Goin' South

This week is totally crazy for me. We've got construction going on at our house, I have plans every night after work, and my weekend is booked. Not a good plan for someone with a race on Sunday!

So, since I wouldn't have a chance to run after work any night this week I brought my running stuff to work for a lunch time run. I haven't run at lunch since August! Kim got injured and I somehow got dropped from the email list of the people from work who run at lunch. They were doing mostly long runs in the morning before work anyway since most of them were training for the Chicago marathon and then I just figured that they were taking a break post-marathon.

I wasn't looking forward to running on my own at lunch. The sun was out (hooray!) but it was rather chilly. But, I'd packed my gym bag so I dragged my butt to the locker room. Imagine my surprise when the other woman from the work lunch time running group showed up! Turns out they are indeed still running at lunch Tuesdays and Thursdays. I was so happy to see them.

We went south along the path that heads toward Soldier Field. I'd never run south with them so it was fun to try a new path. And we were booking it! The Garmin data on my computer says that my fastest speed was over 3000 miles per hour. Garmin, sometimes I wonder about you. Actually, my splits look really funny, too, because I didn't pause the Garmin at the halfway point while we paused to regroup. Check those out down below.

On the way back, two of the guys decided to run through a gaggle of geese sitting on the grass. Turns out, Chicago geese don't care about runners. The geese totally ignored them!

It was a good run. I started to lag towards the end of the third mile but thankfully so did the other woman I was running with. Let's just say we were drafting off the guys in front of us :-)

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The reason I couldn't run after work on Tuesday was because it was the monthly Oak Park Runners Club meeting. This month's topic? My favorite thing! Yoga!

No, seriously, we did lots of standing poses and a few floor poses that were way more about stretching and strengthening. I think I could MAYBE get into that type of yoga. What was hilarious is that we were all competing with each other to see who could do the pose "the best". I guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of competitive runners in one room. Also, I had to laugh when everyone moaned about tree pose. I like tree pose!

So, yeah. A good run followed by some yoga that didn't make me want to roll my eyes. Overall, a great day in workout land.

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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 591 ft Location: Chicago, IL Elev. Gain: +17 ft Date: 11/03/09 Up/Downhill: [+177/-160] Time: 12:21 PM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   46 F temp; 33% humidity   46 F heat index; winds NW 3 Performance Distance: 3.80 miles Time: 0:34:28 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 04 /mi Calories: 456 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 32 -0' 32 7.0 +0.4 +23 ft 2 9' 46 +0' 42 6.1 -0.5 -16 ft 3 8' 32 -0' 32 7.0 +0.4 -3 ft end 9' 40 +0' 36 6.2 -0.4 +13 ft Versus average of 9' 04 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

A Scary Halloween Story

So on Saturday morning (Halloween morning) I set out for an 8 mile run. My plan? To run from my house to the starting point of the Monday night OPRC runs, do the OPRC route, and then head home.

Except I got lost.

Imagine, it's Halloween. A lone woman is running through a deserted town. She's looking left and right as if she's searching for something. And then, she comes across this:



*cue screaming*

Okay, not really. I just missed a turn and couldn't quite figure out where I needed to go in order to pick the original route back up. But I knew vaguely where I was. So I just kept going. And I'm glad I did because if I'd run my regular route I'd never have come across that house and their amazing Halloween display. Seriously, the photos do not do it justice.

I mean, you can't even see the zombie Michael Jackson singing and dancing in the little hut in the front yard.

Anyway, it was a good run. And, interestingly enough, I came across this house just after the 10K mark. The 10K mark that came at 58:20. Oh yeah. If I don't get under an hour at this race next Sunday I'm gonna be ticked!

I had a weird pain in the arch of my right foot about mile 5 but it worked itself out. Good thing, too. I had a full day ahead of me and I didn't want to spend it hobbling around. Being Halloween and all, my husband and I went to see Paranormal Activity in the afternoon. I'm not sure my heart was beating that fast during my run!

We also attended a Halloween party later that evening. I seriously thought about going as Kara Goucher but ended up going as a different kind of racer. Jason, as always, was my pit crew:



So, yeah, a great run to start out a great Halloween. How was yours?

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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 627 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/31/09 Up/Downhill: [+65/-65] Time: 08:06 AM Difficulty: 2.4 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   42 F temp; 70% humidity   42 F heat index; winds W 15 G 23 Performance Distance: 8.27 miles Time: 1:18:28 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 29 /mi Calories: 980 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 37 +0' 08 6.2 -0.1 +3 ft 2 9' 19 -0' 10 6.4 +0.1 +6 ft 3 9' 33 +0' 04 6.3 -0.0 0 ft 4 9' 24 -0' 05 6.4 +0.1 0 ft 5 9' 14 -0' 15 6.5 +0.2 -9 ft 6 9' 26 -0' 03 6.3 +0.0 +16 ft 7 9' 26 -0' 03 6.3 +0.0 -3 ft 8 9' 34 +0' 05 6.3 -0.1 -16 ft end 10' 26 +0' 57 5.8 -0.6 +3 ft Versus average of 9' 29 min/mile

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TIART - Three Wishes

Today's Take it and Run Thursday question, brought to you by Runners' Lounge and Chocolate Shoestrings is:

If a genie were to appear and grant you any three running wishes in the world, what would you choose? It can be anything from superhuman powers, new running inventions, race entries, shoes, you name it!

What would be your three wishes?

After struggling through a 3.2 mile treadmill run last night, I immediately thought of my first two wishes:

Wish #1: That it stayed light outside until at least 8 PM every night all year long.

Wish #2: That running on the treadmill was as easy for me as running outside

Then, thinking about all the races I want to run in different places, I came up with the following:

Wish #3: That I could do well at every race I wanted to run without worrying about them being too close to one another.

And with that, I have nothing else to report for today. Other than I can't believe I did almost half my training last winter on the treadmill. Ugh. I am NOT looking forward to that again.

Who knew I'd miss you?

Ahhh, OPRC, I actually missed you!

I haven't run with them since we got our new greyhound. Instead, Monday nights have been devoted to obedience class. But last night class was canceled so I got to run!

And boy, did I run! I originally thought I'd be slow as molasses based on Sunday's run and the fact that I haven't run very much in the past week. I even told two new women that I'd be at the back of the pack keeping them company.

But then one of the regulars paired herself up with me stating that she wanted to "go slow."

She's a talker, that one. Managed to keep me distracted the entire time with her chatter. So distracted that it wasn't until mile 3 that I realized we'd left the "back of the pack" people in the dust and were running my hoped-for 10K race pace! Oops! I felt so bad about leaving the new people behind. So bad, in fact, that when we got to the park where we all stop to re-group I ran back aways to see if I could find them. Sadly, I couldn't. Another club member and I stood around hoping to see them but we never did. We were getting cold in the cool and drizzly weather, so we left. I still feel guilty.

However, other than the guilt, it was an AWESOME RUN. Oh, it was awesome. I have confidence now that I can kick this upcoming 10K's butt.

And then, after the run, we all went out for dinner and drinks to celebrate a club member's birthday AND the fact that she qualified for the Boston Marathon on her very first try! I even got to see some of the photos from our Chicago Marathon water station. Here's one (I'm on the far right):



We drank some drinks, ate some food, and even had cake! Yummy strawberry or banana cake that another of the members brought. Overall, it was a great evening.

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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 628 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/26/09 Up/Downhill: [+19/-19] Time: 06:35 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0   Weather: Light Rain   52 F temp; 92% humidity   52 F heat index; winds SW 6 Performance Distance: 5.51 miles Time: 0:50:31 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 10 /mi Calories: 655 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 30 +0' 20 6.3 -0.2 -3 ft 2 8' 53 -0' 17 6.8 +0.2 -9 ft 3 9' 00 -0' 10 6.7 +0.1 +6 ft 4 9' 04 -0' 06 6.6 +0.1 +3 ft 5 9' 12 +0' 02 6.5 -0.0 0 ft end 10' 14 +1' 04 5.9 -0.7 +3 ft Versus average of 9' 10 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Season-Appropriate Running

After taking a week off from running, my legs felt a little rusty when I went out for my running yesterday. Typically I would go for a long run (that is, anything over 6 miles) on the weekend but I thought I'd take it easy after my little break.

However, I have to admit, I've been battling these thoughts that a short run isn't even worth it. Somehow I got it into my head that anything shorter than 5 miles is pointless for me to do.

So, my original plan yesterday was do to either 3.1 or 6.2 miles (preferably the 6.2). The Livejournal Runner's Community was hosting a virtual race for both of those distances. I figured I'd head out and see how I felt and then make my decision about distance.

The first half mile? Painful! My right hip hurt, my head felt heavy, and my heart was pounding. I could definitely tell that I'd taken a week off. I'm sure it didn't help that I'd woken up fairly dehydrated. Or that I'd made a rookie mistake and gone out too fast.

After that first half mile, though, I felt great. I decided to try a new route and see where it took me in terms of mileage. So, I crossed a street and went an entirely new direction.

And ended up in the graveyard pictured above.

I like graveyards. I think they are beautiful and peaceful. So, instead of being creeped out or scared, I enjoyed running alongside the gleaming headstones and admiring the fall leaves on the trees. I stopped to take a few more photos shortly after I hit the two mile mark.






After that, though, I felt horrible. I tried to pick the pace back up but it felt like a struggle. My head was pounding and I literally staggered the last few feet of my run. I didn't even make it to the 4 mile mark! I did, however, remember to glance at my watch at the 5K point (28:21, not including the stop for photography) so that I'd have a time to report for the virtual race.

I'm not sure what happened. Maybe I picked something up in the graveyard ;-) It is that time of year, after all!

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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 620 ft Location: Forest Park, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/25/09 Up/Downhill: [+9/-9] Time: 11:06 AM Difficulty: 1.9 / 5.0   Weather: Mostly Cloudy   57 F temp; 57% humidity   57 F heat index; winds S 16 G 23 Performance Distance: 3.39 miles Time: 0:32:34 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 36 /mi Calories: 401 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 54 -0' 42 6.7 +0.5 +3 ft 2 9' 15 -0' 21 6.5 +0.2 -3 ft 3 10' 09 +0' 33 5.9 -0.3 0 ft end 12' 49 +3' 13 4.7 -1.6 0 ft Versus average of 9' 36 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

TIART - The Race is the Place

This week's Take it and Run Thursday question from Runner's Lounge is as follows:

We've all discussed why we run, but why do you RACE and how do you choose which races to run?

Do you look for certain distances, swag, location, start time, or something else? Tell me how you decide where and when to race. Also, I'm currently on a quest to run a race in every state. Please tell me--and others about a particular race you've run that is not to be missed.


So, first off, why do I race? Well, I race because it gives me a goal. It gives me markers on my progress. And because it's fun! There's nothing quite like race day atmosphere.

But how do I chose my races? As I mentioned in this post, my criteria for choosing a race tend to be based on how close the race is to my house, who the proceeds go to, and, of course, the distance. Of course, I made exceptions on the "distance from my house" thing this year for both my half-marathons. I really like the idea of combining running a race with a vacation. As long as you do the race at the beginning of the trip and aren't super worried about hitting a PR.

I also try to take the course into consideration. Will it be interesting? Does it have something unique about it? Or does the race itself have a unique theme?

Let's break down the races I've run so far this year and why I chose them:

Illinois Half Marathon - The inaugural marathon/half-marathon sponsored by the club that got me running in the first place. Held in my hometown. Free place to stay and lots of family and friend spectator support. Unique finish on the 50 yard line of the football stadium as well as the chance to run through my hometown.

Chase Corporate Challenge - Builds camaraderie with coworkers. Within walking distance of my office. Free entry!

SkirtChaser 5K - Unique theme. Great swag!

Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon - Running in one of my favorite parts of the country, ability to finally meet and run with (in person) someone I've been online friends with for years. Plus, an awesome vacation and spectator support.

Rally for Autism 5K - Running with another friend and the chance to possibly place in our age group (sadly, that was not meant to be, but oh well!)

PAWS Chicago Run For Their Lives 8K - My favorite cause! Great pre- and post-race activities for people and dogs alike.

Westchester VeteRUN - The closest 10K to my house


There you go. Why I chose the races I chose this year. I'm sure next year will be a little different. Still trying to decide on a marathon and I'm pretty sure that Holly and I will be running the Soldier Field 10-Miler in May. Sometimes you just have to shake things up a bit!

My Happy Hour

Good thing I was running :-)

But seriously. After a long day of sitting in conference rooms I had several options: hit the bar by myself, take a nap, or go for a run.

I chose the run. Originally I was going to do it in the hotel's fitness room but the weather outside was too gorgeous. Who knew central Florida could be so lovely? Plus, even after rinsing out my workout clothes (I only packed one set) and letting them dry they still REEKED of b.o. I didn't think it was fair to subject the other fitness room users to that.

I ended up running around the cart path on the golf course at my hotel. 5 miles once around. I did one of the sections twice, though, for a total of 7 miles. Apparently you're not supposed to run on the cart path on the golf course. I suppose there's a chance you could get beaned by a errant golf ball or run over by a out of control golf cart. Luckily, at 6:00 PM on an October Saturday 2 miles from Disney World there aren't many golfers out and about and no one said anything to me.

It was a great run. There were few weird pangs in my shins and my left knee, but they went away as my muscles and joints warmed up.

And afterward I stretched while overlooking part of the hotel's grounds. Like being in a tropical paradise.



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Stats

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 101 ft Location: Lake Buena Vista, FL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/17/09 Up/Downhill: [+62/-62] Time: 05:56 PM Difficulty: 2.1 / 5.0   Weather: A Few Clouds   63 F temp; 58% humidity   63 F heat index; winds NW 12 G 18 Performance Distance: 7.19 miles Time: 1:09:46 Speed: 6.2 mph Pace: 9' 42 /mi Calories: 852 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 31 -0' 11 6.3 +0.1 +4 ft 2 9' 44 +0' 02 6.2 -0.0 -3 ft 3 9' 45 +0' 03 6.2 -0.0 -4 ft 4 9' 47 +0' 05 6.1 -0.1 +3 ft 5 9' 50 +0' 08 6.1 -0.1 -7 ft 6 9' 51 +0' 09 6.1 -0.1 +10 ft 7 9' 55 +0' 13 6.0 -0.1 -3 ft end 9' 52 +0' 10 6.1 -0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 42 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Over The Top

Kim gave me this Over the Top Blog award. Since I'm traveling for work this week and I didn't know when I'd have a chance to run or workout next I figured this would be a good way to let everyone know I'm still around!

To accept this award, I have to answer the following questions with one word answers, and pass the award on to six others. I hate having to pass on awards, especially since I'm never sure which six people read me regularly! So, instead of passing it on to six people, I'm passing it on to my friend Holly who recently started a new blog to chronicle a new, huge step in her life!

So, without further adieu, here are my answers (as applicable at 3:30 PM on Tuesday)


1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? Long
3. Your mother? Supportive
4. Your father? Shrug
5. Your favorite food? Potatoes
6. Your dream last night? Unknown
7. Your favorite drink? Wine
8. Your dream/goal? Happiness
9. What room are you in? Office
10. Your hobby? Running
11. Your fear? Rejection
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
13. Where were you last night? Obedience
14. Something you aren’t? Patient
15. Muffins? Eh
16. Wish list item? Speed
17. Where did you grow up? Champaign
18. Last thing you did? Download
19. What are you wearing? Turtleneck
20. Your TV? Recorded
21. Your pets? Crazy
22. Your friends? Missed
23. Your life? Structured
24. Your mood? Irritated
25. Missing someone? Yes
26. Vehicle? Pragmatic
27. Something you’re not wearing? Nailpolish
28. Your favorite store? Limited
29. Your favorite color? Silver
30. When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Recently
32. Your best friend? Tough
33. One place that I go over and over? Jewel
34. One person who emails me regularly? Comments
35. Favorite place to eat? Mom's!

TIART - Yellow Brick...Treadmill?

I'm currently out of town at a conference for work. I'm spending 5 days in lovely Orlando, Florida where they seem to be experiencing heat and humidity that is abnormal for mid-October. So, although the grounds of my hotel are lovely I decided that a treadmill run was in order. In that lovely gym pictured above, actually.

What does that have to do with today's Take it and Run question from Runner's Lounge?

Well, here's this week's question:

Scarecrow asked for a Brain, Tin Man for a Heart, and Lion for Courage. If you could meet the Wizard of Running and ask for anything, what would it be?

When your wish was granted, how would your travels down the Yellow Brick Road of running be different?

If I could only ask for one wish, it would be speed. No, not the illegal substance. I just wish I could be faster without having to do all the speedwork. I attempted speedwork today on the treadmill. It was an abysmal failure. Actually, my run was pretty cruddy overall.

See?



I think the workout summary said my average pace was 10:31. Blech.

Although, I suppose that's not too bad for my first treadmill run in months, almost a week of no running (I haven't run since last Saturday) and while traveling. Plus, the fans on the treadmill didn't work and the gym itself was kind of warm and stuffy.

At least I got a run in! Now, if I could just figure out where that wizard is hiding so I could run faster....

Chicago Marathon Volunteer Report

Welcome to aid station 13 located at mile 18 of the Chicago Marathon! This was just one of many tables full of water we set up. For at least half a mile along the street there were water tables, Gatorade tables, and energy packet tables. Over 250 volunteers in our blue jackets manned these tables. We had a forklift, boxes and boxes of supplies, signs, rakes, trashcans, and shovels. What we didn't have? Food or bathrooms. Or heat.

The past two years the weather on race day has been dangerously hot. This year? Not so much. I arrived at the aid station shortly after 6:30 AM. After I got my volunteer gear I was wearing a fleece earband, a baseball cap, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved fleece jacket, the polyester volunteer jacket, jeans, wool socks, mittens and rain boots. I wore the rain boots to keep my feet dry. They did not, however, keep my feet warm. At the end of my 6 hour shift my toes were so numb I could barely walk.

Sadly, I didn't bring my camera and my hands were so cold that I didn't bother to pull out my phone to take pictures. Besides, when you're handing out water to over 40+ thousand people, it's hard to take pictures!

Forty-plus thousand people. That's larger than some towns. I don't know if they all made it to mile 18, but, starting with the elites, we had runners non-stop from approximately 8:45 AM to noon.

At first you hold out your hand with a cup of water in it. Your arm starts to die from holding it out at your side. You cheer when people take water from you and not the person next to you. But as the race goes on more and more people want water. You get to the point where you are grabbing two or three or four cups of water at a time just to keep up with the demand. You trade raking responsibilities and try to clean up dropped cups while staying out of the way of the runners. And then, as your table empties of water, you break it down and move onto the next table. You watch in awe as the world championship male runners blow past. You crane your neck looking for the elite female runners. You cheer for all the other runners. You shout out the names that people have written on their shirts.

It's exhilarating. It's fun. It's awe-inspiring. For the first few hours. And then, when it's cold, you start to worry if your toes will ever be warm. You start to get hungry. You start to get tired. You talk yourself out of needing to pee. But you don't want to complain because the people running past you are also thinking all those things...except they're running 26.2 miles. Something you haven't done.

So, instead, you jump up and down. You joke with the other people at your table. You dance to the music on the loudspeaker. You rake up discarded cups. You fill up more cups with water. And when the "course closed" vehicle drives by, you look at the stragglers walking behind it, shake your head, and begin to clean up.

I made it home shortly after 1 PM. I made myself lunch and sat on the couch to warm up and watch tv. I didn't mean to nap. But, I fell asleep for about 45 minutes. I'm sure handing out water at the Chicago Marathon is nothing like actually running the marathon, but it wore me out just the same.

If you do want to see some photos, Kim has some good ones. She even got photos of the elites! And some of the people in costume. I saw one guy dressed as Minnie Mouse. I saw several Wonder Womans. I saw a few nuns. I saw people of every shape, size and color. It truly is as if an entire city decided they'd all get up and go for a run. Amazing.

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Speaking of runs, I did 8 miles on the bike path on Saturday morning. The air temperature was chilly and the sun hitting the creek created a low-hanging steam rising off the water. There were fewer runners than usual out and about I'm assuming because many of them were doing Sunday's big race. But I did see one guy running barefoot on the asphalt path. I, on the other hand, was wearing my newest pair of Brooks Adrenalines.



It was a good run. Goal? 10:00 minute miles across the board. Managed that with no problems. And I got lucky and barely had to stop for traffic.

After my run I "recovered" with hot chocolate. Chocolate milk is the perfect post-run recovery drink. I figured on a chilly fall day that hot chocolate would be even better. Yum!

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 621 ft Location: Brookfield, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 10/10/09 Up/Downhill: [+223/-223] Time: 08:15 AM Difficulty: 3.1 / 5.0   Weather: Partly Cloudy   40 F temp; 72% humidity   40 F heat index; winds SW 6 Performance Distance: 8.05 miles Time: 1:19:12 Speed: 6.1 mph Pace: 9' 50 /mi Calories: 962 Map   Elevation (ft)   Pace (min/mile)   Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 05 +0' 15 6.0 -0.2 -4 ft 2 9' 47 -0' 03 6.1 +0.0 +7 ft 3 9' 58 +0' 08 6.0 -0.1 +10 ft 4 9' 45 -0' 05 6.2 +0.0 -6 ft 5 9' 36 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 +4 ft 6 9' 36 -0' 14 6.2 +0.1 -7 ft 7 9' 52 +0' 02 6.1 -0.0 -7 ft 8 9' 53 +0' 03 6.1 -0.0 +3 ft end 9' 10 -0' 40 6.5 +0.4 0 ft Versus average of 9' 50 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com