Marathon weekend Part I

Wow. Those 18 weeks sure seem like they went by quick after race day is all over. It is funny how that happens. I will do my best to keep this relatively short, because I am sure I could write forever on marathon weekend. I will start with the expo.

Race Expo

I decided Friday would be the best day to go to the expo. There is no chance I wanted anything to do with Saturday and all that craziness. Some runners and I had a hard time figure out the shuttle bus from the south loop. We potentially could have been part of some joke someone decided to play on runners. Whatever the reason for the confusion, we all ended up there somehow.

The expo for the marathon is always exciting because it makes the marathon real. In the back of your head, you know the marathon is coming, but walking into the expo, it smacks you in the face. I have been to plenty of expo's, but it is still overwhelming a bit. There is so much to see!

I figured that I would be there for 30 minutes or so and get out of there;oops. I ended up spending close to two plus hours walking around and talking to people. There were a ton of Fleet Feet people everywhere and I made sure to say hi to them. I ended meeting Sara from Sara runs at the CEP booth. She is really nice and we chatted for about five minutes. Soon after that I ended up at mini Niketown, a.k.a the store at the expo.

They had quite the set up of marathon gear and fun toys to check out. It always impressive to walk through and see how things work. There were tons of people walking around the store and buying things. If anyone reading this went to the expo, it is easy to see that BRIGHT is in. While personally I am not of fan of BRIGHT colors, I can understand why it is popular. Nike did extremely well at the expo. 

   

Once I got done at Niketown, I walked around for who knows how long. It always fun to see the excitement of people at an expo. A lot of people there are running there first marathon and are extremely nervous and excited at the first time. It is always important to take it all in and enjoy it. I told a lot of first timers to just enjoy it. On the bus back to one of the shuttle stops, I said that to a guy who sat next to me on the bus. We chatted for about five minutes about races, the marathon and shoes. That is one of the cool things about running. This guy and I could have very little in common, but we were both about to take on a huge challenge and shared a small moment. The only thing that I did not do is get his name. I wish I had so I could have seen how he did.  I also told him to not change his routine too much and to get some sleep.

Speaking of sleep, Sara told me I should get some. She mentioned that 48 hours before the race is the most important day to get some sleep. Finally, I left the expo and went home. It would have been easy for me to go out for bit on Friday night and hang with friends, but  I actually took her advice and stayed in on that night. I had a goal in mind and wanted to get as healthy as possible. I forgot to mention that I had all sorts of ailments last week (i.e. a head cold, a big time cough, allergies and so on). I probably the most orange juice I have ever had in a week. There is no way I would let some cough/cold stop me from completing something that I had work so hard for. 

Up next: the big day!

Marathon playlist

Marathon playlist

These are the songs that came on during my run today. That does not necessarily mean I could hear them, but they played; haha. I will have a post up on how my race went shortly!

Lil Webbie-bad bitch

Dr. Dre-bitches ain't shit

50 Cent-Ayo technology

MJ-wanna be starting something

Xzibit & Jelly Roll-Saturday night live

Fitz & the Tantrums-news for you

Weezer-undone

Young Gunz-set it off

T.I.-big things poppin

Hall & Oates-maneater

The Pink Spiders-Hollywood fix

G.o.o.d music-mercy

Thin Lizzy-jailbreak

Kids these days-bud billiken

Nelly furtado & Timbalad promiscuous

All time low-let it roll

Killers-miss atomic bomb

Jc Brooks & the uptown sound-howl

Yin yang twins-say I yi yi

Ok go-Louisiana land

Jagged edge-stunnas

Sleigh bells-comeback kid

Fitz and the tantrums-out of my league

Fall out boy-rat-a-tat

Doobie brothers-Black Water

2 PAC & Snoop-ain't nothing but a gangsta party

Boo & Gotti-ain't it man

Jason mraz-the remedy live

Royal teeth-my Donna

New Politics-tonight, you're perfect

Walk The Moon-quesadilla

Bun B-who need a bitch

JC Brooks-Rouse yourself

Fall Out Boy-hum hallelujah

Kesha ft. Andre 3000-get sleazy

Postal service-Such Great Heights

Lupe Fiasco-superstar

Brand New-Jude law and a semester abroad

Pharrell & Kanye-number one

Walk The Moon-Anna Sun

Walk the Moon-drunk in the woods

New politics--fall into these arms

Daz Dillinger ft. Rick Ross-On some real shit

UGK-Int'l Players Anthem

Shakira-Hips don't lie

Justin Timberlake & Three-6 Mafia -Chop me Up

Currency-Where Da Cash At

2Pac & K-Ci & JoJo-How Do U want it

Fall Out Boy-young Volcanoes

Chevelle-Send the Pain Below

Mariah Carey ft ODB-Fantasy

M.I.A-Paper Planes

Kanye West-All of the lights

Pusha T-I Still Wana

Royal Teeth-Wild ( My phone died right about here)

Am I ready?

That is the question I have been getting all week. The answer to that question is, I do not really know. I always tell people I am because I want to think I am. The truth is, I do not think most runners know. It is not really a question we can anwer until race day.

Like in other sports, you can train and practice for whatever period of time, but you just have no idea how things will go until game day. There are so many factors that can change your day that you have little control over (I.e. Injuries, the weather, bodily functions).  It is something that drives a lot of runners crazy. It  corms with the territory iof being a runner.

If you say  you are not ready, more questions come;  what do you mean? Did training not  go well?  And so on. Now, I am not annoyed when people ask me about my running,  I love to  answer questions. I am just trying to explain the diificulty of answering that question. All runners would love to say, yes! We are and we going to dominate . Runners hate failing because many of them putt so much into training. Card could probably be fueled with the amount of nervous energy in race corrals.

With race day quickly  approaching, runners should also thank those people who are asking them if they are ready. The majority of the time, people are rooting for you and want to  hear that we are going to dominate.  I would rather get the question than not get it at all. It' is really nice of people to take a few second s and ask about my training.  It may be tough, but answer the question with a smile and thank a person who has asked you this question.

On that note, thank you to everyone that has supported and put up with me over the last few months . A lot goes into this and some of you have played  big parts in helping out with that.  I really appreciate the support and words of encouragement I have received.  You guys are awesome!

Fellow runners running tomorrow,  let's go dominate this thing!

Run happy!

Inching closer

I would like to start off this post by saying how thankful I am for getting to week 16 of training very healthy. The last time I ran the marathon, I had a lot of knee issues. I only ended up running a couple of times a week. My body also had been a wild card. I felt scared to run because I never knew how my body would react. Let's hope these next two weeks go great!

9/24/13

This is the first run I did after the 20-miler. The XC kids and I did what we call the Hazel route;it is about a six mile route that we do as our long run of the week. Not having run for a few days, I figured I would take it slow because I did not know how I would do. The run ended up going much better than expected.

My legs slowly started to warm up after the first mile and things felt good after that. The splits do not reflect that, but I am ok with that because I felt good. Runners can be a little too hard on themselves if they look at splits and it does not reflect what they think it would be. We just have to realize that this is going go happen and deal with it. If our body feels good, we should feel good.

With the Marathon coming, that is something I thought I should mention. The boys and have started this thing where we finish the run as hard as possible. It all started on accident one day when I challenged one of them to finish strong ad I ran as has hard as I could to finish off our 40 minute run. Since that day, we' have done it on  very run and continued it on this run.  Not all of them think it' is fun, but I think it will help them develop a strong kick. I am glad I got this run in because I knew I would have a busy weekend.

9/27-9/28/13

I have been fortunate enough to do some traveling this summer. On what may be my last trip of the year, I went to Seattle/Redmond for a wedding. Seeing as Seattle would be my first west coast trip of any kind, I had been really excited about it.

Space Needle

The next time I fly out west, I may try and get direct flights. The four hour layover is had in Denver is not something I would really care to do again. I made it out there last Thursday night and stayed in an interesting hostel . As I have wondered on other trips, I wondered how much running I would get in.

Running would not happen Friday. All of my Seattle friends were at work and I had no place to put my things. Not running that day probably ended up being a good thing. It gave me a chance to walk around and explore the city. Despite being cloudy and gray all day, I had an awesome time.

Hendrix exhibit at EMP

The EMP museum is one of the cooler museums I have ever been to. I spent at least two hours seeing exhibits and messing around on various instruments. They also had an exhibit on horror films. Even after two hours at the museum, I did not make it to that side of it. I needed all day to spend at that museum.

9/28/13

I woke up way to early due to my body adjusting to west coast time. Seattle had been living up to its dreary, rainy reputation. I went downstairs to check out how heavy the rain had been. It had not been too bad but I waited a little bit for a friend who said they might run with me. 

A couple of hours went by and the rain got heavier. I decided to put on my rain jacket, new shoes and got out of the hotel. I did not know if I would do 12, but I knew would do something. "Here we go," I said to myself.

The run went really well for the most part. I can only say the only annoying thing about the run is the heavy rain and wind that accompanied it. The other thing that amazed is the amount of people I saw running and walking out there! It just made me think that people that area are not afraid of the rain at all. What I heard from people is that you just learn to deal with it or you do not get anything done. The other thing that surprised during the run is the number of people that either said good morning or waved. That rarely happens when running in Chicago. I think it had something to do with the solidarity of being out in the rain together. I ended completing the whole 12 mile run. Who knows what the weather could be like on the day of the marathon. Part of the reason I decided to run is because I want to ready for anything. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I had my phone in a plastic bag due to the heavy rain. Oh! The one lesson that I did learn is that if you are using SaltSticks, put them in case of some sorts. I should have realized they would have eventually dissolved. 

9/29/13

I had a great time at the wedding on Saturday night. Instead of running on Sunday, I took some time to explore Seattle with some new friends I made at the wedding. We started off at the day by getting breakfast at a place called Couzin's. I had their version of pigs in a blanket. The result= so good! I would definitely recommend this to anyone. It might be the first time I looked at a plate of food and worried that I would not finish it. 

I did end up finishing in case anyone in wondering. We finished up with breakfast, packed up and headed back to Seattle to do some touristy things. Despite it raining all day, we had a great time. I wuld love to make a trip back at some point. 

Gum Wall

In front of the original Starbucks

That is just some of my trip to the Pacific Northwest. I can not believe that we are 10 days from the marathon! I'm ready and crossing my fingers I do not get hurt!

P.S.- I failed to mention I am now running in the Brooks Ravenna 4's. I decided to move from the Adrenalines. As much as I liked them, they ended up not being a good fit for my foot. Maybe the new version will be better for me. Until these running shoes die on me, I am loving them.

Run happy!

The Big 20!

9/16/13-Fleet Feet fun run

I headed out to Fleet Feet for the Pint Night fun run. The fun run would last between three and six miles depending on the distance people wanted to run. My marathon plan called for a five mile run so I went with the five mile group. Asics also had some reps there and people could try on a variety of shoes they had. I wanted to try out a neutral pair of shoes, so I went with the Gel-Lyte33 2.

Night time view of the lakefront on the fun run

The guy in the red in the picture led the five mile group run and he went out pretty fast. I tried my best to keep up with him, but I just could not. It felt good to push it a little and try to catch him; it felt like a little bit of speed work. I ended up losing the group and creating my own five mile run.

Asics Gel-Lyte33 2

The shoes felt pretty great. When I put them on before the run, I felt pretty weird in them. My feet were really close to the ground and I did not know how'd I feel about that (6" heel drop), considering at the time I run in the GTS 13's by Brooks. However, they ended up feeling good. They are also very lightweight. I probably would not run a marathon in these, but I think they would be good for mid-week runs during training.

Once I got done stretching and rolling out (and making a few purchases-more on that later), I headed to Benchmark with a few others who did the fun run. Depending on my work schedule, Pint Night fun runs are definitely something that I would do again. I enjoyed hanging out with other runners and fun run leaders while watching the Monday Night Football game. I tried not to have too much fun because I knew I would have to get a run in with my high schoolers.


9/19/13-Hazel run

Before I headed to Benchmark, I made a few purchases. The first purchase, actual running shorts.

Brooks Men's Essential 2 in 1 7" Short

I went the Brooks Men's Essential 2-in-1 7"shorts. Running shorts have always been something I avoided since I started running. They always looked too short and pulling off that look is something that I did think I could do. I settled on the Brooks partly because I know the brand, but also because they were recommended to me.

They got their first test during a six mile run with some of the cross country kids. It took a while to it being short, but I felt good in them. I never felt uncomfortable and I love the compression portion of the shorts. If someone asked me to recommend a pair or shorts, these are the one I would suggest to them first.

The actual run felt really good. We pushed it pretty good and kept it around a 7:33 pace. It could have been an even faster pace, but the head XC coach did not want to push them too hard. It is a good thing he led the workout, because I probably would have pushed them harder. We all did an ice bath after the run and I felt confident about my 20 miler!

9/20/13-20 Miler

And it's time for new shoes(has been for a while)

SaltSticks Capsules were the other purchase I made. I purchased them specifically for my 20-mile run and breaking through the wall during the marathon. One of the things I learned as a salty sweater is that I lose more salt than others. This may seem more like common sense, but this is just another lesson I have learned as a runner.

If the 20-miler were going to happen, it would have to happen after work. I had a weekend full of activities and would not really have time to run. While getting ready for work, I packed eight capsules in a bag because I did not know how much of them I would need; I planned on taking one every 30 minutes. Fast forward to finishing hours later, it would be time for the run.

The only mistake I really made is drinking a naked juice before the run. It would definitely come back to haunt me later. The first seven and half miles of the run went really well;this is when my stomach stopped thinking the run would be going well. It forced me to take a unwanted mini pit stop. Back to my regularly scheduled run.

Despite the humidity, I felt great during the rest of the run. I ended up taking six capsules during my run and I felt they really helped. I carried a water bottle with me (which I did not really care for) because I figured there would be very little water fountains to take the capsules. My legs felt great during the run and I never felt too fatigued.

I looked at the splits after my run and felt really good about them. There were only two splits I did not care for were the one with my stop and mile 16. I have to have the confidence that things will get better during race and I will hit my goal. When I got done analyzing my run, I walked around for quite sometime, stretched and ate two clif bars (White Chocolate Macadamia nut might be the best clif bar I have ever had). It is easy to just want to sit down after a long run, but that is not a good idea; keep your legs moving!

With the 20-mile run complete, I feel ready for the marathon. The picture above also shows that I am ready for some new shoes. It is probably a crazy idea to switch now, but the shoes are long overdue for a change. I am not sure what I will purchase, but it will probably be in the Brooks family of shoes.

9/21/13

I am including the day after the run because I learned a very valuable lesson. It is very important to drink lots of water after an extremely long run. I felt like I had, had enough, but I woke up feeling nauseous and dizzy. I talked to a few runners and they concluded I had been dehydrated. Normally I do a really good job of staying hydrated; my body felt otherwise. I drank a lot more water on Saturday and felt better about six hours after I woke up.

Hydrate properly!

Busy!

Between coaching(middle school football and some XC) and working, my energy has been lacking lately. Lately I have just been coming home and not wanting to do anything. I feel bad about that because I really want to keep this blog updated and current. Here is a brief summary of my last two training weeks.

Weeks 13

The last two weeks have been kind of interesting. Being busy forces you to find time times to fit your runs in. I sometimes stress about it, but I need to remember I will be fine as long as I actually get the runs in.

Week 13 went very well. It made me a little nervous because it featured a long run of 19 miles. Since I run at odd times, I knew I would be running the whole thing by myself. However, I am getting ahead of myself. I got in three great five mile runs during and it got me pumped up about the long run. My best run happened on September 5, 2013. I have no idea why I ran so hard and so fast, but I pushed myself really hard during the run and felt great. Due the busy week, I had a dilemma; get up early on Saturday before work and run 19 or do my long before the first Bears game!

I decided against running on 19 on Saturday and decided to do a short five mile run (it went great!). Now that I had gotten my run and worked, I rushed down to Lincoln Park to meet a few friends for Cultivate Fest.

My concert buddies, Vicki and Molly.

Walk the Moon!

The Mowgli's, Dale Earnardt Jr. Jr., Youngblood Hawke and Best Friends also played. I had a great time and will definitely come back next year if I can. My allergies sent me home early Saturday night and I took that as a sign that I would need to do my long run on Sunday.

Unfortunately, I did not wake up feeling too much better on Sunday. I wanted to get up early and do my run before the Bears game at noon. The allergies or head cold caused me to get going around 11:30 or so. I decided it would be ok to miss part of the Bears game to go for a run; this is how I know I have become a crazy runner.

Minus the humidity, I have no complaints about the run.

View from Medal of Honor Park

Despite how tired my legs felt at certain points toward the latter half of the run, I pushed hard and finished my last mile at a 7:40 pace. The run ended up taking me between 2:38:11 and and 2:38:20 ( I stopped the two gps apps I used at different times). It turned out to be a great Sunday. I got my run, watched football and the Bears won.

Week 14

Probably the weirdest training week out of all them so far. It is weird because, I only kept track of one run. I normally am pretty obsessed with keeping track, but I either forget or just did not bring my phone with me. Here is how the week went:

9/9/13- Did a short loop with the XC kids. We think it ended up being around three miles, but none of us were really sure. That three mile felt pretty hard in the 93 degree temps we had last Monday.

9/10/13-Way too hot do any kind of physical activity. I could have gotten a run in, but decided against it.

9/11/13-Hardest workout of the week by far! The top XC kids and I did a 1.7 mile warm-up and then did 6x800s! The top kid on the team ended up doing somewhere around 3:08's the whole time, while the rest us did somewhere between 3:10 and 3:13. So hard during the run, but I felt great afterwards and thanked the kids for pushing me to keep working hard.

9/12/13- My shin splints re-appeared (but on my left shin this time) and I did not run. I iced and worked a football game late that night.

9/13/13-Rest day. The started off well because I won Sublime With Rome Tickets at Concord Music Theatre;really nice venue

Sublime With Rome

9/14/13-My birthday! I went for a nice 12 miler at a park near my place.  My dad took me out for my birthday and I got this sundae at iHop. They sang to me when they brought it out and I felt pretty embarrassed. That is all I have today. The big 20 miler is this weekend! I will be sure to let people know how it goes. 

It's been a while (again)

All of my various activities are keeping me busy. And I like that! The only thing that I do not like that it is doing, is the fact that it is keeping from updating my blog. I had a busy and fun week during week 12 of training. I hope you enjoy the post.

August 26, 2013

This happened to be an unexpected run. I went down to the Fleet Feet Sports South loop opening to attempt to get a gift card and ended up working the fun run, as an employee! I interview with Fleet Feet about three weeks ago and got hired. I have not officially started with them, but I am excited to get going.

On my first official night as an employee, I got assigned to work the 10:00 pace group with another employee. We did an four mile easy run at that pace and I got a chance to talk to some people in the group. I did my best to encourage one runner who looked like they had just decided to get into running recently. The runner really impressed me with the fact that they did not give up. They were really tired by the end of the run, but they run/walked the four miles. I always tell people to set small goals when they start running. Once those goals are achieved, set a different set of goals.

August 27, 2013

What a hot day! I had something to do early in the morning at my school, so it really worked out that I could run early in the day instead of the afternoon. I got off to another slow start at the beginning of this run. This time it included the first two miles.

I had been a little sore from working out with the volleyball team and the school's sports performance coach. I do not think it had much to do with my slow start though. Things started to feel good by the third mile and the run ended very well. Miles two through five were run at an 8:01, 8:18 and 7:24 pace.   That is a big difference, but I am glad that I could finish run strong. Even if I am not happy with a time, it  always feels good to end a run strong and gives me confidence for the next run.

August 28, 2013

The midweek eight mile has been nice lately because my school is about eight miles from my place and I can just run there. I had some fun on this run with an unknown runner who ran part of the same course I did. She definite had no idea that she pushed me to run a little quicker. It ended up being one of my better runs in a while.

I still felt sore from Monday's workout but my legs kept chugging along. Somewhere along mile two of my run, I saw a woman up ahead turn on to the same block I would be running on. I had no idea how long she had been running or how long she would be running, but I waned to pass her and pick-up the pace on my run. I ended up doing both and felt good about it. On a few occasions, I would look back to see where she had been and I would think, "Oh no, she is catching up." I kept running hard so she would not pass me.

The mysterious woman disappeared somewhere around four of my run(I think). I wish I could thanked her for encouraging me on my run without even noticing. Other than the stretch between miles four and five (which seem to be a common slow zones from my run when I run this way), the rest of the run went great. I ended with negative splits on the last three miles of the run. I got some interesting news when I got done with my run.

August 29, 2013

I got asked to run with the cross country team when I could. This made me laugh a little because I never would have ever expected to run with/coach a cross country team. Nevertheless, I looked forward to the chance to run with some of our better kids. The only thing that made me nervous is that this would be my fourth consecutive day of running.

We were assigned to do a five mile loop that would lead us back to the school. It had also been interesting to run in a group because I am so use to running by myself. This run would challenge the notion hat running is not a team sport. My group stayed together and kept a very solid pace during the run.

The length of the run actually ended up being somewhere around 4.8 miles (I got the extra .2 miles in). We stretched, did 50 push-ups and foam rolled after we were done running. They also did an ice bath! I decided at the recommendation of fellow blogger, Emily.

Trying to enjoy my first ice bath

The first couple of minutes are really tough. Once those two minutes are over, you stop thinking about how cold it is. I also suggest not moving because it makes the water even colder. My legs felt great afterwards and I would do it again. My legs would be ready for long run Sunday.

September 1, 2013

The athletic director a my school asked me if I had a long run planned for the weekend and I mentioned my 13 mile run. I almost said, "just 13 miles." It is crazy to think that I said almost said just 13 miles out loud. I guess subconsciously I think 13 is an easy run now. Yikes.

Maybe that thinking helped my confidence on Sunday because my run went very well. I stayed around an eight minute mile the whole time. I ended up running the majority of this run on the lakefront path. I generally do not like the lakefront path, but I decided I did not want to stop too much on my run.

Even though I did not want to stop too much, I had to stop once because I got nervous about my breathing just before mile seven. My chest hurt for some reason, my breathing did not feel well, so I stopped and walked for about a minute. I had to remember that getting to the race on October 13 is the long-term goal of this run; time should not be a factor. Despite stopping for that time period, this ended up being my one of my better runs since the Rock 'N' Roll Half-Marathon. I had a strong finish and ended up having a great rest of the day.

Brief preview of this week

My hamstrings have been a little sore. It has not stopped my running but they have just been annoying. Depending on how I am feeling tomorrow, I may update this post during a long ride to and from our football game. That is all from me today.

Keep working hard