Long time, no see

Hi there. It's been a while. Two weeks to be exact.

What have you been up to? Any running? I've done a little running. Emphasis on the little.

I had 2 weeks off of running. Not on purpose. I had the week after my marathon off and then meant to run the following week but alas, I chickened out cause of the cold. I just wasn't ready to run in the cold in the middle of October.

So then I started running last week with only 7 days to prepare for my 10k. 3.1 miles on Sunday, 2.75 miles on Monday (speed workout since I ran them around 8:30 pace--totally didn't mean to), and then 6.2 on Wednesday in just under an hour. That was it.

Ran the 10k yesterday with a few friends. One ran a PR and beat my previous best time by 4 minutes. All in jeans no less. Another friend ran in under 40 minutes and came in 3rd place in his age group and 26th overall out of 1300 runners. And I paced the final friend to his first 10k in 1:05:20, 5 minutes faster than his goal time!

I have a 15k now to train for next Sunday on the 1st. 9.3 miles that I should finish in an hohur and a half. I want to do an hour and a half run sometime this week. But we'll see. It's gonna be interesting; life is getting in the way this week.

Tonight I ran another 60 minutes at 9:31 pace for 6.29 miles. All on the treadmill at work. That was my first time using that gym. I also did a few weight machines for my quads, hamstrings & glutes.

Shouldn't run on Tuesday since my muscles are a bit sore. Wednesday I work until 5p and then I am having a board game night with a few friends at 6:30pm. So won't be able to squeeze in the 1.5 hour run. Thursday I have dinner & a concert with a friend. And then Friday will be a Halloween party. I'm open on Saturday but won't be doing an hour and a half run on the day before the 15k race!

So I may run like 3 miles on Wednesday morning and then Wednesday after work. I can't run at lunch since I have a meeting at 2:30 pm. And maybe I can squeeze in another 3 on Thursday before the dinner/concert??

What's gonna happen is that I'm gonna run as many miles in a week as possible but never the full distance at one time. Gosh. This is NOT going to be a good race. From what I heard it's gonna be about 10,000 where last year's race was only 3500 runners. The packet pickup was crazy insane. Took me an hour to pick it up! So maybe I'll be forced to run it nice and slow. I'll be really tired too. A bunch of us are carpooling together at 5:30a that morning. This Sunday is gonna hurt!

Categories: Hot Chocolate 15k, Pumpkinfest 10k

Spectating at Chicago Marathon

I started this day after the marathon but just now got around to getting the photos uploaded. Whoops. Sorry for the delay of 2 weeks! :-)

I realised while I was standing at mile 16.5, that this time last year, I had run 0 marathons. I was a newbie, training for my very first marathon. Not knowing how those folks on the street was feeling. Now, just a year later, I had run 3. CRAZY when I think of it like that!!!

I signed up for text alerts for 4 people; Jesse, @jswo, @12Monkeys and president of my running club, John K. On the train, I received 3 of the 4 (not 12Monkeys) for the 10k mark. And that was about the only ones I received on time. I got 2 more after that but LONG after the runners crossed their mark and I only received a finish time of Jesse's. Supposedly Active.com fixed the error, but I had the same problem last year with those I signed up for too. Maybe next year.

The train station was just a few blocks north of mile 13 and halfway. Stood there for a few minutes but I knew that I already missed Jesse since they started a half hour earlier this year. I had to run across the course yet again. That was fun but I was actually able to find an open space so I didn't have to run with them, I just ran straight across.

Then on down to mile 16.5 but first stopping at a Dunkin Donuts to get some hot chocolate and a donut. I asked if the Boston Creme had the white frosting in it. The guy said yes but it ended up having the Bavarian yellow custard instead. I hate that flavour.

Stood at 16.5 for quite a while, just looking and taking pics. And then I saw someone I knew! John K.! I yelled and yelled and I think he saw me. Then I saw another guy from my area but he doesn't know me so I didn't yell out his name.

One of these days I really want to run a few miles with someone in the race. I'd even do like 6 miles with them, I don't care. It'll just be cool to run it for a little bit.

Jesse gave me his girlfriend's number a few days earlier so I was texting her throughout the day so we could meet up. She & a random person who she friended (whose wife was running the marathon) took the El down to the mile 20. I didn't bring my CTA card with me so I couldn't take it plus, I didn't look that closely at the CTA and the course itself. Later on I found the Orange line went down that a way.

Eventually met up with Katie at mile 26. And we stood and cheered. I personally was getting worried when I started seeing people go by and it was getting close to what we predicted was going to be his finishing time. But eventually we did see him coming up the horrible "hill." And we cheered and cheered and cheered! But he didn't hear us. Totally in the zone. I would be too if I had .2 left and was about to blow my previous record out of the water.

We ourselves turned the corner and it was a mad house, the finish line. Plus, you couldn't get through anywhere. We eventually had to walk back over the railroad tracks and go up on the other side and then on the north side of the finish line. They hurdle the runners through this LONG corridor so they can pick up any drop bag that they had. We eventually found Jesse and congratulated him. He slowly got dressed with any warm clothes that he had packed.

He ended up finishing his 2nd marathon with a time of 4:11. His previous time? 4:54 (my last marathon time too) in 2008. Like I said; he killed his PR!! I am still so proud of him and still think about it, 2 weeks later. Even on his training runs he got faster than the previous training season. He was nice enough to send me a text later on that day and say that he was thinking of me during the race and how hard I had to fight through my marathon the previous week. Said I was an inspiration to him. I must admit it's a little hard to believe that _I_ could be an inspiration to anyone but it was still very moving to read that. Made me smile and brought tears to my eyes. Thank you Jesse. You're a great friend!! And seriously, Congrats Again!

Hugs!

That's a really big pace sign! I would totally hate to run with that.

More hugs!

Wonder Woman

Camera Crew

Elvis in da hiz-house!

Yet more hugs!

He had one leg; no prosthetic. He got many a cheer & screams when he went by.

Still running with the big pace sign.

I wonder if this is who I saw last year with the balloons.

Stretching at mile 17.

This was a runner, they quit. :-(

Love this; Brett Farve's number & jersey for both Packers & Vikings.

There's Jesse! My one & only one of him running! I was screaming too much at him after this to take anymore.

Madness at the exit!

Getting dressed!

Bling bling, what what?!

Categories: Chicago Marathon

Love of running

I am a runner. How do I know this? Even after what I think is bad run, in which I lost all bets mentally in my marathon, I have signed up for 3 more races this year. And they will be fun ones. I will INSIST that I enjoy and have a great time (not talking pace!). I still love & want to run.

Pumpkinfest 10k

Sunday, October 25, 9 am, Sycamore, IL

This one is a race that I've done since 2006. It was my first 10k and I love the start time, 9am. Totally excellent! It's held during Sycamore's Pumpkinfest so many people come out for it to support the runners while in Sycamore. Out in the country it can get a little lonely but you're never alone with runners always with ya. It's on CARA's race circuit so a lot of runners from Chicago come out for it. Pack's usually around 1100 or so. I'm pacing a friend this year. He doesn't really have a goal in mind but I think he can do an hour. He ran a 7k with a 10 min/mi pace so yea, no problemo! It'll be my first pace race, just need to keep him slow and encourage him when he wants to stop!

Hot Chocolate 15k

Sunday, November 1st, 8 am, Chicago, IL

This is my first time doing A) a race in Chicago 2) a 15k, which is 9.3 miles. I'm excited about this one. It was expensive but the swag is neat-o. Except since I signed up late, I don't get a jacket that fits me, I get a Large. :( But I also get a drawstring bag & a wicking hat. A few in NITRO is running this one so I think we're gonna car pool in to Chicago together. It's starts at Montrose Harbour. Afterwards, get this, Hot Chocolate all around. Chocolate Fountains for bananas, strawberries, etc. Chocolate mini candy bars! Sounds like a dream come true! The start time SUCKS for November 1st though. Come on! It's gonna chilly!!

Gobbler Gallop 5k

Saturday, November 21st, 9 am, Waterman, IL

A co-worker is the race director of this 5k. She wanted me to do it last year but I couldn't. I was training for my marathon and I didn't want to run 3 miles after a long run. She's run the Chicago Marathon in 2005, the one year it was actually nice! She won't do another marathon but she's been asking about all of mine. So while it's a bit of a drive for me, I think it'll still be a fun run. Maybe I'll tell the guy I'm running with in Pumpkinfest and see if he wants to do this one too.

Now I haven't started running yet. By Wednesday all pain was gone from my muscles but I still wanted to take the rest of the week off. I got out of work on Tuesday and wanted to run. It had rained earlier and the sun was shining and it was actually pretty warm and it was so windy. But I held back. I instead sat on my couch watching The Biggest Loser new season.

I will start this week though. I was going to have 2 weeks off but since I'm not exactly injured in this race like I was with my last marathon, I can start running sooner. I have to breakout my winter running clothes now. We had frost last night and there's a freeze warning for tonight. I will start with a few maintenance miles to see how the legs & lungs are holding up. Go for a long run on Saturday. Probably just 6 miles for that first try. Just enough to test out the 10k distance. Then I'll work my way up to 9 miles. I can't imagine that I lost that much endurance in a week but you never know.

Speaking of tomorrow morning, I'll be in cheering for the Chicago Marathoners again. It starts a half hour earlier this year, so I won't have a chance of seeing Jesse cross at halfway, like I tried to do last year. But I also need to dress very warmly. I will be arriving in Chicago at the same time as last year, 9:46 am, but I won't be running around like the rest of the fools out there (just kidding!) so I won't have as much body heat. There'll still be lots of sleeveless tanks and shorts though.

I started running (for the 2nd time in my life), a few weeks AFTER the 2005 Chicago Marathon. So in the years that I've been a runner, I've also paid attention to the Chicago Marathon (even before I knew I wanted to run a marathon!) and the weather. 2006: cold, rainy and the elite winner fell as he crossed the finish line. 2007: HOT, so much so, they called the race. 2008: again very warm 85 degrees but didn't run out of water this time. 2009: Cold, 30's at start, mid-50's for a high all day sometime. I'm hoping for some sun though. We need another year like 2005, I guess!! Maybe next year?

So I still love running. It is still a part of who I am. As this article on Runner's World said, "We need terrible runs in order to have terrific ones." Ain't that the truth.

Categories: Chicago Marathon, Gobbler Gallop 5k, Hot Chocolate 15k, Pumpkinfest 10k, races

Lakefront Marathon in pictures

Expo. Once you've seen one Expo, you've kinda seen them all.

My eggplant paramasean and the spaghetti next to it that I should have had instead.

My NITRO running group/family!

NITROruns.com BABY!

Left to right: Sharon (4:34), Steve (5:36), Cheri (5:25), Margi (4:55), me (4:54), Dennis (4:05)

hehe, "Same Day" pace group

There's Pacer Jim. Um, he was very "energetic*."

Interesting hat idea!

Yep, gotta get a legs/shoe shot.

The start

I was _this_close to Pacer Jim. Not that it did me a lot of good.

Our first official water stop; we passed the very first one.

We were a little fast but had a minute banked up.

2 of the sausage mascots from the Brewers baseball team.

Exactly where we wanted to be. I was feeling good at this point.

Me holding the pace stick.

Another sausage mascot.

Time to hand the stick off to the next person!

And there's my pace group leaving me. :(

See the old lady in yellow? Her name is Lynne. Pay attention to a photo later. I'll mention her again. I did manage to pass her here.

"This seemed like a good idea three months ago."

Jesse & Katie cheering for me again. Their second stop on the route. His sign says "There's no Mil-WALK-kee in Milwaukee. RUN!" Pretty genius!

That's the 4:45 pace group passing me at mile 18. :( That's when I knew I was in trouble.

Heh. Something like that.

The lakefront. See that yellow dot? Click on the photo if you need to. Yea, that's the Lynne, the old lady. She passed me when I did my second porta-potty stop.

There's Lynne again up there. And the girl in pink? She & I were leap frogging over each other a lot. She passed me at the porta-potty stop as well. But I caught up to her and I think I passed her before the end. And yes, I took a picture of every single mile marker.

25 1/2? Really? Just to torture us?

At least I wasn't the only one walking at this point.

I kissed my hand and smacked the sign.

Dennis & his family cheering me on!

Tom, Cheri's husband, cheering for me.

Jesse & Katie again cheering for me.

I missed a photo of Kevin & Jess though. :-( Sorry guys. I did give them a high five as well as all the people at the end.

When I get the professional and any friend photos, I'll post those as well.

*What I mean by energetic is he was extremely talkative. Told jokes and raunchy ones at that. Not that I mind those types. Got my mind off of running. Here are several jokes that Pacer Jim told us during the 10 miles I was with them:

What is the preferred method of birth control for engineers?

Their personality.

How can you tell the difference between an oral thermometer and a rectal one?

The taste.

A doctor calls a husband and wife into his office. Husband says "Doctor, what's wrong? Why did you call us in here?" Doctor says "Well, I found a lump in your wife's breast." Husband looks at the doctor and says "But Doctor, you're a dentist!"

While I was holding the stick, I told my joke:

How do you wake up Lada Gaga?

Poker (poke her) face.

Categories: jokes, Lakefront Marathon, pictures