Chicago Marathon 2008

I volunteered for the Chicago Marathon today. I love this race. My only complaint is how the race has grown. Last year was a perfect example of how difficult it is to manage an enormous crowd. Thankfully Carey Pinkowski learned from last years mistakes and the race appeared to go very well.

For those who have never been to Chicago, (I know, I'm actually thinking someone I don't know is reading this blog :)) running the marathon would be a great way to see our city.

Congratulations to everyone who ran. It got pretty tough out there with all that fall sunshine beaming down on you but everyone proved they prepared themselves for whatever the day put in front of them.

Here are some pics of my great day .....

The clock reads 6:15. Caroline and I got down to North and Wells around 5:45. It took us a while to find street parking. You didn't think I was going to pay $10 did you? :)

While checking in we received our credentials. See that yellow dot. It means I got to work the Gartorade stations. O yeah! Me and my kids are gatorade experts. This was going to be fun!

We also got these very nice dry fit hats and also dry fit jackets. Unfortunately they only had large and x-large left in the jackets so I took x-large. I ended up giving my jacket to a very nice older gentleman who helped me put cups out and mix Gatorade when things got crazy busy. You would have thought I gave him the winning lottery numbers. He introduced me to his family and kept hugging me. It was pretty funny.

We walked down to Starbucks since I hadn't had my tea yet and then found a table and got to work.
It took us about and hour and a half to get the table from empty this to this....

See the boxes in front of the table? Caroline and I needed them to reach the 5th row of cups we made.

Soon it was 8:00 and all my friends who spent the last 18 weeks training began the final leg of their marathon journey. I was hoping I would see them but knew it probably wouldn't happen since I told everyone I would be near the O'Brien's sign and I was on the opposite side of the street. I was very excited to see Tom F.! I kept screamming at him as he ran by with a smile!

The guy on the left is from the Weather Channel. Wow, the race is making the Weather Channel!

The guy on the right is the captain of our aid station. He ran thru a list of what to do's and don'ts.

Here is the leader in the wheelchair division.

And this man to the right pushed himself with his legs. Very inspiring.

And then the professionals came. Making each step look like they were out for a morning jog. First came the men ....

and then the women ....

Our gatorade station closed right around 11:15. For as long as it took us to put everything up, what ever was left was taken down in a matter of seconds ....

And cleaned up in a matter of minutes. On the way home we laughed about how sticky we were from all the Gatorade that we either mixed on us, spilled on us, spit on us, and bounced off us. I guess that was a sign that we had done our job.

Now, do I run next year or volunteer?

Mind - Body

I've been thinking. Ut oh, I know. Hey, if I can't disect this years race season, then I might have more of the crappy same next year ....

April 2008

My Mind- Ok, let's go, we're running 50 miles. Oh yeah, ignore the rain, ignore the mud let's go, go, go, go, GO!!!

My Body - What are you crazy, I'm tired. TIRED!!! Tried telling that a couple weeks ago, remember? You caught that cold, the stuffy head, all that sleep. I miss the sleep. I'm not running. Nope, the legs aren't going.

Mind - What? Yeah, right. Here we go. Get over the tired. These legs have been training for weeks. Before that, I witnessed them attempt a marathon.....

Body - Yeah, and what happened at that marathon? Huh? Can't hear you? Tried telling you then I needed a rest ..... and ....

Mind - Lighten up. And quit trying to make your point by falling. I'm getting a little tired of saying get out of the mud.

Body - TIRED!!! I'm gonna keep falling until you listen!!!


May 2008

Body - Ah, finally a rest. Thank you - THANK YOU for listening.

Mind - You're right this isn't so bad, I'm really dig'n this time off. :)

June 2008

Mind - Ok, gotta race it's only a half ironman. Let's go, let's go, let's go

Body - What? We were resting remember, we're not ready, what it's a frick'n tornado out there, I'm not going anywhere ....

Mind - ENOUGH, get the legs moving, the horn just went off .....

Mind - Oops, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, the weather isn't being too kind to us. You just keep moving body and I'll stay as still as possible.

Mid - June 2008

Mind - There are you happy body. Gotcha a new bike. Now quit complaining. Get that big butt on it and start peddling.

August 2008

Body - Thank you for the rest - ahhh. No more surprises please. And keep drinking that ginger root stuff. It's helping.

Late August 2008

Body - A 100 mile bike ride - are you crazy?

Mind - Just peddle - you can do this.


September 2008

Body - A half marathon? Ok, I've had enough. ENOUGH!

October 2008

I went riding with Laura on Thursday. About 2 blocks from my house I realized my cold was going to make me feeling like I had an elephant riding along with me, hanging onto my chest. Met Laura downtown and let her know how I was feeling. Told her I wasn't sure how long I would be able to ride. Off we went. So, did I take it easy? Hang back, enjoy her company? Nope. I pounded. Head down, heals back, toes forward. We stopped and she commented that the way I was riding she wouldn't have guessed I had that elephant with me. And right then I realized it. It really is time to rest. I'm never going to make it to that start line in August 2009 if I keep doing this to myself.

Ok body - I hear. I'm gonna rest.

100th Post :)

Monday - September 22nd

We finally got a second car. Whoo Hoo!!! Oh yeah!!! Not that I'm going to be driving all that much with gas prices being what they are - but it's nice to have my car back. This cute, little, fuel efficient Honda is getting Scott whereever he wants to go. I was very disappointed with the chauvinistic attitude of the car dealer - when I bought the car I was asked by both the salesman and the sales manager if I wanted my name on the title - hmmmm, let me think about this.... I've delt with the sales people for the past 6 weeks, test drove the car and am signing the check, that has my name on it - what do you think? Here's a picture of the car - YEAH!!!

Tuesday - September 23rd

Zak was sick Sunday night and Monday. High fever, 104 Sunday night. Said his legs and belly hurt. Monday he felt a little better but I kept him home from school. Tuesday he woke up with no fever and no complaints. He downed 2 cups of milk in record time - a sign he's feeling better. :) I put him and Gracie on the bus, wave good bye. 9 a.m. - the phone rings, "This is the school nurse - Zak threw up on the bus. Mrs. E. Zak told me he got sick this morning?" I had to try and explain that while brushing his teeth he did gag a little something up (sorry another gross post) but I wrote it off because he downed his milk so quickly and then brushed his teeth. Yes, the rest of the day I tortured myself with the label "Worst Mother in the World". I'm still having trouble getting the looks I got from the school office staff out of my head. ARGH!

Wednesday - September 24th

Was talking to Debs while taking care of the morning clean up around the house. Went outside to give the bunnies their morning bannana and fresh water. Poor Debs was telling me something about something and was rudely interrupted by my huge, dramatic GASP .... I couldn't believe what I saw. I approached the bunnies and found them both on the same side of the cage! These bunnies have lived in the cage for several years, apart, never finding the small space between the seperation at the bottom of the cage, until sometime during the evening of 9/23 or during the early morning of 9/24. I can only speculate what went on during their new found time together. Let me add that there was shedding fur EVERYWHERE and I have a feeling some baby bunnies are going to be joining our family soon.

Jogged a mile to the school, swam a mile and then jogged home. The swim felt good.

Thursday - September 25th

Laura and I rode again. This time Michelle came with us. It was a beautiful morning. The trees are starting to turn and the weather was perfect. We saw tri-mate Rich on his way back to town. Stopped by Michelle's house on my way home and saw her new bathroom. Nice. So nice. Makes me want a new bathroom too. :)

Friday - September 26th

Did the same thing I did Wednesday, this time I tried to get the jog, swim, jog in under and hour. I missed my mark by 9 minutes. I'll get there.

My nephews played in their high school home coming game. I love high school football. Where else can you take the family for a fun filled night and keep the cost under $20 bucks. Ok, so I get in for free and so do the kids. Only the hubby paid. We then pigged out on concession stand food. MMMMM. Nachos, cheese fries, Mountain Dew and Siera Mist - mmmm, stayed away from the popcorn tho, it tastes a lot like cardboard with a little salt. We sat by some trimates who were enjoying the food as much as we were. Needless to say we didn't cook dinner Friday night. Sadly the boys lost their game. It was a good one tho. They kept it close until the 4th quarter.

Saturday - September 27th

I ran in the the afternoon. Ran for 60 whole minutes. Yes Bubba, you read that right, 60 minutes in the sun - I think I'm cured of the pamitis.

Scott fixed the space between the partition at the bottom of the cage. He zipp tied it shut. No more quiet bunny time for Buttercup and Lily. :(

Saturday night was much like Friday night. Scott had his football homecoming. It's such a big deal for all the kids playing and the parents. Scott's team lost. My coach is doing ok but I know he's feeling some disappointment. The team will get it together. Heck - they won 2 games so far, that's good. :)

Warning - I'm about to complain .... again ....

Sunday - September 28th

Planned on riding with the group in the morning. Woke up to eyes gooed shut and a fever.

Whaw, whaw, whaw.

Thought the whining was over but apparently what ever is going on with my gooey eyes and now sinuses wants to hang with me a while. So Bubba - I was wrong, I'm not completely cured of the pamitis but I'm slowly recovering and doing my best to get a workout routine going again. :) I'll see all of you out there very soon.

If You're Eating - Do Not Read

Training has been rolling right along.

Went for a ride with Laura Thursday morning. The conversation was great. Helped distract our attention away from the fact that the wind had change direction and we had a head wind the entire ride home. We stopped and picked up 2 furry catapillars for the kids. One blond and one brown. Made it home in time to get a couple loads of laundry done before the kids got home. Grace and Zak were so excited to see the new editions to the family. We walked to the park for a couple of hours of play and the brown fuzzy one escaped the bug catcher leaving the blond one by himself. By 10 the next morning the blond one was gone too. I think we need a more secure (grammer?) bug catcher.

That night was feeling some pressure on my right eye with a little drainage but didn't think much of it considering the allergy season we are in.

Friday rode the bike to the school to help out with hot lunches. The right eye was really bothering me now. So much so that I didn't put a contact lens in. By the time I got to my nephews football game it was oozing. Won't go into details but it was pretty gross. It looked like I had been drinking and was up all night. It hurt.

Saturday morning I tried opening my eyes but couldn't get the right one open. After keeping a warm wet wash rag on it for about 10 minutes it finally came apart. Saw a doc in the box (I hate going there) and was told I have an eye infection. Gee - wow - that was a difficult conclusion to come to. Kept my sunglasses on for the kids birthday party we went to and tried not to touch anything. Had to wipe my eye about every 20 minutes. ICK! Planned on riding Sunday only to wake up and have the other eye swollen and gooed shut! Was disappointed, chose not to ride.

Today is Monday and things are feeling better. Plan on getting back to the training plan soon.

Misc. Stuff

Did you ever start talking to someone and then half way thru the conversation you realize you aren't listening to what they are saying anymore? Holy smokes that happened to me last week. Someone was telling me something important but the way the conversation started took me by surprise and then I realized the person was speaking and I was still on the first sentence of what was said. I had to try and catch up and hoped I got the gist of the conversation before it's over. Keri and I have a funny story about this very thing, I still laugh when I think about it.

The copious amount of rain (I like that word, copious) cancelled Scott's game Saturday and kept the kids in the house. I usually don't mind letting the kids outside to play in rain but Gracie is fighting an ear infection and has had trouble breathing so I thought I should keep her and Zak in. The creek behind our house almost crested but thankfully stayed at bay. What is the attraction of rain puddles and children? They are a magnet to any child under the age of 10. Going from the church parking lot to the car Sunday Zak stomped every puddle. I didn't tell him to stay out of them - why bother - we were getting pelted so what would a little extra water on is shoes do?


I woke up to this note from the hubby last week. Ok, I know he has the distances wrong (if you can read it) but that's ok. I still don't know all the positions on a football team. I've been jogging to the new high school near the house and getting a mile swim in. I got a ride in the other day, to the kids school. It was treat day and I volunteered. It was raining but didn't think that I would get that wet riding the 2 miles. I got off my bike and felt pretty good about getting to the school in the rain. Put my shoes on and walked in the school. Signed in. Smiled politely at the other moms. Thought they were checking out my new Anne Klein shoes that I got for $10 and then realized that the back inside of my left pant leg was soaked! It looked like I peed in my pants! Had to hope that they saw me riding in the rain because I really didn't feel like trying to explain it. UGH!

Here's some pics I thought I would share with you ....

Look at this large bubble that formed in the sink after draining the dishwater. Zak was very impressed.

That little yellow blob, that's a yellow pepper that came from our garden.

Here's some pics of a storm we had about 6 weeks ago. Finally got around to downloading them. It has been a summer filled with some nasty rain.

IMOO

The Wisconsin Ironman was Sunday. The thought of the race kept me up Saturday night. I was feel anxious. How strange since I was 300 miles from the start line. My mind was filled with memories of 2007 and how quickly that year went by.

I'm saddened by the changes the year has brought. How the 07 crew is slowly drifting apart. I talked to some of the crew about signing up for Louisville. They told me they would train with me but wouldn't be joining me at the finish line in Kentucky. It's funny, our group all finished at different times but we all knew that the others were out there. And some how that was a comforting thought.

Of course I knew that would happen, some of the guys not signing up, time stops for no one and change is almost always good a thing. So, now I'm part of a new group. This year I have some female friends to commiserate with. I don't dare go down the competitive road with these ladies. They're fast and fierce but as nice as can be. I'll learn what I can from them and leave my competitive spirit in check. :)

So, I'm getting my base training in now since the summer was filled with whining, pouting and not much training at all. I'm debating on which plan to use the 26 week or the 13 week. I'm thinking that if I use the 13 week program, in the my winter and spring I'll marathon train/ then spin and swim a couple of days during the training. It worked last time. Unfortunately I won't have the Boston marathon to run but I'm sure I'll find a 26.2 mile run somewhere around here.

Big congrats to all that finished Louisville and Wisconsin and my trailmates that finished Great Illini! :) You guys rock. You definitely keep me going.

What the Heck?

What the heck is happening to me? :) Gil sent me an email 2 weeks ago telling me he has an extra entry to the Oak Brook 1/2 Marathon. Do you want it? He asked. Oh yeah, I love to run and would never turn down a free entry.

I haven't done much running this year. Wait did I just say that? Let me rephrase that, I haven't done much running this summer. I've been trying to get my cycling legs back. My race season was a wash after Rockman. But I have to admit I enjoyed the rest. Swimming, biking and running only when you feel like it was all good for me.

Well, I picked Gil up Monday morning, 5:45. He was ready to go. He has the best spirit. We talked about our running plan for the morning. I would be happy finishing around 2 hours. He wants to see how fast he can go.

The race had about 1500 runners. I started feeling guilty (you can't be surprised by that) thinking here I was running for free, literally crawling out of bed to see what the day brought and most of the runners trained all summer for this day. I did hear some talk about their training plans for the marathon just a few weeks from now. I actually missed the training schedule.

Well, my legs missed the training as well. I was tiring by the second mile. YIKES! I brought my music along on this run, so I was able to let Jackson Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Rod Stewart and the rest pick my pace up when I would start to waiver. I managed to keep a 9 minute pace for about 6 miles. This was an awesome race course. Scenic, hilly, shaded in spots, plenty of volunteers to point you in the right direction and lots of police directing traffic.

Unfortunately at mile 6 I began to fall apart. For me, what I'm about to write is almost blasphemy. I'm a runner not a cyclist, you guys are probably tired of reading that but that's the way I think, that is until mile 10. I see this woman riding her bike. The streets were pretty clear thanks to the great police support. She's sailing along. I actually wished I was on my bike instead of running. What's the world coming to?

Here's a great excuse for my poor performance - other than not being conditioned for a long distance run ..... my diet has been filled with lots of crap - just plain old junk food - remember? .... circus peanuts, ice cream, tootsie rolls - I'm still on the comfort food diet since the kids have gone back to school :( I did my best to forge ahead and managed to finish around 2:13 and change :( - How arrogant can I be? It's time to start training again. Start out slow and low, I know 13.1 miles isn't exactly low miles, let's just say it's a long warm up and work my way back. The thought of turning 44 on Thursday makes me wonder just how close to my old times I can come. With age comes wisdom and sluggishness. Let's hope I'm wrong about the sluggishness.

Oh, here's a kick in my pants about my "not much training - so of course I did poorly excuse". So I cross the finish and there's Gil smiling as usual. "How d ya do?" and he tells me with this huge grin - "GREAT" 1:38 and change! AMAZING! No serious running plan and he spits out 7:29 miles. And, I can't use the age excuse - he's older than me (Sorry Gil) not much older tho. Ok, now I'm sticking to the diet theory. No more circus peanuts - I'll miss them and NO ice cream, well maybe a scoop or 2 with my birthday cake.

Louisville, I'm com'n. It's going to be an interesting year. :)