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.