Valentine's 2-A-Day

How do you make your Valentine's Day as good as possible when you're single? Lots of running!

I knew I wanted to do a somewhat longer run in the morning. I was on the treadmill though, so wasn't sure exactly how long I'd make it and didn't have a specific goal. I ended up doing 9.1 miles in 1:13, for an average pace 8:01.

I made up this workout/progression run on the fly and decided to call it the "3, 2, 1 Run."

3 songs @ 7.0

2 songs @ 7.1

1 songs @ 7.2

3 songs @ 7.3

2 songs @ 7.4

1 songs @ 7.5

3 songs @ 7.6

2 songs @ 7.7

1 songs @ 7.8

2 songs @ 7.9

I think this is a great progression-style workout for longer runs on the treadmill.  Since I was planning to go long, I knew I didn't want to be increasing every song, or even every 2 songs and I didn't want to throw in anything super fast.  This pattern of increasing the speed kept it nice and relaxed, but still proved to be a great workout because I was worn out by the end.

I hate that the treadmill turns off after 60 minutes! But I didn't let myself take a break.  I let the treadmill stop on its on and started up right back up to where I left off.  After an hour of running, the last thing you want to do is give your legs a nice break and then have to start up again!  It's all about the mental will power I guess.  This would be equivalent to running an hour outside, and returning to your house...but then keep going for another loop away from the house.

And then in the evening I headed to the South Loop Fleet Feet for a Valentine's fun run!

Upon arrival, they gave out wristbands dependent on your relationship status - green, yellow, or red.

After some general introductions and directions on where to run, it was time to head out into the cold.  I spotted Jackie and we ended up running the whole way together chatting.  Jackie and I actually met on Twitter a few months ago and realized that we are from the same area of Chicago suburbs and share a love of running :)  We were both planning to come to this event so it was a perfect opportunity to meet IRL (in real life, in Internet speak haha).

It was not as cold as I was expecting, or maybe I just wasn't paying attention to the cold since I was just glad to not be running on the treadmill and to be running with other people!  The route was 3 miles and went by super quick.  Parts were really icy, but once we got onto the lakefront path it was nice and clear.  Towards the end of the run, Jackie and I met Linton.   The 3 of us hung out during the after party, where they had snacks and beverages at the store.  None of us won the raffle, unfotunately.

All in all, it was a successful Valentines Day, with a total of 12 miles running, a fun event in the evening, and meeting new friends!

How was your Valentine's Day?

Do you have any internet friends who you haven't met in real life yet?  Or that you have met and are now real-life friends?

Long Weekend in (Much) Warmer Weather

I'm back in the cold arctic temperatures that seem so common in Chicago this winter, after having just been in Phoenix, Arizona for the past couple days.  If you recall, I was originally supposed to go to run the Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon, but neither Liz nor I had been training, so we decided to opt out in order to save money and have more time to catch up with all the other girls for a vacation weekend.

Even though we didn't race, we did get in a lot of physical activity!  Which balanced out with all the eating at great restaurants and drinking new, fruity cocktails we did.

We hiked up a mountain:

On the hike, Liz conquered her fear of cacti:

OK, maybe she didn't actually touch THAT cactus, but she did touch a little baby one.

We did a lot of chatting, playing "Heads Up" (hilarious game, I highly recommend it), and dancing:

We explored Old Town Scottsdale:

And we took a walk on a beautiful recreation path filled with runners, walkers, and bikers (OK, so they were mostly all retired people).  This is where I want to retire to...like now, only about 30 years early:

Did you know that Scottsdale is one of the most livable cities in America because of the proximity of grocery stores, gas stations, etc. and a recreational path all around?

Liz and I also went for a 5 mile run one morning on the same walking path.  And I have to say that almost the whole time we ran, we TALKED about running-related topics - running form, our training, what races we want to do, and even doing some triathlons.

My legs felt great on the run, but I was winded.  I imagine it was the combo of the weather change, all the talking, and just not being back in super great of shape just yet.  But I'm so glad we got out there and took advantage of the perfect weather!  It felt just like fall cross country season.

It felt amazing to be outside so much in January!  But now it's back to being bundled up and stuck indoors for the majority of the days.  I'm hoping to get in some shorter treadmill runs and weights over the next few days and then another run of 10-12 miles outside if the weather allows this weekend!  It currently says it will be a high of 30 on Saturday so let's all hope it stays that way!

Back In Action

I am back!  And things are changing...aka I will now be getting back to training for ANOTHER MARATHON and I am ready to start writing about that training as much as possible!

Remember how I was supposed to run the Rock 'N Roll Phoenix Half Marathon?  Well, that's not happening anymore.  I am still going to Phoenix to have a reunion weekend with UD friends, but will not be running the race.  Neither Liz nor I were training as much as we would've liked and since the other girls were not planning to run the race, we decided not to either.  This way we'll just get to hike, relax, and spend time with each other.

So what races do I have planned for this year so far??

April 6 - Go St. Louis Marathon Relay - Liz, Angela, and I (and one other girl - who wants to join our team?!?) are going to run the marathon relay so about 6-7 miles each.

May 4 - Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon - Technically I am not registered yet, but I really think I am going to make this my goal marathon.  Angela and I talked about it last week and decided it would be a fun one to do together and so it was settled.  There is a price increase at the end of January, so I will decide for sure by then, but I think this is what I'm going to go for.

And that's about all I have planned really, but I am sure more will come up.  Catherine and I have talked about doing the Elmhurst 4 on the 4th again and I also like to always do the Arlington Heights 4th of July 5k.  And I still really want to run a fast half marathon sometime, but I guess I just don't know which one yet!

So, starting today, I have 17 weeks to train for the Flying Pig Marathon.  Despite the record-setting frigid temperatures in Chicago (right now we are at -11, feels like -37), I really didn't want to miss day 1!  I haven't ran since 2013, over a week ago so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  But after risking my extremeties and face to walk half mile to the gym, I had to make it worth it.

I wore 22 articles of clothing on th way there, but on 7 articles of clothing to run in.  2 of these 7 articles were my brand new Nike Flyknit shoes that I got for Christmas.  They are super light and I thought they'd be perfect for running on the treadmill in the winter.

I started at 7.0 (~8:30 pace) and increased the speed by .1 everytime the song changed, so I ultimately ended up at 7.7 (7:47 pace).  I completed 4 miles in 32:40 (8:10 pace total average).  Right when I stopped, I thought I was going to pass out, so I tried to walk around a little and then just sat on the end of the treadmill.  I guess that's what not running for over a week will do to you.  But then I recovered and did some ab stuff.

Have you ever done a marathon relay?  Or any long distance relay?

Any good song ideas for a new running playlist?

See and Be Seen Running Fashion Show

Since I'm on Fleet Feet's email list, I get emails with information about all sorts of events that they are hosting.  I have gone to 2 so far...and have completely failed to post about the first one because of the more time-sensitive Chicago Marathon posts, but I promise that is coming soon.  And it will be well worth the wait because I met a celebrity at it.

Last night's event was the See and Be Seen running fashion show.  That's my kind of fashion show.  Rachel came with me and we had a really great time!

We arrived and got seats near a little table, which was clutch because we each ordered a fruity girly cocktail.  What else would you order at a fashion show?  Dave Zimmer, the owner of Fleet Feet, was hosting the show as MC for the night and he was awesome!  At the beginning he said it'd be a fun night of fashion, fitness, food, and booze.  And that it was.

The show was great with models from local news outlets and with other athletic affiliations, each showing off this season's hottest running fashions.  Each company seems to want to spruce up the "average black running tight" by offering new colors or patterns.  I fully support that idea, as I love being as colorful as possible, as demonstrated by what I wore in the St. Louis Half Marathon this past weekend:

Dave also announced that everyone attending would get a $20 merchandise credit to spend at the after party in the store (the actual fashion show was at Second City.)  The ticket to the show was $20, so as long as you bought something, it's like the ticket was free!  Now, obviously, this was to get people to spend money in the store...and it worked.

Another great marketing ploy they used?  Get people drunk while shopping.  I know from experience that drunk shopping is quite fun and you will in fact spend more money than you would if you were sober.  This is also the case at bars or restaurants too; the drunker you get, the more willing you are to spend that money buying your friends shots, etc.

I'd say 98.7% of the attendees had wine...but I like beer.

I only had 2 drinks the entire night, so I actually was not drunk shopping - I just love running clothes.  And this comes nowhere close to the time Grace, Kristin, and I went out for a Mexican lunch and margaritas before Christina's bachelorette party and went drunk shopping in Victoria's Secret.  (PS Google Blogger still doesn't recognize bachelorette as a word - why is that?)

I bought 2 items.  Even with the $20 credit, it sure adds up quickly.  I must say that blog endorsement of products really works because I first saw this shirt on the Hungry Runner Girl blog (click here for the post) and I really wanted it.  So then when it was featured in the Fleet Feet fashion show, I just had to get it.  And almost fought people for my size.  Picture women runners holding a glass of wine in one hand and furiously shopping. (There weren't many men at the fashion show, but a few.)

Anyways, it is the Brooks Equilibrium Base LS.  I'm about to go run in it tonight and I hope it feels as awesome as it looks. I'll report back tomorrow.  I also bought a Brooks running hat.  I really wanted a hat with a ponytail hole, so I found a pretty pink one that should keep me warm and stlyin'.  Rachel got a matching one and you know how much I love matching outfits, so I'm sure we'll break those out on the lakefront together soon enough.

So time to hit the road in the rain now! I haven't run in rain in awhile, but I do like that it's an opportunity to wear a hat.

Have you ever been to a fashion show?

What is your favorite brand of running apparel?

Chicago Marathon Celebration & Recovery

I think this will be my last of my Chicago Marathon series of posts.  (You can read about the expo and pasta party, RACE RECAP, my playlist, and my fans.)

The post-marathon celebration started pretty much as soon as I crossed the finish line.  As I'm pretty sure I mentioned in my playlist post, putting on Teenage Dream was my first order of business after finishing.  Then I just wanted to dance because I was happy, but I thought these other fatigued strangers would think I'm weird and I guess the movement I considered dancing after 26.2 miles was a bit funky because a few of the finish line workers asked if I was OK.

I made it though most of the chute area, collecting my free beverages (water, Gatorade protein shake, beer) and found Mac.  We briefed each other on our races and tried to spot Angela, but we must have missed her because we when finally got hold of her, she was already at gear check.  I pretty much "ran" there to meet her.  It was obviously more of a shuffle, but I was cruising compared to everyone else because I wanted to be reunited with her after separating around mile 15.

After reuniting with all our fans and hanging out in the park for awhile, it was time to head home for a necessary shower.  I was surprisingly mobile and not having as hard of a time getting to the car parked really far away as I did last time I ran Chicago.

I went straight to my bed after showering, but I couldn't fall asleep.  "Exercise gives you endorphins; Endorphins make you happy." (Legally Blonde)  A few phone calls later and I was at Nookie's with the Conlons for a 4pm champagne brunch.

Yup, that's the cheap stuff.  After the brunch dinner, I was tired but we had more celebrating to do.  Mac, Drew, Michael, and Angela came over and we sat around, ate, drank a little, talked about the marathon, etc.  Then we went to meet up with the Conlons again at Benchmark.  We did do a shot there to celebrate, but other than that I think we were all pretty much wiped out and just sat at the table and ate tots with ranch...probably one of the most amazing combos ever.

After making it out of bed successfully without falling over on Monday, I started the day off with Angela at Starbucks, or should I say "Asha."

Then we headed to Fleet Feet.  I actually don't remember why we went to Fleet Feet - I think we just had some time to kill - and found they had a bunch of the official Chicago Marathon gear, so we each bought a post-marathon gift for ourselves.

Angela had to head back to St. Louis, but Michael and Drew were still in town, so we met up and went to Moe's for a Mexican lunch and did a lot of walking.  Fleet Feet had free medal engraving so we dropped our medals off there and then sat very lethargically in Starbucks for awhile.  After they left that afternoon, I lounged for awhile and ordered myself a small Lou's pizza (and no, I didn't eat all of it; I had leftovers for lunch and dinner the next day!)

And for the recovery.....

I was SORE until Wednesday.  I considered going to a spinning class on Thursday, but decided I was going to take full advantage of the "I just ran a marathon and need time off" excuse to not work out while I could.

I did short runs of 3 miles each on Saturday and Sunday mornings...and had a fun full day of tailgating and football at Notre Dame with Catherine & friends.

Even though I love UD and the Flyers, it was fun to tailgate for a real college football team.

My Chicago Marathon Super Fans

I remind my family quite frequently that I had nobody watching me in my very first marathon in Columbus of 2010.  My parents (and all the other aunts and uncles) had a 50th wedding anniversary party to go to that weekend and Columbus is about a 6 hour drive from Chicago.

But they all made up for it at this year's Chicago Marathon!  I didn't expect so many family members to come, but my family sure does love running.  (We even have our own marathon, 2 years strong.)

I'm not 100% sure, but I think they all planned to wear red on purpose.  I knew to look for my family around mile 4.5 first and was told Aunt Mary Ellen would have a red Elmo balloon.  Sure enough, I spotted them all.  I hope they weren't too bored while waiting, but it seems like that got some good family photos in the meantime.  (And obviously they didn't have to wait too long since I was RIGHT behind the Kenyans, duh.)

 They all had really great signs too!

Besides my family, I also had a lot of friends come out and cheer too!  Catherine and Matt were at miles 3.5 and 16.5.

Wondering what a TIGER BODYSLAM is?  Catherine's main track event in high school was the 2 mile race.  If you've ever been to a track meet, distance events aren't nearly as fun to watch as sprints and given the longer distance, the field of competition is pretty spread out.  A lot of times, the slower runners end up getting lapped by the faster runners.  To take care of this problem, at one meet the 2 mile race was called "Tiger takes the Tail" where the runner in last place after each lap of the 2 mile race would be stopped and not allowed to finish the race.

So basically, we decided that for this to happen, the tiger mascot person would body slam the person in last place and not let them finish. I'm glad I didn't get tiger bodyslammed during the marathon.

Steph and Danny were around mile 17-18 I think?  I don't remember that clearly, but Steph was jumping up and down with her sign.

Christina and Jim were around mile 6 with a big pirate balloon and n awesome sign that said "Your feet hurt because you're kickin' butt!"

I tried to remember other good signs, but my brain was kind of fried while running.  One said "Run quietly, I'm hungover" and then all the standard ones like "Worst Parade Ever."

But back to my fans...

I think the most mobile group of fans was Uncle Ron, Uncle Rob, and Jessica.  They were at 16, 18, and 20...as well as the earlier miles 4 and 10.  They used a car, which proved a better strategy than the other group who walked and barely missed me at 17.

Another perk of having fans at the race is that they can take pictures and I don't have to pay for the professional ones if I wanted a picture.  However, this does not improve the quality of how I look while I run.

I really loved my headband...I don't know if I can give enough plugs for how awesome those Sweaty Bands work to hold my hair back and are also glittery and thus, awesome.

I also spotted a few other people I knew along the course which was good to see.  And of course, the other 1.7 million strangers were great to see as well.  So thank you to everyone who was able to come out and cheer!

And also thank you to my fans who were not physically there, but texted me throughout the days leading up to the race and afterwards.  Some of my friends even made signs, took pictures of themselves holding the signs, and then mailed me the pictures.  :)

The Day Before - Expo & Pasta Party

This past Saturday, the day before the Chicago Marathon, was filled with a lot of fun, excitement, and nervousness.  Angela, Olivia, and I headed downtown to meet Michael, Drew, Patrick, and Josh to take the free shuttle bus to the Expo at McCormick Place.  Right when we got inside, we ran into Carly and took a group picture!

After getting our bib numbers and t-shirts, we all spent some time exploring, grabbing free samples, shopping, signing the #OWNCHICAGO wall.  We also met up briefly with Mac, Kevin, and Jason.  AND some fellow UDXC alum, Kelly and Allie were working the Sweaty Bands booth, so we got to pause for a picture with them.  I'm glad I have so many running friends  :)

There were about a million gazillion people at the Expo, so it was hard to move and keep track of everyone that we came with.  But eventually, we all met up and made our way back home on the shuttle.

Some of the free stuff I got included: a cowbell, a poster, sunglasses, samples of various energy chews and drinks, and a water bottle.  Angela and I also teamed up and bought 2 pairs of running socks each because they were buy 3, get 1 free.

By about 3pm however, I was nowhere near as excited and energetic as I was a few hour earlier.  I think all the noise and chaos of the Expo got to me and gave me a killer headache.  I got back to my apartment and had about an hour before people would be over for the pasta party.  I needed to clean up a little more and get ready, but instead I just sat in the dark and tried to make the headache go away.  I tried to eat some peanut butter on toast, but threw that up within 15 minutes and then threw up again right after my parents arrived to help set up.

My mom thinks I just made myself really nervous and worked up over the whole event, which is probably true.  But people started to arrive, so I kept taking Tylenol and tried to help set up and mingle.  I couldn't eat much of the pasta, but bread seemed to be good.  And I had made a pumpkin cake (pumpkin bread, but baked in a cake pan and covered in chocolate frosting) that I was able to eat.

So that is the reason I was so hungry by the time I got to the starting line and needed to eat half of a bagel during the marathon.  I did eat a bowl of Smart Start and half pack of GU Chomps the morning of the race, but that wasn't doing the job.

I was glad so many friends were able to come - work friends, running friends, Dayton friends.  And especially thanks to my parents for buying/bringing all the food!...even though my dad was not having fun hanging out with a bunch of 20-somethings.

Other attendees not pictured: Mom and Dad, Mac, his parents, Rachelle, and Christopher

So it was a busy, nerve-wrecking day.  I was sure I was going to wake up Sunday with the same horrible headache and not be able to run well because of it.  But I kept downing the Tylenol, was able to get to sleep around 9pm or so, and woke up in the morning feeling great!

Race Recap: CHICAGO MARATHON 2013

Well, the Chicago Marathon is over!  I have so much to say about it and don't know where to start, so this will probably end up a little scattered, but I'll do my best.  And I'll also probably have a post every day this week on various events of race weekend (the expo, the pasta party, the recovery, etc.) but I'll try to keep this one to the actual race recap.

Summary/spoiler alert: I finished in 3:23:15!  A PR by close to 6 minutes and Boston Qualifier!

My parents dropped off Angela, Olivia, and I as close as they could to the starting area and we made our way through the security checkpoints.  The weather turned out to be absolutely perfect for marathon running, but the morning was rather chilly.  We were wearing clothes that we could discard at the start line and never see again - to be donated to a homeless shelter in Chicago.  Angela and I discarded our clothes right before entering the corral and a man with a vest that said "Clothing Donations" was on his walkie talkie saying "we are going to need way more bins."  There were mountains of sweatpants and sweatshirts all around.

We also waited in a really long porta-potty line...but glad we did so before the race.  Once we got settled in a spot in the corral, it was time to go within about 5-10 minutes.

The first 8 miles of the race flew by.  It was definitely the easiest/most fun hour-ish of running I've ever done.  Our goal was to start at 8 minute pace for 4 miles and then pick it up to 7:30-7:40.  I don't remember splits exactly, but I think the first mile was 7:49 so we said we could ease up a bit.  The problem was that we were stuck behind the 3:30 pace group which was huge and taking up a lot of space all running together.  So over the next 3 miles, we were still doing about 7:45-7:50 working our way up and around that 3:30 group, but still not trying to go too fast.

We saw so many people throughout the course - the first being Catherine and Matt around mile 3.  I almost missed them but luckily they saw us and called out...and I heard them over my awesome playlist of music which will be a whole separate post because obviously you need to know exactly what I listened to for 26.2 miles.

 

I think I could also write a decent amount on all my spectators and signs, so I will save that for later, but the important thing right now is that I saw my family around mile 4.5 for the first time and I was STARVING (I'll explain why when I write about the pasta party...do you like all my cliffhangers?) so I yelled to my mom to buy me a bagel.

Sure enough, when I saw them again around mile 11, my dad had the bagel for me so I grabbed half and ate it while running.  I took water at every water stop, and Gatorade at I think only 2 during the first half and every station the 2nd half.  Apparently when you lose a lot of sodium, your body essentially starts producing salt, so I had a white ring around my face when I finished.  I also took GU Energy Gel 3 times throughout the race - around miles 9, 16, and 22.

Angela and I didn't talk much throughout the race, but when we did, the conversation went like this:

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:32"

"We should slow down a little and save it for later"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:26"

"We should slow down"

"Yeah, we should"

*Pass a mile marker*

"7:34"

"This is comfortable, but we should maybe slow down a little more"

"Yeah, we should"

But we did not slow down.  I personally am glad we did not...hopefully Angela feels OK about it.  I know it is best to run negative or even splits (or even slightly positive splits at the marathon distance since negative/even splits are extremely difficult at that distance), but I also knew that by the time we were at mile 9, I needed to just go with it while I felt good.  And I did feel really good.  Angela decided to ease up a little and dropped back from me around mile 15-16.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Around mile 19, Mac magically appeared.  I was very surprised because he had passed Angela and I around mile 10, but apparently he made a bathroom pit stop somewhere along the way.  He and I ran together for about the next 2 miles until he started to fade back a little.

I was actually pleasantly surprised with how even my pacing was for all of the race.  Yes, I died off the last 10k, but not nearly as much as I could have (or did during my previous marathons).  I ran it pretty exactly according to my plan.  Since I knew I wanted to beat my time from the Columbus Marathon in 2010 and I knew my splits from that race at the 10k, half, and 20 mile marks, that's what I was comparing myself to.  I was 1:40 ahead of pace at the 10k, which worried me a little because I was afraid maybe we did go out a little too fast.  But actually, I remember thinking I was only 40 seconds ahead...not a minute and 40 seconds.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto) 

And it's a good thing I did think that because at the half, I was 58 seconds ahead of my first half of Columbus.  And knowing myself, if I would've thought that I went from being 1:40 ahead of pace to only 0:58 ahead of pace, that might've mentally screwed me up a bit...but what you don't know can't hurt you.

After we hit the halfway mark, my plan was just to make it to 20 as fast as I could, knowing that no matter what, the last 10k was going to be miserable.  I wanted to/thought I could be at mile 20 between 2:31 and 2:34.  My brain was shut down at this time, but I think I remember being there right around 2:32:00 - 2:32:30, which was 2 to 2 and a half minutes ahead of my Columbus pace.  I didn't mentally put that split into my head though because I thought they recorded a 20 mile split with the chip so I figured I'd look later, but I guess not.

(professional photo by MarathonFoto)

Where I started to really struggle was around mile 18.  I knew I had about an hour or so to go and knew I could do it, but that's where I did start to experience some mental doubt in how fast I could realistically do those last 8 miles...I went from feeling pretty awesome to not so great pretty darn quickly.  I made the decision to walk through the next water stop I saw and that I'd walk through each one after that, which is also exactly what I did in Columbus.

So I would run all the way to the very last Gatorade person at each water station, take that cup, and start walking while I drank it and then take one of the very first cups of water, drink what I could, and make myself start running.  I imagine each stop was about 30 seconds, but really I had no concept of time.  I once again surprised myself with the fact that I really did make myself start running ASAP after drinking my liquids.

The last mile was pretty much the worst thing ever, especially "Mt. Roosevelt," the small hill within in the final 400 meters of the course. By this point I really knew I was going to finish in a great time though, so that made me push throug that final mile. And I saw Aunt Bernadette  saying "you're doing it!" Because she knew I would PR.

And then I finished!!

 (professional photo by MarathonFoto)

So I have a lot more details I could share and want to share, but those will come later this week because I've done enough rambling for now.  Basically, the race went as perfect as it could have and my pacing was better (more even...not quite as much dying at the end) than I could've ever expected from myself.

Frericks 5k & Parents Weekend

This weekend was Parents Weekend at Univeristy of Dayton, which I think is actually now called "Family Weekend." Conveniently, most of my best friends from UD have a younger sibling there still or live in Dayton/Cincinnati.

My mom and I weren't able to leave until after work on Friday, so we went straight to the hotel to bed. But Saturday morning we were ready to go for a day of fun. First on the schedule was the Frericks 5k around campus.

I knew it wasn't going to be a super competitive race because it tends to be a lot of the parents and younger siblings that walk the race, but also a decent number of runners too. I did a short warm-up around the Ghetto and lined up at the front, where I noticed there were no other girls except for a tiny 13 year old. She looked fierce and ready to race.

The horn sounded and off we went. I had a strong start but almost immediately felt like I was straight-up sprinting and obviously couldn't hold that for 3 miles. Erin and her sister Elise were standing near Marycrest, only about 3-4 minutes into the race and as I passed them I said "this already blows." As I kept going, I felt a little better and came through the 1 mile mark in 6:47. I was nervous for the 2nd mile because I knew it included Stuart Hill, the longest hill on campus.

"If a hill has its own name, then it is a probably a pretty tough hill."

Getting up the hill wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but it was still rough. I was just looking forward to the downhill, and I passed 2 people on my way down (both guys, just the one 13 year old girl was ahead of me and she wasn't even in sight any more). I don't remember exactly what my split was for mile 2 but I do remember thinking I was still on basically the same pace, around 6:50.

The third mile was also difficult and by this point I knew I wasn't going to catch the girl ahead of me and I could tell when we kind of zig-zagged through KU Field that there were no other girls anywhere near behind me. I saw Erin and Elise again and was feeling better than when I saw then at the beginning, but I was also ready for the race to be over. I had no idea where the race ended bit just tried to keep pace. Then I finally saw the 3 mile mark and the finish and kicked in with what I had left. I finished in 21:20, averaging 6:52 pace so I was happy I stayed very consistent the whole time.  And I won a UD sweatshirt :)

After the 5k we went straight to the football stadium for tailgating. Dayton's football team isn't anything special - except for the few years this kicker graced the field.

Tailgating for the football game was a lot of fun!  All the parents made delicious food.  Mom made these brownies and a turkey appetizer.  Erin's parents brought Chic-Fil-A chicken which was also amazing.

I wasn't really drinking much because of marathon training, but I did join in on a few beer games!  I miss college.  And all these people.  It was so so warm out and I was beat, so mom and I went back to the hotel for a nap.  But then it was back to campus for dinner at Milano's with Patrick and Erin.

After dinner, I went to Grace's brother's house to meet up with all of my friends again to watch the OSU game.  We had a great time just hanging out, watching the game, and chatting.  It's so rare now (except for weddings) that we are all able to get together so it was really special  :)

We're all best friends.

Weekend Photo Bomb - 9/6 - 9/8

Here's a sampling of the weekend in pictures!

Friday - Rachel is training for the Fox Cities Half Marathon and needed to do a long run.  I met up with her after work on Friday to bike while she ran.  It was a great time catching up!

When I showed up to meet Rachel, we had matching running fanny packs!

About 5 miles in and still smiling!  She finished 11 miles woohooo!!  I am only half a good friend though because I left after about 6 miles because I was planning to drive home for the night.

On my way home, I went to hang out with Catherine and Matt for a little bit.  Catherine is officially in marathon taper mode now!  Her marathon is in 2 weeks, and trust me, she is working on a good guest post to write for my blog afterwards.

Saturday - Mac and I went to the Chicago Half Marathon Expo at Navy Pier.  We ran there about 2 miles and then walked around the expo for awhile.  I found 2 of the Sweaty Bands headbands to complete the marathon outfits that Angela and I will wear!  Since we had our race bags from the Expo, we just had a nice stroll back home instead of running.  And who wants to run very much the day before a race?

I can't decide what was the better purchase of the day - the headbands or the socks.  Both were better (and cheaper) than the half marathon purchase.  Races are too expensive.  But I am glad we did it.

Sunday - Chicago Half Marathon! I am going to do a whole race recap tomorrow, but here's some of the basics...  I finished in 1:42:04.  I was hoping for a little faster, but I'm over it.  Mac and his friend Bryce ran too.  This was the first half marathon for each of them and I think they were pretty pumped about the medals.  We are all winners.

And here's a giant picture of the slice of Lou Malnati's pizza we each got after the race!

Despite having the pizza right after running, that obviously wasn't enough so we went out to Elly's for breakfast.  They have such amazing pancakes.  And I ran into some other friends there too!

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

What Should I Do This Weekend?

Here's a quick summary of my workouts last week:

Monday - 6.3 miles tempo-ish run
Tuesday - 5.6 miles normal (included in the same post as Monday's run)
Wednesday - 19.25 miles !!
Thursday - REST
Friday - REST
Saturday - 4 miles normal w/ Angela and Olivia in northern Michigan - also, some paddleboarding = arm workout
Sunday - cross train - 12 miles biking, leisurely on a tandem bike

Even though I didn't get a run in on Friday as planned, I'm still really happy with the runs I did this past week and glad to have gotten my mileage up (both long run mileage and total weekly mileage which was about 35 miles).  I would still like to get that weekly mileage up a little more over the next 3-4 weeks before I taper.  But I say that every week.

I haven't decided yet what I want to do this weekend.  I might go to Madison, WI to watch the Ironman Wisconsin and in that case I would probably shoot for a 20 mile long run on Saturday.  But after all the driving this past weekend, a day trip to Michigan planned for the following weekend, and then UD Parents Weekend at the end of September, I think a weekend without traveling will be nice.  So if I stay here in Chicago this weekend, I can do a half marathon on Sunday or do a long run either day.  Here's my plan for Monday through Friday at least.  Obviously Monday already happened, so I just put in what I already did.

Monday - hill workout ~4.5 miles
Tuesday - 10-12 miles
Wednesday -6 miles
Thursday - Speed Workout - Mile Repeats
Friday - 5 miles

And now it's September!  As far as August running mileage, I ended up with 140 miles. If you've read some of my other posts, you know that I am comparing these couple months of marathon training to how I did during 2010 when I was training for the Columbus Marathon. In August of that year, I ran 145 miles, so I'm pretty much at exactly the same.  I was hoping to be significantly higher for the August mileage, but the beginning of the month was pretty low-mileage.

September should be a big increase over 2010 because I only had 98 miles that month. I want to shoot for close to 200 miles this September.

I decided I needed another picture and thought I'd include another one from the lake weekend, but then I thought - why not find a picture from last September?  My soul was sold away to the public accounting world for most of the month, but then I got to go to Nashville to celebrate Grace's Bachelorette party!!  Are you aware that according to whatever spell check system this blogging software uses, bachelorette is not a word?  It wants to correct it to bachelor.  That is weird.  And now I just typed it in Microsoft Word and it is a word there.  Google Blogger must not think that girls have fun too.

What are you planning to do this week?  Or this weekend?

Have you ever been to Nashville? 

The Courage to Start

I have been given the task of creating a training schedule for my friend (my brother's girlfriend) Erin's first half marathon!!  I'm really excited for this, for multiple reasons.

First of all, I am thrilled that she has decided to take on this commitment! I encourage everyone to start running :) Erin texted me maybe a month or 2 ago and said she was going to do a half marathon in St. Louis. This week I was looking up the dates for future Rock 'N Roll races and saw that the St. Louis event is on October 27th. I texted her to see if this is the one she was planning on running and she said that she wasn't so sure any more. I managed to convince her that she could and that I would come to St. Louis that weekend to run with her!

Another reason I am excited for this is that I kind of get to act as her "coach" and make her a training plan! I love running and am glad I have this opportunity to help her get into it more also. And it's an item to cross off her bucket list! So, I started working on her plan, and find that it's much different making up a plan for a new distance runner (she runs/works out regularly, but she has never ran more than 2 miles at a time) than when I try to come up with plans or workouts for myself. She gave me an indication of what pace she can run, but it's hard to judge what others are capable of as opposed to what I know I am capable of or what might be just a bit to much. It will be a fun challenge. Maybe what will be more fun is making her a training plan for her SECOND half marathon after she gets through this one and wants to go faster!!

Woo go Erin!! - "The miracle isn't that I finished. It is that I had the courage to start."

I'm not quite sure if I'll register for the race or not. I don't like paying for a race that I won't technically be "racing." All these races get expensive! But I'd get a t-shirt I guess, that's always a nice perk.  And a medal.  Even though I was looking up some future races, I decided not to commit to anything until after the Chicago Marathon. But I think this would be a good chance to visit St. Louis (and all my friends and cousins there) and help Erin run her first half marathon! I have lately been thinking that my running has always been mostly competitive, whether with myself or with others, and I have not been having as much "fun" with it as I should (although starting this blog has added fun to my running!) The Chicago Marathon will be a "compete against my own self/PR" race still, but also should be loads of fun to run with Angela wearing our amazing matching outfits...which I will maybe reveal later this week...so get pumped for that! Anyways, I think deciding to run this race with Erin and help her get through it will be a great experience!

On a somewhat related note to training plans, I made a training plan for myself for the Chicago Marathon way back in June, but haven't been doing the greatest job at sticking to it...that's the hard part, isn't it?  But now, as of tomorrow, there will be 7 weeks left until the marathon.  That gives me 4-5 solid weeks of training before I have to taper.  So I'm going to make them the best 4-5 weeks yet.  And to help do so, I'm going to go back to posting the plan week by week here.  I kind of fell out of that habit when I was just running however I felt instead of following my plan.

I did some damage at Dick's this morning. They really rope you in with their coupons. I think these are the shorts I'll wear in the marathon. They'll go nicely with the matching singlets I alluded to above. Also, 13 new pairs of socks!! At Christmas, I got like a million new pairs of socks and threw away all my old socks because let's face it, they almost all had a hole or were just old. And somehow in the last 8 months, all of THOSE pairs managed to get holes. So, time for another sock purge.

On the schedule for tomorrow is 18 miles! That will be my longest training run yet, but I've had a few runs of 15-16 that have gone well, so I think it should be manageable. And I will have Mac to run with instead of my last couple long runs that have been done alone.

What is easier for you - making a training plan or sticking to it?

How often do you have to buy new socks?