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." (!!!)

Injured

Hi, everyone :)

The last few weeks have been "interesting" (note the quotation marks).  My body's been letting me down in some ways - or maybe I've let my body down, not sure which.  

• I sustained my first running injury (strained Achilles), and I've been on a strict no-running diet for the past week and a half.  Trust me, it feels like a diet.  I love me some running endorphins.  My right foot is just now getting to where I feel like it's safe to start running again.  It's frustrating because I was doing everything right.  I don't overtrain, and I subscribe to slow increases in mileage each week.  Somehow, I hurt myself anyway.
• I also wrenched my neck pretty badly, in another mysterious and unknown incident.  Seriously, I woke up one morning and couldn't turn my head.  Five days later, I'm only halfway recovered and about to sign up for le doctor.
• Today, my body got all excited to get super nauseous and feverish.  

 With all of the above,  my frustration is pretty high, to say the least.

As the cherry on top, I've been dealing with a few people in my life who are... mean.  Everyone has those people that act in immature ways, and there's nothing we can do to change others' inappropriate and harmful behavior.  Dealing with them has been an opportunity for me to practice my kindness and supportive boundary superpowers, to say the least.

My body's injured.  My heart's injured.  In spite of all this I'm thankful.  Life's good, even when it's not.

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!

Championship Character

This quote has been inspiring me to give 1,000,000% in my running workouts lately:

"Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months, and years they spend preparing for it.  The performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character." - T. Alan Armstrong