Ravenswood 5k

During the first couple of months of this pregnancy I thought my running days were over until after baby as I couldn't make it very far without walking and felt so completely drained of energy.  But once I was able to start running  jogging again I set the goal of running a race while pregnant.  I am so happy that I have been able to keep a little running in my life during this time and to be able to put a big check mark by that goal this morning.

Dan and I ran the race together even though it was not a ton of exercise for him to go at my pace.   We ran it at a 10 minute mile.  But because I am vain, I ripped the timing chips out of my bib as I didn't want my slow pace to be what shows up when people do an internet search on my name (such as future employers, coworkers/interviewees (seriously- had someone at work mention finding my photography after I interviewed them), etc)... terribly vain but I accept that.

It was a fun race.  We just chatted the whole time and Dan kept me laughing.  I had to keep reminding myself to not take off and try to pass everyone... but we did still pass quite a few people.  As we ran across the finish line I saw a guy with a big huge camera and flash get in position down low to snap our photo and heard Dan exclaim how he didn't want to be in it as he tried to move away from me... thanks, honey.

I felt better than I look in this post-race photo.  I felt great... maybe could have run it a little faster but didn't want to push it.  My next running goal is to run something this fall - maybe the hot chocolate 15k in November.

Bicycling

I can't believe it took us this long to both have bicycles again.  One of my favorite things so far this summer is that we ride our bikes together. Mostly to the Y but also other random times like going to the Tap.  It makes me happy.  I hope that we always live somewhere that has walking and biking as part of the getting around culture. 

WTF were we thinking.

Training in January sucks.  Sure, a 3-7 mile winter run can feel invigorating but anything over 10 miles starts to really not be fun.  Frigid, arctic temps, winds, and shut down sections of the lakefront path are not adding joy. We are really missing summer... or fall... or late spring.

Actually, we really enjoy winter running when it is consisting of those shorter runs as we have done for the past few years.  That is why we thought starting a training program in January would be perfectly fine. 

Maybe all of this adversity and the need to really push ourselves to crawl out of our little nest on gloomy, bitter cold days for the sake of kicking ass in this marathon will make it that much sweeter at the finish line.

So now we are done whining- January is almost over right?  13 miles on Saturday will be a great run. Nike technical gear + a forecasted heat wave of 33 degrees is promising as much.

Oh yeah, and this training season is really adding bonus points to the 'move somewhere warmer' debate.

Here we go again...

26.2 miles...  This time with a more experienced perspective, a fresh training approach and an entirely different view. 

For our first marathon we totally shot ourselves in the foot by planning a big vacation during the last three weeks of training.  Might not have been our most brilliant decision for timing things.  So this time around no vacations until after the race.

Last time we thought that we would find running the marathon through our home city streets inspiring... but we ended up not being able to hit our stride with all of the elbows we were catching.  So we are going from a 35k-40k person race to one that caps at 10k.  And the scenery from the 12 parks we will run through will be fantastic.  During our last training I definitely learned a bit about myself and that included that I do not like to be crowded during runs and I find nature a more inspiring background than skyscrapers for a long run.

We are doing a totally different training plan.  More on that to come but it includes a lot more cross training, tempo runs will become our friend and we will do two 20 milers before race day.  I am pretty excited about this new plan - it looks promising.

Our goal is to finish in under four hours.  We absolutely can make that if we stay injury free and stick to the plan in the final three weeks. 

And it looks like the plague of a cold we caught at the holidays will be over with the training kick off.

The First Marathon

Him... 

Marathon training is what I imagine raising a baby is like.   It takes a significant commitment, an enormous amount of time, and you might shit your pants during the marathon.  You have to make sacrifices, it's painful, and yet satisfying.  We began together and almost finished together.  It was great to train with my wife, I think we became even closer and stronger.  We ran down the lake during the sunrise, we were caught in two massive rain storms, we ran in 95 degree blistering heat and loved every minute of it.   We learned that planning a European vacation towards the end of the training wasn't the smartest idea.  We also learned that diet is a very important and eating a big steak before a 15 mile run doesn't feel good. 

The marathon was quite the experience, unlike anything we've done before.  50,000 runners and easily 500,000 spectators.  The entire course was lined with screaming spectators, so many that it was a tad distracting.  I've found that long runs are most enjoyed when you can relax and clear your mind, the marathon was the opposite. 

Around mile 8 my knee started to ache and become harder to keep the pace.  I started to slow down, further and further.  When I realized I was going to have a very hard time with running, since it was hurting more and more, I told Tara she should go on without me.  She reluctantly went forward.  I had to stop and walk around mile 12.  My knee was really hurting now, forcing me to do a 'cripple run'.  I managed to force myself to go on until the aid station at mile 18 where I stopped to ice my knee.  When I tried to stand back up the pain made me realize that I was done.  I decided to throw in the towel and hitched a ride back to the start on the medical bus. 

After all the training it was disappointing to not finish, but it was smart to stop when I did.  I think I might have to try for next year...or another smaller marathon.  At least I have a great training partner lined up.

She...

I was so excited for marathon day to finally come.  After all of the planning, tracking and work I was ready to get to it. Saturday night I could not fall asleep forever and then I proceeded to wake up every hour to check the time until the alarm finally went off at 5:30am.

True to Dan and Tara style, we arrived at the start corrals just in the nick of time.  The line to get in was enormous so we joined others in climbing the fence during the national anthem.  Then I retied my shoes several times while waiting impatiently for our turn to get going.

Our strategy of attacking for this race was to start out moderate for the first 10 miles at a 9 minute mile and then kick it up to 8:40 minute miles after that and hope that the slower start would allow us to keep going strong through the final 6.2 miles. 

It was an amazing site to see and be part of such a huge number of racers and to see so many spectators.  Being an introvert that doesn't particularly like to be crowded, I was ready for reaching the point where the race crowd starts to thin so you have room to stretch out as experienced in the other (obviously smaller) races we have done.  Somewhere around mile 10 I started to get a little frustrated by the constant elbowing, squeezing and feeling like I was going to trip on someone. This is also the point where Dan was starting to slow down so I was keeping an eye on staying near him without tripping on someone.  When he said to go ahead without him I was bummed to go it alone but ready to start passing in hopes of finding a window personal space.

By the time I hit mile 17 I was terribly sick of the west side of town! I kept thinking when the heck are we going to get out of here!  There was less shade through the second half of the race and thus the people with sprinklers were my best friends ever.  I kept trying to get in the zone and hit my stride but wasn't able to get there.  The playlist that I ever-so-carefully put into order was barely audible.  My little running mantras were not helping me to focus. But I was excited to be on track for a below 4 hour finish time.

Around mile 21 I became pretty disappointed.  That is when my goals (except finishing) were a bust. I had the personal goal of not walking. Well, my leg muscles were getting so tight that I felt that I had to walk and stretch them a bit... but once I did then it became a vicious cycle of wanting to be done and to walk. And then the under 4 hour finish was out of my reach. Despite those goals being missed, I pushed myself as much as I could for those last 6.2 miles.  I hadn't made it under 4 hours but I finished...

And as I was walking to our predetermined meeting point, I wanted nothing more than to jump into an icy pool.

Done!

We sat together in the grass for a minute before heading to the car; after swapping our stories Dan said that he wanted to do it again.  He wants to be able to cross the finish line.  I know that I can do better.  And we spent the rest of the day talking about our individual experiences on race day and what we could do better for our next marathon adventure. 

We both use the word disappointed in our stories of the marathon... but don't look to far into that.  To quote Dan: you truly feel alive during those miles.  We had a completely amazing experience.

Almost Ready for This Weekend

Marathon training has clearly been a huge part of our lives for the past 4-7 months.  Our first official training run was on June 8th.  But we were thinking about, talking about, and planning for the marathon well before the actual training began.  Of course, the intensity of how much it was impacting us grew steadily over the summer.  To say it has been an experience would be stating the obvious and an understatement all at once.

When I suggested to Dan that maybe we would run the marathon together he was a little grimace about doing it.  In fact I think that Dan said on multiple occasions that "this is going to suck."  And I was a little nervous about all of those long runs.  Neither of us were expecting to enjoy the training as much as we have.

It is pretty awesome to look at the running log and see all those miles covered.  We carefully planned out our training program in a shared online calendar, were diligent about eating as healthy as possible, and did quite well at dragging ourselves out the bed for early morning runs.  I absolutely loved getting those runs in before heading to work. 

While running we have watched the sunrise over Lake Michigan, choked on bugs, watched people setting up camp for the Air & Water Show (seriously, people start getting there at 6:30am), been almost ran over by bicyclist, past bicyclist, got caught in two pretty huge rain storms, watched the trees go from just budding to fall colors.

At the beginning of the training the longer runs (16 - 20 milers) seemed quite scary yet I couldn't quite visualize them.  But it was so amazing to be running past so many different reference points in one run; past Belmont Harbor, North Ave Beach, our first apartment building, Navy Pier, Buckingham Fountain, Soldier Field, McCormick Place, 31st Beach, and them some in one round trip.  Even more amazing, doing this and not feeling like I had to quit and walk.  And even more amazing, doing this side-by-side together.

Quite honestly, I am not 100% sure I would have done it by myself.  And I really would not have trained at such a quick-for-me pace.  The little bits of encouragement that came from simply doing it together or a shared goofy grin or an unexpected (literal) pat on the back during a lull made those runs that could have been tedious much more fun.

The lesson learned at the end of this training is to not schedule a European vacation when you are about to begin your taper towards race day.  Holy crap, we did not expect the place were staying to be located on a cliff.  Going from flat Chicago to beyond hilly France was very tough on our running.  And cobblestone paths are charming but they do not exactly lend towards a solid recovery from your longest run of your life.  Oh and the second lesson is to figure out how to get yourself to go to bed on time like a grown up... we are terrible about getting enough sleep.

The cobblestones exasperated Dan's tired tendon.  So now he is hobbling after 1 mile and having a tough time with any kind of distance.  And I am feeling like I could run forever. (Seriously, the average pace of my last run was 7:56 min mile - umm holy crap, I could not do that 5 months ago.)

So we have a little cloud hanging over this last final week before the big huge run day. Our fingers are crossed that he will be feeling 100% after resting this week so that we can run together like we planned.  If not we are facing the decision of whether I just go at our planned pace and Dan goes at his hobble pace or if we stick it together at the hobble pace. Then again, the weather forecast is giving a range of 55 - 80 degrees and 80% humidity in the morning so... yikes.

I had not for a second envisioned running it alone so I have my fingers, toes and legs crossed that we will be able to cross the finish line together.  Until then, you can find us guzzling water and downing pasta.

2 Months To Go

And now we are getting into the big numbers.  With only two months to go until the marathon the weekly mileage and the long runs have definitely jumped up well beyond our normal numbers.  We just finished our 15 mile run which was the longest single run of my life to date. 

We have pretty much adjusted to getting out of bed early but we still are terrible at getting to bed early enough through out the week to keep rested.  Maybe terrible is harsh, we are going to bed earlier than our normal pre-training schedule but not enough to get eight hours of sleep... and I am the type of person who needs to get enough sleep or I just can't keep my energy up.

It is pretty awesome though to start at the upper end of the north side and run all the way down to museum park and back... talk about covering a lot of ground!  Even if I was dying in the last mile.  Every week once we hit the final 2 mile section I start to fizzle out... except for the week of the 12 mile run, that is still my best run (based on how I felt during and at the final stretch). But that awesome run was one we did on Sunday (due to rain storms on Saturday) and I was able to decompress from the week so I think that might have something to do with it.

Other tid bits from our training as of lately:

• There has been a major run on women's singlets.  I have been trying to get one for a couple of weeks but every running store is out of them except for the XL size.  Seriously, they must need an inventory management consultant.  I am going to have to move to online shopping (so much for giving my $$ to the local guys!)
• Not only have I run the highest weekly mileage to date, I have also swallowed the most suicidal gnats this summer in my life.  It really grosses me out.  The neighborhood streets are the place for this to happen.  Stinkin bugs need to move on to another neighborhood.
• Dan gets cranky if I ask him the distance to often, as in at all.
• Cytomax is less sugary than Gatorade.  
• I really hate the ad that BoA has put up on that building just off the Kennedy that is designated as marathon ad space.  I really liked the ads that LaSalle did the last year before they were bought out and to be honest it kind of bugs me that the year I am finally doing this the ads/branding is so bad.  Maybe that is a little self-centered, but I want to relate to the full experience.  And ugly/bad branding/advertising makes me annoyed in general.
• There are benefits of working close to the banking industry...  I get Columbus Day off as it is a bank holiday... and it falls on the day after the marathon.  Yay!