October Runfessions

October 25, 2019 by 15 Comments

So here we are once again in the final few days of the month – and what a month it’s been! Marcia has opened the runfessional to give us all a chance to cleanse our souls (or is that soles?) before the new month begins, and I’ve got a few things to share, so let’s get started, shall we?

October Runfessions

Following the marathon, my run coach urged me to take a week off from running. At first, I balked at the idea, however, taking those days off proved to be much easier than I thought – I runfess that I didn’t miss running!

Last month I runfessed grand plans to run a November half marathon so all the Chicago mileage I built up didn’t go to “waste”. Well, I runfess I’m kinda over it. Any of the local halfs I was considering are coming up in the next couple of weeks and, truth be told, I’m just not interested in running long – so now I’m eyeing 10Ks.

If you had talked to shortly after crossing the Chicago finish line, I was pretty clear that 26.2 miles was ridiculously far and that it was one and done for me. Well, it’s amazing what a difference a few days make – I runfess that I’ve started thinking about the possibility of running another one.

OK – your turn….what are you runfessing this month?

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Chicago Marathon – I did it!

October 18, 2019 by 30 Comments

After 18 weeks of training, I can’t believe that race day has already come and gone! I’m not even sure there is any way to sufficiently recap a marathon. There was so much to take in – the sights, the crowds, the distance…and unfortunately an angry hip flare-up that almost derailed the whole thing!

Chicago Marathon Recap

I was so happy to learn that IG friend Pam was not only staying in the same hotel but was also in my corral! So we made a plan to meet in the lobby at 6:45 to walk to the start together. I only managed to get a few hours of sleep Saturday night – no surprise – and I was up and moving long before my alarm. My husband J and I met Pam and made the 3/4 mile walk to the start. J and I said our goodbyes and Pam and I headed through the gate. It was so great hanging out with Pam, we chatted like old friends and it really helped to keep me calm.

As our corral inched its way towards the start I started to get a little teary – I was really going to do this! Pam and I hugged and wished each other a great race and like that, we were off!

Early miles

My plan was to break the race up into 4-mile “buckets” much the way I did with my long runs. Bucket 1 flew by in a blink and J was right where I thought he’d be. J had a pretty elaborate plan to try to see me multiple times on the course – I didn’t think there was any way he could hit all the spots he had planned…but spoiler alert he pulled it off, and I’m so glad he did!

The miles continue to click off and I was feeling so strong. I was hanging near the 5:30 pace group and the miles felt breezy. I hit mile 8 – bucket #2 was done. I started feeling some mild discomfort around my right hip. I saw J again and mentioned it to him but wasn’t too concerned. I snagged some Biofeeze from one of their tents, quickly slathered it on and pressed on. By mile 10 the discomfort had quickly gotten much more intense and I slowed a little.

Mid-Race

I plugged along and enjoyed every moment of the crowds. People were amazing and so encouraging! I stopped at the next aid station around mile 12 to get some help working out the intensifying knot in the muscles around my hip. While my angry hip had flared up occasionally during training, I’d been feeling really good during the final weeks leading up to the taper. I was so frustrated, but my new friend Larry helped to loosen the knot enough to get me moving again.

I hung on until just around 17 before making my second stop at an aid station. Here I met an angel of a woman named Michael. She was so positive and encouraging and did some deep tissue work to get my hip to cooperate again. When I told her it felt better and I was ready to roll again she yelled “Go finish this thing!” and I was off.

Final Miles

The crowds through Pilsen and Chinatown were amazing and I really fed off their energy. By the time I found J again at 23+ my right hip was beyond unhappy and I took my longest walk break. I remember telling myself that this was a good day because I was out there going after my goal and a lot of people don’t get to do that. There were just over 2 miles to go.

As I came down Michigan and looked up and saw the street sign for Roosevelt I thought I was going to cry. Up “Mount Roosevelt” and as I turned the corner I could see the finish line. I pushed with whatever I had left and reached my number one goal – I crossed the finish line upright and smiling!

Some Final Thoughts

I cannot say enough good things about the Chicago Marathon! I loved the course running through all of the neighborhoods and the spectators throughout were just incredible. The course support from the water stops & aid stations were top-notch.

To be honest, I am disappointed that my finish time doesn’t reflect what I think was a really solid training cycle. I know that you “shouldn’t” put pressure on yourself for the first marathon, but, as with any race, it is hard to train well and not have it come together on race day. Nonetheless, it was an amazing feeling to cross that finish line, and I’m really proud of my effort on a tough day.

A huge thank you to everyone for the support and encouragement – a special shoutout to my family, and my amazing husband who put up with my special brand of crazy these past many weeks!

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, race report

Chicago Marathon Week 18 – Race Week!

October 13, 2019 by 18 Comments

I finally made it to the last week of training! And, let me just say taper about put me over the edge! It was a week of trying to stay relaxed, light workouts and a trip to Chicago!

Chicago Marathon Training Week 18

Monday — Rest day, plus planks to keep the streak going.

Tuesday — 5 miles. A quick and easy run before endless rain descended on the area.

Wednesday — After a crazy workday I drove out to watch my son’s cross country meet. 3 hours in the car round trip, plus scaling hills in the pouring rain = not happy legs. But on the plus side, my son knocked a couple of minutes off his course time!

Thursday — After Wednesday’s adventure, I opted to pass on the 3-mile run on my plan, and instead spent some much needed time on my yoga mat, followed by a trip to the massage therapist.

Friday — Travel day! My husband J and I had an easy, uneventful flight to Chicago and we hit the expo after checking into our hotel. The expo was sensory-overload for sure, but fun!

Can you tell I’m a little excited to be there?!

Saturday — International Chicago 5K. We woke up to a serious drop in temps (try a real-feel of 28!) so instead of walking over to the race start, we shared a car with Kim and her mom. Staying warm while waiting in the corrals was a bit of a challenge, but the race itself was fun. We made sure to keep the pace nice and easy.

Later Kim and I met up with blogger/IG friends for brunch at Beatrix. So much fun! It was really nice to meet Jen, to see Erica again, and to finally meet Lacey.

Lacey, Erica, me, Kim & Jen

Sunday — Chicago Marathon! Race recap to come, but I am happy to say that I crossed that finish line!

Total miles for the week – 34.3
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 474.5

That’s my quick run down  – now I’m off to rest and eat all the things 🙂

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, marathon training, Weekly Run Down

Chicago Marathon – Just 7 days to go

October 6, 2019 by 31 Comments

Seven days…just seven days! By this time next week, I will be out somewhere on the streets of Chicago. But, before I get ahead of myself, here’s a quick rundown of this past week.

Chicago Marathon Training Week 17

Monday —  I wrapped up September with a rest day and 140 miles for the month!

September miles

Tuesday —  5 miles. October kicked off hot and steamy. It was 74 degrees before sunrise – not cool Mother Nature! It was a really good run despite the humid conditions. I also started a new plank streak.

Wednesday — I woke up just feeling off so I did a short core workout, including my plank and called it a day.

Thursday — I don’t know if it was the rainy weather or my mileage catching up with me, but I was feeling creaky. So I pushed my run to Friday and opted for some time on my mat.

Friday — 6 miles. This was probably one of the worst runs I’d had in a while. I felt like I was dragging the whole time and could not get out of my head.

Yep, this sign in the road pretty much summed it up!

Saturday — 8.5 miles. And just like that this run was glorious! It was just 38 degrees when I started so I had to break out gloves for this one but I was not complaining. This run was everything Friday’s run was not!

Total miles for the week – 19.5
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 440.2

Today, and most of this week really will be very low-keyed. Daily planks, rolling/stretching, and my PT exercises. I have just two short runs this week plus the International Chicago 5K on Saturday…and then training is done. My biggest challenge this week will be keeping my nerves under control!

That’s my rundown for the week! Any suggestions for race week?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, marathon training, Weekly Run Down

October Coffee Date

October 4, 2019 by 8 Comments

Hello Friday!

Who’s ready for the weekend?! I know that I am. So how about we start things off by catching up over coffee. Grab a mug and let’s join  Coco and Deborah for this month’s Ultimate Coffee Date.

October Ultimate Coffee Date

Over coffee, I would tell you that we are once again experiencing weather whiplash around here. After getting a nice tease of fall, September finished on a serious warm note and October arrived here with temps in the upper 80s! What the what?! Thankfully, the forecast shows things returning to normal fall conditions this weekend.

Over coffee, I would tell you that my hubby J and I will be celebrating our 27th wedding anniversary on Friday. He’s being a good sport about spending half the day traveling to Chicago and then letting me drag him all over the expo. We do have a nice dinner out planned and may hit a blues club.

Over coffee, I would tell you that I’m working on a new marathon playlist. While I’m planning on not turning my music on until the second half of the course, I want to have enough tunes ready just in case.

Over coffee, I would tell you that I’m looking forward to going out to visit my oldest son for parents weekend later this month! There’s supposed to be a big presentation by the college counseling office laying out the whole process. We’ve already received a letter from the office encouraging students to start checking out colleges during vacation breaks. I just can’t believe we’ve reached this point – time’s going by way too fast!

What would you tell me over coffee? Any suggestions for my playlist?

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Chicago Week 16 – Ups and Downs

September 29, 2019 by 22 Comments

Week 16 of training is done and it certainly had its ups and downs! Thankfully this week ended much better than it started. Here’s how things went down.

 Chicago Marathon Training Week 16

Monday — Rest day/Sick day. By late afternoon on Sunday, I was huddled on the couch under a blanket with a sore throat and headache. I wrote it off to just being overly tired and had hoped a good night’s sleep would take care of it. Yeah not so much. I woke with the same sore throat, headache, and now the added bonus of being completely congested.

Tuesday — 3.5 miles. I was still feeling horrible but panicked over missing my run. So I opted to head to the gym for mill miles in case I didn’t last very long – turned out to be a good call.

Wednesday — Another rest day. Did I mention that in addition to feeling lousy, work was just insane?! This was turning into a long week.

Thursday — 6 miles. I had 8 on my plan and just decided to head out and see what I could do. My head felt like it weighed a ton, so I was pretty happy to make it as far as I did.

Friday — 10 miles. For the first time all week I woke up feeling fairly good and surprised myself with double digits!

Saturday — Rest day.

Managing a cold and miles - Week 16 is done! #mychicagomarathon #marathontraining #letsrock26.2 #runchat Share on X

Sunday — 10 miles. The first couple of miles were sluggish, but then everything clicked!

Doesn’t everyone break into a dance post-run?

Total miles for the week – 29.5
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 420.7

All things considered, I’m pretty happy with my mileage for the week, and best of all my cold seems to finally be packing its bags.

Marathon Participant Guides arrived in the mail this week – yep it’s getting real!

That’s my rundown for the week! How was your week?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, marathon training, Weekly Run Down

Runfessions of a Would-be Marathoner

September 27, 2019 by 21 Comments

Happy Friday!

September just blew by, and now I’m staring down just a couple of short weeks before I toe the line of my first marathon. My head is consumed with all things Chicago, and I’m linking up with Marcia to share a few runfessions of a would-be marathoner.

Runfessions of a would-be marathoner

While most of the time I am pretty excited as race day approaches, I runfess that I have had one (or two) panic attacks about Chicago. I have caught myself going to some dark places convinced that I won’t make it through all of those miles. It wasn’t pretty!

I also runfess that I have had to remind myself on more than one occasion that my time doesn’t matter – the goal is to cross the line upright and smiling. No matter what time I finish it’s an instant PR, right?

I went into this training thinking “I could never run 5 days a week” – but, you know what? I surprised myself and did just that! I runfess that I miss having time for other workouts – I will definitely be scaling back to 3 run days a week post-race.

And, speaking of training, I also runfess that I miss running short! Seriously, I cannot wait for a time when 8 miles will be a weekend “long” run instead of a typical Monday.

That being said, I runfess that I am looking for a November half to run – why let this great base of mileage go to waste right?

What are you runfessing this month?

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Chicago Marathon Week 15

September 22, 2019 by 17 Comments

Hello Taper Town!

Week 15 of training is done. Now it’s time to reduce the mileage and put an emphasis on rest and self-care.

Chicago Marathon Training Week 15

Monday — 6 miles. With my husband traveling this week I was on school drop off duty, which makes it not possible to swing a morning run.  I ended up heading out soon after work, and despite being under-fueled and hydrated, had my best run of the week!

Tuesday —  Rest day!

Wednesday — 7 miles. Stomach issues just made this run a struggle from beginning to end. I was happy to just get through this one and spent the rest of the day feeling less than fabulous.

Week 15 of @chimarathon training is done - let the taper begin! #weeklyrundown #mychicagomarathon #marathontraining #runchat Share on X

Thursday —  8 miles. Temps dropped dramatically overnight and it was just 37 degrees. I had to break out my gloves and it was glorious!

Friday —  Rest day and acupuncture.  My right TFL and hip had been squawking a bit all week so I wanted to get some extra attention before my long run.

Saturday — 16 miles. My husband J joined me for the first 8 which really helped to make the miles click by. Temps climbed quickly and by mile 12 I was feeling totally overdressed and overheated. Mile 12 was not pretty. J drove out to meet me, bringing salt tabs and water. I re-grouped and finished the last 4 miles with some of my fastest splits of the day!

Sunday — I opted for a nice walk with J and my pup this morning and will spend the rest of the day watching football and getting a few small house projects done.

Total miles for the week – 37
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 391.2

That’s my rundown for the week! How was your week?

I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, marathon training, Weekly Run Down

Chicago Marathon Week 14

September 15, 2019 by 9 Comments

Happy Sunday!

It is a beautiful Sunday here and for the first time a while, I woke up to a wide-open day. I’m looking forward to a day of relaxing, watching some football, and perhaps a little yoga (I think my legs will thank me!). But, first I’m linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Run Down.

 Chicago Marathon Training Week 14

Monday — Took a rest day after the Surftown Half Marathon on Sunday.

Tuesday — 8.2-mile run. While I love that we’re moving closer to the first day of fall, I do miss starting my runs in daylight.

Wednesday — 5 miles in new shoes! I’ve been debating trying a shoe with a bit more cushion and have had my eye on the Brooks Glycerin for a while. They felt really good!

Thursday —  6.2 miles. Another run in the Glycerins. The swampy humidity returned and I was happy to squeeze this run in before the rain came.

Friday — Rest day.

Saturday — 12 more miles in the Glycerins. Pacing and fueling clicked and I was pretty pleased with how this run went!

Total miles for the week – 31.4
Total miles on the road to Chicago – 354.2

All-in-all it was a good week and, as a bonus, I think I may have found my marathon shoe! I think I did a much better job of prioritizing rest and recovery, including trips to both the acupuncturist and massage therapist, so this week the goal is to do more of the same.

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Filed Under: Chicago Marathon, marathon training, Weekly Run Down

Surftown Half Marathon Recap

September 10, 2019 by 18 Comments

On Sunday, I ran the Surftown Half Marathon for half marathon number 15!

If you have to run long, why not collect some bling, right? I’m so glad Kim got in touch with me about this race! It fit perfectly into my training plan, was an easy 1.5 hr drive from my house, and best of all gave me a chance to hang out with Kim for most of the weekend!

Pre-Race

On Saturday, after running a few errands in the morning and a trip to the acupuncturist to help keep my cranky TFL/quad calm, I made an uneventful drive down to Westerly, RI. Kim had booked a nice hotel (Pleasant View Inn) just a half-mile from the race start/finish and had checked in earlier. We spent some time catching up and then made the short walk to pick up our bibs and t-shirts. Later we hit the Providence Coal Fired Pizza for dinner – so good! And then it was back to the room to prep our race gear and wind down.

The nice thing about being so close to the race start was that we didn’t need to get up crazy early. We were up and out of the hotel by 7, and since I had extra mileage on my training plan, I headed off down one of the side streets for a quick out-and-back. I got a kick out of how many of the residents out collecting their morning paper or walking their dogs wished me good luck! I finished up my warm-up at the race start and found Kim and Darlene.

Nice bonus to finally meet Darlene!

We made a quick plan to meet Darlene post-race, and went to line-up

The Race

Miles 1-4
The first two miles were a fairly flat straight shot down Atlantic Avenue along the Misquamicut State Beach. As the course followed the coastline and then looped back towards Atlantic Ave there were some mild inclines. The miles clicked by pretty quickly.

Miles 5-8
Just after mile 6, there was the swap for the runners who were doing the half marathon relay. This actually gave me a nice boost because the runners jumping in for the 2nd half of the race had fresh legs so I picked a rabbit and worked to pick up my pace. As the course wound through streets of summer cottages, it continued to roll – none of the inclines were terribly steep, but they were continuous. Many people around me had started to walk, but I was still moving pretty well.

Miles 9-13.1
Around mile 9, I started to feel tired – I took a short walk break and then pressed on trying to hang with the general group I had been running “with”. There was an awesome volunteer just before the Mile 10 marker – she was a ball of energy and really trying to pump people up as we enjoyed a short downslope to the mile marker.

Then it happened… as I came around the bend one of the volunteers directing the runners shouted: “Just 3 miles to go – You just have to head up that hill!” Well, let me just say that it was some hill. It was a short, steep climb, and no one around me was running it. I power-walked it as fast as I could but I was shuffling when I reached the top.

After that, I couldn’t seem to find my rhythm again. The rolling continued but the wind was out of my sails and I was slowing down. At this point, I was also fighting a headache that reached a peak at mile 11 and decided to hang out through the end of the race. I tried to focus on the beautiful houses and ocean views along this part of the course and just kept pushing.

Soon the course turned back onto Atlantic Ave and the final stretch to the finish line!

I was happy to get to spend a little more time with Darlene after the race. Then Kim & I headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and grab some lunch before heading out of town.

Final Thoughts

The race was well organized with great volunteers and course support! Despite the course being open to traffic, the roads were very quiet and well monitored. The race was definitely not the “fast and flat” course it was advertised to be, but the course was beautiful.

Given how cute the race medals are, the race shirts really left a lot to be desired.

Seriously, what color is that?! Last year’s shirt was a bright blue so what happened this year?!

Overall, this is a great race and definitely one worth checking out!

I am linking up with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesday Topics.

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Filed Under: Half marathon, race report