ZOOMA Chicago Half Marathon!

Alright everyone, I'm doing something that I rarely do.  I am committing to a half marathon more than 3 days in advance!  I think I did 3 half marathons last year, and each one I registered for within just a few days of.  (I did the same thing with the triathlon last summer too - but it's OK, it was just a sprint distance.)  I don't like to be tied down I guess.  And honestly, I'm usually in good enough shape to run 13.1 miles, but this year - I want to run 13.1 miles FAST and I know which race I'm going to do it at!

ZOOMA Chicago Half Marathon!

So here are the details:

Who: Me!  You!  Your girlfriends!

I want you to join me in the race!  I even have a discount code for you - CAMB9.

What: Half Marathon or 10k

Both races are CARA (Chicago Area Runner's Association) certified.  Choose whichever distance you feel most comfortable running.  And my discount code is good for BOTH the half marathon or 10k  :)

When: Saturday, August 9th

I think the when is one of my favorite parts of this race!  It's a SATURDAY morning!  What does this mean?  It means running the race won't have you stressed out all weekend.  After the Saturday morning race, you will have time to relax at the post-race activities (which includes recovery yoga and Barefoot Wine!!), and then enjoy the rest of your Saturday in Chicago.  It's perfect for anyone out of town who wants to have a girls weekend in Chicago, run a race, and still have time to enjoy this great city!

Running the Chicago Marathon?  Or another fall marathon?  This is a perfect time to test out your pacing, get in a fun long run, and/or see how your training is progressing!

Where: Chicago Lakefront

The race takes place on the scenic Chicago Lakeshore.  Ahh the lakefront in the summer - doesn't that sound like a dream right now?

Why: So Many Reasons!

The ZOOMA mission is to inspire women to live healthy, happy, & active lives.  To do this, the company (which is run completely by women!), offers boutique racing events that are perfect for a girls weekend!

You will get this awesome shirt and a ton of other swag.

 

And the medal is cool too!  It is both a medal (to hang proudly in your home) AND has a detachable necklace (to wear around with you all the time).  Personally, I wish a could just wear my actual medal around all the time, but this is a close alternative :)  (If I was an Olympic medalist I WOULD be wearing that medal everywhere I went.)



Another great reason to run - Use the code CAMB9 for 10% off either the half marathon or 10k distance!  For more information and to register, visit the ZOOMA Chicago website here.

(Tiger) Turkey Trots - 5k and Half Marathon Recaps!

I do a turkey trot every year, but this year I did TWO turkey trots - Edison Park (5k) and Schaumburg (half marathon).  And no, they were not on the same day.  I know most turkey trots are actually on Thanksgiving Day, as the Edison Park 5k was, but the Schaumburg race was held on Saturday morning.

Edison Park 5k

Catherine and I have an annual tradition to run the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  There have been years it is snowing and years it is pretty moderate temperature.  Luckily it was not snowing, but it sure was cold! I wish I could say the cold didn't deter us from our usual outfits - Bandit Turkey Tigers.

But sadly, we were only Turkey Tigers this year.  Well I guess technically we were bandits given that we didn't pay for the race.  We made the decision the night before the race to forgo the BANDIT singlets (our high school's old XC/Track singlets) so we could wear an extra layer.

The cold weather didn't seem to both Therese though. I met up with Catherine and Matt about half hour before the race and we did a 3 mile warm-up...for the 3.1 mile race. Just trying to get that mileage up! Then we found Therese and it was race time! We actually don't really race this run though; we use it as a nice conversational run. I think Therese had us at an average 8:08 pace. It definitely felt a lot easier this year than last year when I wasn't in nearly as good of shape.

After we finished, we walked backwards along the course to find their dad and then finished the last quarter mile or so with him.

Schaumburg Half Marathon

This is yet another race that made me think I am not mentally strong enough to be a runner.  All athletes need to be mentally strong, but running is a whole different ballgame.  There's so much more constant action and things to focus on in other sports.  When running a race, I pretty much am just thinking about how much it hurts the entire time.  I was much happier when I finished though and tried extra hard in the cold to make it seem so in this picture:

But anyways, besides the mental factor, this race wasn't too bad.  It took place at Busse Woods, which is where I ran this summer occasionally.  I parked in the remote lot and got shuttled to the start.  The course was pretty much the entire loop of 7.3 (previously 7.7, but now there is a new bridge over one of the roads so the loop is shorter and more hillier now since you have to go up and over the bridge) plus a few out and back segments through long parking lots to keep adding mileage.

At the suggestion of Pittsburgh Runner (Kristy) via Twitter a few days before the race, I decided to run the race "naked" aka without a watch. I was wearing clothes, trust me.  I did shed a few layers in the middle though.  Mom came to watch at one point around mile 5.5 and I gave her my headband and gloves. I was glad I had them to start with, but then they became unnecessary.

It's nice when Mom comes to races so she can take my picture so I don't have just a selfie.

I didn't really have expectations for this race and planned to use it as more of a training run to guarantee I got in a long run for the week.  So that worked out.  I decided to start with the 1:40 pace group and figured I'd stick with them as long as possible, which ended up being until I saw Mom and stopped for a few seconds to give her my headband and gloves and offer my words of how miserable I already am. I felt like I was sprinting to keep up with that 1:40 pace group.

So I broke off from them and was really just not having this race anymore.  Mentally done.  I really really really wanted to stop running.  My original goal was 1:45, so I was still on track but I wanted to make sure the 8 minute group wouldn't catch me.  But I also really wanted to stop and walk.  The problem is, when you're running a loop in the forest preserve and your mom left and your car is parked in a remote lot that you need to get to via the shuttle at the finish line...well, you get the point.  There wasn't really any way to stop, so I had to just get to the finish line as fast as possible.

That red blow up thing was the finish line..with my finger in front of the lens also.  It was cold but so so sunny!  So I couldn't even see my phone screen when I took this photo.  Anyways, I made it my goal to not let the 8 minute pace group catch up to me.  But lo and behold, they did.  Around mile 11.5.  Then around 12.5, they passed me.  I was really struggling that last mile.  But I only stopped to walk through the last 2 water stations (around miles 10 and 12...so that's how they caught me).

I finished in 1:45:55.  So it was right around what I wanted/expected.  But it sure was harder than that time should feel like for me.  My two halves during the Chicago Marathon were each faster than that.  But I fell a little off the running wagon, didn't have a best friend running with me, and it was darn cold.  So I'm OK with it and glad I didn't give in and start walking.

Something awesome about this race is the sweatshirt that I got for registering!  At first it seemed pretty light, but it is really comfy so that's all that matters.

Do you run with pace groups during a race?

Any turkey trot traditions?

(Long) Weekend Photo Bomb - 11/27 - 11/30

It's been a nice long holiday weekend off of work and I've been busy with all sorts or activities.  I did 2 races (a 5k and a half marathon) and will have a full recap of those in the next few days, but in the meantime, here's the long weekend in pictures:

Dinner and gambling at the casino.  Dad hasn't quite figured out that the iPhone can be turned sideways to get everyone in the picture.  Mom and Patrick were the big winners of the night.

Catherine and I ran the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k (like we do every year) in matching turkey headbands and tiger-print shorts.

My dear little cousin, Elizabeth.  We share a love for bread.  I told her that's called carbo-loading and she helped me carbo-load for Saturday's race  :)  On Friday, we celebrated her new baby brother's Baptism.

Post-half marathon selfie.  Very cold!

All aboard!  The entire Smith family (and "SigOs" - significant others) took a Christmas trolley ride through the city.

A few of the girls, ready to go.

View of the Chicago skyline from Smith trolley stop #1.

 Dad and I at the Lincoln Park Zoo Lights - Smith trolley stop #2.

Things escalated quickly... even had to make a few extra stops for beer/champagne runs (and bathroom runs).

Started the weekend with gambling, why not end it with a little family gambling?   A pizza party after the trolley and a 30+ person game of LCR - Shannon was the big winner.

And another running selfie.  An easy 4 miles Sunday morning in my all purple outfit.  Just kidding, I put another shirt on over that, but thought it looked funny when I was wearing all purple so I had to take a picture.

So there's the long weekend in pictures!  How was your long weekend?  What did you do??

My Current Half Marathon "Plan"

I can't really do a running recap of last week because I only ran one day - 6.2 miles on Tuesday.  There are 8 weeks until the Phoenix Half Marathon so I'm not overly concerned, but I know that now is the time to get going.

I made up a plan for myself, but we all know how I am terrible at actually following plans, so I came up with a new idea.  It won't matter what day I get these workouts in, as long as I get them in.  Actually, it's not that new of an idea because I kind of did that during Chicago Marathon training too, doing long runs during the week after work and doing two 20 miles runs within 6 days of each other, and doing more speed workouts whenever Mac was available.

For the next 8 weeks I want to make sure I get in 5 runs a week, broken out like this:

1 normal (~8 minute pace) run of 5-7 miles

1 normal (~8 minute pace) run of 7-9 miles

1 long run of 10-15 miles

1 tempo (~7:15 pace) run of 5-8 miles

1 speed workout or tempo run

This would give me at least 30 miles a week, hopefully closer to 40.  I have a few good speed/tempo workout options I found that are geared more specifically to training for a half marathon.  I'll plan to share those with you this week.

I think this plan will work for me for a few reasons:

• I never really know how I'll be feeling each day on the treadmill so if one day I'm feeling awesome, I'll just go with it and do a tempo run or higher mileage.  And on another day if I feel like crap/am super unmotivated, I will first try to put on my very best pump-up songs, but if that doesn't work, I'll just have it be a normal day.  I'll just need to hope that I'm feeling great 2 days a week...or that we have a really mild winter so I can go outside.
• The holidays are a busy time with lots of parties and events on weekends and other nights during the week, so I'll just fit in runs when I can.

(photo from Pinterest)

This weekend I had the opportunity to meet a new blog friend in person!  Katie from Peace, Love, & Oats is a healthy living blogger who lives in Chicago.  My cousin Erin reads Katie's blog regularly, recognized her out at lunch one day and told me I should get in contact with her.  I emailed Katie and we set up a meeting at Starbucks yesterday where we chatted and enjoyed hot drinks on such a cold day!  Katie and I have a ton in common and she is running the Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon also!  I'm looking forward to joining the Chicago Healthy Living Bloggers group for their next book club meeting in a few weeks  :)

And that means I need to get started on reading the book!  And it's perfect timing since I finished Caught this weekend.  The book for this month is Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

 (photo from Goodreads)

Katie said she just finished it and really liked it.  Then, as I was doing some blog reading this morning, I saw that Meghann from Meals and Miles and her book club read it this past month and she also liked it a lot.  I suppose this will be the perfect week to start a new book while I have a few days off work!  I just started actively using the Goodreads website and app because I want to start reading a lot more.  It's a lot of fun to see what books my friends have read and what they want to read and to keep track of my own books.

This week shouldn't be too hard to get my runs in.  I'll be running with my friend Dave tomorrow evening after work, the Edison Park Turkey Trot 5k with Catherine on Thanksgiving, and the Schaumburg Half Marathon Turkey Trot on Saturday.  Then I'll just have to fill in a few other runs and I'll be good to go!  Easier said than done of course though.  I hope to come back to you tomorrow with a great run to talk about...or any run to talk about at this point, doesn't even have to be great.

Do you have a turkey trot on the schedule this week?

What is your favorite Starbucks drink?  I go with the white chocolate mocha usually, but right now it's all about the Gingerbread Lattes.  I know I said in my "No Spend November" post that I was going to try to cut out the Starbucks, but really that is just for during the workweek when I can easily get free coffee at work.

Half Marathon Training & A Birthday!

It has started.  Colleen's PR half marathon training.  My current half marathon PR is 1:37:10.  I set that in October of 2008 at the Columbus Half Marathon.  I actually have no idea how I ran that fast (I even just went back to my running2win training log and looked and it was pretty weak compared to what I know I could do), but I had good company to run it with and just wanted to stay with them, so I imagine that was how.

Anyways, that's the past.  And now I'm going to beat that time at the Rock 'N Roll Phoenix Half Marathon.  That is the goal at least.  I know some races just don't go well, but my goal is to train hard for the next 11 weeks and then run super fast there with Liz (while Molly runs the full and Emma and Brigitte cheer us on!)

I don't have a super specific time goal, but I know I want to PR.  It's been over 5 years since I ran that half marathon time; I think it's overdue.  I came really close in the North Shore Half Marathon this past June - only 29 seconds off - and that course had a monstrous hill right in the middle of it.  I think I should be able to run under a 1:35.  I really have no idea what the course in Phoenix is like, but hopefully it's favorable!  Since I like to show tweets, here's one I liked from my UD friend Lauren who rocked the NYC Marathon this weekend:

It's so true that the course can really impact how you run - the terrain, the scenery, the spectators, the elevation change, etc.  A lot can happen over 26.2 miles.

But back to focusing on the half marathon for now.  I made up a training plan.  And I'm going to follow it as best as I can.  Realistically who knows what will happen with it getting cold and the holidays, but I guess that's where my friend the treadmill comes in.  We are not actually friends.

Here's what I did last week:

Monday - 5.75 mile run

Tuesday - 1 mile warm-up; free weights

Wednesday -  5.3 mile run in the rain

And then I didn't work out Thursday through Sunday...
Total Mileage = ~12 miles

So...the week started off strong, but then I fell off the horse.  But that's OK since it was just my first week really coming back to running since the Chicago Marathon.

Here's my plan for this week:

Monday -6 miles + core work + arm work
(I haven't done this yet, so I have a busy night ahead...plus the Bears/Packers game)

Tuesday -8 miles - 1 mile easy; 6 miles cut-down 10 seconds per mile starting at marathon pace; 1 mile easy

Wednesday -  6 miles + core work + arm work

Thursday - REST
(Maybe I'll do a short workout at lunch, but I'm having margaritas and sushi with Stephanie - we are very cultural - Wednesday night, so a Thursday morning workout is highly unlikely.  And then Thursday night is the Old St. Pat's Crossroads Runners post-marathon party!)

Friday - 5 miles - 1 mile easy; 3 miles race pace; 1 mile easy + core work

Saturday - 10 miles + core work

Sunday -  REST
(Christina's birthday party is Saturday night.  And then Bears game tailgating/watching on Sunday, so a workout is unlikely.  So obviously I'm scheduling my rest days around my social calendar.)

Here's what I'm gonna try to go with for my training paces:

Normal run: 8:00 pace

Marathon pace: 7:30 - My actual Chicago Marathon pace averaged to 7:45, but I held right around 7:30-7:35 for 18 miles, so I'm gonna try to aim for 7:30 as my marathon pace for training purposes

Race pace: 7:10

Easy: anywhere from 8:00 - 8:45 - I usually don't like to go slower than that, but I am also learning the value of pace variety in training instead of running 8 minute pace all the time.

And speaking of Christina's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my most loyal readers (and friends)!!!!!!!!!

Since I was so busy writing about Chicago Marathon stuff recently, I don't think I wrote about the fact that about 2 weeks ago, Christina, Jim, Emily, and I went to the Bon Jovi concert as Jim's birthday present to Christina!  The concert was a lot of fun and I knew way more songs than I thought I would.  Basically I thought I'd only know Livin' on a Prayer.  I really do love birthdays, especially mine, but also other peoples' so I can't wait to celebrate with Christina!

What is your longest-standing PR?

If you could go to any concert right now, what would it be? 

St. Louis Half Marathon & Weekend Happenings

This past weekend was the Rock 'N Roll St. Louis Half Marathon!  I ran the whole thing with my brother's girlfriend Erin and it was her first half marathon ever and I'm sure she wants to keep doing more and more.  Look how happy she was:

I didn't get to St. Louis until late Saturday night, but the Cardinals World Series game was still on, so Erin had made some pasta for me and we watched the game.  Unfortunately, it looked like the game was going to go into extra innings and we needed to be up super early, so we turned it off in the 9th.  Apparently the game ended (with a Cardinals win!) shortly after we hit the hay.

So, race morning.  We woke up and got ready to run!  We had bought matching Lululemon tank tops, but it was a bit too chilly for that.  I advised Erin to eat a bagel and some GU Chomps energy bites and I did the same.  When we got to the start line, I needed to grab my bib and t-shirt since I didn't make it to St. Louis in time to go to the expo.  But that was surprisingly quick and then we jumped in the corral and it was time to go within a few minutes.

The first few miles of the race were through downtown St. Louis, which was cool because it was sunrise and we ran towards the Arch and then around Busch Stadium.  We were each wearing coats over our running clothes because it was so cold at the start, but took them off around mile 2-3.  Luckily, we knew we'd see Katie around mile 5 because the course went right by her SLU apartment.  We ran to her, gave her a quick hug and our coats and continued on.

I was very colorful...and cold.

The race really wasn't that eventful.  Erin had hoped to maintain at 10 minute mile, but we were going much faster staying right around a 9 minute mile.  One of the later miles was even 8:40 and I think she was shocked at how fast she was able to go considering she hadn't trained this pace!  We were even chatting and having fun taking some pictures and videos.  And I will have those videos for you in my next post hopefully...they were taken on my iPod that I was running with, which I left at home today.  Anyways, there were some pretty killer hills, but we maintained a solid pace and finished in 1:56:45!!  Woohoo congrats Erin!!  Erin's mom also ran her first half marathon and finished faster than the first place marathoner!  (That was the goal.)

The pace was fairly comfortable for me, but having run only 2 3-miles runs in the past 2 weeks since the Chicago Marathon, diving right into 13 with those hills did my knees some damage.  They are fine now, but they sure hurt for the whole day.

My cousin Kevin had a funny tweet this weekend:

That's kind of how I feel about blogging.  I feel like a failure if I don't have photo proof of everything I did to show here.  But I can promise I really did go out to dinner with Angela and Liz on Sunday night in St. Louis.  And we were so deep in conversation and sat at the restaurant for so long after paying, that the obvious choice was to move our party over to the nearby fro yo place.

We had such a great time catching up with each other and talking about running and dorm food...and how we ran so much that we could eat so much dorm food.  And then we started reminiscing about the good ole days at UD.

I wasn't driving back to Chicago until Monday, so in the morning I went to breakfast at Einsten brothers with my 2 Billiken cousins, Katie and Kevin.  We had a great time catching up and talking about the upcoming holidays and of course, the event of the summer that we CANNOT wait for - the first Smith cousin wedding.

How was your weekend?

Do you like to take pictures documenting everything you do?

My Upcoming Race Plans

So now that the Chicago Marathon is over, it's time for me to start thinking about what races I want to do next.

When it comes to races other than marathons, I'm usually a "decide a few days before and register at the last minute type of person."  And I'm sure I'll continue to do that, but I also want to pick a few races to specifically train for.

So currently, here are the races on my schedule:

10/27 - St. Louis Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon -  That's this Sunday!  My brother's girlfriend Erin decided to run her first half marathon so I made her a training plan that her and her mom (who also decided to run her first half!) have been following.  The three of us bought matching tank tops to wear in the race and I'm planning to run with Erin the whole time to help her through it.

11/28 - Edison Park Turkey Trot - Catherine and I have run this turkey trot together every year since high school.  It's a 5k race, not even timed (well, there's a clock, but no chips or awards or anything like that), and we have been running it Bandit-style the last few years...literally.  Our high school mascot was the Bandits and we acquired some jerseys, paired it with tiger print shorts, and turkey headbands, and the "Bandit Turkey Tiger" was born.

So that's not really a race to train for, we just run it together for fun.  But I think I have decided on my next real race to train for/try to PR at.  And that is:

1/19 - Phoenix Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon - My UD friend Molly lives in Phoenix and is running the full marathon.  And then I found out another UD friend Emma just moved to Phoenix and her BFF Liz (who is also one of my good friends and I ran XC with at Dayton) said she'd come out for that weekend and run it too!  A half marathon right around this time would be perfect because it will give me 12 weeks to train, starting Monday.  I haven't registered or booked a flight yet, but I'm thinking I will soon after I discuss plans more with Liz, Molly, and Emma.  Hopefully it will keep me training hard as the weather gets colder and will be a fun long weekend!

But then...the big question...what marathon will I do next?  Why am I already thinking about another one in the first place?  I go back and forth between saying "I never want to run that far again" and "I could run even faster."

I decided I won't do a marathon at least until the spring, probably April or May.  Ideally my next marathon will be:

4/21 - Boston Marathon - But it's already closed.  How can I run it?  I will tell you how.  I entered a contest sponsored by PowerBar for anyone who has a valid qualifying time but did not get to register.  The Chicago Marathon was a few weeks after the Boston Marathon filled, so I would not otherwise have a chance to run it until 2015.  And given all that happened this past year, I think 2014 will be THE year to run it.  I'll save sharing the link to my entry until Facebook voting is active from 11/1 - 11/10, but just a heads up!

Four runners will be selected based on Facebook votes and a panel of judges.  As of this morning there were about 160 entries (with 2 more days to enter).  So winning this contest would obviously be my first option, but in case that doesn't work out, here are my options for a spring marathon:

4/6 - Go! St. Louis Marathon
4/19 - Louisville Derby Festival Marathon
4/26 - Illinois Marathon
5/4 - Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon
5/18 - Cleveland Marathon

I chose a few options all within driving distance on different weekends and probably wouldn't commit to one for awhile still.  I have quite a few weddings next summer, so my spring weekends will be filled with bridal showers and bachelorette parties.  Until I find out dates for those special events, I can't commit to a marathon yet...and just hope that at least one of these options will work.  But let's go for Boston as a first choice - the Monday of Easter weekend - shouldn't be any bridal events then.

And depending on which spring marathon I do, I also might want to try to run another half, particularly this one if the timing works out:

4/5 - Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon - It's in driving distance, in the spring, a small race, and age group winners win a trophy shaped like the bust of Lincoln.  That's the real reason I want to do it and will race hard.  That bad boy would look great on my dresser or on my desk at work.

Other than those, I'm sure some other 5Ks, 10Ks, or half marathons will pop up...like the Ditka Dash 5K.  I want to do that one if someone will do it with me!

Let me know if you have any other good suggestions or want a visitor wherever you live!  I'd gladly travel somewhere for a new race  :)  My Aunt Sonja was pushing for me to come visit them in Anchorage in June for the marathon there, but I am already committed to a wedding that weekend so an Alaskan race will have to wait.

Race Photo Commentary

Get ready friends, I have race photos to show from the Chicago Half Marathon.  Race photos are always the worst.  I'm very jealous of people who manage to look good (aka like they aren't suffering a slow, painful death) while they run because I have never been one of those people.  However, I actually think these ones are far better than any of my race photos in the past.  I did not buy the pictures, so we'll have to deal with the watermark on them unfortunately.  Marathon Foto took SO many pictures along this course - they seemed to be everywhere!  I picked a small sampling to provide some commentary on.

I close my eyes when I run:

I don't really close my eyes when I run (at least I don't think I do?).  I just look down the whole time.  I don't know why I do this, but I think I am really conscious of the surface I'm running on and don't want to trip.

My sparkly headband is so awesome:

As is the rest of my outfit.  And I guess sometimes I open my eyes and look around.  Anyways, I can't get over how much I'm in love with the headband and the tank top.  I'll try to stop talking about them so much.  I also really liked the compression socks.  I bought them the day before because I had a Fleet Feet gift card and heard that compression socks can help with recovery.  I had no intention of running in them until the morning of the race and I'm really glad I did.  And then I felt like a tool when we were at breakfast and I was still wearing them. (I did change out of all of my other sweaty clothes luckily though.)

I try out new ways of holding my iPod:

My iPod was in my sports bra, as I did in the North Shore Half Marathon also.  That was the first time I did it and it worked well, so I'll continue doing it for races.  I don't plan to run with the iPod in the Chicago Marathon, at least not for the first half.  But then I might have my mom give it to me for the 2nd half because that half is not as fun and I will need some serious Teenage Dream in my life at that point.  I don't know how the iPod is still functional though.  It has been through so many runs with me - either held in my hand, in it's arm band, or in my sports bra.  I might also try it in my SPI belt sometime.  But I think no matter what, it's going to get sweated on.

Sometimes I try to smile, but it's really really really forced at this point.  And I have really weird, very inward facing knees:

In high school, Catherine and I discovered that my knees point extremely far inward.  This definitely shows in my running form and I wish I could fix it, but that's just how they are I think (that picture doesn't even do it justice).  This might also be why I don't pick my knees up at all when I run.  So I think during the winter when I am confined to the treadmill I'm going to work on my running form.  I learned some good tips from Bart Yasso and a rep from Newton Running this past weekend that I will share in another post soon!

And then I can smile for real after I finish:

Woohoo!  Another half marathon done!  I've lost count, but probably somewhere around 10-ish...but I do a lot "bandit-style" too, just for training or to run with a friend.  I also realized that this was my first just kinda average half marathon.  I think all of my others have been either really strong under 1:40 or really no-training, just kind of run and see what happens and end up close to 2 hours.

Do you ever like how you look in race photos?

How do you hold your iPod while you run?

Race Recap: Chicago Half Marathon

I finished the Chicago Half Marathon yesterday!  I was not particularly pleased with the time, but also not as upset as I have been over bad races in my past.  I finished it without quitting or crying, so that's a success in my book.

First of all, I was supposed to be picked up for the 7am race at 6am.  Mac has a history of oversleeping when we are supposed to run (ok it happened once) and thought it would be hilarious to text me at 5:58am saying he just woke up.  I freaked out for about 2 minutes until he called and said he was outside.  Well played.

After parking, we warmed-up by running about a mile to the start.  We were a bit late because of the parking situation (typical Chicago), so there was no time for the bathroom and we hopped in the corral and started almost immediately.

 

This was my first race in the 25-29 year old age group.  These ladies are much faster.  I've read that women distance runners peak in their late 20s, which seems consistent with the age group results.  I would've been in the top 20 of the 20-24 year old age group.  But none of that really matters, just an observation.

There actually wasn't anything super eventful about the race.  I obviously made a sweet playlist for the occasion - all my recent/usual favorites.  The course was flat, a few tiny "hills" like when we had to run up an exit ramp off Lake Shore Drive and over a bridge.  There weren't spectators throughout the entire course, but there were enough that it didn't seem desolate.  The volunteers at all the water stations were high school students who were very enthusiastic and helpful!

The splits that the tracking device got for me were:

5 miles - 36:18 = 7:16/mile

10 miles - 1:16:31 = 7:39/mile total average and 8:02/mile for miles 5-10

Finish - 1:42:04 = 7:47/mile total average and 8:13/mile for last 5k

I also know after the first 5k I was at 22:08, which I thought was perfect because that is the exact time I was at during the first 5k of the North Shore Half Marathon in June.  My plan was to try to do the same pacing I did there, but then not die as much at the end.  I thought I'd be able to do this because my training has been  better in between that race and this one than it was the few weeks/months before that race.

It was about 5 miles into the race that I really started to feel like I couldn't keep up my pace and became a little mentally overwhelmed.  Mac was with me for about 4 miles and then he got ahead (or I slowed down, or a combo of both) and that didn't really bother me because I knew he would be faster, but I also think I should have tried a little harder to keep up.

Throughout the last half of the race, I walked about 30 seconds each mile when I was going through the water stations.  I did have one walk break that was probably about a minute long, but managed to get going again with the encouragement of some of the other runners on the course.  I really should be able to get through a half marathon without walk breaks and obviously I know I can considering I've done it plenty of times before.  But at least I know that while I was running, my pace was still decent... but a few short breaks will really get ya.

After the race, I had a lot of time to stretch out and relax while we waited for Mac's friend Bryce to finish the race.  Then the 3 of us went to get our free slice of Lou Malnati's pizza which is basically heaven on a plate.  I'm pretty sure the walk back to the car was at least as long as the race was.  But after we got in the car, put Teenage Dream on, and were heading for pancakes, life got a lot better.

And once we got to Elly's, I ran into my friend Nani who ran a PR in the race!  Pancakes are always the answer after a race.

I also used this race to see how my Chicago Marathon outfit would work out.  I have to say that I'm pretty happy with it.  I was unsure of the spandex shorts because I have only ever worn them for short runs before.  I bought the compression socks Saturday afternoon with a Fleet Feet gift card I got for my birthday and now I'm basically obsessed with them.  But I'm even more obsessed with my new blue sparkly headband.  Overall, I think the outfit was successful and comfortable.

My mom thinks I should wear a headband like Rafael Nadal and sent me this picture as an example:

Maybe if you added some glitter to it, I would.  I hope I look that intense in my official race photos.  I would however like to personally hunt down the jerk photographer who took a picture of me during one of my walking breaks.  That was not cool, dude.

Photo credit for the pictures of the race medals goes to my friend Megan.  After the race, I saw she had posted a few photos on Facebook from the finish line and she said she was there as a volunteer!  I wish I would've known ahead of time to keep an eye out.

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!

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?