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

I just don't know

Really don't want to have a race recap so this will be short & sweet.

Number of Finishers: 1,884
Number of Females: 763
Number of Males: 1,121
Average Time: 4:12:25

overall place: 1594 out of 1884
division place: 116 out of 149
gender place: 597 out of 763
chip time: 4:54:38
pace: 11:15
half: 2:17:37
mile 20: 3:38:39
gun time: 4:56:10

Not sure what happened. It seemed it was all mental. I was prepared, trained well all summer and then once I got out there about mile 9-10 it started going downhill.

Or maybe it wasn't mental:

• Was it because I didn't eat pasta the night before and instead eggplant paramasean?
• Was it because I didn't sleep well and was tossing & turning cause of it being stuffy, hot & noisy in my hotel room?
• Was it because I didn't eat much the morning of the race? (no microwave to heat up my oatmeal)
• Was it because of the cold weather?
• Was it because of the 10-15 mph winds that were coming at us from the west and then from the south?
• Was it because of the age of my shoes and that I've trained for 2 marathons in them?
• Was it because I didn't eat enough while I was running?
• Or most importantly was it because I was too full of expectations of myself?

But I found myself walking when my mind told me to walk, not when my body told me to walk. I just couldn't fight through anything or any feeling. I just couldn't win. I kept telling myself, what are you doing walking, you feel fine, you are fine, so pick it up. And the odd thing is that I would pass people when I was running who were also running. So that's when I knew my pace was fine but then I would just stop and walk. My breathing was fine, my mind just gave out.

My cell phone also died at about mile 12. I had it in my sports bra and when I opened it up the display was all wonky. I turned it off and when I tried to restart it, wouldn't turn back on. Put it in my SPIBelt at that time which made it bounce even that much more. It didn't help though, it wouldn't turn on at all. I was actually afraid that my friends were going to leave thinking that they missed me. I was so worried! I let it dry out until after work and it seems to be fine now. I've got to get a cell phone holder pronto.

All I know is that having great friends who support me before, during and after the run makes up for this. I am loved, people care for me. This makes up for any disappointment that I gave to myself. I had 5 friends show up to support me at the end and throughout the race (Kevin & Jess, Jesse & his gf Katie and Luke). I had another Lakefront Marathon runner in my NITRO running group and his wife and a husband of another runner cheer me on at the end. I had a guy who sat next to me on the bus to the start cheering for me at the end. All of these people made my horrible time disappear. As a running friend who I met at my first 1st marathon said to me on Twitter; "Having to stop at mile 11 and fight the other 15 miles is truly remarkable. While I know you wanted a better time you should be very proud!" He's right. It's just a time. I am one of 1,884 that finished that day. 2,750 signed up total. That's nearly 900 people that didn't show up and/or drop out.

To everyone that affected supported me while I was in training for this marathon with their words on this blog, on Twitter, in person, through email, I really appreciate it. Even a Good Luck helps. That definitely takes the sting out of this. It always has been about the little things for me.

I did bring my camera with me (no video for you lucky people out there) but I'll post the pictures when I'm feeling a bit better about things or tomorrow, whichever comes first!

And so now for the evidence. Don't mind the heartrate. I don't think it was on correctly and that's why it spiked at 200. Yes, that means it was 99%! Unless that was just a sign that something was going to go wrong, not sure. Those 2 stops were porta-potty stops. Second one wasn't really needed after all.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 677 ft Location: Grafton, WI Elev. Gain: -207 ft Date: 10/04/09 Up/Downhill: [+629/-836] Time: 08:02 AM Difficulty: 3.8 / 5.0 Weather: Heavy Rain 49 F temp; 86% humidity 49 F heat index; winds W 12 Performance Distance: 26.40 miles Time: 4:54:44 Speed: 5.4 mph Pace: 11' 10 /mi Heart Rate: 168 bpm (Avg) Calories: 2733 204 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 46 -1' 24 6.1 +0.8 162 -36 ft 2 9' 40 -1' 30 6.2 +0.8 173 -69 ft 3 10' 32 -0' 38 5.7 +0.3 177 +39 ft 4 10' 07 -1' 03 5.9 +0.6 181 -6 ft 5 10' 17 -0' 53 5.8 +0.5 175 -29 ft 6 10' 40 -0' 30 5.6 +0.2 174 +3 ft 7 10' 20 -0' 50 5.8 +0.4 178 -3 ft 8 10' 16 -0' 54 5.8 +0.5 180 +3 ft 9 9' 50 -1' 20 6.1 +0.7 184 -23 ft 10 10' 16 -0' 54 5.8 +0.5 187 +29 ft 11 10' 27 -0' 43 5.7 +0.4 185 0 ft 12 11' 15 +0' 05 5.3 -0.0 177 -13 ft 13 12' 07 +0' 57 5.0 -0.4 166 -10 ft 14 10' 41 -0' 29 5.6 +0.2 166 -6 ft 15 13' 14 +2' 04 4.5 -0.8 160 +10 ft 16 10' 27 -0' 43 5.7 +0.4 166 -3 ft 17 11' 05 -0' 05 5.4 +0.0 169 +16 ft 18 12' 54 +1' 44 4.7 -0.7 154 +7 ft 19 10' 48 -0' 22 5.5 +0.2 157 -36 ft 20 11' 52 +0' 42 5.0 -0.3 161 -3 ft 21 12' 31 +1' 21 4.8 -0.6 163 +23 ft 22 11' 44 +0' 34 5.1 -0.3 167 -7 ft 23 12' 59 +1' 49 4.6 -0.8 161 0 ft 24 12' 28 +1' 18 4.8 -0.6 161 -86 ft 25 11' 47 +0' 37 5.1 -0.3 164 -7 ft 26 11' 37 +0' 27 5.2 -0.2 166 0 ft end 01' 32' 18 +01' 21' 08 0.7 -4.7 175 0 ft Versus average of 11' 10 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Lakefront Marathon

Milkwaukee Lakefront Marathon overview

And here we go!


Well, there it is. What I'm going to do at 8am on Sunday, October 4, 2009.

I'm heading up to Madison on Friday night to hang out with my friends, Kevin & Jess. Then Saturday around 1pm, I'll be leaving for Milwaukee to check into my hotel room on the far west side of Milwaukee. Grabbing my packet before it closes at 6pm. Then will be eating somewhere. I'm thinking the Milwaukee Ale House. It's not that far from the packet pickup downtown.

Sunday morning has me waking up early, eating and then driving down to the runner parking area. I should find this Saturday night as well. The race organisers has buses available for runners to take them to the start nearly 26 miles north of Milwaukee.

I'll be hopefully finishing around 12:30pm and then trek my way to my car and driving back to the hotel to shower. I'm going to request a late check-out (normal is at 1p). Hopefully, no one has my hotel room after me that Sunday night and I can leave around 3p. Then over to Madison again to see Kevin & Jess and show off my hardware and then back home!

Things I need to do this week

• Make an appointment on Monday for a massage. Check, made one for Monday at 12:15p. Figured that would be good. She had openings on Sunday afternoon but I know that after a nights sleep I'll be hurting even more.
• Wash my running clothes. Did that on Wednesday night
• Pack my running clothes, food (oatmeal, sports beans, PowerBar Gel Blasts) water bottle belts, shoes, hat, Garmin, etc. I sure hope I got everything!
• Print my confirmation email and pack it away. Gotta do that tonight still!
• Try not to be nervous as all hell - so far it's half & half.

After my marathon

• Take my new shoes to my running store and ask them about the narrow vs normal width
• Not run for 2 weeks, then start up again in the 3rd week to prepare for a 10k race at end of October

Here are the outfits that I could possibly wear. Yes, I have 3. I haven't decided what. I know it's gonna be shorts and sleeveless shirt. I'm leaning towards the compression shorts though. I have my arm warmers just in case I need them. Heh, it would be funny to wear them in this marathon as I wore them in the last two as well (December & April)!

Weather as of 5:15p tonight, forecasted for Sunday in Milwaukee, was 59 degrees and partly sunny. Rain on Saturday & Monday but nothing on Sunday. Will I be lucky this time around?!

Um, what else?

Oh, I think I'll be Twittering again using TwitterFone. I did back in April and at one part, I gave up calling it in and instead just started typing it out. But I'll do the same this year, so if you want to follow along, go check out my Twitter page. I'll post something at 6, 12, 18 and 24. And maybe something between those as well. I'll carry my phone & camera with me as well, so you can count on pictures and maybe a video in my race recap! My pace I'm hoping will be around a 10:00-10:30 pace. (10 minute will get me 4:22 time)

So that's it for now. Next time you'll see me, will be on the flipside of yet another 26.2!!

Categories: Lakefront Marathon

Lakefront Marathon training

My training for Lakefront Marathon starts on 6/15. I can't believe that it's creeping up on me so soon!! I have also booked my hotel as well. There's a group from NITRO doing the race and they've all booked the same hotel so I just followed suit. Most of them are staying Saturday & Sunday night. I only booked for Saturday night. I just hope I can get a late enough checkout so I can shower afterwards. (Race starts at 8a so I'll be running to 12:30p) I might switch it up to another hotel closer downtown. But dealing with parking for 2700 runner's shouldn't be that bad right?

I think I'm going to follow Runner's World SmartCoach plan again. It seemed to work for me last time so I might as well give it another go. I gotta work up to 8 miles by June 21st. We'll see if that happen since this weekend I'll be in Iowa & northwestern Illinois for TOMRV. Won't be able to run but I think that biking for 69 miles on Saturday will count. My heart will be beating and legs will be pumping continuously... a lot more than if I was just running.

This week I have to start packing for it. As well as put on my bike rack to my car. Gotta bring my tent and air mattress and sleeping bag and of course all my biking stuff. Gotta adjust my clips on my shoes. So much to do, so little time.

Today I timed my run. I had to run to the post office immediately after work so I got home late but was still able to start my run by 4:58pm. 30 minutes of running and then a quick 10 minute (cool-temp!) shower. And I could have been ready by 6pm but that would be pushing it so 6:30pm is the best bet to set up a meeting. And normally every 2 weeks I have a non-profit board meeting to go to on Monday's and with getting out of work at my normal time of 4pm, I can get done (without a shower though) by 5:30p and that's with a stop at Jimmy John's for a quick sub that I eat while at the meeting. So it's nice to know that I can still have a evening to do something after a run and a shower!

Speaking of my run today, I also decided to take it easy today. I kept telling myself at the beginning to slow it down. I wish I would have worn my heart rate monitor today. It would have been interesting to see it. I'm sure it was pretty low. My breathing was very steady too. This is what happens when you go a normal pace and not overly stress yourself!!

Wednesday I have to skip my run though. I have to head up to Rockford to look at shoes and frames. Yes, yes, more frames. We'll get to that in a bit.
First the shoes: I have 273 miles on my current shoes (11.5 narrow width Nike Moto+ 6). So in another 75 miles (usually 300-400 miles), I'll have to get new ones. And that will be in the middle of my training. So I might as well look and buy a pair now to work them in. Now they have released a new version of the Moto+ and so the 6's are now on sale. But I've done a search on websites to see if I could buy a pair online but I'm not seeing that size option AT ALL. No surprise right? So I'm going to head to the local shoe store that I bought them from and see if they can still order them in that size. I'm hoping that it's going to be on sale there too. And I'm also hoping that they are not going to try to get me to buy the Moto+ 7 as I really don't want to buy new new shoes right now.

Frame: So I took the individual frames from my half marathon and 1st marathon and decided to join them together to make one big frame. I like the look of it better. I bought a 9x20 frame but unfortunately there is no way that I can squeeze 3 items into a 20". It was as shadow box too. I really wanted a 30" frame but can't find those yet. So then when a friend gave me his poster frame, I decided to cut it up and try to make it work. And work I did! But I also cut up my hands a bit. :-) And since my medal is hanging in it, it kinda sticks out a bit. But I'm going to head up to Hobby Lobby to see if they have a 30" frame that will work. I found a 36" frame but that's just too long, I didn't like it. So back to square one. If I don't find a 30" frame at Hobby Lobby then I'm going to take a Walmart Poster frame and cut it up like I did last time. Hopefully it won't look bad.



While there I'm also gonna hit up Old Chicago. Gotta man! I haven't eaten there in a long while!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 854 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/08/09 Up/Downhill: [+160/-160] Time: 04:57 PM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 76 F temp; 71% humidity 78 F heat index; winds W 16 G 23 Performance Distance: 3.16 miles Time: 0:29:19 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 17 /mi Calories: 336 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 23 +0' 06 6.4 -0.1 +23 ft 2 9' 35 +0' 18 6.3 -0.2 -10 ft 3 8' 58 -0' 19 6.7 +0.2 -16 ft end 8' 27 -0' 50 7.1 +0.6 +3 ft Versus average of 9' 17 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Lakefront Marathon, memorabilia, shoes, TOMRV

Just a normal Saturday run

I went for a 60 minute run on Saturday morning. Nothing really great to report from it. A late start but I allowed myself to sleep in a little. I had Phil with me and decided to hit up every single cul de sac on my normal route to see what added mileage that would give me. Come to find out, it's just over 6.2 miles.

But now that summer is here (kinda) I need to remember to bring water with me on any runs longer than 3 miles or 30 minutes. I was so parched by the end of the run, I was getting those white things in the corners of my mouth. Yuck. But I'm glad that I managed to go that far. Although I did pause a lot in the second half of it but I did have a full week off.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 858 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 06/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+193/-193] Time: 09:08 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 62 F temp; 69% humidity 62 F heat index; winds E 6 Performance Distance: 6.32 miles Time: 0:59:56 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 29 /mi Heart Rate: 168 bpm (Avg) Calories: 671 192 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 48 -0' 41 6.8 +0.5 166 +26 ft 2 9' 01 -0' 28 6.7 +0.3 169 -16 ft 3 9' 29 +0' 00 6.3 -0.0 167 +3 ft 4 10' 23 +0' 54 5.8 -0.6 181 +9 ft 5 10' 08 +0' 39 5.9 -0.4 148 +7 ft 6 11' 12 +1' 43 5.3 -1.0 178 -26 ft end 9' 45 +0' 16 6.2 -0.2 182 -3 ft Versus average of 9' 29 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 6 miles, DeKalb Nature Trail, Lakefront Marathon