Archives

30 Down, 20 to go & Who Knows How Many After

Dec27

The average American gains 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Don’t be average! Take CAC’s 30-Day challenge and win!

That was the subject of numerous emails I got in the month of November from my gym. The challenge described? Workout for 20-24 days between November 25th through December 24th and get five free guest passes to use at any Chicago Athletic Club gym. Workout 25-29 days and get a $50 credit to use toward gym services in addition to the five guest passes. Workout all 30 days between November 25 and December 24? One month free gym membership in addition to the $50 credit and five guest passes.

I had been attending the gym fairly regularly for spin classes on Monday mornings and Thursday evenings. I’d also been going for mostly weekly personal training sessions and to get moving on other days. 30 days straight of working out? No problem so I decided to do the challenge. Besides, a month’s free membership? I was all over that. Continue reading →

Almost Done it All

Nov17

This past weekend I ran a 10K. It was supposed to be a 10-miler, but it was just a day that 10 miles wasn’t going to happen. It was also a chance for me to look back over the year of running and see exactly what I have accomplished.

After my hometown beotch “disaster,” I could look at the year as such a huge disappointment. However if I am realistic about it, it was a fantastic year of running for me. I ran pretty much every distance there is to do in some form or fashion. Maybe not necessarily as a race, but definitely putting in those miles in some capacity.

I started the year off with a 5K on New Year’s Day. Then a few months later I did a 10K. Then an 8K. A 5-miler. A half marathon. A 20-mile training run. An attempt at 26.2. Then another 5K and most recently a 10K.

Each race I managed to do something fun, in that I shaved time off of previous bests at these various distances. November 5th, I ran a 5K race. It was my first race since the Chicago Marathon. And I destroyed my prior best 5k time. When I say destroyed it, I mean that my previous mile splits were along the lines of 13 minutes per mile. In that 5K, I was averaging 10:55 per mile with at least one sub nine minute mile. All in all, I ran that 5K in just under 31 minutes. Continue reading →

No Excuses to Not Run in the Cold

Nov14

I hate running on the treadmill. When I do it, it feels like I am not making any progress. And it can be boring. Sure, there are televisions on the gerbilmills at my gym, but it gets tough to use them. Especially if I have to run longer than three miles.

In essence, I love to run outdoors. And the shorter days and colder temps of winter makes this hard to do. That is where one of my favorite stores comes into play.

Last week,  Fleet Feet Chicago held its fourth annual fashion show. Fashion show you may ask? Yes a fashion show. And the clothing featured served the purpose of looking good as well as keeping a person warm during winter weather runs when you don’t happen to live where it only gets as cold as 50 degrees. Continue reading →

Personal Demons

Oct9

My body hates me. Or at least refuses to cooperate when it comes to me doing certain things. Today, that thing was the Chicago Marathon. Temperatures were higher than anyone wanted. I could deal with them though. It was cooler than when I started, yet I would have loved for it to be much cooler than it was. Things did heat up as the day went along. Way too much for my tastes.

Things didn’t really start off the best in the race. For some reason, my heel and ankle on my right foot were bothering me early on. I probably had indication of this yesterday when I did an easy two-mile run as my last run before the big race. I had a twinge of something yesterday, but was chalking it up to last-minute nerves and stress. I really felt that thing would be fantastic on race day. Continue reading →

The Last Stand

Oct1

I went for my last long run this morning before it is time to conquer the hometown beotch. Initially I had planned to go out and do a specific number of miles. Instead, I just ran for time this morning. Two hours total.

I had a good reason however. A couple of people I work with have been hacking up a lung for the past month and riding public transit means you run into quite a few people who apparently never learned how to properly cover their mouths / noses if they have cough or sneeze. Continue reading →

Dress Rehearsal

Aug14

My bib number and finisher's medal from the rock 'n roll half marathon

The Chicago Marathon is just weeks away and I am starting to panic about it. This is a good thing. It allows me to get my crazy about the race out of the way early and not panic race day and fall flat on my face.

This morning was the Rock ‘N Roll Chicago half marathon. It used to the Chicago Distance classic run by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. For me, it was a perfect race to throw in to see where I was at in my marathon training as well as re-acquaint myself with gear check, etc. With shorter races, I tend not to use gear check. It just is a hassle for me, particularly when it is a race with a ton of people. For halves and full marathons, I use it. The last time I had to use gear check was when I was in Atlanta in 2007 for the half marathon there in March.

Despite my race today (which I will get to), I am glad I had this “dress rehearsal” to see what marathon race morning was going to potentially be like. I had a plan. I put my plan into action. The plan worked for the most part. Then crap happened.

In days leading up to long races, I try to get enough rest. I know the night before I am going to be anxious and getting a good night’s sleep will pretty much be impossible. This happened this week leading up to the RnR Chicago half. In some ways, not sleeping the night before is good for me because it ensures I will be up and ready to go when the alarm goes off for the beginning of the day.  Continue reading →

When Birds Attack

Jul18

After way too long of a break, I am finally back to running. The break was due to being sick with a cold. Colds in general are bad, but the ones you get in the summertime suck the worst. At first, I thought it was allergies, but sadly it was a cold.

In any event, officially I was back this past weekend when I ran in the Fleet Feet Chicago Women’s 5K and 10K race. Originally, I signed up to do the 10K, but given the high temps and my lack of running, I went down to the 5K race.

All was looking pretty good as I was warming up. Until the bird. I was minding my own business by the area where everyone would be lining up to start the race when this thing came flying into me, was buzzing around, and flitting at me. It was a bird. At first, I wasn’t sure what the hell it was that had started to attack me.

Needless to say, I was sufficiently freaked out. Not knowing what it was, I tried not to swat at it, in case it was something that might kill me. (And in case you are wondering, I consider myself a closeted hypochondriac. Any ache, pain, etc. I immediately think is due to some horrible life-threatening illness.) I managed to turn slightly and the bird went off of me and over to the side of the road. Continue reading →

Bottom

May28

Just my luck that panic would set in the day before a long run and I wake up with a terrible headache. So much so that moving my head was nearly impossible. Lucky me, as it prevented me from running the race today.

Not intentional. I ate sensibly, got sufficient rest and while the headache was starting to rear it’s head last night, I thought it would be gone. No such luck as it was worse when the alarm went off. Or more precisely, when I woke up before the alarm. I tried to maybe wait it out, but my head started to hurt worse as the minutes passed. My head didn’t start to stop hurting until way too late.

This really kills me. I really needed to do these miles to get myself in a mental spot where injury wasn’t going to continue holding me back. Or at least fear of injury wouldn’t hold me back. I did sign up for another race to “make up” for my headache today. That long race will be perfect for the scheduled long run on the marathon road.

Now to go figure out what caused the stupid headache and prevent it in the future. 

Full on Panic

May27

That is how I woke up on a crisp, yet sunny Friday morning. In less than 24 hours, I will be running in my biggest race of the year. The Soldier Field 10 mile.

Why the panic? Mostly because I feel so unprepared for the race. I’ve also been scattered with writing stuff and busy with work related things. All stuff that is making me miss out on precious sleep.

The good news for the day is that I only have to put in a few hours at the office. Then I can spend my afternoon relaxing. Maybe take in a yoga class later to calm myself down.

Work better fly by and the weather better stay nice. Tomorrow will be go because I say it will be. Hopefully I find out that I’m actually over prepared for the run.

Accomplishment

May7

2nd most important piece of running equipment

Today I ran a five-mile race along the lakefront on the south side in Chicago. It was a good day. It was also my birthday, so it was great way to start out a new year of my life (ugh). I actually have done two races this week, with a neighborhood 5K this past sunday and then today’s five-miler.

The massive positives. In April, I ran an 8K (4.97 miles) race. It was the official start of the race season. My time wasn’t great for that race, but I was ok with that. It was my first time at the distance in a race. This despite having run 5Ks, 1/2 marathons and attempting a full marathon. It was also a bit warmer than I prefer for running in general. Though, making excuses shouldn’t be allowed. Anyway, today I shaved almost 2:30 off my five-mile finish time. That right there is huge. I went a slightly farther distance and I ran it faster. Continue reading →