Taper begins

This tree seems to think it's Autumn already.

I am very angry at my shoes. The only reason why 15 miles took me so slow & I had to walk so many times is because the bottom of my feet were burning. They were rubbing in not a good way. I have developed blisters on my feet that I have never gotten before wearing any other brand of shoe! Even the previous model of the same shoe before this one. I am sooo not happy. I'm wondering if my shoes are in fact NOT narrow like they should be. So I think what I'm going to do is go back to my previous shoes and run in those from here on out during my taper. I only have 354 miles on them. They could potentially last me until approximately 450 miles. I have a few maintenance runs during the week, 12 miles and 8 miles for my long runs the next 2 Saturdays before Race Day on October 4.

So my run today was decent enough. Except as I mentioned by the end, I had to keep walking because my feet hurt. Not because I was tired or achy or sore but my feet were burning. When you're on your feet for this many hours, you need them to hold you up otherwise you will fail.

Wow, so I can't even talk anything about this run because all I can think about is my GD feet! I only wonder how things would have turned out if my feet were not bad. Would I have been able to keep up the pace??

I did get some of the typical aches and pains of taper paranoia. My left shin, left knee and right hip hurt. They went away. I started to have my doubts with even completely 11 more miles after this 15 miles. Would I be able to do it? What was I thinking? Why do I do this to myself? How can I even think of doing 2 more next year?

At 7 miles I stopped to have some Watermelon Sports Beans. At 14.5 miles, I filled up one of my water bottles at the spicket near the front of the condos. And then at 14.8 miles, I passed someone watering her plants so I yelled out I'll take some of that and she turned the nozzle toward me and I ran over to her and my front and my back got sprinkled on. Felt soooo good! I had goosebumps for the rest of the run!

Something interesting did happen at about 4.5 miles or so. I was coming up to a walker facing me with 2 dogs. Behind him was a woman on a bike coming towards him. I warned him of her behind him that way he could tie up his dogs and let her & I pass without bumping into each other or him. After she passed, I said to him, "They never tell you when they're coming up behind you." He just smiled and nodded. I then heard the woman on the bike say something but I still had my earbuds in and Steve Runner was still talking so I didn't know exactly what she said but it sounded like "I ___ told him I was behind him." Don't know if that was "did" or "would have" or what but I don't care. She was not happy and I'm not happy with bikers at all. She saw me again when I stopped for my jelly bellys and again she said something to me but I had my back to the bike path cause I wasn't sure of the way I was going to go after I ate them but I ignored her. No idea what she said this time around.

This week, I didn't want to run. I was apathetic about EVERYTHING it seemed. Work, waking up, eating, running. So not like me. I forced myself to run on Wednesday morning and I squeaked out 3.5 miles. Didn't even blog about it that's how apathetic I was even with that. I had cereal every night for dinner. Didn't feel like cooking and hadn't gone grocery shopping in a while. Apathetic about running. That is sooo not like me!! Luckily I think it was all hormonal for it seems the apathy is now gone but the cereal phase certainly is not! I'm addicted to the stuff it seems!

This song is gonna be my mantra; for more reasons than just running:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 857 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +7 ft Date: 09/12/09 Up/Downhill: [+538/-531] Time: 08:38 AM Difficulty: 3.5 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 73 F temp; 68% humidity 73 F heat index; winds NE 6 Performance Distance: 15.01 miles Time: 2:28:36 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 54 /mi Calories: 1595 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 24 -0' 30 6.4 +0.3 +27 ft 2 9' 18 -0' 36 6.5 +0.4 -17 ft 3 9' 36 -0' 18 6.2 +0.2 -10 ft 4 9' 27 -0' 27 6.3 +0.3 +36 ft 5 9' 25 -0' 29 6.4 +0.3 -36 ft 6 9' 36 -0' 18 6.2 +0.2 -10 ft 7 10' 06 +0' 12 5.9 -0.1 +39 ft 8 9' 52 -0' 02 6.1 +0.0 -16 ft 9 9' 56 +0' 02 6.0 -0.0 +17 ft 10 9' 48 -0' 06 6.1 +0.1 -16 ft 11 10' 05 +0' 11 6.0 -0.1 +6 ft 12 10' 39 +0' 45 5.6 -0.4 +23 ft 13 10' 50 +0' 56 5.5 -0.5 -23 ft 14 10' 37 +0' 43 5.7 -0.4 +7 ft end 9' 59 +0' 05 6.0 -0.1 -13 ft Versus average of 9' 54 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 15 miles, DeKalb Nature Trail, feet, shoes, taper

Longest run of my life

Well, from here on out every Saturday for 2 weeks then skipping a week, I'll be able to say that.

I signed up to do the World Wide Festival of Races. This has a 1/2 Marathon, 10k and 5k that one can sign up and "virtually" run with other racers from around the world. You also receive a virtual goodie bag as well. It worked out perfectly since I had a 15 mile run to do today.

I got up at 5:30a, ate my oatmeal and didn't have any bagels to eat so the oatmeal was it. Got running at 6:45. Right away I started to feel my calf being a pain in my rear end. But I managed to keep on running. And I kept on going and going on going. I got to see the sunrise. It was dark when I left my house.

I ran past the "town" of Virgil. I ran past the bar that Brent & I stopped at that is a biker bar but we were on our bicycles and luckily, no one gave us a hard time for it.



Then at 7.3 miles, I ran past horses. Yay! A new view! Then I turned around and started my trek back. I listed to 2.5 Podcasts while doing this run today.

By 11 miles, I had slowed way down. Averaging 9:40 min/mi. At 11 miles, I started going 10:30 min/mi. I was going at I looked at my watch and at 13.1 I noted the time. I ran it in 2:10:05. Which is not bad since I knew I had 2 more miles to go! My feet were burning by this time, more specifically the balls of my feet. I tried running on the grass but that didn't work.


I finished my 15 mile run with a time of 2:29:37 and at 9:14a. Just what I estimated. Pretty cool! My breathing also got a lot easier as I reached those slower paces. It didn't sound as laboured. but I slowed down so that's why. I also burned a total of 1,568 calories.

During the run:
Mile 3, I drank some Gatorade. At mile 5, I brought out my Shot Bloks and ate three of them but it was so hard to do that. I felt like I couldn't breathe because they were so chewy and gelly. I chewed them with water. At mile 7, I drank some more Gatorade. At mile 10, I ate only 2 Shot Bloks since that was all I could ingest. I'm not buying them again. Something new to try though. I also grabbed some sour gum that I had but I think it was opened a bit so it kinda dried out and didn't taste so good. It wasn't turning into gum so I just ended up spitting it out. I drank a lot more Gatorade and water in those last 5 miles.

I stretched for a little bit and then I headed back home to take a cold bath and head to Chicago to meet up with Jesse. Weeeell, that didn't happen. I headed home to take the cold bath but I got out at 9:45a when I should have already left to the train station. I ended up not taking a full shower but enough to get my hair wet and wash the salt off my face and got dressed quickly. I grabbed my camera, Runner's World in case I got Ryan Hall to autograph it.

I left at 10:05a from DeKalb, train left at 10:25a. I flew down Keslinger but it didn't work. I was pulling into the parking lot as the train left. I was sooo disappointed with myself. I checked Aurora's time table and they had a train that was leaving at 11:20a and by the time that Jesse and I talked about it, I tried heading over to Aurora. But then I got stuck by a freight train in Elburn and by the time I got over to Geneva, it was already 11a and I knew that I wouldn't be able to make it in time. So Jesse called me and I told him that he doesn't have to wait for me. Otherwise, I wouldn't get into Chicago until almost 2p since the next train from Elburn left at 12:25 (every 2 hours).

So I headed back to DeKalb and met up with a friend and ate at Baker's Square. I was just dying for some grease! And I even had a half slice of pie too!

Now I'm just chilling on the couch, writing this, watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS. The kitties are sleeping on the couch with me. I'm going to read a Runner's World from July 2007 about a guide on self massage. Then I'll need to take a real shower later on tonight and sleep well to prepare for the Chicago Marathon event tomorrow! Plus, I still need to head out to make a sign for Jesse tomorrow!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 871 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/11/08 Up/Downhill: [+177/-177] Time: 06:43 AM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 61 F temp; 67% humidity 61 F heat index; winds S 7 Performance Distance: 15.00 miles Time: 2:29:37 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 58 /mi Calories: 1568 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 40 -0' 18 6.2 +0.2 +23 ft 2 9' 44 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 +7 ft 3 9' 36 -0' 22 6.2 +0.2 -10 ft 4 9' 52 -0' 06 6.1 +0.1 +9 ft 5 9' 38 -0' 20 6.2 +0.2 -16 ft 6 9' 48 -0' 10 6.1 +0.1 +7 ft 7 9' 38 -0' 20 6.2 +0.2 0 ft 8 10' 12 +0' 14 5.9 -0.1 0 ft 9 9' 50 -0' 08 6.1 +0.1 0 ft 10 9' 46 -0' 12 6.1 +0.1 -4 ft 11 10' 27 +0' 29 5.7 -0.3 +13 ft 12 10' 27 +0' 29 5.7 -0.3 -9 ft 13 10' 32 +0' 34 5.7 -0.3 +10 ft 14 10' 39 +0' 41 5.6 -0.4 -7 ft 15 9' 52 -0' 06 6.1 +0.1 -23 ft Versus average of 9' 58 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 15 miles, Great Western Trail, long run, pictures

Preparing for the long run

Only this one will be the longest run of my life. 15 miles. On Saturday morning.

I know that I'll need to bring all four bottles, two filled with water and 2 filled with Gatorade. I'll need to eat enough in the morning; oatmeal and peanut butter & jelly on toast. Then I'll also need to bring stuff on my run to eat and refuel. I might as well bring my gel with me. Get used to the taste. Ick. I'll also need to down it with water as that's the way you should ingest those things. That should suffice and I shouldn't need anything else. And then run for a long ass time. I'll also have to have a bottle of Gatorade in the car with me. 7.5 miles one way, 7.5 miles back.

Jesse invited me in to Chicago on Saturday to attend the Chicago Marathon Expo and have a pasta lunch with him. I'm hoping to get up early enough on Saturday, start running at 6:45a, figure 2.5 hours of running (taking my run of 13 mi in 2:20), 9:15a end, shower and drive and I'll get to the Elburn train station right at 10:15a. I may even need to start that at 6:30a (leaving my house at 6:15a) that way I can spend some time in a cold bath. That means a 5:30 wakeup and out of bed so I can eat my breakfast. Eep!

Luckily, I'll get to sleep in a little bit. On Sunday I'll be heading in to meet my LiveJournal online friend (first time meeting her) for the marathon. This will be our first Chicago Marathon. The train leaves from Elburn at 8:25a and I'll get to Olgivie at 9:46 and the walk on down 4 blocks to the halfway point and wait for Jesse (if I can see him). Then we'll walk across the street another block down to 16.5 miles and from there head on over to the finish where we will be just hanging out for a few hours watching everyone come on in!

For some odd reason, I LOVE the Magic Bullet informercial. Whenever it's on, you can find me watching it! Just so amazing! "As fast as you can say Bob's your Uncle!"

A few good ideas to go with your running swag. Medals, bibs and shirts.

Categories: 15 miles, Chicago Marathon