Oct 23, 2013

What now?

I waited four days after the marathon before I went out for a run. It wasn't until Sunday that I got a solid, feel-good run done. Yesterday morning I went out for a quick five under the stars of the 5-o'clock in the morning hour. I'm going to try and drag myself out the door for another five miles this evening.

There is no plan.

There are races coming up but none for which I need any serious training. I might run the Churchill's Half on November 9th and I'm registered for the A Christmas Story House 10K on December 7th and the Santa Hustle at Cedar Point on December 15th. I'm a runner who races, but I'm not running any races to win anything. And because I'm not running with a purpose to win anything I'm not inclined to go out and do crazy things like speed work and hills. Nope, I just keep it simple.

I'm just running to run.

With respect to distance I'll probably maintain the same thirty to forty miles per week. Despite no decrease in miles, it's a lot easier mentally to run without a purpose. I go out the door, wing a route, and about an hour later I'm home and feeling satisfied. The last few runs have reminded me of how nice it is to just get out there.

It's time to run.

Oct 20, 2013

Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2013 - Part 3

Rob's alarm woke us at 5:00 on race morning. I was surprised to have slept through the night, save for waking up once to mistakenly think Jordan was missing. Never before had I slept so well the night before a distance race. A sign of good things to come? Possibly. There was no time to think about that, though; I jumped out of the couch bed, grabbed my gear, and took my turn getting dressed in the bathroom. I slightly adjusted my bib pinned to the left leg of my shorts, ate half of a Banana Nut Bread Clif Bar (Dare I say that it was better than White Chocolate Macadamia Nut?), laced up my shoes, grabbed my Fierce Grape Gatorade Prime, stuffed my Strawberry Gatorade Chews and Strawberry Clif Shot into my above-the-butt zipper pocket, and then we piled into Rob's cousin's car and drove over to where Tammy, Alex, and Steve were staying.

That's Rob leading the way to check our gear.

The seven of us walked about a mile and a half to gear check at Grant Park. Before we went through the security checkpoint Jordan snapped a photo of us at what is probably some iconic Chicago tourist spot.

Cheesy tourist photo

We were cutting it a lot closer on time than Tammy and I would have liked. By the time we separated from Steve, who was in the second wave, and waited in line to get our bags checked it was 7:00 and we needed to be in our corral (D) by 7:20. Tammy and Rob wanted to hit up a toilet but the lines were crazy long. I pressured them to wait until we got into the corral, where I was certain there would be port-a-potties. I was wrong, but it was too late to leave and get back before they'd close off the corrals. On our way over to the corral I drank my Gatorade Prime. That combined with the cold temperature quickly gave me the urge to pee, but I convinced myself that if I didn't think about it it would just go away.

Pre-race announcements took place and some music played. The music was really lame for a race. Glass City and Columbus did a way better job at pumping me up--ACDC sticks in my memory. Maybe it's because Chicago is a hipster town, but the pre-race music was the kind of Death Cab for Cutie stuff that they play on Alt Nation. There was redemption when they played Born to Run (the only Bruce Springsteen song that I enjoy) for the start, which got my adrenaline flowing by 7:37 when we finally crossed the start mat.

Tammy, Alex, and I took off a little bit ahead of Joe and Rob. Throughout the first mile I started to float ahead a bit just because of the crowd and flow of traffic. I found myself out of reach of Joe and Rob and thought about backing off to run with them for a few more miles at least, but the crowd had me amped up and moving happily from the get-go. I think it was at the mile three water station where I totally lost Tammy and Alex. Again I thought about backing off to try to hang with them, but I figured it would be a pain in the butt to try to get through the mass of runners. There were more than 40,000 of us running, after all.

5K: 27:58

The atmosphere of this race was incredible. I can't imagine there is better crowd support at any race--not even the coveted Boston Marathon. For the entire first half of the race I remember fighting off laughing for no reason other than being happy and amazed due to the awesome spectators. Their signs, their chants, and their high fives had me totally high on life. I ate six of my Gatorade chews in mile 8.

Half: 1:52:11

Miles 13 and 14 were my fastest at 8:09 and 8:08 respectively. I was feeling good and I knew at the time that could have been very good or very bad. Initially when I saw my pace in mile 13 I tried to pull myself back in order to conserve energy and strength that I'd absolutely need later in the second half of the race. When I started mile 14 I told myself "Screw it" and that I'd burn some gas in the tank just because it felt good. In mile 15 I got realistic. Also, I noticed that my feet felt a lot more then as they should have in miles 18 through 20--heavy and tired. My energy was high, my legs were moving great, but my feet felt like cinder blocks. I decided then to have my last six Gatorade chews.

30K: 2:39:36

This is when I started trying to do math in my head. I'm so bad at math. Also, it's when The Blerch was creeping uncomfortably close behind me. My pace over the past few miles slowed to something more reasonable (perhaps realistic?)--about 8:40. What would I need to maintain to finish under four hours? Match my past two marathons at 3:53 and some change? I don't think I was entertaining the idea of a PR. Somehow I decided that I could do 9:00+ miles and be safe. Even right now I don't know if that's accurate. I do remember being content when I was under three hours at mile 20. I think that was also what I deemed a good time to take my Clif Shot. This is the point at which I started walking through water stations, only because I was pretty sure that I was good for time. I saved the Clif Shot for last because it had a caffeine boost. I had never raced with a caffeine gel or chew, but I did use the same Clif Shot later in my two 20-milers for this round of training. I'm pretty sure I've perfected my marathon fueling.

40K: 3:37:31

Here is where I started getting all pumpy-pumped up again. I don't look at course maps before races much the same way I don't watch roller coaster POVs before I ride them. I don't want any surprises to be spoiled! The crowd had grown on both sides of Michigan Avenue and I felt like everyone was there for me--have I mentioned that the spectators are freaking awesome?!

As I crossed the mile 25 mark I got butterflies. I realized that, excluding the previous three water stations, I hadn't walked at all, nor did I ever have the urge to walk (unlike at Glass City and Columbus). Because I was so proud of myself and the spectators were killing it, I told myself to go as hard as I could. In full disclosure, I almost cried a few times in that final full mile. I was about to finish THE Chicago Marathon and with a good time to boot, even if not a PR. Or would it be a PR?

I made the right turn onto Roosevelt to be greeted by a short bridge. Yay! Uphill at the end of a race! Exactly what I wanted. I knew that getting to the top of that little hump, which looked and felt like a mountain, would mean that I'd get to run downhill. A sign read "300 Meters"--good! I was almost there! The left turn onto Columbus Drive revealed the finish. I realized that 300 meters was a lot farther in reality than in my head. Or maybe it's the other way around. Whatever the case, I was so stinkin' happy. As I neared the finish mat I could see that the clock was still under four hours. Given that I started seven minutes after gun time, my happiness jumped up like, seven notches.

I crossed the mat and looked down at my Garmin.

Garmin at the finish: 3:49:12
Official time: 3:49:11

That's a PR of 3 minutes and 52 seconds! Although I didn't know my official time yet, I knew that my Garmin couldn't have been too far off and that I had definitely PRed. Knowing that got me through possibly the most trying part of the day--making my way through what felt like the longest finish chute ever. I accepted a Mylar blanket and my medal, took a bottle of water, fought off the desire to fall over so that medical staff would just carry me away to comfort, passed on snacks, Gatorade, and protein drinks, and then did something that I was incapable of doing at any of my other marathons. That's right, I took a beer. That 312 tasted glorious.

After the race I got my gear, changed out of my sweaty clothes, and took off my shoes and socks to find one of these on each foot:

Pardon my crusty nail polish.

It was an hour and a half later when all six of us were finished. We took pictures before I hit up the medical tent to pop those liquid-filled skin bags.

Team Non-Elite, minus Jordan

Although that wasn't the end of the fun for the weekend, it was a hell of a morning. I will never ever forget that race. I used to think that I'd never run the same marathon twice, but I do see at least one more go-around at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon!

Oct 16, 2013

Bank of America Chicago Marathon 2013 - Part 2

On the morning of Saturday, October 12th, Joe and I ran two miles at a 10-minute pace before we met Tammy, Alex, Jordan, and Steve at Rob's. We packed ourselves and our race gear, blankets, pillows, and air mattresses into a 12-passenger van and Captain Jordan drove us to Chicago.

Mature photo booth fun in the big white van!

After making a quick stop to drop off our belongings where Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I would stay for the weekend, we piled back into the van and hit up the expo.

This explains a lot about why we are slow.

The expo was way more awesome than any of the other three marathon expos I've visited. I immediately wanted to head straight toward the giant Nike merchandise area, which was pretty much a mini-Nike store, but I knew that getting my bib, shirt, and bag were of utmost importance. Also, picking up all of that stuff would leave me with a bag in which I could carry all of the junk, free samples, and gear I would buy. The race shirt is really sweet; I love Nike's running tech tees for the feel and fit, so I was pumped to get another. The graphic is pretty BA-looking. I do kinda wish that the bibs could have been personalized, but I'm not complaining that it wasn't an option. The entire process of getting my packet, bag, and shirt was quick and easy, aided by iPads and QR codes to quickly find runner information.

Bad-ass race tech tee on the left, bad-ass souvenir tee on the right.

After the expo we headed to our weekend dwellings and relaxed a bit before meeting at Giordano's for pre-race dinner. When we were deciding weeks ago on where we'd have dinner, a lot of self-proclaimed Chicago experts suggested Giordano's. Steve made us a reservation which ended up being a huge move because when we arrived the walk-ins were waiting an hour to get a table and THEN another 45 minutes for deep dish pizzas. I had planned to eat a thin crust pizza because I didn't want to mess with all of that deep dish crust, but Joe was set on the deep dish so I reluctantly, and with some admitted bitchiness, ate that. I was bold and also ordered a salad with bleu cheese to start and because I was so hungry I ordered a plate of spaghetti with marinara to tide me over until the pizza was ready. The spaghetti was bomb, the noodles being darn close to perfectly al dente. I put down one slice of pizza at the restaurant then I had another before bed later that evening.

Gear and fuel for the race

Yes, that is a ticker above the TV.

By about 9:00 Joe, Jordan, Rob, and I were back at our slumber party apartment. Jordan and Rob filled their air mattresses, Joe and I pulled out the sofa bed, we laid out our race clothes and attached our bibs, watched a little baseball, and I somehow managed to be asleep before 10:30. I woke up one time in the middle of the night and was pretty sure that Jordan was either pooping or sleep-walking. I couldn't see him on his air mattress, which apparently had significantly deflated and swallowed him. Photos of the Jordan Taco will come later...

Oct 6, 2013

The long runs are over

Well, save for that really long one.

This morning we ran our final long run before the Chicago Marathon on next Sunday. We ran in conditions reminiscent of Glass City earlier this year: rain, grey sky, and warm. In fact, that half marathon was the last time I can recall running in the rain at all. I'm hoping it was a good test run for next Sunday. After all, as of right now it's looking like conditions will be similar.


Up until recently I had been banking on so-called "normal" fall weather. You know, 40 degrees, possibly  cloudy, dry. Alas, Mother Nature ain't havin' it. Then again, I hold that 30% of the time meteorologists are right all the time.

The other 30,000+ runners will be running under the same conditions, so there is no use in worrying too much about it. This week I'm going to focus on the following:

1.) Drink lots of water
I'm already kinda flopping on numero uno. Aside from a small glass of water with a pack of Emergen-C and the 1/4 cup of water that was in my smoothie this morning, I'm working on my second can of Coke Zero today. I am going to make an effort to drink at least two bottles of water per day at school this week and absolutely no more soda.

2.) Sleep more than usual
I did a lot better sleeping the nights prior to Columbus and Cleveland respectively than I did the night before Glass City last year. Nevertheless, I need to make sure that my body is well-rested, especially in the case that I have the jitters throughout Saturday night. It should help that I only need to worry about getting up early to run on two weekdays (Tuesday and Wednesday) as opposed to three or four. Joe and I are going to have to know when it's time to turn off Breaking Bad each night. We just started watching it about a month or so ago and are now heading toward the end of season three.

3.) No fast food
For the past three weeks there was way too much fast food in my life. The Germans were here, and so it was often the most convenient way to feed ourselves by going to a drive-thru or Chipotle. Last week Joe was in San Diego for a few days and fast food made me feel less sad about his absence. This week, no fast food. Just good, home-cooked stuff and PB&J sangweeches.

4.) Don't run too much or too little
There are only three very short runs this week. No amount of mileage over that is going to imrove my performance on Sunday. At this point, I've either got it or I don't. I am really looking forward to the two miles on Saturday. Joe has a hard time getting me to settle on an easy, comfortable pace on most of our runs. There is something about the shake-out run the day before a long-distance race that I love. It feels so good and is always fun, probably because I'm excited (ahem, nervous) for the race.


It's almost time.