Chase Corporate Challenge Take 2

Long time readers may remember last year's running of the Chase Corporate Challenge. For those that don't, here's a refresher: 3.5 mile race that benefits the Greater Chicago Food Depository and encourages Chicago area companies to get their employees up and moving. Almost 20,000 people run and walk the race and the top runners have a chance to go to the international championship.

Last year's race was a total clusterf*ck for many reasons. The biggest issue I had with the race was that due to the lack of chip timing and the sheer size of the race there was no way that the clock time was an accurate representation of anyone except the winner's time.

This year, though, the race organizers were able to take advantage of the new B-Chip timing. This seriously cut down on the number of slower people who had put themselves towards the front of the crowd.

Another issue I had last year was the inability to find our group's company tent. I solved that dilemma this year by getting my bib early and walking over on my own. Unfortunately this meant I missed the group photo! I figured they'd take it once they got to the tent. Turns out they took one there, too, but I was in line for the port-a-potty so I missed it again! I guess this year I'm Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Race. At least in the group photo.

However, since Holly was visiting she was able to get a few photos of me at the start. I hope these give you an idea of just how crowded the start gets at this race.





I positioned myself near the 8 minute mile sign and hoped for the best. I hadn't run since Sunday so I figured my legs should be nice and fresh. All I had to do was keep my fingers crossed I didn't spend the entire race dodging people.

Once the horn sounded it took a few minutes to get across the start line. There was definitely some dodging going on but it didn't feel quite as horrible as last year. Maybe some of that was the weather. Last year as hot and humid. This year was lovely. Now, if the race organizers would do something about the course. It seems to be the same every year. Sort of a "P" shape with two hairpin turns. Who thinks it's a good idea to have hairpin turns in a race with 20,000 participants? Apparently these people. And, just like last year, if you ran the tangents you had to slow to a walk at the first hairpin. Frustrating.

My Garmin freaked out a bit in some of the tunnel-like areas we had to run through and I'm pretty sure the 2 mile marker was in the wrong place. Regardless, I wasn't spending a lot of time looking at my Garmin. I was just running. And it felt GOOOOD. Since I knew I wouldn't be "racing" my 10 miler on Saturday I decided to push it as hard as I could during this race. As I rounded the last hairpin turn at mile 3 I started to feel that familiar queasy feeling I get when I'm running hard. But, instead of slowing down I just kept pushing.

And it paid off! My official time (and my Garmin time) had me at 28:41! That's an average pace of 8:11 and change. WAY better than last year. Plus, my best 5K time was at this pace and this race was even longer and had more dodging. I'm pretty sure this indicates that if I ran another 5K in the near future I'd have a good chance of hitting yet another 5K PR.

Amazingly, I wasn't even that worn out afterward. I easily enjoyed the beer and food provided by work and chatted it up with some people from our lunch time running group. Holly and I hung around for awhile before declaring ourselves cold (!) and heading home around 9PM. All in all it was a great evening and, other than missing the group photo, definitely better than last year.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 591 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/27/10 Up/Downhill: [+68/-68] Time: 07:13 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 3.50 miles Time: 0:28:41 Speed: 7.3 mph Pace: 8' 12 /mi Calories: 411 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 38 +0' 26 6.9 -0.4 -10 ft 2 8' 17 +0' 05 7.2 -0.1 -10 ft 3 8' 09 -0' 03 7.3 +0.0 0 ft end 7' 44 -0' 28 7.8 +0.4 +19 ft Versus average of 8' 12 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Ultimate Runner Winners!

So, I know I said I was going to post the winners of the Ultimate Runner book giveaway on Thursday but I got a little caught up in the since then. What have I been caught up with?



Holly is visiting me in Chicago!

Yesterday she cheered for me as I ran the Chase Corporate Challenge (race report to come later) and today we toured the city.

However, as a blog guest star, I had her choose the three winners of the giveaway.



And those winners are....

TMB @ Racing With Babes

Holly @ The Balance Broad

and

Maribeth

Ladies, I will be contacting you shortly for your mailing addresses!

Thanks to everyone who entered and stay tuned for some exciting posts after this weekend.

Good to be Versatile

So, Anne at Asthma and the Gift of Running passed along this "Versatile Blogger" award to me. I don't know what I did to make her want to send it my way, but, hey, why not? Anne has a very inspiring story so I'm flattered that she thinks I'm worthy of any kind of award.

And since I don't have a Monday night run to blog about, I figured I'd do the award's spiel.

But first, why don't I have a Monday night run to blog about? Well, after Sunday's run my hamstrings felt a little tight. And then on Monday, after sitting at my desk for a few hours, I realized how painful my right hip/buttock area felt. I did some stretching and got up to walk around. It aches a little bit while walking and even more when I go to sit down. I'm terrified I've aggravated my piriformis muscle. And since I have three other runs scheduled this week I thought it was better to sit my aching butt down on the couch and rest instead of running.

Therefore, in order to cheer us all up, here are seven fun thing about myself:

1. When I was in high school my dream job was to become an FBI criminal profiler. I read/watched Silence of the Lambs one too many times, methinks.

2. I have my Master's of Library Science and yet I've never worked in a library. Unless you count that summer I spent sitting at the reference desk in a law library goofing off online.

3. My college honors thesis was about the differences between male and female serial killers.

4. I eat the same thing for breakfast almost every weekday morning. A whole wheat English muffin, crunchy peanut butter, and dried cranberries. Sometimes I go wild and leave off the cranberries!

5. When typing out my blog URL I sometimes unconsciously add a "g" to eri-thon. Yeah, I'm not sure I want to know what that would bring up.

6. My favorite tv show is Mythbusters. I don't really watch anything else religiously.

7. I'm going on vacation to Savannah, GA in June. My mom and I are staying in a condo in the Historic District that has been featured on HGTV. I'm really excited!

Now it's my turn to pass on this "award". So, let's see....I bequeath it to....

Kim
Lacey
and
Jessica

Hope you enjoyed learning a few non-running related tidbits about me!

P.S. Don't forget that they Ultimate Runner book giveaway is still going on. Check it out!

Waterfall Glen Trail Run

Welcome to Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve. 9.5 miles of crushed stone paths, woods, fields, rolling hills, heat and humidity. Okay, maybe it's not always hot and humid but OH MY LAWD it was yesterday morning.

A large group of us from the running club arrived at the trail head for what I hoped would be a nice, easy run. Two people who I know run my pace showed up so I knew I wouldn't be alone. Although, since the trail is a loop I figured that I couldn't get too lost if I ended up at the back.

Since there are no drinking fountains on the path I brought my water bottle fuel belt. It felt weird to be running with it since I haven't done so in almost a year. But, I was very very grateful for the water.

My goal was to do 10 minute miles. Apparently I was in denial about the weather. The first mile went well, three of us had formed our own little group, we were in the shade, and although it felt a little difficult I figured I'd settle in shortly. We tackled a few hills and made it to just after mile 3 before we stopped to walk. However, this walking break was necessitated by the fact that the trail was flooded! So, we had to detour from the trail and walk along the railroad tracks.







By this point we were in full sun and it was obvious to me that I was going to struggle. Heat and humidity are my kryptonite. I welcomed our next break when we stopped to check the map to make sure we were on the right path.



About that time I noticed that someone had drawn these arrows into the path:



The rest of the running group was somewhere ahead of us and they had taken it upon themselves to leave us some markers. How thoughtful! They really did come in handy at a few points.

Just before mile 7 we stopped for what we thought was a working well-water hand pump. Sadly, it was chained up with a "CLOSED" sign on it. We almost went off in search of another pump some hikers told us about, but in the end we decided to just power through. Probably not the smartest idea, but I really just wanted to be done. Unfortunately, I stopped my Garmin when we were debating on searching for water and forgot to start it up again right away. Oops.

Our little group of three dwindled to two as I told the other woman to go on ahead. I needed to walk. I was pissed at myself for doing so but even though I wasn't wearing a heart rate monitor I could tell my heart rate was crazy high. So, we walked. About mile 8 the club president appeared heading towards us. He gave us a burst of energy for about half a mile and then we fell behind once again.

Finally we could see a light at the end of the tunnel and as we turned the final corner and came into view of the rest of the group they cheered for us. "YAY!" I yelled back. "We didn't die!!"

Turns out almost everyone thought this run was brutal. Literally two weeks ago we were running in long sleeved shirts. We were just not prepared for 90^o and humid. We weren't prepared for running in it or for going to breakfast afterward. I mean, we still went to breakfast but watching us make ourselves semi-presentable on the side of the road must have been hilarious. One guy literally wrung out his shirt. I handed out Pond's cleaning cloths and they were received as though they were the nectar of the gods. We shared a towel, slathered on deodorant, used the car as a make-shift changing room, and spritzed body spray. I've never been more grateful for a dry shirt and flip flops in my life.

I felt like I'd been put through the wringer for the rest of the day. This run was hard. Definitely one of those times when you wonder how you're going to train for a marathon if it's going to be hot like this all summer. I guess I'm going to have to learn to love early, early mornings. Perhaps I'll just start sleeping in my running clothes so all I have to do is roll out of bed.

Regardless of how hard the run was, I need to give a huge shout out and thank you to Maribeth for being unfailingly encouraging, Jacob for sticking with me the entire time (and sharing his LunaMoons), and the rest of the OPRC crew for leaving us trail markers, waiting for us at the end, and generally being hilarious.

P.S. I would like to lodge a complaint about the name of this forest preserve. I didn't see a single waterfall. I know; because if I had, I would have been standing under it.

P.P.S. Don't forget about my book giveaway! You have until Wednesday night to enter.

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Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 696 ft Location: Darien, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/23/10 Up/Downhill: [+646/-646] Time: 08:17 AM Difficulty: 3.2 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 8.79 miles Time: 1:39:52 Speed: 5.3 mph Pace: 11' 22 /mi Calories: 1005 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 00 -1' 22 6.0 +0.7 +39 ft 2 10' 10 -1' 12 5.9 +0.6 +33 ft 3 10' 14 -1' 08 5.9 +0.6 0 ft 4 12' 14 +0' 52 4.9 -0.4 -16 ft 5 11' 33 +0' 11 5.2 -0.1 -115 ft 6 11' 24 +0' 02 5.3 -0.0 +20 ft 7 11' 50 +0' 28 5.1 -0.2 +17 ft 8 11' 40 +0' 18 5.1 -0.1 0 ft end 13' 45 +2' 23 4.4 -0.9 -14 ft Versus average of 11' 22 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Gotta Love a Rabbit

I've been feeling kind of yucky for the past few days and, as such, I wasn't really in the mood to run after work. Thank goodness I have the track group to motivate me!

And let me tell you, there was some major motivation going on last night! I arrived a little late so I was only able to get in a short warm-up but it didn't seem to make a negative difference.

Last night's session consisted of five 800s and four 400s with alternating 30 second and full recovery intervals. I hit my first 800 right on the nose. Even though the weather was warmer I was keeping my times consistent. I'm going to give the credit to my new compression shorts:



At one point during the 800s our couch was yelling our halfway point times. "1:55!" He yelled at me.

"Oh good," I thought to myself. "I can slow down a little bit and still be close to my goal time."

But wait a minute. I'm never going to get faster if I don't try and push myself a little bit harder. So, I tried my hardest to keep up with the women who run just a little bit faster than me. I was so focused on the woman in front of me that I didn't allow myself to think about slowing down. I think I'm going to dream of the back of her shirt tonight.

And it worked! My last 800 was my fastest out of all of them AND I passed the girl I was using as a rabbit.

Half mile warm-up: 9:49 pace

1st 800 - 3:58
2nd 800 - 3:53
3rd 800 - 3:55
4th 800 - 3:56
5th 800 - 3:41

Then it was on to the 400s. "Oh no," one of the new girls exclaimed. "These are like all out sprints."

Well no, not quite, but dang they can sure feel like it! However, I again tried to close the gap between myself and the slightly faster women and it was definitely reflected in my times. These are my fastest 400 times yet!

1st 400 - 1:45
2nd 400 - 1:46
3rd 400 - 1:46
4th 400 - 1:41

Then it was off to a one-mile cool down. I would have sworn to you that we were running closer to a mid-9's pace. Um, the Garmin seems to think differently.

1 mile cool-down: 8:50

Total mileage: 5.27

This was such a great workout! Having everyone there really does help me push myself even harder and it's great being able to chat with people while recovering, warming up and cooling down. Plus, it gets me out there when I don't know if I'd force myself otherwise.

Although, next time, I need to remind myself not to eat handfuls of dried fruit as my afternoon snack. My GI system definitely had something to say during this workout. I'd be completely embarrassed except that when you're surrounded by other runners I don't think anyone much cares. At least, I hope not.

And don't forget about my Ultimate Runner Giveaway! At this rate I'm going to have leftover books! Where is everyone? Don't you like free stuff??

Ultimate Giveaway!

Remember my review of The Ultimate Runner? I know some of you said you were interested in checking it out. Well, here's your chance!

Amy and Tom at Runners' Lounge have graciously given me 3 copies of the book to give away to my loyal blog readers.

Want to win one?

Here's how:

For one entry, leave me a comment recommending a book (either running or non-running related).

For a second entry, post about the giveaway in your blog (and leave me a link in the comments).

And if you really, REALLY want to win, you can get a third entry by joining the Runners' Lounge (or letting me know if you are already a member) or following their blog and letting me know in a comment which one you do.

The giveaway will be open until May 27th. Winners will be chosen by random. And three different people will win, I promise! Good luck!

The Post That Could Save Your Life

Last night's run with the running group was a bit of an adventure. It started out like any normal night. Well, except that we got to put our names into a raffle for a pair of Asics and Jimmy John's delivered some trays of sandwiches. But otherwise it was just a normal Monday night run.

I paired up with a guy I've run with a few times who helps make the run go by super-quick. We were chatting the entire time about the criminal justice system, ethics, travel, and pets. Our plan had been to run around a 9:15 or 9:20 pace but before I knew it we were at the four mile mark and we'd run closer to 9 minute miles.

At the four mile mark we all stop to decide who's going 5.5 miles and who's going 8 miles. Also, some of us get drinks at the water fountains. I jogged over to one of the water fountains and as I walked back to the group I noticed that there was an air of panic and fear surrounding them. It was then that I realized that a member of the group was laying on the ground apparently having a seizure.

Thankfully we seemed to have a medical professional in our midst, several people had cellphones and had called 911, and the park was full of Little League teams who had first aid kits. No one wanted to leave even though it really didn't take 15 of us to flag down the ambulance. We all wanted to make sure everything was going to be okay.

The ambulance arrived after what seemed like an incredibly long amount of time and loaded the now sort-of conscious runner into the back. Discussion was had about who to contact. No one was really sure. Normally this particular runner has his cellphone on him but I don't know if he did last night or not. Regardless, once the ambulance took off if he had it on his arm it was of no use to us. At this point we ran back to the starting point of the run to re-group.

Luckily, due to a twist of fate, some members of the group were able to track down the phone number of a family member and let them know what happened. However, it certainly started a discussion of what to carry with you on a run.

I currently have a Road ID on my shoe that lists my name, Jason's phone number, and my parents' phone number. I almost always run with my cellphone that someone could use to contact people. I know other people who run wearing dog tags with contact information on them. One guy last night said he runs with his gym's photo ID and that his gym has a list of emergency contact information. Some people think it's enough to run just with their driver's license but I disagree. We already knew who this guy was last night, we just didn't know who to call in the event of an emergency.

So, I beseech you. If you run, hike, bike, walk or exercise outside alone, carry something with emergency contact information on it. Preferably something easy to spot. If you exercise with others, let them know where to find your emergency contact information. For instance, in my case it's on my shoe.

My run last night went well and I have my fingers crossed that our group member recovers fully from whatever happened. Stay safe out there!

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

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/17/10 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 06:32 PM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 5.40 miles Time: 0:48:45 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 02 /mi Calories: 634 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 03 +0' 01 6.6 -0.0 -- ft 2 8' 50 -0' 12 6.8 +0.1 -- ft 3 9' 06 +0' 04 6.6 -0.1 -- ft 4 9' 07 +0' 05 6.6 -0.1 -- ft 5 20' 16 +11' 14 3.0 -3.7 -- ft end 9' 20 +0' 18 6.4 -0.2 -- ft Versus average of 9' 02 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Cleveland Marathon's 10K Race Report

First, everyone say to hi to my friend Rae. She is a newer runner who decided to tackle her first 10K this weekend. My job? Get her to the finish line at a 10 minute/mile pace. But, really, this weekend was all about having fun. And fun was definitely had.

Of course, the first thing you have to do on race weekend is pick up your packet. I'd heard exciting things about the Cleveland Marathon expo and was looking forward to checking it out. We scored some fun swag both in the goodie bag and at some of the booths. The only downer? The marathoners and half marathoners got awesome blue technical t-shirts whereas us 10K runners only got gray cotton t-shirts. Dear Cleveland Marathon race organizers, please don't make the shorter distances feel slighted. Thanks.

On top of the free stuff I was super excited that One More Mile was there. Rae and I laughed at the slogans and ended up buying a few things. Check out our haul:


New headgear (Rae's new shirt says "This seemed like a good idea 3 months ago")


Free/Goodie Bag Swag

And, of course, on race weekend what else do you need to do? Carbo load! But we couldn't have just any old pasta. Oh no. Rae decided to teach me how to make homemade herb pasta! Check it out:

Paired with tomato-basil tomato sauce, fresh roasted veggies, and Parmesan cheese it was delicious!

After some griping about how freaking early we'd need to get up and some discussion about which train to take downtown we headed to bed for our 5 AM alarm. The 10K race started at 7:15 but we wanted to make sure we got there early enough to do all that fun pre-race stuff like find the start line and use the port-a-potty.

Thanks to our wonderful husbands we had no need for gear check so after watching the marathoners and half marathoners get started we tried to figure out where to stand. Again, the 10K race was a little bit shafted as there were no pace signs to indicate where people should stand. As a result, we passed quite a few walkers in the first few miles.


Marathon/Half Marathon start

Once we got situated I realized I'd forgotten to take off my sweatshirt. It was chilly and I didn't really want to stand around freezing to death but I also didn't want to run with it on. But, I sucked it up and tied it around my waist and hoped I'd see Jason near the start so I could throw it to him. I hopped up and down to stay warm while we listened to "Cleveland Rocks" for about the 10th time. I'm pretty sure Rae thought I was nuts. Here were are, about to run 6.2 miles, it's 7:10 AM, and I'm full of energy. Let's get this party started!

The horn sounded and about 4 minutes later we shuffled our way over the start line. Almost immediately I saw Jason who was staring through the camera rather oblivious to my presence. I made a beeline for him and did my best to make him notice me.


Obviously that didn't go so well


But at least I managed to get rid of my sweatshirt

Rae and I had a pact that she didn't need to talk to me unless she wanted to. We did chat a bit at the beginning since we were going slowly as we dodged around walkers and slower runners. I had one bud of my earphones in so that I could take in the sounds around me and keep an ear on Rae. I'd promised to stick next to her the entire time and I wanted to do my best as a pacer.

The course itself was rather bland. Sure, there were some views of the lake, a few glimpses of what I think was an airplane museum, and some boat docks, but for the most part it was frontage road and people on the way out, and frontage road, people, and the occasional glimpse of the city on the way back. There was one hill as we went up and over the freeway but it wasn't too bad. Rae was doing really well and we were sticking to our 10 minute pace.

Except, apparently, I got a little carried away in mile 4 and pushed us a little too fast. I could tell Rae was starting to suffer so I slowed us back down. Every time we passed a water stop Rae asked if I wanted water (she had her own bottle) but I declined. I was in a groove and didn't want to interrupt it.

About mile 5 I could tell Rae needed some more motivation. "Hey," I said. "Let's try and pick off that girl in orange." I pointed out a woman running several yards in front of us. Rae didn't seemed to thrilled with the idea but I told her to stay steady. Sure enough, we passed her. "Now let's go for the guy in red." But just as we were closing in on him he stopped to stretch! No fair!

Then the race course designers decided to throw us a curveball. A huge hill in the final mile! "You can kick this hill's butt!" I said to Rae. "You run hills all the time! If anyone is dying on this hill it will be me!" I also told her she was more than welcome to slug me once we crossed the finish line.

As we neared the finish line I started looking for Jason. Then Rae saw her husband waving her red sweatshirt! I grabbed her hand and hammed it up for the camera. Um, I may have been channeling Phoebe or some other crazy runner. But, as Rae said, my energy level was a big factor for her.



The finish line was just up ahead. I could see the clock and see that we were nearing Rae's goal time. "Come on," I said. "Let's kick it! You can do it!" And off I went knowing that there's nothing better than a rabbit to chase when you really need to push it.



And then we crossed the finish line! "We did it!" And, instead of slugging me, Rae and I collapsed into a huge hug. And then celebrated with chocolate milk.



Aside to the race organizers: Once again, thanks for making the 10K runners feel like the bastard step-children of the event. The marathon and half marathon medals were right there as we finished yet it became obvious there were no medals for us. Next year, how about a little love for the 10K people? Thanks.

I'm so proud of Rae for taking on this challenge. I've never been prouder to run with anyone. She said she couldn't have done it without me. I say she made it one of the best 10K races I've ever run. I had so much fun! And remember her goal of 10 minute miles? Well, our final time was...

1:02:48 for an average pace of 9:59

WE DID IT!!!

We had so much energy on the way back we were practically bouncing all over the commuter train. Jason, though, found being a spectator to be very tiring work.



He's such a good sport, though. He's an awesome spectator, takes great race photos, and was even kind enough to drive the 6 hours home so that I could sleep in the car.

I didn't want this weekend to end. Alas, after a homemade breakfast of waffles and eggs it was time to hit the road. I'm so proud of Rae for sticking with her training and getting her goal time. She'll tell you it's only because I was there that she did it, but I say, to paraphrase John Bingham, it was her courage to start in the first place that got her to the finish line.

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

Bones in Motion Data (which is being lame and not showing all the cool stuff)

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 0 ft Location: -- Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/16/10 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 07:19 AM Difficulty: 0 / 5.0 Performance Distance: 6.27 miles Time: 1:02:38 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 59 /mi Calories: 752 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 03 +0' 04 6.0 -0.0 -- ft 2 10' 02 +0' 03 6.0 -0.0 -- ft 3 9' 56 -0' 03 6.0 +0.0 -- ft 4 9' 45 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 -- ft 5 10' 00 +0' 01 6.0 -0.0 -- ft 6 9' 58 -0' 01 6.0 +0.0 -- ft end 9' 50 -0' 09 6.1 +0.1 -- ft Versus average of 9' 59 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Ups and Downs

Source

Wednesday night was a good night. Track night with OPRC. Much better than my Monday night run. Although I was feeling tired and out of it the camaraderie of the other runners pulled me right out of it. In fact, I personally think these are amazing times.

Warm Up Mile - 9:55

1st 800 - 4:00
2nd 800 - 3:52
3rd 800 - 3:54
4th 800 - 3:48

1st 400 - 1:48
2nd 400 - 1:49
3rd 400 - 1:48
4th 400 - 1:50

Cool Down Mile - 9:56
Cool Down .19 - 10:07 pace

Total mileage: 5.35

Wednesday night was also good in terms of Trinka Deu. She was happily playing like her usual goofy self. I was looking forward to writing today's post all about what a good time I had at track last night.

However, this morning was not so good. Trinka Deu's cancer took a turn for the worse and, in the end, we had to put her to sleep this afternoon.

My Deu dog, and first four-legged running partner, is gone. Normally I would have run at lunch today but, of course, being with my pup during her last few hours was more important.

I'm still traveling to Cleveland this weekend to run a 10K with a friend. My hope is that a weekend away with people I love doing something I love will temper the heartache.

Thank you for all your kind words on Monday's post. It means a lot to me.

Trinka Deu: 2000(?) - 2010















Good bye, my Deu dog. You will always have a super special place in my heart.