Running 2 days in a row?!

Wow! The things I do for boys and happiness.

I ran my first double digit since the marathon on Saturday. Luke and I went up to Rockford to run on the Perryville Path. I've seen bikers on it plenty of times. We started from Midway Village and followed the path through there and then we went through a small neighbourhood (not on the path) and then later picked it up again. It was such a good

We decided to try something different this time. We stayed together for the first 2 miles until we got to the path and then he took off at his normal pace. It was awesome. Because then I got to listen to my music and run at my own pace and he got to do his own thing and we both got to go different mileage too.

It was funny; when we first took off, it didn't look like he really running any faster. Sure, he was leaving me behind but it really did look like I could keep up with him and then sooner or later, he was just a speck in the distance.

I ran 5.1 miles up and turned around. I figured that Luke would have passed me at some point in running back but he never did. I skipped the neighbourhood run and just followed the path south of where we started and came back up another entrance.

It was a pretty nice run/path except for one part. We had to cross Perryville. Which is pretty busy all the time. The run up wasn't too bad of a wait, I got the turn light so I was able to go pretty fast. However, on the way back, it SUCKED. I just missed the light so I had to wait and wait and wait. I hit the pedistratian light but I still waited for an entire minute at the light before I crossed illegally and when the north south traffic was stalled a little bit, I hit the road fast.

My original time goal was to at least run the second half faster than the first half. And I was doing it by a whole second by the time I got to the light (and 3 miles from the finish). But that minute added on 10 seconds to my time and it went from 9:06 to 9:16 and I only got down another second for the average pace by the end of the run.

However, at the end of the run, I saw Luke waiting for me. I was about done at 10.4 miles so I kept going until 10.5. At 10.45, I kicked it up a notch and around a corner started going faster. NOT a good idea at all! Once I was done, I started walking and my groin or inner thigh was hurting. Even Luke couldn't keep up with me! But in his defense, he didn't run all of last week cause of work. Didn't even go to the gym. Which is why I'm very impressed that he managed to run as far as he did. We're guessing he went 13 or 14 miles while I went 10.51.

Later was pasta with his parents. :-)

Look, he does exist!

Um, so really? I had to stop for a dead end?

Pretty!

Yep, I finally got a picture of him & I! Not the best but it'll do.

**********************************

Sunday had us going for another run, this time in DeKalb. He usually runs Saturday & Sunday. I normally don't. And with this groin pull, I didn't know exactly if I should. But I toughed it out and managed to get another 6.2 miles in. Luke was incredibly sore from Saturday's run AND that we played dodgeball Saturday morning and that uses muscles we haven't used in a while (throwing arms & the like).

We both agreed that yesterday's start, running together and then him taking off was the best thing for both of us. I didn't feel like I had to run faster or feel bad since he was running slow with me and he didn't have to run slow or feel bad for me running faster than I should. So he ran with me until we got a agreed upon point and then he took off.

Decided to run down to NIU and mentioned running to the Engineering building but since it was Sunday, we figured it was closed. I decided while running that I was going to go less than he was. Well, at 3.1 miles, I didn't want to risk my groin anymore so I turned around. I had lost him a long time ago, lots of weaves and curves. I didn't even see him in the distance on this route.

However, on my way back he did end up passing me. I had turned around saw him a bit behind me so I knew he was coming up on me. I was so afraid that I was gonna feel bad when he did but he put his arm on my waist and around my lower back as he passed so it was nice gesture that didn't make me feel bad after all. Said that I was going at a pretty good pace. A lot slower than the previous days longer run but I equate that to my groin pull. As he passed me, I did try to match foot fall to foot fall with his and it worked, I did speed up quite a bit even though his legs are like super longer than mine. (he's a few inches taller than me when we're on our feet but when we're on our knees, we're pretty much nose for nose, which means my torso is long)

I finished up with 6.2 miles and I really kicked it into high gear to keep my avg pace under 9:30 min/mi. Luke had ran to my apartment and looked at the clock and had run back to meet me. I was pretty happy with my time overall.

My stats for the two runs:

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 881 ft Location: Cherry Valley, IL Elev. Gain: +7 ft Date: 11/14/09 Up/Downhill: [+367/-360] Time: 01:55 PM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 57 F temp; 69% humidity 57 F heat index; winds W 7 Performance Distance: 10.51 miles Time: 1:37:16 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 15 /mi Calories: 1110 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 53 -0' 22 6.8 +0.3 +10 ft 2 9' 36 +0' 21 6.2 -0.2 +16 ft 3 8' 47 -0' 28 6.8 +0.3 -26 ft 4 9' 12 -0' 03 6.5 +0.0 +16 ft 5 9' 05 -0' 10 6.6 +0.1 +17 ft 6 9' 08 -0' 07 6.6 +0.1 +6 ft 7 10' 09 +0' 54 5.9 -0.6 -29 ft 8 9' 18 +0' 03 6.5 -0.0 +4 ft 9 9' 23 +0' 08 6.4 -0.1 +3 ft 10 9' 12 -0' 03 6.5 +0.0 -10 ft end 8' 40 -0' 35 6.9 +0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 15 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 857 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 11/15/09 Up/Downhill: [+164/-164] Time: 11:37 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 43 F temp; 57% humidity 43 F heat index; winds N 12 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:58:20 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 25 /mi Calories: 662 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 40 +0' 15 6.2 -0.2 +36 ft 2 9' 19 -0' 06 6.4 +0.1 -39 ft 3 9' 26 +0' 01 6.3 -0.0 +4 ft 4 9' 16 -0' 09 6.5 +0.1 0 ft 5 9' 32 +0' 07 6.3 -0.1 +36 ft 6 9' 20 -0' 05 6.4 +0.0 -20 ft end 8' 46 -0' 39 6.8 +0.5 -16 ft Versus average of 9' 25 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 10 miles, 6 miles, Luke, Perryville Path, pictures

A swim, then a run

To make up for Sunday's crappy run, I decided to give it to myself Monday night. Originally I was gonna run at my work after but I got to the door of my building that morning and realised that I forgot my socks at home. And then walking about the office, I realised that I hurt way too much for any sort of running. Decided to try out swimming. With a triathlon in 8 months, I gotta have a base to start from for the swim training. I decided to run a few miles and then go swimming. But of course, once I got home, I ate and putzed around the apartment, I was a little late heading over to the YMCA so I went swimming first since the pool closed earlier than the Wellness Centre.

I wore my new Ironman Triathon watch that I bought from Woot. It has interval & laps that I could use for swimming. And since it's a triathlon watch, it's water resistant! So for once I was able to keep track of the times. I also wore my swimming cap for the first time. I gotta practice putting it on apparently!

All together I went 5 laps, 5 laps, 6 laps, 5 laps, 4 laps = 25 laps. Each lap is 25 yards. So 600 yards total. Also each lap, I was really impressed and was able to do each under 30 seconds, normally around 26 or so. With all my rest, I swam for 31 minutes. The triathlon I plan on doing is 750 meters or 820 yards. So I have quite a bit left to do; 33 laps all together for the tri. Eep! I think I'm gonna be dead in the water.

After the swimming, I went running on the treadmill.
Stats:
Mile 1 in 6.0 mph
Mile 2 in 6.5 mph
Mile 3 in 7.0 mph
Mile .1 in 7.5 mph
3.1 miles in 28:38

In the first mile, my legs felt weird. Not quite weak but definitely not as strong as they could be. After a mile I decided to step it up a notch. However, in the first mile, I was experiencing numb feet. Like from the middle of my foot to my toes. I think it's cause of my new shoes. Need to break them in and not have them as tight across the top of my foot.

Total + Cooldown:
3.39 in 33:39

My YMCA has a Indoor Triathlon that I may just do this year. It's in February. Meant to do it the last 2 years but just never signed up. Need to get a practice trial in there, even though it's all timed and not by distance, this will work just as well!

Categories: swimming, treadmill runs, triathlon

A trail runner I am not

Yesterday, Luke & I went running in Rock Cut State Park located in Rockford, IL. I've been mountain biking there plenty of times on the same trails he runs on. He's ran on these trails over and over again. I have not. I usually don't even run on real trails, I have a pavement trail and at times I can run on a limestone trail which is as "rustic" as I get in DeKalb/Sycamore.

It was such a gorgeous weekend. So happy for it. Very little clouds in the sky and quite warm. I'm wearing my old shoes which have over 400 miles on them now. But I didn't know how muddy the trail was going to be so I didn't want to wear my new shoes (more on them in another blog). We're waiting for the Garmin to pick up a signal but I guess I hit the touch bezel and it went to the training screen and I thought it found a signal. So we took off running.

About 9:15 minutes into the run, I was waiting to hear the beep so I knew when a mile was but I looked down at my Garmin and the distance was still 0.00. WHAT?! So we stop and come to find out, it never found a signal before I started the timer. Luckily, I could tell that we were going at a fairly rapid clip (of course) so I think we went over a mile in the first 9:15 minutes. Got the Garmin to find a signal and away we went again.

I wish I would have brought my camera with me (and it was in the car too). Loads of leaves on the path which meant that it was hard to see any rocks, sand, mud and those bloody roots. It was very tough on the ankles. Also, the hills, both downhill & uphill killed me. I hadn't run in a week; last time was the 15k race the week prior!! I also took off my long-sleeved shirt around 1 mile on my Garmin. Tied it around my waist.

I was about dead once my Garmin hit 2 miles. I made him walk. I was sooooo disappointed with myself. I started running again and in another little bit we walked again. So many walks. We didn't take any shortcuts or anything though. We ran/walked his normal route. I was dying for water along the way. I was breathing so heavily. He usually does this without any hydration on his run at all. We ran across a creek and I was very tempted to drink out of it. Ended up splashing my arms & legs with the very cold water instead.

And then my shoes started to give me grief. Lots of it. The tongue kept shifting on me in both shoes and wouldn't stay straight. I kept having to adjust it. Ended up giving me a sore tendon. I loosed up the laces to see if that would not put as much pressure on the tendon. Finally, I even pulled out the laces from the top eyelets and even that didn't help. When we were running on the road at the end, I took off my shoes & was running in socks. That didn't last very long since my feet are way too bony for barefoot running. So then I went to put them back on but just didn't tie the laces at all. That was a weird feeling and finished the run with that. I don't think I could even wear them just walking around that's how much the tongue was bothering me!

I wore a running skirt (bright pink) and a long-sleeved shirt (yellow) and a baby blue sports bra. I was soooo unmatching, it was AWESOME! But at the end of the run, I zoomed past Luke when he wasn't expecting it and he yelled up to me that he's in no hurry to catch up, said something about chasing skirt. So I got to tell him about the Skirt Chaser 5k race. :-)

Even after we got back to the car, I guzzled some water that I had in there (they taped up the water fountains already) and we walked down to the dock. Again, I forgot my camera in the car so never did get a picture of us; would have been a good one too, along the lake and after running. But I swear this guy does in fact exist!

While out on the run, I told him that I'm a little afraid that this run is gonna make me hate running again. Or gonna get me down as how bad I felt in October. I did exclaim that he knows how well I can run that I can run "fast" and "long" when I'm in shape. I think I was saying for my benefit moreso than to prove something to him. Luke also tried to tell me that it's OK, it's tough to do a run on trails when you're not used to it. At least he realised that and acted like he didn't mind. He said that he knew where to place his feet and which side of the trails to run on. I was so afraid that I was boring him. He ran this loop on Friday night and again on Saturday and decided to just do 1 loop on Saturday since he knew he would be running with me. I told him that he should have ran 2 after all since we were taking it incredibly easy! The only good thing I did was run up a long gradual hill that he says he doesn't look forward to. Had to push, challenge & prove myself I guess that I still had something in me. And on that note, I will be back and I will do it over and over and over again until I kick this trail's butt!

In the 4 years, that I've been going to the park, I've had some good memories there; Rob (my BFF) & I biking was one of them. And now this running with Luke.

Below is of course my BiM info but I've also linked the Garmin stats so you can see it in Google Maps, if you wanted to: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18353053

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 845 ft Location: Machesney Park, IL Elev. Gain: -16 ft Date: 11/08/09 Up/Downhill: [+459/-475] Time: 11:51 AM Difficulty: 2.9 / 5.0 Weather: Partly Cloudy 70 F temp; 54% humidity 70 F heat index; winds S 13 Performance Distance: 5.13 miles Time: 1:17:51 Speed: 4.0 mph Pace: 15' 11 /mi Calories: 519 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 44 -4' 27 5.6 +1.6 +7 ft 2 12' 44 -2' 27 4.7 +0.8 -105 ft 3 14' 51 -0' 20 4.0 +0.1 +62 ft 4 14' 57 -0' 14 4.0 +0.1 +65 ft 5 11' 57 -3' 14 5.0 +1.1 -56 ft end 10' 08 -5' 03 5.9 +2.0 +9 ft Versus average of 15' 11 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Luke, Rock Cut State Park, trail running

Tattoo

Cell phone shot. Not that great quality but you get the point.

Well, I did it! I got myself a new tattoo. :-) This is the 2nd this year and 10th overall. Wow. Usually I don't go for two in such a short time but these last two were so utterly important to me. They describe a part of who I am and how I define myself; a vegetarian and a runner.

Anyway, I had a whole blog post typed up back in September about the tattoo idea I had for running. In it, I was going to have the five different foot/shoe & wings images I found and was going to let to go to a vote to see which ones you guys went with. I know I would have only gotten like only three responses so after a few weeks and messing with one of them in Illustrator I decided I liked one better than all the rest.

Here were the options:

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

I was favouring option B. C was pretty close to B, but had a more toe stance. But since I kinda wanted this on the back of my ankle, I had to keep that in mind and decided to go with something that could wrap around my ankle.

So B was it but it looked a little off for me. After inverting it in Illustrator and going with the all black on the inside, I decided to get that one definitely.

Then as I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred again, I saw that she had wings on the outside & inside of an ankle. That got my wheels turning as well. However, after much thought, I decided to stick with my originally idea since I've seen so many shirts & logos with the same shoe/wing combo. If you're in track or running, you know what this means. Just having wings on the outside of your ankle may not mean anything to anyone.

So then that was that. No more thought over which version but instead of a size. I had 2 sizes picked out and printed out. At work yesterday, I cut them both out and taped one (the bigger one) to the back of my left ankle; right where Erin suggested, above my tendon & below my calf. I took a really long hard look at it. I was happy. I showed the receptionist in my department and she liked it too. It was decided! Woo!

I kept it taped to my ankle and decided that after work, I would stop by the tattoo shop and get a price quote and make an appointment. Come to find out, he was free right then & there! Asked if I need some time to psyche up for it but I didn't. I was ready!

About 10 minutes to get ready & trace the tattoo and then it was back to his studio room. He was glad that I taped the printed version out so he knew where the right placement was at. I just asked that he center it better on my leg.

He peeled off the tape & paper, rubbed my leg down with alcohol and put on his stencil. I have a freckle on my leg that I used as guideline for the toe of the shoe (you can see it in the above photo). He put his stencil a little lower than that freckle. But after seeing it in the mirror over and over and over again, I was comfortable with it being that low. It really wasn't that much lower anyway. I asked about it being more painful since it was lower on the Achilles tendon but he didn't think it should make a difference.

And away he went. He said that he was gonna tattoo a little bit so I can get a gauge and it was fine. Then he started on it. Said that if I needed a break, then we'll take a break. But I was fine throughout the whole thing; him on the otherhand, his hand kept cramping and he really didn't have a good place to rest his arm either.

The only time that it was a little painful was when he stopped cause he was done and was going over it again in a few spots to make sure he got all the spots of the tattoo since it's fully black. It's like cutting yourself and then cutting yourself in the same spot again once it's already been bleeding. He wanted to know how it was for me. I told him; I trained for 3 marathons, I have a high pain tolerance. :-)

Once it was done, I took another look at it in the mirror and it looked fabulous. I'm really loving it. I can't wait until it's fully healed; the swelling goes down & scabs fall off. Then I'll really be able to get a good look at it.

But it's a good spot. Not on my calf and when I run and have my ankle socks (which I always do), people behind me will see it. And during the summer, even when I'm NOT running, I'll have ankle socks & shorts (haha yea right) it'll be seen as well! Maybe it could have been a little bigger but I didn't want it to wrap around my ankle too much.

I have seen some people who have gotten the triathlon tattoo and I do plan on doing one next year but I'll never be crazy about them as I have been about running. But those tattoos are pretty cool looking as well.

Anyway, I think I'm now all tattooed out until my next trip to Ireland. Then I already have that one picked out as well. But I have nothing else that defines me that I need to get tattooed. Suppose I could go with a geek thing but eh, I really don't have anything but the Infinity symbol as that's my favourite math sign. Maybe but I can't really justify it and no way will I get one just to get one. We'll see, I could come up with something really cute I'm sure for a geek thing. There was a guy that came in as I was waiting that wanted his own initials on the back of his arm. I was kinda confused with that but eh, to each their own right?

Categories: tattoos

I'm cheating on Miles

So lately I've been talking about this friend on here. I mentioned him in Pumpkinfest and then again in the Hot Chocolate 15k race report and even mentioned his name when thanking him for cheering me on in Milwaukee. Weeeeeell, technically he's my boyfriend.

Yes, this is the same guy that we went on a running date at the end of August. The same one in which we met at a race at the end of July.

It took a while to really get into the relationship because of my marathon training. Had a few dates with him in August (the running date was the highlight). In September it was a few more than August and then October, while I took a few weeks off of running after my marathon, we were able to get together even more.

Earlier this year, I made another personal blog post about boyfriends and running. I mentioned that after a few hit misses, I knew I wanted a guy interested in biking / running or something outdoorsy. At least being active. And this one definitely fits all the categories.

He really is a great guy, I could go on and on about that but let's not since I don't know who reads this. But he's a runner. And a fast one at that so lets talk about that instead.

He's been running for years, since high school but has never really raced until this year; January was his first race. And now each one has gotten larger and bigger but he's still in the top of them. He won the race in which we met, placed in his age group at Pumpkinfest and then came in 21st out of 4100 at the Hot Chocolate 15k. That my friends, is hot to me, as crazy as that sounds.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the SkirtChaser 5k next summer! :-)

Also in that blog post, I mentioned how I didn't think I could date a guy too incredibly fast. My competitive juices would get flowing with me all too high and I would be way too hard on myself. Well, so far, they've creeped up in me a little bit but luckily he's too fast for me to even be in the same category as him. If he could run a 5k in the 20's then maybe I have a chance to try to get faster but since he does his in the teens, there's no way. So that has helped tremendously with keeping them away.

Also, he's been really good at not minding going "slow" or my pace when we go running together. We've been running together a few times; even got up well before dawn on a Wednesday to get 4 miles in before work. On Saturday, we went out to Rock Cut, a last minute decision, so he could show me his trails that he runs on and we jogged a little bit. I am not used to trail running at all and all the wet leaves were interesting underfoot. Plus, we were wearing jackets & jeans and our normal everyday shoes. We're going to go there again on Sunday and this time with running clothes on and do some real running. He does want me to go faster at the end of our runs; did on our first run and then this last one on Wednesday morning.

However.... (yes there is a however)... Sunday at the race, he was explaining the Rock Cut Hobo Series that he had planned on doing before he got a little injured. 10k Friday night, 25k on Saturday and then a 50k (31 miles) on Sunday. In August, when he was telling me that he planned on doing that, I asked how many miles he has ran at a time. He only did 16 or so. That's the longest he's ever ran. Even in a marathon, you run at least 20, sometimes 22, to train for that. So anyway, on Sunday, one of the woman in our group asked if he was going to run a marathon, he said maybe next year. I don't quite know how to explain what I was feeling but it was something. Don't get me wrong, I'm incredibly happy for him that he wants to do this and I think he'll be great and could possibly get under 3 hours but at the same time, he has the speed... I guess I was just hoping to have the distance.

I know it's a silly thing to be jealous about; I'm jealous over the fact that he wants to run a marathon. How stupid right? And I'm also trying not to beat myself over the fact of how "slow" I am and feeling horrible for him running with me while going so slow. I mean, I'm out there huffing and puffing and he's coasting. It's almost not fair but he's got the runner's body, I don't. I should feel blessed I can even run with all that is going against me.

While technically, Luke & I met in July, had our first date in August, we decided to make it exclusive this month (I was hesitant for many reasons). So I guess what I said in the other blog post is true; I just had to wait until October.

And no, we don't have any pictures together yet.

Categories: dating, Luke

Hot Chocolate 15k race report

Good news is that I think I'm getting out of my running funk. Before I get into my race report yesterday, I should say that even though I put on a happy face, I was not feeling my best about my running since my marathon. It disappointed me moreso than I care to let on. My friends and you fellow bloggers & commenters were quite nice & helpful with your comments but this was just something that I had to work out myself. While I didn't go so far to fall out of love with it, I was just not that into running anymore. Which is probably why it's a good thing I did sign up for these races; to keep me going. The pace race at Pumpkinfest helped me feel better. I crossed the line with no problems breathing, I felt great. Granted I was going slow but it gave me a boost of confidence helping someone. And then this race yesterday, I raced it and gave it my all and came away very much happy with my time and how I felt at the end. I may not be all the way back in the game but I'm getting there. I think the true test will be January when I start marathon training again.

Yesterday I had my very first 15k race and my very first race in Chicago.

It was a good race in that the weather was lovely and I did great in my time. But the crowds... not so much. The final times only say that 4100 ran the 5k and 4400 ran the 15k but it just seemed like a lot more than that.

Met up with my NITRO running group and a friend so we could carpool together. We left Sycamore at 5:20a. I ate breakfast around 4:30a. Way too early and I should have brought something with me to the race. By the time we got to the start, I was STARVING. I was so afraid I was going to bonk. I didn't bring anything to eat on the run either.

The 5kers left at 8am and they just kept on going and going and going and going it seemed. Some were crossing 15 minutes after the start. They finally allowed us 15kers to line up and it only took me 3:35 or so to cross the starting line.

I had worn my jacket, pullover and pants over my running outfit. I took off my jacket & pullover and just had my mittens & longsleeved shirt on and I was fine with that. I was utterly confused with the pants though. I know my core warms up pretty well. But last minute as I was standing in the line for gear check, I decided to take off my warmup pants and run in shorts. I also had originally planned on running with my iPod but before the start, I found out that died after we checked the gear so I ran with it the entire time but wasn't listening to anything.

First mile ran with a guy who recognised my St. Jude Marathon shirt and we talked about that. 2-4 miles I ran behind 3 girls who I was using as my pace group. Then one of the girls started to fade and I had to run past them. There were people all over the race course. I was constantly have to divide and conquer them. Not too happy.

I wanted to run the first half slower than the second half. First half was average of 9:13 min/mi.

Just after 4 miles, my friend was on mile 7 and we were able to pass each other. He was near the front of the race. I never did see anyone else in the race but I found out that another couple was behind me by 3 minutes.

I lost all sort of direction half way through the race, I didn't even know the course so I didn't know where we were going or anything. I also lost track of mile 5 and maybe 6. I don't remember much of them.

Oh and if you wanna know why I don't have any pictures up is because I forgot my camera. Yep, first race in Chicago, along the lakeshore and I forgot my camera. Lucky me.

Mile 7, I was happy with my pace and decided to try to start pushing myself at mile 8 and then on to mile 9 and finish strong and with nothing left. I was feeling like I had way too much energy left in me at this time. My goal is to always leave everything out on the course. If I don't feel like dying at the end, I didn't give it my all. by this time I was averaging 9:08 and was hoping that I could knock off 8 seconds in the last 2 miles but didn't know if I could.

Around mile 8.5, a guy wearing a Pumpkinfest 10k shirt from this year passed me. I tried keeping up with him and did for the most part but his calves were way too big and strong for me to do that. Lost him around mile 9. I saw my friend standing along the course just before mile 9, I think. I made him start running with me with our gear check. I was asking him about his time and how he was feeling. I don't know why I was talking. But he eventually got off the course and I got passed by 3 people blazing by and I tried kicking it strong and I think I did. My Garmin said I ran 9.42 miles (all the dodging and snakes I was doing added up the milage) for an average pace of 9:02 min/mi overall.

The whole point of this race was the Hot Chocolate & free chocolate everything post-race. Weeeeeell, the Hot Chocolate sucked. Yes I did ask for it without marshmallows. I threw half of it away. The chocolate fondue looked pretty good (which was just melted Hersey Kisses -- I feel sorry for the guys peeling the tin foil from the kisses). Banana, apple slice, marshmallow, graham cracker and a pretzel rod. I gave my marshmallow & apple slice away. Took one bite from my pretzel rod (too salty) but totally loved the banana with the melted chocolate.

My only picture from the day

They also had lovely people walking around with bags and bags of free mini chocolate bars. I grabbed quite a few of those. We all met up at our designated tree and left around noon. We stopped for a bite to eat at Red Robin (my suggestion :-)

Got back home and the results were posted online! My friend came in 21st overall and smoked his goal time. I came in at 1:25:09 and was quite happy about that (anything under 1:29 I would have been happy with). And the others in our NITRO group did exactly what they were hoping for. Like I said, it was just an awesome day for a race & a run! Everything turned out to be just like I hoped it would.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 587 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: -3 ft Date: 11/01/09 Up/Downhill: [+239/-242] Time: 08:33 AM Difficulty: 2.8 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 47 F temp; 51% humidity 47 F heat index; winds SW 7 Performance Distance: 9.42 miles Time: 1:25:12 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 03 /mi Calories: 997 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 02 -0' 01 6.6 +0.0 -6 ft 2 9' 29 +0' 26 6.3 -0.3 +4 ft 3 9' 14 +0' 11 6.5 -0.1 0 ft 4 9' 05 +0' 02 6.6 -0.0 0 ft 5 9' 19 +0' 16 6.4 -0.2 -6 ft 6 9' 01 -0' 02 6.7 +0.0 0 ft 7 9' 03 +0' 00 6.6 -0.0 +10 ft 8 8' 42 -0' 21 6.9 +0.3 -10 ft 9 8' 52 -0' 11 6.8 +0.1 +10 ft end 8' 02 -1' 01 7.5 +0.8 -3 ft Versus average of 9' 03 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 9.3 miles, Chicago Lakefront, Hot Chocolate 15k, races