kids and GIJoe) so I scheduled some fun stuff for us. Well, fun stuff for a marathon runner in training. Next weekend we will be running the Crystal Lake 1/2 marathon. I'm hoping to get some inspiration as we run along routes I used to cover in Cross Country. Then the weekend after that we will be running the CARA ready to run 20 miler. It's like a training run but with a couple thousand people, Gatorade stops and a party afterwards. Then, it's a three week taper to the Marathon.

Oh, and just want to put it out there. The three of us will be on the Lakefront running for about 4 hours on Saturday. We would love for some company along any part of the route if you're interested. Come on, you know you want to! Hit me up, I'll share our route.

X3 = a Marathon

Wendsday brought us our first 9 mile mid week sort of long run. Every time we hit some sort of milestone we always will say, "ok, that wasn't so bad, but we have x number of miles more to run the day of the actual marathon." That usually leads to some groans, expletives and sick laughter on our way to getting our chocolate milks.

After we finished our 9 today Kris commented that 9 miles was our first official Saturday long run. It was kind of a nice thing to think about considering we all finished with ease this morning and when we ran that 9 miles back on the 4th of July weekend, I thought I would parish on the side of the road in Door County. I finished the last 1.7 miles of that run on the sheer hope that Kris's parents would hopefully be making pancakes. As sweat was dripping down my body and I was sure my face was so beet red that I would scare small children, I kept thinking "pancakes, pancakes pancakes." Lucky for me, a big "Pops Breakfast" which includes pancakes, was awaiting our arrival. Just when I had that nice memory of "run for the pancakes," Darren said, "man, we have to run three of those for the marathon." The little bubble above my head of me sitting down at the cabin to a plate of pancakes feeling accomplished popped loudly. Will I ever feel ready for this race? I have no idea.



One of the most difficult aspects of this marathon training is the constant unknowing of what is going to happen or how I will feel doing it. I can tell you how many crunches will make my abs feel like they are on fire or how playing an entire game of basketball feels and how i will probably be limping around the next day. I have no idea what it feels like to run 18 miles or 26.2 miles. I have no idea how my body will react. Will I get the trots (Oh, God, no)? Will Kris and D have to carry me across the finish line or will I even finish ( I try not to let that thought linger too much). I try to push the more positive thought to the forefront of my mind that I might actually enjoy the 4+ hours we'll spend on the course. I figure that if the last couple of miles comes down to needing pure mental endurance and the ability to will it to happen, the odds are in my favor. Being a vertically challenged athlete, I have a pretty robust mental toolbox...sometimes the mental beats out the physical in sport.

I also have the edge of running alongside my husband and good friend who provide constant support and motivation; I'm a lucky girl. I'm also a girl who will not be left in the dust by two boys. Hah!

A happy 31st Birthday to our friend Jen E. This super woman finished the Chicago Triathlon last weekend. Goooo, Jen!

Weekend Recap

I realized I didn't make one post this weekend. Perhaps because it was such a weird running week; rainy weather and what was kind of a short run of 12 miles. Kris, D and I ran a little bit of a different route on Saturday. We have only been as far south as Ohio St. Beach but when we hit that marker, we decided to keep going. I had my new Garmin watch on so we could afford to go off the plan (a biiiiig step for me) and still run the correct amount. So we ran to the "dirty south!" The stretch along Lake Shore Dr. was so dirty and dusty I felt like I would have to start yelling Marco Polo to find Kris and D. We turned around at the Museum Campus and figured out we could stay "low" on the path and run along the harbor. It basically felt like we were running through a war torn area with the potholes and cracks...this was no Foster Beach/Montrose cinder running trail. I guess we're North Siders until the end! It was nice to do a different route, but it was a little more "extreme running."

My feet and hips definitely felt better thanks to the little temporary insert the Doc put in my shoes...I'm kind of excited to get my orthotics! Does that sound kind of weird? I wonder if I'll be excited one day to get my knee replacement or the handle in the bath tub to make getting in and out a lot safer. Oh, the life of someone who used to be an athlete trying to claim this title again.

This should be one heck of a week. We have 4, 9, 5 and then....dunhdunhdunh 18! D said 18 is like how 15 was for me. I think I'm just in denial. I'm gonna throw this out there; we would LOVE to have people meet up with us on the trail and run some portions. We are nervous that we will run out of things to talk about! So, if you have some free time early this Saturday morning, we'd love to have you. Since I didn't post this weekend, I missed the shout out to our friend Jess M for her Birthday. Happy Birthday!

Old Feet

I finally broke down and went to a podiatrist this morning. I always had some problem with pronating which caused achilles and knee pain but I could manage in the teenage years. One of the reasons I took the hiatus from running was the achilles pain..too much to bare when I wasn't even competing for anything. I tried some Super Feet inserts from the running store and they were miracle workers on my achilles but i have had some arch pain and my hips and hamstrings were sore... a lot! A had quite a nice experience this morning. I was fitted for custom orthotics (yep, I have some bad feet) for running/sports, encouraged to stretch my calves more and to keep up my core exercises (I'm not sure I want to tell my trainer this because I fear I'll be doing even crazier things than balancing on a bosu ball with one leg while doing squats). The Doc already put little extra inserts in my shoes and I feel a thousand times better. I highly recommend the Running Institue! Orthotics should arrive in 2 weeks...Just in time for the Crystal Lake Half Marathon on Sept 13th. Woohooo.

We have 12 miles this weekend....nice to have a low key run. Hah! 12 miles and low key don't seem to match. It's still over a 2 hour run, but just doesn't sound the same as SIXTEEN. I'll get to try out my Garmin watch for a long run now that I tested it out last night...I think I'm gonna love it! Have a great Friday.

A Moment of Thanks

I just want to take a moment to recognize Senator "Ted Kennedy" whose legislative support of Title IX greatly impacted my life and many of my female friends. We are the generation of children that grew up reaping the benefits of his constant championing and development (and consequential push for reinstatement) of Title IX. I'm pretty certain my mom could have been a wicked basketball player, but she didn't have the opportunity that I did. Without Title IX, my high school basketball coach may not have won the fight to have equal gym time for our basketball team (yes, he had to fight for this in 1994). Or, our complaints might not have been heard in track to allow the girls to have more than 2 out of 8 lanes during track practice. When I was in college, I had the privilege of sitting on our intercollegiate athletic board for a semester where they were still struggling to meet a 40/60 female to male monetary support of sports.

Did you know women were not allowed to run the Boston Marathon until 1972? Funny to think about the need to keep people from running 26.2 miles, but they did. One of my favorite stories of a woman (helped by her male coach) staking a claim in sports is the one of Syracuse college student, Katherine Switzer, "illegally" running the Boston Course in 1967 with a number she obtained through just registering under her initials. A course manager was so mad about it he tried to rip her numbers off while she was running. Check out her site and look at the pictures at the bottom showing that cooky guy and his actions and her coach defending her.

I just want to say that I'm not for taking sports opportunities away from boys; I think athletics offer so much to both genders; just want to keep equal options for both!

I may never be faster than Kris or Darren, but I sure am happy that I can run beside them. While girls/women aren't currently as fast or as strong as their male counterparts, who knows what will happen in 50 years...We have a lot of missed time and catching up to do.

November in August

Yick! What is with this weather? It is a gloomy rainy day here in Chicago and we didn't get our 8 in this morning as it was too rainy. All three of us have decided to do the 8 tomorrow morning and if it rains, we'll just have to deal. Of course, unless there is lightning. Maybe I'll have to do a search on google for some running ponchos! I really hate missing days of running. In my paranoid head, I think, "this could be the day I miss that causes me to not be able to finish the marathon." Not logical, I know, but I've never been much of a rule breaker. If the book says run 8 miles then I have to run 8 miles on this day, no matter what. I like my schedules and function much better in life when I know what's coming. That's not to say I'm not adaptable; I think I'm pretty level headed when things "come up," but I like to do what I can to prevent it. I think of my friend Stacy C who thrives on being flexible and I think would love a different schedule every day. Not me!

I just keep telling myself that an extra day of rest will help with my sore hamstring. The hot tub at the health club is calling my name.

Gadgets!

Today was a beautiful day for a morning run. All three of us were on the road at 6:15 for a very nice 4 miler. It was just about 70 degrees and not much humidity which is rare for an August morning in Chicago. I am having a little hamstring pain but I think it's due to the fact that Kris and I went to my mom's on Saturday after the 16 miler and had to take a long hike to the beach carrying a LOT of stuff and a big hairy dog. Or maybe it was the beach volleyball or perhaps the bike trip back from the beach where I rode behind the bumper of the pick up truck that was carrying my niece (she was loving that I could keep up). Take your pick!

Kris met me for lunch today and he had a big smile on his face! He let me know he bought "us" (really me) the garmin running watch. We had talked about this and said we could find some other things to spend that money on (ummmm, like the dog that was in my dream last night from the Caesar dog food commercial)but he found a great deal on ebay! I'm pretty excited because it tracks how far and how fast you have run using GPS; the same system Garmin uses for their car GPS. This will solve all of my problems about worrying if we have gone far enough. Also, I won't be asking Darren every half hour how far we've gone according to his Nike Plus. I had to lay off of this during the poop run for his benefit. Darren can now stop guilting Jeff T. into giving us his because he never uses it. Tomorrow morning is an 8 miler and it's usually the most difficult run of the week; D and I talked about taking the day off when we have our weekday 10 miler. I'm surprised nobody commented on the poop post. We would love to hear your thoughts! Oh, a big shout out to our friend Sam W. who is celebrating a Birthday today. Wooohhooo!

Conflicts of interest . . .

I'm using this first post of mine as a defense of my training habits. As you can tell from Starr and Kris' bevy of words, I tend to not take care of myself and would rather sacrifice a good night's sleep and a nice, hot meal for a Delirium Tremens (both liquid and physical), a basket of wings and two hours of sleep. And in an effort to be transparent, they are telling the truth.

Although my interests conflict with the training, I have, pretty much, kept up a consistent, and, cross your fingers, injury-free, running schedule. There is no way I would have been able to do as much running if it weren't for Starr and Kris, but I did start the training process a little earlier than them on my own (and on a track . . . yuck), and I haven't compromised the main goal at hand: to train for a marathon without giving up my habits. The reason for this goal is simple. If I can train and complete the marathon (without killing myself) and still enjoy the summer (and drink like a fish), then ANYONE can do it. For reals!

Just think of me doing all of this for YOU. My own little experiment for all to see. Hey, it was either run a marathon or practice all summer on perfecting a Strike Out.

So yeah, I did pretty much crap my pants last Saturday, and most of the time, I am still a little tipsy (sorry mom) on the super long runs, but I have finished all of them. I did have a self-intervention on Sunday though, where I decided to use September as the "month of cleansing."

It probably won't happen. Whatever.