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

Here they are!

Finally I have them framed and hung up!!!


Sure they might be a little crooked here and there but considering how MANY frames I had to hang up, it was crazy. I actually did use a laser level and also a measuring tape to make sure I had it right so I was pretty close! I'm digging it.

There's also a pretty big empty wall space between my St. Louis Marathon frame and my bookshelf. I think once I get my medals engraved (I have them all labeled and in a box ready to go, I just need to get my butt up there) I'm going to put in 2 nails and hang them from there. Instead of from my closet's door handle. Actually show them off a little bit.

On the wall to my left is a sign that my family made for me for one of my races. I have another sign that they made and would like them hung up too but don't have the room unless I take other stuff down. Then I also have a stained glass item that a boyfriend made for me. Supposed to be me running. I think it's pretty cool. She's wearing blue and has reddish hair! Sounds like me!


Pretty soon, this room will be called my running room instead of "the office" or "the cat's bedroom" or "the guest room."

Also, I'm pretty excited because it looks like there's a very good chance that I'm gonna have cheerleaders at my race on Saturday morning! My BFF Rob may run it. If he doesn't, he still wants to head up and cheer me on! Our friend Melissa may also join in the cheering section. So Yay! They've never seen me race, ever. And of course there's the China House Buffet afterwards for lunch!! SCORE!

Categories: friends, medals, memorabilia

Marathon Memorabilia & Tattoos

Today's run was a 60 minute run. It was OK on a scale of Great to Awful. About 20 minutes into it, the middle of my back was hurting. Like I had to pop it or something. It would even hurt taking a deep breath. Not under my lungs but in my back! So at 25 minutes, I stopped to twist and WOW, did it EVER pop. But unfortunately the soreness never went away. I think the damage had been done by that time. I managed to stick with it until the 60 minutes. And of course as soon as I was done, I didn't feel the pain anymore. HA!

I did do the biking of the 4.4 miles last night. My thighs were shaking by the time I was done. Though I was going at like 16-19 mph nearly the entire time. Once I headed north, I got a head wind. Then when I headed east, same thing. Come to find out, the winds were coming from the NE at 14 mph, gusting up to 18 mph! Yay DeKalb winds. This bike ride tomorrow is gonna KILL MY thighs!

I do have two random things to share:

I FINALLY got a memento frame for my St. Louis Marathon. The certificate, picture, medal, map and bib. I can't believe I fit that all in there! They're also all taped using scotch tape to a flimsy piece of cardboard. But it seems to be staying in place. I haven't hung it up yet. Trying to figure out placement on my wall.

I also got a couple frame sometime ago for my first half and first marathon. Since they were both St. Jude, I wanted to get them something that matched. I have a picture already printed for the marathon, just need to take it out of the double frame that I have it in.



The other thing is that eventually I'm going to get a running tattoo. Specifically one of these or something similar that I haven't found yet.

I know, I know, all you nay-sayers out there about getting a tattoo in general. But listen, this isn't my first one. I have 8 total, they could be counted as just 5 but I have several in the same area at different times so I count them as separate. And I've been running since I was in high school with my college years off but I wanted to run then just didn't have the motivation. And no matter what I do, whether or not I finish my 50 marathons in 50 states goal or run a 30k race or even tackle a 100 mile, I will still run and run I will enjoy doing. So I want to get something that celebrates that I want to get off my ass unlike most people I know.

So now comes the hard part of where. I was thinking the side of my left foot. But no one would see that. This is one that I actually want people to see. Then I was thinking my outside left ankle but I was wanting to save that for something family orintated (if I ever get it) and I already have something on my outside right ankle.

I was at Daytona Beach, at the beginning of the month and in a Harley Davidson store of all places, I saw a guy wearing shorts that had a winged foot tattoo with, I think, a date underneath. I knew right away that he was a runner. I wanted to ask him about it. His was on either the side of his right calf. That was an interesting place. No matter what he was doing, as long as he was wearing shorts, people would see that and know.

I was reading Runner's World the other day and saw the story of the University of Texas guy and saw where his tattoo Long Horn logo was at. Directly under his running shorts on his right thigh so that they would just show when he was wearing them. Ryan Shay had the same thing on his thigh of his alma mater, Notre Dame. It would be kinda weird to get a winged foot on a thigh though I do like the idea of it showing when I have my running shorts on (just which ones since they all meet my thigh at different points).

So the calf might be the best place. But at the same time, I don't want it on my calf for the same reason why I don't want any on my arms. I love my arms & the way they look too much! Same with my calves. But it would be a great place! Even if I was out doing errands wearing shorts, people would see that tattoo and know that I'm a runner. I do not have any plans on getting anything underneath it like 26.2 or a date. Just the winged foot.

Decisions, decisions. That's why I'm going to sit on it for a while. Probably after this October marathon. Hell, maybe if I do horribly bad in this marathon, I'll call off running all together and then I won't even get it! :-)

Categories: Go St. Louis Marathon, medals, memorabilia, tattoos