Thanksgiving tempo run playlist

I am trying to figure out what music, if I run with music, to run with during my upcoming marathon. One of the ideas I came up with is throwing a bunch of my favorite CDs on a playlist and hitting shuffle. Here is how that list played out today: 

Fall Out Boy- Death Valley 

Fun-Carry on

Houndmouth-Say It

Fall out boy- Miss missing you 

Cold War kids-hotel anywhere 

Misterwives-our own house 

Cold War kids- Harold Bloom 

Houndmouth-Darlin 

Lake Street dive- use me up

Fun-Some nights(intro)

Foster the people-I would do anything for you 

The Academy is-Slow down 

Woolworthy-Vaporized

Taking Back Sunday-The Blue Channel 

Walk the moon-Jenny 

The Killers-somebody told me 

Taking Back Sunday-Head Club 

The Starting Line-Saddesr girl story 

Plain White Ts-shine 

Lucky boys confusion-Child's play

""-40/80

""-not about Debra 

Was the moon-tightrope 

Lake street dive-use me up 

The dog and everything-love is 

Taking back Sunday-cute without the E(cut from the team)

Bayside-tortures of the damn 

Fenix Tx-no lie 

Jimmy Eat World-Sweetness 

Houndmouth-My cousin Greg 

Woolworthy-Woolworthy stomp

What are some of your favorite songs to run to? How do you put playlist together 

Heard on my run

I went for a long run in Detroit and just let my iTunes do the rest. Most of the time I try and control what is playing even if I don't create a playlist. There were s lot of random tunes I might have changed, but it was fun to hear what was coming next.  Part or whole portions of these songs played over two hours: 

Nelly-Nasty Girl

2 Pac-2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted 

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound-Rouse Yourself 

Lil Boosie-Bad bitch 

Andrew McMahon-Cecilia and the satellite 

Mest-R Ska Song 

Linkin Park- H! Vltg3

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound-Ordinary 

YoungBloodz-Spending some change 

O.A.R.-About Mr. Brown 

Eric Hutchinson-Rock & Roll

Rooney-All or Nothing 

Pomeroy-Sir Duke 

Rooney-Simply Because 

Ben Folds-The Last Polka 

Lil Scrappy- Ei L.A.

311-Same Misrake Twice 

Kings of Leon-Notion

Clipse-All Eyes On Me 

Mest-Wasting My Time 

Simple Plan-My Alien 

Short Arm Trick-Wasting My Time

Jack's Mannequin-Hey Hey Hey

The Beastie Boys-Country Mike's Theme 

O-Town-Liquid Dreams 

Lloyd Banks-I get High 

Augustana-Stars and Boulevard 

Ok Go-Return

Catch 22-Straight Forward 

The Strokes-Games 

The Killers- Jenny was a friend of mine 

Rich Boy-Get poppin 

Fall Out Boy- Rat a Tat

Girl Talk- That's right 

Ok Go- What to do 

 

10-3-11

There are a few things that inspired this post: seeing Everest, my strange run last Saturday, and the upcoming Chicago Marathon. It is a strange combination, but it all makes sense in my mind. 

There is a small part in the movie where the characters are talking about the trouble climbing is causing in their lives. Jon Krakauer's character then asks, "Why do they keep doing it?" None of them really answer the question except for one guy. I am paraphrasing this, but essentially he says, "because I can." This brings us to my 15 mile run last Saturday morning.

Morning runs will always be tough for me.  They are extra hard when you go to bed after 1 a.m., it is chilly in the morning and you wake up to see it's misting and it is crazy windy. I dreaded this run. Training is going well, so I should have had no reason to be nervous. 

The run did not get off to the greatest start. I went back to get gloves before I got started. My shoelaces came untied twice within the first mile. I really wanted to turn around and get back in to a warm bed. Does anyone reading this think I would actually do that? I continued to trudge along and feel miserable. I asked myself, why am I doing this again? 

Part of the answer to that is because I am training for a marathon. It really bothers me to miss out on training runs. Ask anyone who knows me. When I see them out, they assume I ran there. Things only got worse when I finally hit the path. The mist and the wind picked up, and my stomach turned against me. A lot of people ask me what I think about during long runs. Like I did on this one, I am talking myself through it. An example of something I might say is, "get yourself to this point and you will feel better." That may not be true, but it feels good to say in my mind. On this run, I wanted to get to the turnaround point. Things did not get any better and I still could not answer the question of of why am I doing this right now. 

My stomach felt terrible and the wind still sucked. Once I got off the path, things felt better. I think my stomach and I agreed that I only have three miles left and it would play nice. Of course that made the last three miles the best of the run. I finally finished running and now knew why I went running. 

I went because this is a run that I will remember on December 6, 2015 when things get tough. I went because I could. There are a ton of other crazy people that would have loved to have been in my shoes. No run or race will always be perfect. I also went because I knew I would feel good about doing it. It is also a good battle story to tell. The funny part about the run I just described, is that it went very well. Things just did not completely click that day and that will happen. 

Good luck to all those running weekend. Remember to remember a tough run or two. Use it as motivation and power through. Remember that if you feel terrible at some point during the race, you will be a marathoner once you are done. 

 

A weekend in the life of a runner who enjoys a social life

Sometimes I feel like runners feel like they have to sacrifice a social life while training for a race. While it does take making some sacrifices, I am a big believer that it should not conpletely take over your life. Running keeps me structured and Labor Day weekend was an example of this. 

That weekend I decided to put together a little photo blog that somewhat captured my weekend.

This is also not a lecture or judgment on those who do give up a social life. I definitely understand that as well. I hope you all enjoy it. It was a tiring, fun weekend. We will start on Friday night. 

I film games for the football team at the high school I work at part time. The game started at 1 p.m., but I got asked to be there at 10 a.m. to help out. If I wanted to get my run in, I needed to stay in and attempt to get to bed at a decent hour. This a decent hour, right? 

Flash forward to:

Blah! Morning runs are the worst, but  I would hate to miss out on a run more.  I managed to get a warm-up in and then I finally headed out around 6:30 a.m. The positive of morning runs is that it I am done and do not have to worry about a run later. I knew I had to leave by this time to get my it in. 

                 The sweaty aftermath 

I showered, got a quick bite to eat and headed to my next stop. I had some issues that led to me leaving later than I wanted to. That frustrated me because I hate being late. It stresses me out. 

I had some time to get a workout in before the game, so I did that and stretched afterwards. Eventually, the football game started and I took my post in the lift. 

The game ended a little after 3:30 p.m. and I rushed out of there to meet a friend who I was attending a wedding with. I got dressed in my dad's car on the way there because traffic stunk on Saturday. I failed to get pictures at the wedding, but I had a good time. 

               That says 12:29 a.m.

I could have gone out after the wedding, but I was wiped and knew I had a run to get in Sunday. I also knew that I could and would have some fun on Sunday. 

Once I made it out of bed, I ran to a bar to hang out with a friend for a while. This was a brutal run. A combination of the heat and my dead legs did not help.  I left the bar, got something to eat, and headed to my friends for a fantasy football draft.  

            The spread at the draft!

Like I said, Sunday was hot. As much as my friends know I like to run everywhere, I did not want to be completely sweaty. These are my on the go essentials. The power shower wipes are great and I felt good after using them.

That is just a sample of my Labor Day weekend. It is definitely possible to train for a race and have a social life. It also helps to have friends and family who understand your crazy running goals and support them. In conclusion, it is important to go after your running goals, but do not get completely sucked in. 

North Shore Classic recap

Wow. I fist looked at the temp for this race and saw 57 degrees. That looked like perfect conditions for a race. Little did I know what would coming my way on May 31, 2015.

I woke up that morning to a steady drizzle in Chicago and got worried. It calmed me down that the forecast for Highland Park did not call for rain. The temps however, looked turrible(in your best Charles Barkely voice). It also did not help I had no real way of getting out there. We will skip that part because I am upset about that. 

Despite being upset about taking a can to Highland Park, I was happy to arrive. I failed to mention I was nervous about North Shore being my first official half in a while. It is a good thing the cold and wind made me forget about that noise(sarcasm). There was nothing I could do about either, so I got ready to warm-up and did what I could to stay warm. 

The benefits of it being a small-ish race is that gear check was very convenient. It also meant I could wait as long as possible to get into my corral. 

       I look happy, but I'm dying inside

I had a race plan, but I threw that out the window and decided to race by feel and just go. As the picture above shows, I was not really dressed for a casual Sunday run. 

                 So close to the elites!

The first few miles of the race were actually pretty nice. I knew it would be hilly, but these were not bad. With half marathons, I break the race down in three parts. I tell myself to get to mile 6, then 10 and then the finish. With the help of my friend Cass over at asweatlife.com and bibrave.com pro, I knew the mile seven would not be too pleasant. 

It starts nice enough with a downhill where your legs keep moving even if they do not want to be moving. Then an ugly hill rears its head as soon as you hit the bottom of the hill. It really is a cruel place to have a hill.

 On a day like that, I would not be surprised if it ended a lot of racers races. I was determined not to walk it, so I powered through and made it to the top. It felt so good to reach the top of hill. Unfortunately, from mile 7.6 or so-to-10, the wind just kicked my butt. It felt like I was running in place for a long time. As I mentioned earlier, I break the race down in three parts and just told myself to get to mile 10.  

The rest was of the race was on pure grit. My body felt like moving, but my legs did not. Despite feeling like that, I kept an even pace and felt really proud of myself for continuing to keep moving. At one point, another runner and I had a conversation about the wind finally being behind us. He sped by me and I wanted to go with him, but I am not sure it would've been a smart move for me. Seeing the finish line of this race made me so happy. I wanted to be done and put some layers on! 

                  The medal is huge

After getting stretched out and grabbing some hot chocolate, I checked my results and was really happy with my time. Of course I saw it and went, "well, if I did this, I might have broken 1:30." I stopped myself and just enjoyed a tough race I ran. Below is the elevation map according to my garmin. 

I would probably run this race again. It is a really nice challenging course. Next time, I will also have to be a little more prepared with logistics. It was a little hard getting out there on my own. 

Soldier Field 10 mile recap

Up until last Thursday (May 21), I had no plans to run this race. Originally I planned on being down at the state track meet. Unfortunately, an athlete I help coach did not make it to the finals and I made the decision to run. It is always a fun and well organized race. My night before/morning of races can tend to be a little crazy. This did not quite get there, but it came close. We will start this recap with the day I signed up for the race.

I completed a tempo run after getting done with working and it was kind of rough. My legs were pretty dead. Instead of just stretching and foam rolling, I did a 15-minute leg workout through the Nike Training Club ap. Stretching and foam rolling came after completing the workout. Normally I would have just stayed on the floor resting up, but I had plans to go the Matt and Kim concert. I got home after the concert and planned on an early morning run before the long Friday. 

                          Race outfit 

With my legs being pretty sore, I stayed on the slower end of my easy pace that morning. This run needed to happen early due to work and having to be at a track meet in Lisle most of the day. All things considered, the run went well and it was time to get ready for the day. Work and the track meet came and went. After eating at Culvers, driving back to school, doing some stretching and getting a ride home, I ended up going to bed around 2 a.m. The plan was  to get to Soldier early so I could get a couple of miles in as part of a warm-up( I had been scheduled to do 14-miles that day, but it did not end up happening). My nice little nap ended quick when my alarm went off a few hours later and I made the trek to the race. 

My legs were a little sore and that made me wonder if they could hit the prescribed pace for them that day. Eventually I got a warm-up in and should have gone to the bathroom before the race started, but I got a little distracted. I talked with people, took in the scenery and wondered if I would use music or not(I ended up not having any music. This is the longest race that I have not used any music). Things got somewhat interesting because corrals one and two had a hard close of 6:45 and I was in a bathroom line at 6:43. If someone reading this is good at predictions, the guess that I never made it to the bathroom is a good one, because I never did. 

Corral one closed as soon as I got there. The guard sent me off to corral two and this is where I thought I would start the race. With the help of some other runners who also got locked out of corral one, we wiggled our way up to the corral. I did the dance everyone does when they are doing there best to not use the bathroom right then and there. I figured I could get to a bathroom once the race started;should have known myself better. I took a my Huma Gel and felt ready to go. This is where my bladder and I had to have a little talk. I said, "please be nice to me and I will finish this as soon as I can.

The race started. The bathroom trip I kind of of planned never came and my bladder decided to play nice for the moment. Having no music was interesting because I could hear everything around me. The only annoying thing was this guy who just breathed really heavily for the first few miles. I did not know whether to ask him if he was ok or just assume this is how he always runs. Someone finally asked, but I did not hear the answer. During the first few miles a speedy little 12-to-14 year-old boy passed me. Unassumingly, he became my running buddy for a large portion of the race.

He stayed ahead of me for a good portion of the race. I focused on him but felt determined to keep my pace and run my own race. Around mile eight is where I caught up to him. It seemed like he was struggling a bit and I asked him, "How are you doing?' He responded, "I'm good." We continued for a little bit and I did my best to encourage him to finish strong and say things like, "We are almost there. Focus on the building ahead." It may not have sounded like much, but I hope he appreciate the nice words. Soon after this point, I took off and hit the home stretch.

I sped up a bit around mile nine and started my final kick towards the 50-yard line. Once I finished, I really had no idea what my time was. I knew I had beaten my goal and felt great. I hung around the finish line hoping to see a few people and I saw my 12-to-14 year-old running buddy. I congratulated him on the race and he smiled. This is one of the things that I love about running. He is probably someone I will never see again, but it felt cool to share that brief moment. All in all, Soldier Field went great.

                           Post race 

That bathroom trip I promised my bladder also finally came. We were both happy and celebrated the day with other runners. 

Lesson learned

I should set the scene for this blog post.

It started around 3:30 a.m. when I woke up to head to Nike Chicago downtown. I, along with a few others, got asked to do a small photo shoot. It sounded like a fun time and I jumped at the opportunity. Having never done of these ever, I had no idea what to expect. 

We left for the first location (Buckingham fountain/queens landing) and did some light running action shots. This seemed like it would be a fun low key day. The group also was enjoying the warm sunny day we were having. I could not predict what the combo of the sun, a good amount of running and little sleep would do to my legs. 

By the end of the day,  my legs were pretty tired. We did a pretty good amount of running. At a few of the locations we did some pretty fast runs. We were done around three, got coffee, and went our separate ways for the day. My body felt ok then, so instead of going home, I headed to Fleet Feet to drop my bags off and attempt to run this tempo. 

Once I arrived, the pre-run routine to get myself ready started. Things were looking good and I felt excited for the tempo. My legs even felt great during the warm-up mile I did. Maybe this was my body playing tricks on me? 

The answer to that question would be yes. The first two miles of the tempo run were great! Despite how great they felt, I felt an impending doom coming. Did that stop me from slowing down to the pace I actually should have been aiming for? Nope. I pretty much even predicted when this breakdown would come. 

Mile 2.5. The turn around point of my out and back tempo run. It is also the point where legs fell apart. Maybe, mentally I knew this turn would be tough because I gave it in to it way before it even came up. Either way, I still had half of my left to go. 

At the turnaround point my legs did their best to hang on. It also did not help that my stomach started acting up, my mouth got really dry and my Zoom Elites felt so heavy(definitely not the shoes fault). I stopped a couple of times after the turnaround to get water and hope my stomach would settle down. A public bathroom is not something I wanted to spend time in. My pace slowed a decent amount, but this run needed to get done. 

Eventually, my run ended. I felt pretty terrible. Typically some would think I might have been disappointed with it, but I laughed and I loved it. Those things came out of it because I knew I just learned a few lessons from it. Lessons learned from the run include:

-Stay at your prescribed pace even if the first few feel good at a fasteh.

-this counteracts the first point, but it is ok to take chances every so often. 

-It is not easy adjusting to the heat. If you have to carry water with you, do it! I ended buying a Nathan Speeddraw plus handheld and like it more than I thought I would. 

-Appreciate your runs. They may be a struggle, but things could be worse.

The best part about it all is that I got a great run in the next day. 

Ravenswood 5K timeline

I thought it would be fun to provide a timeline of how I got ready for this past Sunday's, Ravenswood 5K. These are not tips or guidelines, but just a little insight. I do not feel like I prepare for races in a way most runners do. My timeline will start with my Saturday night run. I lounged around for a large portion of the day on Saturday before I decided to actually run. 

Saturday 

6 p.m.-When I should have gone running/gotten a haircut. 

6:40-The time I actually leave my house to get a haircut/run in. I do not always get haircuts the day before races, but it needed to be done.

7:22-I finally started my run after getting my haircut and watching the end of the Bulls game.

Sometime after 8-My 6-mile run went great. I ran to a bar to watch the Hawks hopefully win in regulation. I had a beer and thankfully the Hawks won in regulation.

11:30ish- I head home to get ready for the race. 

Sunday

Midnight-I eat something because I am starving and do not like going to bed on empty stomach. Once I got one eating, I stretched and rolled out. It is not uncommon for me to stretch and roll out after coming home from a night out. 

12:45 a.m.-I figure I should find out what I am going to wear for this race. April weather in Chicago makes it really difficult to decide, so I picked out something, took a picture and got ready for bed.

Shirt-Nike Dri fit knit

Shorts-Saucony 

Shoes-new balance fresh foam Zante 

1 a.m.- Time to figure out where the race is. Once I got that figured out, I decided to run there(2.8 miles) as a warm-up. 

Sometime b/w 1 and 3 a.m.-I fall asleep. One of my bigger fears before a race is waking up too late and missing my race.

6 a.m.- I woke up and stayed in bed for quite some time. Setting the alarm at a time before I actually want to get up is a common practice for me. It gives me time to realize that I am up that early and eventually get out of bed to run.

6:20-Bathroom trip and then a shower. Showering before races is another thing that I do a lot. It wakes me up and gets me going a little. 

7:11-I finally leave the house and get going on my warm-up run. 

7:40-I find the Fleet Feet Racing team tent, realize I'm overdressed and change into a t-shirt and shorts. I get a briefly warm-up in and then head to the corrals.

8:01-Race time!

8:20ish- I get done with the race, say hello to a few people and go back to the tent. I wanted to use this race as a tempo run for my half-marathon training and felt good about my time. 

8:33-Start my cool down. After I finished that, I went to eat at a neighborhood place. 

I enjoyed writing this. I got the idea from Cass and Kristen over at aSweatLife.com. There are some good pieces on that site. (http://asweatlife.com) 

I hope you enjoyed reading this.

2014 Recap

This year flew by! It seems like I just wrote my 2014 goals a few weeks ago. Running wise I had a good year. Lets start off the new year by looking back at recap of my 2014 running year.

2014 Races

May 9-10: Cape Cod Ragnar 

I had a blast doing my first Ragnar with people I did not really know. The hills of Cape Cod were a killer. I did not know what to expect, but it is a tough, challenging and fun experience.

May 31:The Original 5K

My first 5K ever! Usually this is were a lot of people start, but I ended up going a different route. I did not know what to expect, but I wanted to run a good race. The gun went off and I ran as hard as I could and it felt really hard. I guess I did not expect a 5K to be difficult. It ended up being a good race and gave me the confidence fr the rest of the running season.

June 6-7: Chicago Ragnar 

This ended up being a challenging Ragnar for a few different reasons. The first reason it ended up being difficult is the heat. We were not prepared for it to be as hot it got and the first few legs were rough for all of us. The second reason it ended up being challenging is because I had a wedding to attend on Saturday afternoon! I am thankful the group ended up working with me to get me to that wedding on time so i could enjoy it;even if I were extremely tired.

Chicago Marathon

This is by far the race of the year for me. I changed my training program and went with the Hansons Marathon Method. The plan gave me a lot of confidence and despite my longest run being 16 miles, I felt extremely prepared for the race. Race day confirmed everything I thought and I felt great. I loved the program so much that I even convinced a few of my other friends doing marathons to use it. Not hitting the wall is a great feeling in a marathon. I am looking forward to my next challenge.

Thanksgiving Day: Evanston Flying Turkey 5K

Another 5K! I did this with a few of the students that I help coach at the high school I work for. This is definitely the coldest race I have ever done. Despite having a great running year up until this point, I had not really trained for anything since finishing the marathon. This is another race where I just ended up running as fast as I could and seeing how it goes;it went well! Things seemed like they would go wrong because my shoelaces came untied within the first few minutes of the race and I got really annoyed, but I had to keep moving. The race ended up with me finishing third in my age group.

2014 goals

Beating my race times from 2013

I accomplished this with my marathon this year.

2013-3:47:40
2013-3:15:12

Now I have a 5K PR-19:54

I did not do a half-marathon or 10-miler,so I will try to beat those times in 2015.

Run with others more often

My running community and friends definitely grew. I ran with others more, but this is something that could definitely improve. I did most of marathon training solo, but when I got a chance to run with others, it felt good.

Stay healthy 

This happened for the most part! When I say for the most part, I mean that nothing seriously went wrong that forced me to take time off.

More races

This kind of ended up happening with adding the Ragnar's and 5K's to my race calendar in 2014. This is also due how things are going financially and sometimes I could not justify paying for races when other things needed to be taken care of.

Read more blogs

I still need to be better about this. There is a lot to learn from others runners.

2014 total mileage: 1886

Donut Dash 2014 recap

Twitter can be really great if used correctly. One of those ways it can be great came through on Saturday, November 22 when a group of runners met up for Donut Dash 2014.  I found out about the potential event via fellow bibchatter, Cass. She tweeted out a survey that the organizers(Cass, Julie and Kristen) used to plan the event.

Donut Dash Route

Usually waking up early to run is difficult for me, but running for donuts and meeting a lot of new people excited me. It being a cold, windy and rainy morning also made it a struggle to get out of bed. However, I committed the event and did not want to let them down. The group met at Montgomery Park on Saturday outside of Pete's coffee.

There were definitely nerves because I did not know anyone except Cass and we had only interacted via twitter. I enjoyed meeting her and the other runners who decided to brave the misty morning. They had coffee for all the runners who showed up. I had a cup even though I do not consider myself a coffee drinker because I needed something to warm me up. The organizers had the group sign waivers, discussed the plan and split the group into two waves. I jumped into wave one and we headed off to our first stop, Firecakes.

Firecakes would the shortest distance to run to out of all the shops we would go to. Once wave one got to Firecakes, they gave us three options of donuts. I forgot the other options they gave us, but I got the Honey Glazed donut pictured below. The other donuts were on the small-ish side, but not the Honey Glazed donut. We took our time to eat our donuts and I believe it took me the longest of group one to finish mine. I finished my donut and we started our "long" three mile journey to Stan's in Wicker Park.

Honey Glazed donut from Firecakes 

Prior to the event taking place, I kept telling people how fun I believed the event would be. Most responded with an answer like, "Running after eating a donut sounds like asking for trouble." The donut after Firecakes definitely lingered a bit on the trip to Stan's. This is the only time I worried a little that there might be some issues. Fortunately we made it to Stan's with no issues and were pleased to hear we could choose any donut.

Those who know me well know how much I love peanut butter flavored products. Even some of the runners in wave one knew that my next choice would involve peanut butter;the peanut butter chocolate donut would be my choice. A fellow wave one runner and I decided to split the donut because of the fact it looked so rich and we had one more stop left. We ate our split donut and decided we made a wise choice. It tasted great and we moved on to our last location. Glazed and Infused.

Peanut Pocket(very left) from Stan's 

Glazed and Infused had a very nice set up for the group of runners participating in the donut dash. They put aside a few tables for us and had boxes filled with a variety of donuts. Once I saw the options available, I knew my choice immediately.

Red Velvet 

As seen from the picture above, I went with the Red Velvet option (I promise that the donut sitting on the napkin in the picture is not mine). The cream cheese frosting made the donut. Despite me saying that the second donut pictured is not mine, I did have half of another Red Velvet. There were extras and I took a few of the other options home.

The overall event was a big success in my opinion. I had a lot of fun and it seems like everyone involved did as well. Thank you to Cass, Julie and Kristen for all the work they did in organizing the event. I would also like to thank Stan's, Firecakes and Glazed and Infused for providing donuts for the group.

Red River Gorge Part III

Day 4/night 5

I had a little bit of a rough start to the day by having no place to run. Not getting a run in kind of threw my morning off. By no means am I a morning runner, but I have enjoyed these morning runs in Kentucky. Secondly, we had a cold morning, had to take down our tents and realized we to kayak back to our first site. My hands were so cold and this made taking my tent a big struggle. The group got things taken down eventually and we got ready to kayak back. 

My first step into the water punched me in the face. I should mention how muddy our shoes and feet got before we reached the water. As soon as I realized I would not be able to feel my feet for a while, I got over that. It made things ten times better that I partnered with an experienced kayaker in a tandem kayak. The three boys and I were on a mission to get back to warmth. It felt like forever, but we finally made it back to our van and headed off to a new site. 

We got the site, ate lunch and set up our tents. Warm showers at the site cost $1for four minutes. Once I found out about this, I passed. Two more days without a shower would not hurt. Guess what I found time to do?

I thought I might be able to run in loops around our site, but that failed. I ventured off to the road and ran in a "bike lane." Things were good for the most part and it never really felt unsafe. The other positive of the night is that we got pizza. 

Miguel's is also known for their pizza

We are at a place called Miguel's. It is really well known in the climbing community. Tomorrow we will be climbing! I am a little nervous, but it should be fun. Hopefully I do not freeze tomorrow. 

Day 5/night 6

I did not freeze and I got another hilly run in. The hills and trails here have done a number on my quads. Running on streets and lakefront path in Chicago are going to be amazing. I got done with my morning run, we ate breakfast and we headed off to do some climbing. 

None of us were too thrilled to be climbing on a 35 degree day with no sun, but we made the most of it. There were two different climbs of varying difficulty. I forget what they are numbered, but the walls get their ratings from climbers who have climbed that wall first. It then gets confirmed or denied by fellow climbers.


The group got a short lesson on climbing and safety topics. The kids impressed me with how easy they made it look. Unfortunately, things did not work out so well for me. 

I tried to climb one wall and did not make it too far. My body kept wanting to use my upper body while letting my legs take a break. Most people can guess how that worked out. I went once and had to readjust my harness because it got real uncomfortable. I tried again after the readjustment and got a little further but bruised my knee pretty good. It bummed me out that I did not make it far, but I made the effort. I will have to try again another time. My body kept me pretty warm for the most part and that is a huge plus. 

The group vetoed climbing on Friday because it will be colder tomorrow. I would have loved to get to Lexington and visit a big city, but that will have to wait. Instead of climbing we are going to drive to the natural bridge and hike the trail there. It will be another battle to stay warm.

Pictures from the last day

View from the natural bridge

reflecting on the trip 

Red River Gorge part II

Day 2/night 3 

On my run today, I actually ran outside of our campsite and on some of the trail we hiked on Monday. It is not too hilly, but it is also not flat. I enjoyed changing up my run and not just doing laps. These rolling hills are killing me, but I am loving it at the same time. I wish I had a little more time to explore the national park. 

Once I got back from my run, we had breakfast and packed up to go to another camp site. We drove for about 25-30 minutes(maybe longer) and I finally had signal! It had been weird, but fun to go a few days with no phone. It has been really fun hanging out with this group. I tried my hardest to avoid the Bears game, but a couple of texts let me know the results were not pleasant. Thankfully this trip helped me avoid such a demoralizing loss. We set up camp and ate lunch in the parking lot of our site. That does not sound glamorous, but we had a great view and awesome weather. We got a kayaking lesson shortly after eating. 

Our view of Cave Run Lake

Kayaking is something I had not done before. I have canoed before and figured they would be the same;they are not. Needless to say, I struggled a little bit. Haha. I wish I had a good answer for him. Tomorrow should be interesting since we will be out there for much longer.

Making our tinfoil dinners 

Day 3/night 4

I thought my hilly run would be the toughest part of the day until we started kayaking. 

We packed up our site and kayaked over to eat breakfast in the parking lot again. Once we finished that, we started our journey to our new site and I definitely struggled out there. I could not keep my kayak straight to save my life. Haha. Eventually we took a tiny little break to eat lunch on a small little "beach" before continuing. We were pretty tired form kayaking into the wind and the sun bearing down on us. Shortly after eating lunch, we our muddy backcountry site. 

Cooking up some Jambalaya 

I do not know how long we were officially out here, but I would guess around two hours. That is a really long time for someone who never kayaks, a.k.a, me. Despite my struggles, I still had a lot of fun out there. The weather could not have been any better. Hopefully I will be able to put pictures up once I get pictures developed off of my disposable camera.

Not only were we tired after our little venture over to our backcountry site, but now we had to walk through the mud to get to a spot where we would set up our tents. Then, for a short while, we could not find my tent poles: we were sure we packed it into one of our kayaks. The boys really wanted me to sleep in their tent. The adults searched for a good while to find these tent poles and we eventually found them under the girls tent. That is probably the toughest thing I really had to deal with until tomorrow.

We have a tough day ahead of us as we kayak back to our site (where we were on day 2) to leave for another. The bonus of tomorrow is that we should get a warm shower! 

Red River Gorge Part 1

Some of you may not have noticed, but I went on a camping trip with the high school I work at for a week. It is called interim week at the school. The short explanation for it is that the school shuts down for a week and everyone does something that can be a service or a fun trip like I went on. That is a somewhat poor explanation, but is close enough for now. The next few blog post will detail what we did on the trip that I went on. We spent some time on a camping trip on the Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Night 1

We had a semi long ride down to our site from Winnetka. It really only felt long because we made a few stops to eat and run a few errands. Once we finally got down there, we set up shop and started cooking dinner. We had burgers and chips that were pretty good, some kids told "scary stories" and we relaxed. The two guides talked about goals for the week and students were selected as leaders of the day. 

This should be an interesting trip because I'll be doing a lot of things I have never done before and spending it mostly without technology. I can nor remember the last time I spent time in a tent. Two of the girls and I are planning on going for a run in the morning. I'm glad there are a couple of people on the trip that enjoy it. I know for a sure that my friends who know me well are very surprised that I would agree to go on a trip like this. Haha. 

Day 1/night 2

Compression tights for the win(hopefully you will understand why later)! Two girls and I on the trip on doing our best to stay in shape, so we got up and ran. Together, we ran 1.67 miles or so. They split off after that to do sprints and I ran for a total of 45 minutes. 

We finished our activities and joined the group for scrambled eggs and bacon. After breakfast we talked to our student and two group leaders about the plan for the day and what we would do for lunch. Once we got ourselves together, we headed out for our adventure.

Bacon and eggs cooked by two students

As a group, we followed out student leaders and they used a topographical map to help us find a natural arch on the Sheltowee trail. For some reason, I got it into my head that this would be a flat adventure;oops. I spent a lot of time trying not to get hurt(I ended up with a bruise on my shin, but it wasn't my fault). We got a little lost while trying to find the first arch, so we take a break and ate lunch.

On our way to finding the natural arch 

Shortly after finishing eating, we found the arch! It felt good to find it and hang out there for a little while. The next step in the plan had been to find another natural arch, but after hiking for a few for more miles, we decided to head back to our camp site. 

The view while eating lunch

I can not say for sure how long we hiked, but we did at least ten miles. My CW-x compression tights were a lifesaver. My legs probably would have felt a lot different if it were not for that. During our walk back to camp, I kept looking at places I could run. I did eventually find some places I could get a few miles in. It is funny how my mind has changed since I started running.

Hanging out under the natural arch 

We had time to kill after we got backed and I attempted to learn to play euchre. Hopefully I will understand it a few more times after playing it a couple more times. Once we stopped playing, we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and relaxed.

My home for the week

Marathon Recap

I did not know quite sure how to do this race recap, so I decided to write a timeline of the day and some thoughts I had during the race.

Timeline for the day

4 a.m.-I wake up(thankfully) and kind of lounge around. Races make me paranoid and I never get much sleep. My high school reunion had been the night before and some of my classmates were wondering why I had not been in bed. I knew my body and knew I would not be in bed before midnight regardless of what time I got to bed. 

4:30 a.m.- I figured it would be ok to eat a Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwich. I also had a 12 oz. glass of water. It would not be fun if I had to end up in the bathroom for either reason, so I ate and drank lightly. 

4:45 a.m.-Took a trip to the bathroom and showered. A shower always wakes me up a little, so I do it before every race. 

5:20 ish a.m.-Finally headed out to join the masses. It is time to get pumped up! 

6:30 a.m.- I finally arrived at Roosevelt College for the Chicago Endurance Sports (CES) Race Resort. It kind of felt a little overwhelming, so I made sure to use the bathroom and calm myself down a little. I got my warm-up in, chatted a little and checked my bags. Despite me saying it felt a little overwhelming, I highly recommend CES and the Race Resort. It felt awesome to not have to worry about using gear check at the marathon. 

7 a.m.- I finally left the race resort to head to corral D. In retrospect, this should have happened probably 15 minutes earlier, but I wanted to be on my own scheduled and not feel pressured. Either way, I got to my corral around 7:15 after waiting in a couple of long lines. It seems like they heightened security a little this year and that is fine with me. During the week, I had thoughts about sneaking into corral B because that corral fit my goal time. I ended up in corral D because at the time, who knew how well training would go and my predicted finish time matched that corral. I made the executive decision to stay in D because with the strict corral checks, it probably would not have happened anyways. 

7:20-I ran into a co-worker and we chatted about our goals. Being this far back worried me a little. I had questions like, Would I reach my goal? Should I try and catch the pace group in corral B? What if I get out too fast and kill chances of hitting my goal? Eventually, all those questions did not matter and I just had to do my best. 

7:38-This is slightly earlier than I anticipated;here we go! We are not even a mile into it and I am thinking, "I am running to slow." Trust the plan, I told myself. 18 weeks of training should not go to waste because you did not race smart. 

Somewhere between the start and 5k mark (8:02 a.m.)-The weaving in and around people drove me crazy. I hit the 5k mark with a time of 23:37 and trying to do the math in my head, I thought I had been around two minutes behind my goal pace. My split sheet says I had a pace of 7:36 at the time. 

8:25 a.m.-This, the 10k mark, is where I finally started to settle in a little bit and gain some space around me. Things felt smooth and the first GU Roctane just got eaten. My pace also picked up a little (to 7:30) between the 5K and 10k marks. It had not been enough to scare me, so I tried to to stay there for the next few miles. 

15k-7:24 pace

20k-7:29 pace

9:16 a.m.(13.1)-My second GU Roctane of the day just got eaten and I felt a little too good and my pace spiked up big time (7:29 to 7:07)!;oops. Time to slow it down and make sure my legs are good for the rest of this second half.  I hit the halfway point at 1:37:59;perfect! The remainder of the race got spent trying to do math in my head. 

Sometime after 25K-This is where things started to look like I could hit my goal. Now, I just had to mentally tell myself to race smart. I knew if I could make it to 18 and get my third GU in, I would start to feel even better about hitting my goal. Things were going well and that made me very happy. 

20 mile mark- The cramps always came shortly after this mile marker and that definitely made me nervous. I told myself, "Get to mile marker 23, take your GU, and things will be just fine." I just had to take things one mile at a time and not get too anxious or down. They always say running is largely mental and I made sure to make sure that my brain stuck with me. 

10:44 a.m.-10:53 a.m.(35K or 24.854 miles)-My final kick begin at 24 and gave it all I had on this stretch of 2.2 miles. I slowly started to gain speed and geared up to hit Roosevelt "hill". I put my head down and did not look up until got over it and turned on to the stretch run. It felt so good to see that finish line. At this point, my goal had been reached, but I had a chance to get it under 3:15 and I tried to pick it up a little;did not quite get there. It did not matter, because I felt great! My final time ended up being 3:15:12!

Looking back at this, it made realize that my hydrating plan is not mentioned. Going into things, I knew I would have a GU at miles 6, 12, 18 and one other time after that. The Hansons Marathon method plan emphasizes getting electrolytes and sugar in you when you are not taking GU and I did just that. While at each station (where I did not take a GU), I made sure to get one or two gatorade cups based on how filled they were. I had the same strategy when I took water and it seemed to work out really well. 

What is next?

I do not really know! The Hansons maraton method program gave me a lot of confidence during this training cycle and I will definitely use it again while training for whatever race is next. Qualifying for Boston may be next on the list, but I need to build a base and do a little strength training first. 

Hard work does pay off. If you want something, go out and get it. When I signed up for this in April, I did not know a 3:15 marathon would be possible, but I got there. It is possible to make time for a social life and training;a commitment just needs to made to both. Thanks for reading! 

Marathon Playlist

It took me a long time to decide if I would run with music during the Marathon last Sunday. The crowd support is so great, at points it's not even needed. I decided to come up with a Chicago themed playlist of songs that are on my iTunes. The playlist for ended up at 98 songs and I started it once I passed the start line. Another post going into detail about the actual race will come later this week.

The Dog and Everything-Superglue

R. Kelly and Jay Z-Big Chips

Mest-Rooftops

Mest-Dody Road

Fall Out Boy-Alone Together

Mest-Jaded(These Years)

R. Kelly and Jay Z-She's Coming Home With Me

Mest-Random Arrival

Mest-Long Days, Long Nights

The Academy Is...-Summer Hair = Forever Young

The Academy Is...-One More Weekend

Lucky Boys Confusion-Hey Driver

Fall Out Boy-The Pros and Cons of Breathing

Fall Out Boy-The Phoenix

The Academy Is...-Down and Out

Fall Out Boy-Grand Theft Autumn(Where Is YOur Boy)

Mest-Opinions

Lucky Boys Confusion-Commitment

Fall Out Boy-The Mighty Fall (Ft. Big Sean)

Kanye West-Amazing (Ft. Young Jeezy)

Kanye West-We Major

The Academy Is...-Season

Lucky Boys Confusion-Fred Astaire

Ok Go-Get Over It

Jay Z & Kanye West-Otis

Fall Out Boy-Rat A Tat(Ft. Courtney Love)

The Academy Is...-Checkmars

Mest-R Ska Song

The Lawrence Arms-The First Eviction Notice

Ok Go-It's A Disaster

Kanye West-Bittersweet Poetry

Ok Go-This Too Shall Pass

Allister-A Lotta Nerve

Kanye West-Runaway

The Academy Is...-Attention

The Lawrence Arms-Your Gravest Words

Fall Out Boy-Tell That Mick He Just Made My LIst Of Things To Do Today

Ok Go-A Million Ways

Kanye West-Power

Jay Z & Kanye West-Gotta Have It

Ok Go-Louisiana Land

The Dog and Everything-The Book

Fall Out Boy-Hum Hallelujah

Kanye West-Can't Tell Me Nothing

Allister-Somewhere on Fullerton

Mest-Cadillac

Lupe Fiasco- Hip-Hop Saved My Life

Fall Out Boy-Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year

Lucky Boys Confusion-40/80

Mind games

Congrats to everyone to who completed their 20-miler over the weekend. 20 miles is no easy feat and those that completed it should be proud of that;no matter how they did it. My Saturday morning consisted of a 16-mile run because that is the longest run in the Hansons Marathon Method. The run went great, but that is not the run this blog is about. On September 18, 2014, a 10-mile tempo run made me feel marathon ready.

Week 15 of training had been going great, but a 10-mile tempo run lingered and made me nervous. All of my previous runs went really well. The runs included a eight mile easy run, 3x2 miles with an 800 recovery and off day on Wednesday. Maybe the tempo runs make me nervous because they are at race pace and it makes me wonder if I can hold that pace during the marathon. Thursday finally came and the run had to be done.

It started off very well. My legs felt pretty good during the first mile or two and tricked me into thinking that this would be the run that made me feel marathon ready. It had all the makings of a fairly easy tempo run and my splits were right around where they should have been. Things started to change a tiny bit at the end of mile two and the beginning of mile three.

My legs were pretty tired during the first two miles, which is a normal feeling during training. My legs suddenly started to feel heavy. This is where the mental battle begin and I had to talk my brain into thinking my legs were fine. Mile three ended up three seconds slower than mile two. That worried me because it had still be early, there were plenty of miles left to be run and no GU would not be consumed till mile six. It had me wondering how this tempo run would go.

Miles four and five were a struggle, but mile six came and that meant GU time! Hopefully this Chocolate Peanut Butter GU would be my savior;spoiler alert, my legs still were not happy. This is where I just had to suck it up, quit complaining and push through last four miles. The marathon is not going to be easy and it dawned on me this is the run that would get me mentally ready for those last six miles;or as Luke Humphrey says in the Hansons Marathon Method book, the last 16-miles of the race.

The last four miles went really well. Is it a coincidence that once I stopped feeling sorry for myself that my run got better? I can not answer that, but my body and body felt a lot better. Mile 10 ended up being my fastest and despite it being way too fast for my tempo run pace, it made me feel proud of myself.

It is taper run time for most of those training for marathons the weekend of October 10, 2014,  but finish these last couple of weeks strong. There are going to be days where you are sick of running, do not want to run and just feel terrible during your run, but keep fighting. Tell your brain, body and legs you are going to complete this run and they will just have to deal with it. The last half of the marathon will be a mental battle and these struggle bus runs will make you tougher.