Chicago Distance Classic

To run or not to run? That was the million dollar question. Though I'd stopped running almost completely, the shin wasn't really feeling so good. Just walking on it has been painful. I did lace up a new pair of shoes and go out for a short, 4 mile slow run mid-week, to test out the shoes and to see if I'd have to quit.

When you train for something that takes so long, like marathon or ironman, it's helpful to make small goals for yourself along the way. It helps keep you focused and motivated. I had set a time goal for this race way back in the spring when I was signing up for the marathon. I didn't want to let that time goal slip away, but there wasn't much I could do. My plan was to go, start at the planned pace, hold it as long as I could, but to stop if the pain was too intense. Basically, I had come to the realization that this was going to hurt. In the back of my mind, I know my long runs should be much further than this already, so one little accomplishment would be to cover the distance.

When I got up in the morning and was walking around to get ready to get downtown, the shin felt completely fine. This was encouraging! I got dressed, pulled on a brace over the shin, put the new shoes on and jumped in the car. We got down close to the race site pretty quickly, but then began the hunt for parking. I wished we would've left a little sooner because it seemed all the street parking was full. We pulled into a lot to park, but the credit card machine was down and we didn't have enough cash. (we rarely carry cash) I started freaking out. I was supposed to meet Bern at the CARA gear check and I had to go to the bathroom. I kept my eye on the clock as we drove around in circles, passing pay lots with excruciatingly long lines and well, the saint kicked me out of the car. Said I was making him nervous.

So I left the gear check bag and rushed to try and meet Bern at the designated meeting place. It was humid out and I was already sticky and a little sweaty just from my vigorous walk to the CARA gear check tent. But Bern wasn't there. It was just 15 minutes before the start of the race. The porta potty lines were much too long. I decided to make my way over to the race start and try to line up where I thought I might find Bern. I looked all over for her, but I had no idea what she was wearing and, well, it's hard for short people to find others in a big crowd. I was a bit disappointed that more people didn't put on deoderant before the race. People - when you are wearing a singlet and it's this hot and humid out before a race, you smell. It really is OK to slap a little deoderant on before you run. It won't hurt, I promise. And I can't just blame it on one guy...as I scooted around the people lining up to run, there were several people with the BBO problem! And we hadn't even started running! Sheesh!

Then they started the national anthem and I gave up my search for Bern. I figured I'd see her as she ran by me in the first few miles. The gun went off and the we walked/shuffled to the start. This was the first race I was doing with my new Garmin Forerunner 305 and I thought, OK, if nothing else, I'll get some good pace/heart rate info for future reference. With the very first run step, the pain shot through my shin. I grimaced and thought, "OK, should I stop now?" Seemed that would be a waste. I kept going and the pain shot through my shin with every step. I purposely didn't take any ibuprofen, if it was going to hurt, I wanted to feel it. I didn't want to make this nagging injury any worse.

I clocked the first mile at faster than the goal pace. But deep down, I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up this pace. It hurt and I knew it wasn't worth it. We ran over a metal bridge and I slowed down significantly. It was a little wet out and very slippery over the bridge. I also have this fear that I'm going to get my foot all caught up in those holes, and I was bummed they didn't have any areas of carpet covering the bridge. At the marathon, they have big sections of the same bridge covered by carpet for the runners.

The next mile, still a pretty quick pace and would've kept me on my original goal. But my leg hurt. Now, it wasn't hurting any worse than when I started, but thinking about it was mentally draining. More bridges, pain still there, pace slowing...I'm losing about 10-15 seconds each mile. Now people are passing me. I tried not to let that get to me. I was not going to make my goal pace, not that I really expected to, ever since the shin problem came up. So I decided, well, if I can't make that goal time, I don't want to beat up my body for a race that doesn't really matter. The pain is there, but it's not getting any worse, and I have this thing this year - NO WALKING.

We're now at about the half way point. My clothes were absolutely soaked. I've been having this little problem where the soap that has been left in my shorts from the washing machine suds up and runs down my legs. It looks like salt. I gotta figure out how to stop that from happening! I learned long ago that the answer to this is NOT to pour a cup of water down my legs to wash it off. That only soaks my socks and shoes and sets me up for some huge blisters! I don't remember feeling very hot, I guess it was just the humidity that made things tough.

The course made you cross over some grassy section around mile 8. I didn't really care for that. I then missed the next mile marker, but I kept hitting my splits and I was now pretty consistent. (consistently slow, but still consistent!) Other people I knew were passing me, asking how I was doing. Dude, you're PASSING me, how the hell do you THINK I'm doing? I tried not to complain about it, just said I'm not doing so good, but you look strong, so just go run. See you at the end. Yeah. I have to go to the end now, because I have no idea how to get to the finish unless I follow the course. I may have mentioned before, I am directionally challenged.

We ran on what is also part of the Accenture triathlon course. I've run this many times and I knew I'd be running this part of the course again in 2 weeks. I thought to myself, "Gee, sure hope I feel better to run this in 2 weeks!!" I kept waiting for Bill (KK's husband) to pass me so I could finish up with him. But I had no idea where he had started and I just hoped that he'd see me when he passed. The next few miles got a little slower, pain still present, but not feeling any worse than the first mile. I now knew that I could finish. It didn't feel good, but it wasn't so bad that I'd have to quit. It was all about finishing now. With just 3 miles to go, I just tried to keep an even pace. My heart rate felt high, but I didn't feel like I was going fast. Was it the heat?

Now we came into this zig zag thing. Back and forth, back and forth...what the??? The course wasn't like this last year. I could hear the announcer at the finish, but we still had over a mile to go. I didn't really like all the zig zagging. I just wanted to cut across and get it over with! But, of course, that's cheating and I can't do that, so I followed everyone on the ridiculous pattern to get to the finish.

Down the final stretch, people started to sprint. And in true MJ fashion, I have no "kick". I continue on my steady pace to carry me across the finish line. I'm not happy with how it felt, not happy with my time, but I am happy that I was able to cover the 13.1 miles without stopping. It gave me confidence that had this been Ironman day, I could've finished. OK, true, that's not the "A" goal, but until I get this shin thing under control, I'm going to have to settle for less aggressive goals.

March Madness - Cary Half Marathon

One of the things the Cary Half Marathon is known for is the weather. Because the race is in the middle of March. Here in the midwest, that means you never know what to expect. It could snow, rain, be really windy, some combination of all those or it could be just plain beautiful. And the race is run, in or shine. It's like a badge of honor when you complete a race like this in brutal weather conditions so you'll hear people brag about the year they did the race when it snowed two feet and they had to run uphill both ways...with no shoes!

This year, we were fortunate to have almost ideal weather conditions. When I flipped on the television this morning, it said 33 degrees. I ran outside earlier in the week and it was 34 degrees and I froze. I decided I'd better layer up because I didn't want to be cold for 13.1 miles.

My carpool ride showed up right on time (I should have known). We made it all the way up to Cary without incident. By the time we arrived, the sun was shining and BC informed me that the weather forecasters said we'd only have wind of about 3-4 mph. Sweet! After we picked up our packets we headed back to the car where I debated on whether or not I was wearing too many clothes. Oh well, I had pockets in my running top, so I just figured I could carry what I needed to take off.

We headed on over to the start line and had already lost Randy and Donna. Even though this race isn't huge, we couldn't seem to find them amongst the field of runners. I had no time goal set for this race, I was just going to run with friends according to how I felt. It's amazing how different I feel when I don't pressure myself with any performance goals. BC, Joe, Angie and I just stood up on the curb, looking for Randy and Donna, but the gun went off and we still hadn't found them. I didn't even have my watch on the right setting, so I had to hit about 6 different buttons to get it to clear and start...this was a considerable distance after the start line. Oops.

Angie and I hadn't spoken in a while, so we had a lot to catch up on. Namely, her training trip to Solvang, my ride in Solvang, each of us have gotten new bikes, and a ton of other things that we'd normally share had we seen each other more recently. Within the first couple of miles, I realized I was definitely overdressed. I took off my much too heavy wool hat and put it in the pocket of my running top. By mile 3, it was just Angie and I running, talking, missing the mile markers and keeping a pretty good clip. The times I was able to catch the mile marker, I pegged us for about an 8:20 pace. Cary is a hilly course...8:20s is tough!

I heard Angie say she was shooting for a sub-2 hour race. Well, she was going to crush that if she kept this pace, so I told her that. Around mile 6, I learned that she hadn't been focusing on her run much and her longest run recently was 6 miles. Uh oh. This could get ugly!

The hills kept coming and it was difficult to talk during uphills. It was easy to tell when either of us was struggling because our sentences during those times were pretty broken. We chatted back and forth, passing people we knew, being passed by other people we knew and, just in general, having a pretty good run. I started catching our splits and we were still keeping the 8:20-8:30 pace. I couldn't believe I was keeping up. (I've been slacking in my running pace lately).

Not sure when it happened, but things started getting tough and I could hear the doubt creeping into Angie's voice as we talked. But I knew she could keep the pace...she wasn't breathing THAT hard (not like one of the dudes we passed...thought he was having a grabber!). We were into mile 12 and I told her that we were much closer to 1:50 than 2:00! Excellent!! We turned one of the last corners and she asked how much time we had left...about 3 minutes. And she turned it on. Yep, Ang still had some juice left! We were both breathing pretty heavy at this point, but we were feeding on each other's energy and it made for a strong finish!

We grabbed some Gatorade and headed over to see some of our friends finish. It's amazing how quickly the 13 miles seemed to go by! Of all the years I've run this race, I think this was the best weather I've seen. Joe crossed the finish line and immediately announced that he would not be back next year! (not sure if I believe that). BC finished while flipping the bird and wishing he hadn't worn a jacket. Donna finished injury-free. Randy finished while maintaining his planned heart rate.

I wanted to get a group shot of all the Salt Creek Tri Club people, but they left before I could get to the car, get the camera and get back.

All in all, it was a great race and near-perfect conditions. I just wish I had more time to chat with all the other runners I knew there. But SOMEONE was in a hurry to get home! Until next year....

Miami Half Marathon 2007

We flew into Ft. Lauderdale early Saturday afternoon. The airport had banners plastered everywhere advertising the Super Bowl. Made me proud to say that "my" Chicago Bears would be playing next weekend! It was about a half hour drive to Miami. We checked into the hotel, (more banners for the Super Bowl) which was within 10 minutes walking distance from the start/finish of the race. However, we needed to take a shuttle to the expo for packet pickup. This was a bit confusing and just a little stressful as the afternoon was slipping away and the expo was shutting down soon. I must admit, I've been a bit spoiled with the extravagant expos that are held at our major Chicago races. I was pleasantly surprised by the size of this expo. It was a good size, not too big, not too small. However, I was more than disappointed when the only size they had left in the race t-shirts was Large. The shirts are pretty sweet and who couldn't use another dri-fit shirt to add to their collection??

It was great to be in the nice weather, but it wasn't quite as warm as I had expected. It was mostly sunny on Saturday afternoon, but by early evening, it was a bit chilly and I didn't dare change into shorts. We had a nice pasta dinner outside, overlooking the water, at a restaurant at Bayside Market (you got it, lots of Super Bowl banners...merchants selling jerseys, t-shirts and everything you could think of with the Super Bowl XLI logo on it) just outside the Port of Miami. The food was excellent, however, there wasn't very much of it!! On the walk back to the hotel, I insisted we stop at the Walgreens to pick up a little pre-race breakfast, but also a little more food for that night...I was still pretty hungry!

I woke around 4:50am on Sunday morning. The race started at 6:10, so I wanted to make sure we were lined up by 5:40. As soon as I got up, I walked over to the balcony of our room and threw open the door, expecting to be greeted by cool air. However, it was quite warm. So warm, in fact, I decided I wouldn't even need to wear my "throw away" shirt I planned to wear until I warmed up. It had to be upper 60s already, though I couldn't be quite sure. We met some non-running friends in the lobby to walk over to the race start. Immediately when we walked out of the hotel, little sprinkles of rain began to fall. The rain was a little cool, which gave me goosebumps and made the hair stand up on my arms. Damn, wish I had brought along that throw away after all! One of my friends asked if the rain bothered me when I ran. "Not really, " I replied. "Only when it's POURING and it soaks my shoes does rain really become an issue." How ironic that statement would be....

I think that the rain began to fall steadily harder with each minute it took for us to walk to the start of the race. I was very thankful that I had decided to wear the race hat they gave us because it kept the rain from pelting me in the face. This was no longer a sprinkle, this was a solid rain now. As we lined up in the corral for the half marathon (the full marathon runners lined up in the corral to the right), the rain started coming down in full force. My clothes were already soaked through, but now I started to feel my feet getting wet through both my shoes and socks. The only dry area of my entire body was now a small part of my face that was protected by the visor of the race-provided hat. I crossed my arms in front of me and held them close to my body in effort to keep warm. I was thankful it wasn't very windy, but the rain was coming down in sheets. Some runners were yelling and cheering, getting louder when the big rain drops seemed to come down harder. Sort of like they were taunting the rain, letting it know that the rain couldn't ruin this run for them. Other runners were groaning each time the rain came down harder. These were the biggest raindrops I had ever felt! The rain was dripping off my hat, arms, shirt and shorts, running down my legs soaking my socks AND shoes! This was definitely NOT the picture I had in mind when I signed up for this race! Later, I learned our spectator friends immediately went back to the hotel when they left us. The rain bummed them out so much, they didn't even stick around for the start of the race.

For a split second, I thought about just bagging it and going back to the hotel. I was just doing this race for fun, anyway. I had no time goal in mind. I was just out there to have fun and get in a fully-supported 13.1 mile training run. However, I already got up early, was dressed and waiting to go, so I might as well just run now. I hoped that my sopping wet feet would warm up, as would my hands, already pruny from being soaking wet, once we got started.

The national anthem, the gun, and yet another race had started. The race was a nice size. Not the gigantic event the Chicago Marathon is, but not the tiny little race that the Tucson Marathon is. Kinda like the Flying Pig, this seemed to be a good, sizable crowd. The first mile did seem a bit crowded. I forgot what it's like to start running with all these people....my last few running races were quite small. And in triathlon, everyone starts out running at different times. So it was fun to run with a bunch of people again, however, it made me realize maybe we lined up too far back. I felt like we did a lot of zig zagging to get around people.

About a mile into the race, the rain subsided. Go figure. We're already soaking wet, it might as well keep raining now!! Now I just waited for the sun to come out so I could warm up a little. Before we hit mile 2, we went over the first of 3 bridges. It was still dark when we were at this point, but later, I would see this bridge we ran over and it must've looked really cool to see a bunch of runners crossing it. We ran past all the cruise ships in port and that took my mind off the run for a bit.

With the strong rain that came down in such a short period of time, there were LOTS, and I do mean LOTS of places along the course with standing water. It was deep enough to get your shoes wet, even if you didn't splash, so I had do pull off some quick maneuvers to try and get around those places without stepping in the water. But I also had to be aware of the runners who didn't care and just ran through the deep puddles, because if your feet landed near them at just the right time, the water they were displacing would cover your feet worse than if you ran through the puddle yourself! Why did I care, my feet were already soaked!! I don't know, I guess I didn't want to be any more wet than I had to be at this point. My hands were so uncomfortable and there was no way to dry them off. My clothes were soaked through. My shirt stuck to my body which made it pretty uncomfortable until I focused on thinking of other things. My shorts, loaded with Clif Shots and Aquaphor and soaked with rain, kept falling down! WTF?!!?!? This was going to be a long 13 miles....

By mile 4, I started to warm up. The sun was trying to break its way through the clouds. I tried chatting with a few other runners here and there, but it was a pretty quiet crowd. I tried to focus on keeping my turnover high, since I wasn't really worried about pace. The course was on a few busy streets, a cozy little residential section and closer to three-quarters of the way through the race, we went through the town of Miami Beach. It was the only section where there were actual spectators gathered (well, aside from the finish). I'm guessing the rain scared off many people, but by this point, the rain was gone, the sun was out and the temperature was quite comfortable. True, it was more humidity than I was used to, but back home, I would be freezing, so I wasn't complaining!

Somewhere along the line, I felt a blister developing on the arch of my right foot. Oh well, that was to be expected with the amount of water I was carrying in my sock and shoe. It was going to take days for these shoes to dry out! I tried to run on the outside of my right foot so as to not make the blister any worse, but that wasn't very comfortable, so I just returned to my normal gait and hoped for the best. I think it was around mile 12.5 where the marathon course went straight and the half marathoners turned to the left. You could hear the music and the crowd at this point and I couldn't believe it was almost over already.

I crossed the finish line and made my way through the runners to collect my medal. My clothes were still entirely soaked through, in fact, I literally wrang out my shirt. They gave us "spinner" medals, which were pretty cool. Big medal for a half marathon! I snagged a banana and half a bagel from the food line, went to have my chip snipped off and immediately wished I had gear checked a dry shirt. Within minutes, I was chilled with no way to warm up.

I found several friends from Chicago at the finish line. We shared a few race stories and everyone was smiles at the end. Though it wasn't the picture-perfect Miami weather we mid-westerners were hoping for, it was not so bad. The race was well-organized, the course was flat, however, the aid stations needed a few more volunteers. I saw several stations that had no full cups as we ran by. The volunteers were frantically trying to keep up, but their efforts were futile. The runners drank more quickly than the volunteers could pour.

It was nice to get away and run in a t-shirt and shorts in January. Might just have to make a "weekend getaway race" an annual event...