Chicago Rock 'n Roll Half 2011

August 14 came bright and early at 4:15a.  That was a rough moment in my life.

Bossyboots and I [somewhat] quickly got dressed in our racing gear, ate a yummo breakfast of eggs, toast, and my favorite pre-race fruit: bananas!  I added my necessary outfit accessories...

...and we locomoted to the train!  Getting downtown to the start took us a full-on hour.  At 5a, Chicago trains are few and far between, so we definitely got in a little bit of hangout time.  Going into the race, I knew I was trained... I had completed several runs that were longer than the half marathon distance, I was hydrated - I felt ready!  The only thing I was scared of is the fact that I've been running away from several "almost" injuries.  I say "almost" because I am ok, but I am feeling some strain behind my knee and then in my right achilles.  Ice baths, weight classes, and foam rolling have become a new part of my regular routine, but I know I'm not at 100%.  At this point, I'm so close to the Chicago full marathon, that I'm kind of just hanging on until October 9th.  Doing my best here!

Anyway, so at the start, I was ready to make the most of it and enjoy my run.  We had fantastic weather for our race!

The National Anthem rang out... and we were off!

My hope had been to finish in under 2hr 30min.  I had finished a 13.1 in 2hr 36min two weeks prior, so I thought this was totally reasonable!  Alas, it was not to be.  My right Achilles got super cranky at mile 10, and the ensuing limp sloooooooooooooooowed me down big time.  There may or may have been a few tears.

As I ran down the finish chute, I reminded myself that 13.1 miles is nothing to sneeze at, even if I didn't snag the time I was hoping for.  Bossyboots met me at the finish and he reminded me that I deserved the medal I hung around my neck, and I should be proud. 

So, I adjusted my attitude.  :)

I look really crazy in this photo, but that's ok.  I couldn't hide the fact that I was so happy to have finished!!!

Afterwards, Bossyboots and I took the best showers of our lives and treated ourselves to a milkshake:

This milkshake may or may not have been followed directly by a cheeseburger and french fries lunch with Wrigley-T and Senor Diamondback!

My first thought after I crossed the finish line?  "In 8 weeks, I'll be doing this all over again. Twice." (!!!)

Race Report: Race to Wrigley 5k

Ordinarily, I don't schedule races so close together (I ran the Shuffle last weekend), but I decided to go ahead and run the Race to Wrigley 5k this past Saturday.  I've been working really hard on my speed, so I was interested to see how my 5k time might have improved since November's Believe 5k. 

TOTAL TIME: 30:42

AVERAGE PACE: 9:55

It's not sub-30 yet, but it's 3:18 faster than the Believe race!  I'm really proud of that.  It's a new PR for me.  If I keep working, I think this is definitely my year to break that 30-minute 5k mark.  I took three 30-second walk breaks, and my run segments ranged from 9:15-9:45 pace for the most part.  My sister Tweets says I should get into a fight with Bossyboots and then run angry.  That's how she got her first sub-30.  :)

The race itself is pretty fun, as far as 5ks go.  You start and finish at Wrigley Field, one of Chicago's greatest historical treasures and site of many a drunk frat boy.  Every Chicagoan takes a turn living in Wrigleyville sometime during their residential tenure... usually for no more than a year.  There's only so many times a drunkard can use your front yard as a toilet before you depart for a quieter neighborhood.  I used to live directly across the street from the ballpark.  Hearing the game cheers was amazing, but a year was long enough for me!

Bossyboots was kind enough to be Wrigley-T's and my personal papparazzi for the day(!):

Before the race... clearly I couldn't be bothered to put on actual racing clothing.  I was feeling lazy that day!

2 minutes after the above picture, we had to remind ourselves of our respective sunny attitudes in the midst of freezing rain.

Hall of Famer Ernie Banks saw us off at the starting line!

Seriously.  The rain.

The finish chute was staged through the Wrigley concourse... this guy was apparently having a great day!

Rain, rain, rain...

Wrigley-T snagged her first sub-30 on this race, and mine is close, I know it!  Thank you, Bossyboots, for the photos!

Race Report: Shamrock Shuffle 2011

Sooooo, yesterday was the unofficial opening of running season in Chicago: the Shamrock Shuffle.  I've run this race three times now, and it's actually an important race to me, since it was the first race that I trained for and ran just for myself, way back in 2009.  The first year was in a freak blizzard; last year was foggy, wet, and muggy.  This year, they delayed the race date into April in hopes of snagging warmer weather... which was successful - it was so hot!!!  So hot.

Here are the deets (drumroll please):

TOTAL TIME: 54:13

AVERAGE PACE: 10:54  

Last year, my time was 59:49.  Boo-yah!  I cut 5:36 off of my previous years' Shuffle time!  Meeting my goal of a sub-55 race made me feel so great; all my hard work paid off.  And here's the thing - that goal was met due to the work I've done within the last two months.  I didn't run much last year, and I started my 2011 training in January - so it makes me feel good that I was able to trim off so much time by busting booty over the last few months.  It makes me hopeful that I can meet my hopes for a sub-5hr marathon.  

Lots of my friends and I run the race together - lots of Chicagoans turn out, period.  This year was the largest field in history with 40,000 runners.  The race takes place downtown, and we are just all so happy to be outside without coats.  

Here are the ladies bright and early (I'm all the way on the left):

We were back in Corral G because we are workin' on our speed skillz.  Wrigley-T and I looked around, saw a couple people in jeans and then a lady in a walking cast.  It was at that point that we determined we must bust it out and get a great time so that we can get promoted into the better (faster, less crowded, more experienced runners) corrals.  Corral G is where the people who walk down the middle of the thoroughfare hang out, and we aren't down with that.  I think walkers who don't move to the sides of the track might be my biggest racing pet peeve.  Wrigley-T did even better than I did, at about 52 minutes, so we are both in seeded corrals next year (celebrate!)

With so many runners, we couldn't even see the starting line from our corral!

I had a great race.  The weather was really hot, which was tough.  I didn't feel so great, but I still kept on pace.  I stuck to my training methods.... run for 8 minutes, then take a 1 minute walk break - rinse, repeat.  For awhile, my Garmin watch said I was on track to bring in a sub-54 race, but the heat started to really affect me and slowed me down a bit.  Otherwise, I had a tough, but solid run, even under less than ideal circumstances.

The best part about the Shamrock Shuffle?  The free post-race beer, of course!

Bossyboots and K-Spice really brought the race home for themselves, with 41 and 40 minute finishes, respectively.  Overall, we had a great race day, and it set a great tone for all the other races I have planned this year.  Two big things I learned this weekend: I need to buy racing sunglasses, and I need to remember my sunblock - eeesh.

Next up? The Race to Wrigley 5k with none other than namesake Wrigley-T.  Will we finally make our sub-30 5k?  Only time will tell!

Race Report: Believe! 5k

Somewhere along the line, we became a family of athletes.  How a pizza and Coke guzzling family that'd rather heckle than run turned into triathletes, runners, and martial artists... I will never know.  Truly, it's a Christmas miracle.

So anyway, since I was going to be home for several days, my dad and I thought it'd be fun to run a 5k together.  My dad is much, much faster than me, so this would just be a fun run for him - not so much for me, since I've been off my training for several months!!

Here's the lowdown:

TOTAL TIME: 33:59

RANK: not sure

AVERAGE PACE: Also not sure, but Mile 1 (9:47) Mile 2 (12:13) Mile 3 (9:11), so do the math

As you might guess above, some of my stats are unclear.  The course was super hilly (at least for me!)  I am happy to say that I busted my booty.  Bigtime.  I took two 20-step walk breaks, but I ran the rest - I pushed it as hard as I could.  I am proud that I improved my time, even though the course was hilly!

I had a hard time reading the finisher stats from the race organizers, so I just had to macgyver them above.  My chip time was clear, but my group rank and average pace wasn't so easy.

The race took place in McKinney, TX, which is about an hour north of my house.  We got up at 5:30a, so that we had plenty of time to drive, grab Starbucks, and Whataburger breakfast (hey, I was on vacation!)  Our group was made up of my dad, my brother Nolan, and then my sisters Abs and Billie Sue.  And me, of course. :)  

My dad had no problemo getting up at the crack of dawn:

Billie Sue commandeered the camera - it was kind of nice for someone else to take over memory-duty for a few hours!

This is how us girls felt about it:

A lady (mister?) in a snowman outfit was the race mascot, so of course we had to snag a pre-race photo with him:

During the race, BOTH my shoelaces came untied.  I really need to get runner laces - those kind with the bumps that prevent that sort of mishap.

My dad and I had a great time.  He is an excellent running buddy because he isn't mean or pushy, but he doesn't let you off the hook either.  He is also fast!  I think that might be part of how I improved my race time on a hilly course.

Here I am dying on the home stretch hill and hellfire.  In Chicago, most all races end on a hill - it's a huge, sad joke around here.  I thought that maybe I'd be off the hill-hook since I was running a race in TX.  Mmmmm no.  This hill was the hugest of the entire course!  I wanted to fall over.

But that would have injured my booty.  So I didn't.

Then, I crossed the finish line!!!  That was an exciting moment after 30+ minutes of hill after freakin' hill.  There was a big crowd at the finish line, so I had to stop running immediately after crossing - never a good thing because then you pass out or collapse.  As evidenced here:

We had a great time at the race!  I'm really glad my dad and I got to run it together.  When preggo Tweets has given birth to the chick-let and she's recovered, then I bet the three of us will take on another race!

Not a sub-30 5k yet - but I'm getting there!  For you other runners, how did you score your first sub-30 5k?  (And if you have ALWAYS run a sub-30... well you can just shhhhhhh) ;)

Race Report: Hot Chocolate 5k

I realized that I've been doing a realllllllly bad job writing up my race reports.  Sometimes I write them up; sometimes I don't.  I'm going to try to do a better job in that department from here on out.  I have a small point and shoot camera that I'm going to make sure I use at my races.  Chicago has so many fun races - and running is a HUGE sport here.  Really, being a runner here is easy - there are so many opportunities and resources here.

OK, so on with it.  You may have seen this on The List, but one of my goals is to run a 5k in under half an hour.  Ha, this did NOT happen at the Hot Chocolate, but I AM getting faster! 

TOTAL TIME: 35:30

RANK: 759/1731 in my age group

AVERAGE PACE: 11:26

Not too long ago, I was fighting to run 12 minute miles, so this is an improvement.

The Hot Chocolate race is in its third year, and there's a 5k or 15k option.  Of my friends, we all decided to run the 5k except for K-Spice, who ran the 15k (and did great btw!)  Here we are, bright and early in Grant Park before the race:

The morning was FREEZING!  I had on a long-sleeved tech shirt and two hoodies. 

Wrigley-T and I had decided we were going to go as fast as we could and try to get the best time possible.  We were under strict orders to leave each other if either of us were holding the other one back!  The race was crowded at 30,000 participants, so Wrigley and I were doing a lot of bobbing and weaving.  We started out really strong, and I felt great!  The morning warmed up just a bit, and actually became a beautiful, perfect day for a run in downtown Chicago.  At about the 1.5 miles mark, Wrigley went on ahead because I was starting to slow down.  By that point, things had kinda thinned out a bit, so the course wasn't so congested.

Every race in downtown Chicago ends by going up a hill and then you get over the hill and see that you still have about 1,000 feet to go.  It's like the world's cruelest practical joke.  However, I had a great race, and though I didn't break my sub-30 minute goal, I was excited to see that I really am improving.

Wrigley had to take off after the race, but here are the rest of us at the chocolate party while we were waiting for K-Spice to finish his 15k!  Everyone had a fun time, and felt great!

Did you know that saying "Heeeeeey!" while taking a picture can make for a better photo?  It's true. :)

Now for a couple tips:

• In any race, you'll see walkers.  Hey, sometimes I'm a walker myself!!  However, it is CRUCIAL that if you're walking.... you gotta pull over to the side of the course.  You CANNOT walk down the center.  It's not an ego issue; it's a safety issue.  The runners will trip all over you.  For me, I came across a line of walkers, four ladies wide, sauntering right down the middle.  After rounding a curve and almost falling over them, I called out "Walkers gotta stay to the side!"  One lady made an annoyed comment that communicated she thought I was being one of those runners that think walkers suck.  I turned around and told her - "It's not an ego thing - it's race safety."  I am fairly positive they were new runners and didn't know bettter.  I am sure I annoyed the bejeezus out of them, but... it's true.  You can't walk in the middle - everyone who's running will hate you.

• Another thing, Wrigley and I were BOOKING it at the beginning of the race, as most of the runners were.  For some reason, two spectators thought it was acceptable to run from the east sidewalk, ACROSS the course to the west sidewalk, practically causing a pileup of runners because everyone was running into them.  I full-on slammed into one of them.  Do not EVER EVER cross a course of runners.  Again, major safety issue.

SO, my friends and I had so much fun.  Everybody finished and had a great race.  Next up?  The Santa Hustle!!!  A hat, Santa beard, Santa tech shirt, costume contest, and candy along the course - how could I refuse?