Racing

Luke ran his final race in the Winter Trail Series at Rock Cut last Saturday, a 20k which is 12.4 miles.

He has been off running since the last race, Feb 20 & 4 weeks total, to heal his knee. We're still not sure what the injury is exactly. Silly boy won't go to the doctor. But he's has still been doing cardio in terms of swimming. He said that he was going to play it by ear on Saturday morning. He really wanted his bright orange Survivor race shirt but he also knows that he didn't want to mess up his knee anymore than it already was.

After my 5 mile run, I came back and told him it was pretty stupid to run that. But he felt like his knee is good enough to test it out. And figured that with this being in the woods, the wind shouldn't be too bad. So away we went.

Unfortunately, it had snowed the evening and morning of so there was snow on the ground. We're thinking that might have caused his problem, with the uneven surface that tweaked his knee. And it was chilly. Luckily, I remembered my winter coat as I had been wearing my Spring/Fall jacket instead.

He took off and I went back to the car to get a few nods. I was bound & determined to not miss out on him finishing this time. So since they started at noon, I figured an 1:15p would be a good time to just stand around and wait for him.

At 1 hour and 22 minutes into the race, the first finisher crossed the line. And then he promptly turned around and did the course backwards as Luke told me he saw a runner with a bib number coming towards him.

Unfortunately, there was vandalism on the trail. Someone had turned a sign over so that sent quite a few runners down the wrong path. Luckily, someone in the group realised that and was turning it around as Luke approached the sign. He also missed out on a turn but again someone behind him called ahead to him and yelled out that he missed his turn. Guess it's a good thing he wasn't wearing headphones.

I got into a good photo taking spot at 1 hour and 30 minutes into the run. By this time quite a few people were starting to finish. They were covered in mud, from feet to hips. I kept looking for Luke but alas, I still couldn't see him. He took his cell phone with him in case he needed to call me and DNF (which would have been interesting since I don't know how to drive a stick shift & we took his car) but I hadn't received a phone call so I knew he kept going. At 1 hour 40 minutes, I decided to start being concerned. At that point, it was a 50 minute 10k and well, that's 3 minutes slower than his 10k race result.

Just a minute later, I saw Luke coming around the bend. I called out his name, he gave no indication that he heard me. Then up the hill to the finish line. Yes, there's a hill at the VERY END OF THE RUN. Crazy director. But I got a picture of him finishing. Yay!! And he said that he did hear me and was glad that I was at the finish. He said at other races that it didn't matter to him whether or not I was there. But he said it was nice this time.

He ended up coming in 35th or something. But still 2nd in his age group. His knee starting hurting him 2 miles in and kept it up until mile 4 or 5. Then it stopped and he was able to pick up speed and pass people until about mile 9 when it started again. It looked like he was really hurting when I saw him finishing but I couldn't really judge his speed too well. We walked a bit, got cookies, chili, water & hot chocolate. His limping wasn't too bad while walking.

On Sunday, his knee was a lot better than after the 15k. But he's gonna take another 4 weeks, maybe 6 weeks off running and then start again from scratch and hopefully his knee will hold up! But he's thinking he might be done with races for a long while. Especially road races, he wants to stay on the trails.

Anyway, he started describing the course while walking around. It sounded pretty muddy. Something that I would not be cool with. I'm a road runner. Not quite a trail runner like he is. And I'm OK with that.

Also, what I'm OK with is the fact that he's taking more weeks off of running. For those who think that our relationship is based soley on running, is wrong. We have plenty of other things in common as well. Just because we met at a race and both enjoy running, it does not determine why we're together. This is not really a personal blog but a running blog, so I try to mainly talk about running events and that's why anytime I mention him, it's about running.

The starters

Crazy dude

Luke being cold

Taking off

1st guy finishing

Muddy pants & shoes

Another crazy dude

They look cold

1st girl finishing

There's Luke!

His finish

Washing the mud off in the snow

Luke in his Survivor orange shirt

Categories: Luke, pictures, Rock Cut Trail Series

A brutal 5 mile run

Or how I really should have stayed inside and NOT run.

First day of Spring. (Also, The Great American Meat-out Day). And it snows. About 3" I would say. Was about 30 degrees at 7am. And had winds up to 22mph, normally around 18mph.

And I went out for a run anyway.

The smartest thing I ever did was to change up my route so that I would run the last mile with the wind at my back.

I ran 1.5 miles south with the wind. Turned around to run 2.5 into the wind, a cold-biting, snow-stinging few miles. Then I turned around and it was a fast last mile thanks to the genius plan of mine.

But otherwise, in that 2.5 heading north into the wind, I was cursing myself. Luckily, I brought enough clothes with me to keep myself warm but I grabbed a HUGE sweatshirt from Luke's closet anyway. Kinda glad I grabbed it. The snow was totally hurting against my cheeks. Underneath my chin it was frozen. The skin under my watch was being burned because it was exposed to air so that my GPS watch could be seen.

But as I said the last mile was a breeze. I really felt my speed pick up. It chased those negative thoughts out of my head that's for sure. Cause I was having some serious doubts.

Friday night, I grabbed a tennis ball from Luke's closet and I laid my hip against it. That was amazing. Then I put it under my hamstring but it's so big & thick that it was hard to find that spot that was sore. But still I fulfilled my daydreams from earlier that day!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 675 ft Location: Geneva, IL Elev. Gain: +7 ft Date: 03/20/10 Up/Downhill: [+108/-101] Time: 07:50 AM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Light Snow Fog/Mist 32 F temp; 92% humidity 32 F heat index; winds N 17 G 26 Performance Distance: 5.14 miles Time: 0:49:41 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 40 /mi Calories: 550 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 04 -0' 36 6.6 +0.4 +6 ft 2 9' 26 -0' 14 6.3 +0.1 -9 ft 3 9' 48 +0' 08 6.1 -0.1 0 ft 4 10' 18 +0' 38 5.8 -0.4 +10 ft 5 9' 57 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 +6 ft end 8' 03 -1' 37 7.4 +1.2 -6 ft Versus average of 9' 40 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 5 miles, Fox River Trail, Geneva, hamstring, hip

An interesting run

Well, the run itself wasn't so interesting. I did run in a new place, well, a place that I ran once before but just did it for longer. Anyway, it was after the run that got interesting.

Let me backtrack to last Saturday. I had just stepped out of a car and was still all snotty from being sick. So I hacked up some phlegm and went to chuck it far but when I did, I had stepped forward on a wet painted line in the parking lot. Apparently those get very slick. So out my right foot went, so very far. So much so, my knee actually bent the OTHER way, downward, and I felt my hamstring pull and felt a tear. I could hardly get up from that position since my knee was locked. It hurt but not like an immense sense of pain but I knew something was wrong. Then I felt a numbing sensation. My whole leg went to sleep. Pins & Needles galore. It took a few minutes to get ANY sensation back in my leg. I couldn't even get in the car. All day, I could feel that something was off. But I wasn't limping at the expos I went to.

Now to Thursday nights run. I ran the 10k I wanted. I had soreness in my thighs as usual. So thinking it was an IT Band issue, when I got back to the apartment I decided to stretch. I did the normal IT Band stretches and it felt good. I decided to go further into stretching, which I hardly ever do. I bent down to touch my toes and I felt the same right hamstring pull and start to hurt. Not good. So I decided to stretch some more thinking, it was just tight. I did the butterfly, that felt OK. Then I put my leg out and reached for my toes and it felt OK on my left leg, my right leg, not so much. Bad feeling again.

I hobbled when I went grocery shopping. I couldn't kick out my right foot without pulling on that hamstring and hitting that nerve that sent a bolt through my leg. So I ended up taking really small steps. I took an ice pack and put that under my leg for a little bit that evening.

Friday morning, I could feel the hamstring a little bit. But I still decided to err on the side of caution. So Friday at work, I took a Lean Cuisine and used that to ice my hamstring. That lunchtime when I went down to do some weights, I didn't do the hamstring curl machine at all. I didn't want to aggravate it.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 674 ft Location: Geneva, IL Elev. Gain: +13 ft Date: 03/18/10 Up/Downhill: [+167/-154] Time: 05:37 PM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 58 F temp; 55% humidity 58 F heat index; winds SW 13 G 23 Performance Distance: 6.20 miles Time: 0:58:00 Speed: 6.4 mph Pace: 9' 21 /mi Calories: 659 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 07 -0' 14 6.6 +0.2 +9 ft 2 9' 21 +0' 00 6.4 -0.0 +3 ft 3 9' 35 +0' 14 6.3 -0.2 -26 ft 4 9' 33 +0' 12 6.3 -0.1 +16 ft 5 9' 21 +0' 00 6.4 -0.0 0 ft 6 9' 21 +0' 00 6.4 -0.0 +16 ft end 8' 37 -0' 44 7.0 +0.5 -6 ft Versus average of 9' 21 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 6 miles, Geneva, hamstring, hyperextended knee

Friendly faces

Yay for Spring! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I really didn't want to go running yesterday. My thighs were still sore from my 16 mile Sunday run. I even mentioned that I didn't on Twitter. Luckily someone responded with motiviation! So I went! Then when I told Luke, via email, he said enjoy the weather. And it's like um, why would I be running outside? Then I looked at weather.com. Duh! Of course I would run outside! AND I would run outside in shorts & a short sleeved shirt!

I had stuff to do immediately after work so I only got in 4 miles. I noticed immediately how white & pale my legs & arms are. Can't wait to get some sun again. But they were in shorts! I even wore a cotton shirt, cause I decided while lifting weights that the shirt was too big & I was going to throw it out. Figured one run in it and plus, it'll keep me a little extra warm.

Monday had seriously felt like I had ran a marathon. With every step up & every step down, I felt my thighs burn. With ever sit in a chair or a rise from a chair, I felt my thighs burn. I could barely do the leg press at the gym. Tuesday they were only burning with the sitting, I could walk up & down stairs just fine. But on the run, it was with every single step & push off, I felt my thighs burn.

But it was still glorious. I saw 2 people I know even on the trail! So busy! Lots of people enjoying the weather. And it was a fast run. Didn't quite mean to (I really did want 10 min/mi) but after seeing the 1st & 2nd mile was under 9 minutes, I just decided to keep the other 2 at under 9 minutes as well. So much for recovery.

And by that night, my thighs went back to hurting up and down stairs. Not cool. But this morning when I awoke, no pain! Maybe the running did help after all! :-)

I leave you with a picture of chocolate mint brownies that I baked on Monday night (when I decided not to go running). YUMMY!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 856 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 03/16/10 Up/Downhill: [+193/-193] Time: 04:30 PM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 57 F temp; 41% humidity 57 F heat index; winds N 6 Performance Distance: 4.00 miles Time: 0:35:22 Speed: 6.8 mph Pace: 8' 51 /mi Calories: 426 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 48 -0' 03 6.8 +0.0 +39 ft 2 8' 58 +0' 07 6.7 -0.1 -27 ft 3 8' 54 +0' 03 6.7 -0.0 +16 ft end 8' 44 -0' 07 6.9 +0.1 -29 ft Versus average of 8' 51 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: DeKalb Nature Trail, shorts, sore legs

Canoecopia & Bike-O-Rama and 16 miles

The number of blog posts that I did last week equaled the number of times that I ran. I'll save you the time to go back and look. The answer is 0. I ran zero times last week. Because I was sick. I was feeling decent, OK, by Thursday and it was a lovely day outside when I got home but I just couldn't muster the energy to get dressed and do a run. So I didn't. And I didn't again on Friday. So I had doubts about my run this weekend. Would I really do 16 miles?

I meant to go running on Saturday early morning before Luke & I had plans but alas, I decided to sleep after my alarm went off at 7a and we actually didn't get out of bed until 10a, an hour after we were supposed to leave for Madison. Anyway, the wind was horrendous and the rain didn't help me get out of bed any easier.

Saturday, Luke & I headed to Madison to go to Canoecopia & Bike-O-Rama. (Sorry, no pictures of these places) He's all into kayaks (actually owns one) and his family owns a canoe. So we paid the $10 admission fee and toured the HUGE expo. I was very tempted to sit in a kayak but I didn't. Not like I was really gonna buy one. They had had presenters & speakers all day talking about various topics. We sat in one at the end that explained how to pick & buy a kayak that's right for you. It was very interesting, I actually learned a lot.

After that we headed on over to Bike-O-Rama. This entry fee was free and immediately you're hit with a ton of bikes. We browsed through the road bikes for a bit (I would really like Luke to get a road bike but I think he'll be able to keep up with me on his mountain bike just fine to be honest). And then looked at some accessories. I think my next purchase will be aerobars for my bike. Those look really nice to have!! Just lean forward and no constant pressure on your elbows from the handlebars. Oh and I would like a new bike rack for my car. Something that will fit my mountain bike (and Luke's) top tube easier.

So today was the day that I had to do my run. Unfortunately, the wind stayed with us but the rain went away! I got all the way out to my trailhead and then realised that I forgot my Garmin, so I drove all the way back just to grab it. On my way out the door, I told Luke that the run is already not starting out too well.

But it was a decent enough 16 miles. On my way out, I kept thinking that maybe I should do 5 out and 5 back and then 3 out and 3 back. But then I decided that once I get back to the start, I probably wouldn't do the 3 out again and what's another 3 miles once I made it to 5. Plus, this way, I HAVE to run (or walk) the 8 back.

I was also heading into the wind on the way there. Northeast is where it was coming from. At around mile 6, the wind started to pick up and it was actually blowing me a bit wobbly on my run. I was getting weaker by that time so no surprise. At the 8 mile mark, I stopped to drink some PowerAde & have 2 pieces of the PowerBar Gel Blasts. Then I had to run with the wind at my back, which I thought would help me speed up but alas, it was coming too far out of the north to aid me and the wind at my sweaty back was cooling me off too quickly.

By mile 10, my legs were feeling really sore & tired and heavy. Not cool. I was hurting. And my hip is STILL sore from skiing a couple weeks ago. So I was feeling that during the duration of my run. And a little my knee too, all on the same leg, the right leg. So I'm sitting here icing it currently.

The second half was a lot slower & I stopped a lot more. Boo. I was disappointed about that. But I overall I kept a decent time. I was just over 10 minutes a mile going into the last mile and so I really wanted to knock that down and I did (in the last 1/2 mile).

After running, I got into a cold water bath for 15 minutes. Took a shower and headed up to the gym at the high school and we played some basketball with my friends. Well, a little basketball for me. I did play 2 games to 10 of 3 on 2. Luke & I were even on a team and we managed to keep the score relatively close to the team of 3! Luke was the tallest one there so he got many rebounds, blocks & shots off. He's actually pretty good at basketball. :-)

Then it was pie (since it was Pi Day, March 14, 3.14!) of Coconut Creme & German Chocolate cake (yes, I know it's a cake but that was all the pie Wal-Mart had at 5:30p on a Sunday night)!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 873 ft Location: Sycamore, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 03/14/10 Up/Downhill: [+252/-252] Time: 11:05 AM Difficulty: 3.4 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 46 F temp; 82% humidity 46 F heat index; winds NE 20 G 24 Performance Distance: 16.00 miles Time: 2:40:11 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 10' 01 /mi Calories: 1717 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 17 -0' 44 6.5 +0.5 +23 ft 2 9' 33 -0' 28 6.3 +0.3 +7 ft 3 9' 45 -0' 16 6.2 +0.2 -13 ft 4 9' 49 -0' 12 6.1 +0.1 +13 ft 5 9' 45 -0' 16 6.2 +0.2 -13 ft 6 9' 59 -0' 02 6.0 +0.0 +7 ft 7 10' 02 +0' 01 6.0 -0.0 -4 ft 8 10' 06 +0' 05 5.9 -0.1 +16 ft 9 10' 06 +0' 05 5.9 -0.1 -16 ft 10 10' 09 +0' 08 5.9 -0.1 +3 ft 11 10' 12 +0' 11 5.9 -0.1 -3 ft 12 10' 28 +0' 27 5.7 -0.3 +9 ft 13 10' 20 +0' 19 5.8 -0.2 -10 ft 14 10' 39 +0' 38 5.6 -0.4 +10 ft 15 11' 24 +1' 23 5.3 -0.7 -7 ft end 9' 50 -0' 11 6.1 +0.1 -23 ft Versus average of 10' 01 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 16 miles, Great Western Trail, Madison

Sick

Mucus does NOT rule

I've been sick.

I actually was sick on my run last weekend. But it was just a slight stuffy nose with a throat irritation in the morning only. But by Sunday morning, it had grown into a lot more & was constantly blowing my nose.

By Sunday night, I was talking all funny and by Monday, I was home sick with severe sinus pressure. I went into work on Tuesday morning but was home again that afternoon. My head was all dizzy and I couldn't walk without feeling funny.

Today, I'm back at work full-time but my sinuses are still causing me problems. Not so much the pressure luckily but just stuffed up. I went out to the car this morning before work and by the time I got back to my apartment door, I was so out of breath. Not cool. No way can I run this weekend!! I was supposed to do 16 too!

My boss thinks that maybe I should go to a nose, ear & throat doctor. Said that I'm always getting sick with my sinuses. And she's right, I am. Last December, I had it and didn't go to the doctor and instead held out and in 10 days it was gone. Usually I do go to the doctor, just to get antibiotics to clear it up faster. I know sinusitis when I see it now. I had it back in July. I probably had it earlier that winter too.

So no running for me. We'll see how the weekend is. If I'm feeling "ok" then I'll try to get a small run in on the treadmill tomorrow but I highly doubt that'll happen.

I hate having this happen now in the middle of my marathon training.

Categories: sick

14 miles

Apparently, I looked at my labels and this is my first 14 mile training run!

Did it up by Luke's parents house again. But there were a lot of things going against me on today's run. I only had a bagel & cream cheese around 10am. And I ran at 2pm. I didn't have any fuel to take with me on the run. I didn't have a way to take liquid with me on the run. I really didn't prepare as well as I thought I did when I packed.

I only wore my winter running tights, a short sleeve shirt, a pullover and my gloves. I took off around 2pm, with a baggie of normal jelly beans & some gummy worms and my cell phone in the baggie. I thought I could safety pin it on my tights but alas, that didn't quite work out. So I had to hold it in my hands. That wasn't as fun as I thought it could be.

Everything was fine in the run. I tried to intake some jelly beans at mile 4 (thus the pause) but I had to spit it out a few minutes later since it wasn't as soft as I had hoped & didn't have any water to help get it down. The hills kinda hurt me more than they did in the 10 mile run. I did after all go from 10 miles to 14 miles without a 12 mile run in between. My pace was pretty good during the first half of course. But the second half it got slower, which is understandable. Towards the end of the run, I started to eat snow cause my mouth was so thirsty. I didn't care that it had specks of dirt in it and made my mouth really numb.

I finished up the run with a 9:44 min/mi pace but as you'll see below it wasn't at a consistent pace. I think next week with my 16 miles, I'll be running on Great Western Trail. I want my flatness back... Though I have a sneaking suspicion that these hills are making me faster & my legs stronger!

I got back about 10 minutes before Luke expected me so that was good. He promised that we could go for Shamrock Shakes after I got back. So I got my Shamrock Shake!!! Though he did say before the run that if I walked, no shakes for me! I did walk but as I pointed out, I went from 10 miles to 14 miles! So he let me go. :-) I was also dreaming of water with ice in it as well as chocolate milk. When I got done, I managed to get out chocolate milk and Luke was nice enough to make me a glass. And I drank it so very fast! Then had another glass of milk immediately afterwards. I think that was my first glass of cow's milk in almost 6 years!

Oh when I got in the shower, I found out rather quickly that I had a chafing mark on my lower back tattoo that I guess was caused by my tights or underwear. Never had it there before. But it burned hardcore at first because I think of the sweat that went into it from my back. I had to put a band-aid on it as it was rubbing against my jeans too much.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 840 ft Location: Cherry Valley, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 03/06/10 Up/Downhill: [+816/-816] Time: 02:30 PM Difficulty: 3.7 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 43 F temp; 55% humidity 43 F heat index; winds S 7 Performance Distance: 14.01 miles Time: 2:16:24 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 44 /mi Calories: 1493 Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 45 -0' 59 6.8 +0.7 +10 ft 2 9' 06 -0' 38 6.6 +0.4 +27 ft 3 8' 59 -0' 45 6.7 +0.5 -23 ft 4 8' 56 -0' 48 6.7 +0.5 -7 ft 5 9' 15 -0' 29 6.5 +0.3 -14 ft 6 9' 33 -0' 11 6.3 +0.1 -33 ft 7 9' 47 +0' 03 6.1 -0.0 +36 ft 8 9' 33 -0' 11 6.3 +0.1 -60 ft 9 10' 01 +0' 17 6.0 -0.2 +10 ft 10 10' 02 +0' 18 6.0 -0.2 -16 ft 11 10' 38 +0' 54 5.6 -0.5 +14 ft 12 11' 39 +1' 55 5.2 -1.0 +10 ft 13 10' 47 +1' 03 5.6 -0.6 +33 ft end 10' 09 +0' 25 5.9 -0.3 +13 ft Versus average of 9' 44 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: 14 miles, Belvidere, chafing

Vacation wrap-up

Well, I'm back to it now.

I didn't run at all during my vacation. One idea was to run while I was at Lake Tahoe. That was scrapped when our 3 hour drive turned into a 9+ hour drive when a very heavy snowstorm stopped us & caused a few major spinouts and stopped traffic for 4 hours. So I didn't arrive at the cabin until midnight. And with the sloppy mess on the roads I didn't want to take a chance. So the only exercise I got on the weekend was skiing on both days, both for 4 hours.

Link to Facebook pictures from Saturday.

I did get hurt a bit on Saturday while skiing. Fell once over a shadow and I lost my footing and I did almost a spread eagle. Pulled my hip muscle & groin a bit. Then on the final run, down a very narrow curvy blue run, I stopped after Luke fell over an edge (I'm telling you, very curvy!) and I waited until he was good and he was walking down the run. I went around a corner and bam, 2 snowboarders in the middle of the run on their butts. No way around them, so up the edge of the side I went. My skis stayed up there but I didn't and I tumbled back down into the run on my butt & back. I got up but not without some pain. I walked down the rest of the slope, while Luke decided to get on his skis & go the rest of the way down. I just couldn't.

Once I got out of the curvy madness, I got on my skis & went down the steep slope to the bottom of the hill & to the car. I immediately got out of my skis and plopped down on the snow & rubbed my right knee. Then I got up and started walking and my right hip hurt. I was limping. Not cool.

The ride back to the cabin was bad. Bending my hip & knee at 90 degrees was not helping things. I got into bed and kept my leg out straight and it felt fine. Brought my legs to my chest and moved my right hip from chest to shoulder and it hurt. Fantastic. This is why I never signed up for my marathon. I took an Aleve. I kept walking on it all evening. I wasn't going to baby myself. Some of us enjoyed the hot tub later that evening, which probably didn't help things.

Link to Facebook pictures from Sunday.

Sunday was another day of skiing. Again, just the afternoon. I was a bit more trepidious this day. I knew my skis boots were causing me problems (I didn't bring my own & the ones that were rented for me, my heel came up in both skis. Not good. So my left turns sucked because I couldn't really put weight on my right ski. I stayed on the greens for quite a while. The place sucked because it has like 2 slopes for greens. So Luke left me to go to a blue with his sister. I quit soon after and waited at the bottom for him. It got warm & the snow got slushy. Eventually, Luke came back down & told me it wasn't all that bad. So up we went.

It was a pretty long chair lift and I managed to get down it a few times without incident. Luke & I almost had a collision. He was turning right, I was turning left and my ski tips brushed the back of his skis. I think I fell once while up there. but I went down 3 times, from the middle of the mountain to the bottom and then I felt like I was testing fate so I stopped early.

I did end up signing up for the Rockford Marathon that Sunday night. I got to have a discount with my membership to Rockford Road Runner's & early bird pricing. Now I have to get back into running.

Sightseeing pictures on Monday.

Another plan was to run on Monday, since that was going to be our only day in San Francisco. However, we had so much planned that I didn't get a chance too. That and we woke up at 3am on Monday morning to leave by 4am to get back to San Francisco before rush hour traffic. So instead Luke & I biked a few dozen miles or so around San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge. We went up a few hills on really sucky bikes that didn't shift well at all. That's the only exercise I got.

I skipped my 12 mile & I have a 14 this weekend. So last night, I wanted between 6 & 7 miles on the treadmill and I got 7.5 in 70 minutes for a 9:20 pace. I'm going to a bar in Chicago tonight so I probably won't run tomorrow and will try to get 14 in on Sunday. I'm thinking Great Western Trail and 7 miles out and 7 miles back.

But it's official. I'm in for another marathon!

Categories: treadmill runs, vacation