Goals and things.

First and foremost,

WHAT IS THAT??  I swear to god, last week the Chicago Marathon was 4 months away.  Obviously, one of you is screwing with my counter. 


But in all seriousness, my training for July can be summed up in one word:
FAIL.
The month just didn't go as planned.  Which is life i guess.  But i am going to try a different approach with august, and make a plan.  Not just for running, but for living.


1.  I need to dig myself out of my hole of alienation.  I really like running with people.  Why aren't i doing it?  I have friends that run that i can call, but i dont.  Maybe i wouldn't whine so much if i had people there distracting me.  I mean, i live with Matt for christ's sake, you would think we could find one day to run together?


2.  My little Waffles, i promise to take you to the dog park twice a week so that you can run around to your little hearts content.  I am sorry i have been sick and tired.  I understand that when you repeatedly bite me in the face while i am trying to take a nap that you are saying "please, i need exercise" and i acknowledge it.

3.  My skin and hair - what have i done to you???  I don't know what my deal is, but i have not been moisturizing, and as a result, my shins are peeling.  You read that right.  My shins.  are PEELING.  I vow to moisturize every night!  or at very least, almost every night!


4.  Defer.  I do all the cooking, because i assume that i can do it better.  Technically, i can, i am really good cook.  But Matt is a good student.  If i give him detailed instructions, he can totally handle making  dinner a couple nights a week.  I need to stop stressing myself out trying to do everything.


5. Drinking.  Bye bye, my love.  Summer is the worst because everyone wants to go have a beer.  Its easy to end up going out for a beer 4 or 5 nights a week!  The problem is, with all the running, two beers is enough to knock me on my ass and feel it the next morning.  It is definitely interfering with my running right now.  Sad face.

I shall return for you after the Dublin Marathon!

6.  5lbs.  I have been letting you hang around because you are cute, and the candy that sustains you is delicious.  But it is time for you to leave.  I have PR's to set and you are in the way.  Plus, you make my legs look flabby and it is ruining all my race photos.  I get a weekly veggie box, there is no reason for you to still be here.


7.  And lastly, running.  Actually, I'm not doing too bad with running.  For the most part, i am hitting all  my mileage numbers (with the exception of flu-gate 2012)  My pace has been slow and sad compared to my last training cycle, but it's summer and i need to deal with it.  Winter is coming......sweet, sweet winter.  So running is good, but strength?  cross-training?  yoga?  fail, FAIL, FAIL.  I vow to do strength with coach Matt twice a week, yoga once a week, and cross-training once a week.  (expect to hear many ponderings as to what can be considered cross-training over the next month.)


Was your July more successful than mine?  (I sure hope so!)
Any resolutions for August?
Do you know who switched my marathon countdown counter?

How not to prepare for a half marathon.

(or what will here on out be known as "Pulling a gingerfoxxx.")


Friday was my birthday, and the the start of my last year of being able to say i am in my twenties.  Single tear....


So i had managed to finagle a day off from work (by cramming about 50 hours of work into mon-thurs) and did what any other twenty-something girl would do.  

I drove up to Lake Geneva to drag my good friend Eric out on a 22 mile trail run and ruin his vacation. note: I am an awesome friend.  
There is a really awesome trail that runs around the entirety of lake geneva.  It's really awesome, because some parts are paved, some parts are gravel, some parts are dirt, and some parts are literally just running through peoples back yards.  (note: because the trail has always been there, the millionaires that live around the lake are obligated to allow you to run it.  It seems weird, like you are trespassing, but it is totally legal)  

Some Pros: The trail is awesome, because you won't get a chance to get bored.  You will experience about 30 different types of running surfaces, and the view is indescribable.  It is very quiet, but you will encounter a few other runners/walkers. It's a giant loop, so you don't have to deal with the mental fatigue of turning around and retracing your steps.  And because it keeps you on your toes, it makes 22 miles seem not so tedious.

Some Cons:   It's a 22 mile loop with very few spots to get water.  We had some major hydration issues.  It is hilly, and aside from all the hills, you will have to run up/down no fewer than 30 flights of stairs.  All those different running surfaces can be brutal on your ankles, especially the last few miles when you are tired. I definitely have some lingering pain in my right calf/ankle from this run.


I had a great time, but i think Eric had a significantly less great time.  It was cool and cloudy in the morning, so we brought our smallest water containers.  It heated up fast, and we found ourselves frequently out of water and very thirsty.  I had a bigger bottle, luckily, but Eric only brought a flask, and started to get heat exhaustion towards the end.  We definitely suffered the last few miles, and may have resorted to drinking lake water.  We survived though, and i would totally do it again, only with more water!


After the run, i had to rush back to the city, because my BFF Ray-Ray and I were heading the Champaign county fair for some country music!  It was a whirlwind trying to get there in time (along with picking up my RnR race packet!) and resulted in me having nothing to eat all day but half a protein shake up until 7pm.  We got to the fair, and consumed many beers, and got some tasty fair treats, like sweet potato fries!   We rocked out to Lee Brice, who was performing at the fair.  We then consumed more beers, rode the tilt-a-whirl, went to a country bar for - you guessed it - more beers, and lastly, headed home for a night cap of beer and COOKIE CAKE!  Talk about a day of great pre-race decisions!


Luckily, i had Saturday to recover, which involved driving back to Chicago, and running a bunch of errands.  By the time i was done, i was completely exhausted, and it was past dinnertime.  I tried to eat some pasta, but my stomach felt terrible from the all the beer and cookie cake.  I had a piece of pita bread, and went to sleep at 11pm for my 4:15 am wake-up call.


Predictably, Matt and I missed the pre-race blogger meet up.  We made it to the race with just enough time to check our bag, and find our corrals.  I was in corral 7, which was a total joke.  I seriously need to stop signing up for races in January and putting my expected finish time as 1:55 for a July race.  What. a. joke.  I should probably also stop carbo-loading with beer, and tapering with 22 mile trail runs.  I am seriously concerned that i am going to sign up for a fall race, put my expected finish time as 1:55, and have them respond, "You're a dirty liar, you have been about 10 minutes behind every single predicted time you have ever put down for a race.  You get corral Z."

But there is no corral Z!

As you may have heard, the race was hot, and humid, and unpleasant.  I had no intentions of pushing myself, and being tired, underfed, and having a sore calf from the trail run did nothing to sway these intentions.  I had no desire to race, (especially in pain) and was just going to focus on some of the problems i have when i do race - mainly, positive splits, and the mile 12 meltdown.  


I still didn't get a negative split, but i only slowed down by 15 seconds overall for the second half (which for me, is impressive.)  I also ran the entire time.  Not a single stop.  I slowed down once to refill my water bottle, and that was it.  No walking breaks during mile 12 for this girl!  I do regret not pushing myself at the end though.  Everyone was shouting "sprint to the finish!!" and was just like, "No, no, that's not going to happen."

The race was actually managed very well, and the crowd support was great.  I have no one to blame but myself for any misery experienced on this run.  But to be honest, it wasn't miserable, i just didn't bring my "A" game.  I didn't want to push myself because of the weather and my leg, and my time (2:06) reflects that.  My negative split goal was not met, but my anti-meltdown one was.  And i got to watch Matt eventually finish his first half marathon!  I think its a great race, especially for first-timers.  I'm not sure if i will do it again though, just because of the date.  It's July.  What did any of us really expect?  I would love to check out some other RnR events for sure though! 


We also got to have a sweaty blogger meet up after the race:

Maggie's friend, Nina, Maggie, Amanda, Zach, Cary, Marcia, Pete, and meeeee!

It was awesome to have so many CRB's at this event!  I think everyone agreed that it was a great race, but the weather was less than ideal, and made it difficult for any of us to meet our goals.  Also, i should probably start showing up earlier so that i can be photographed without looking like i am dying.


The end.

Grumple-stiltskin!

You may have noticed a severe deficit of posts last week.  Mostly, it was because i was having a bad week, and i try to limit myself from using the blog to vent about poor lil ole me and my super hard life.  But, incase you were wondering what the heck i did last week, here is a brief glance!


1.  On Monday, i went out to my car to drive to work, only to find that a tree branch had fallen on the back side of my car during storms.  It smashed the tail light, and scratched up the whole back side :(

That tiny stick in the picture is not the branch i am referring to


2. Matt and i decided to embrace the 100+ degree weather, and run a 10k on the fourth of July!  We ran the Deerfield Family Days 10k because it is right by my work, and would be small.  When i signed up the week before, it was supposed to be 89 that day, which is lame, but manageable.  However, the second i signed up the high for the day jumped from 89 to 104 (with a much higher heat index!)  I was bummed, but i had to run that day anyway for training, and Matt is behind on training for the RnR half in two weeks, so we decided to suffer through it.  When we showed up, we ended up running into Bobbi and her friend Sarah!

I am pretty sure despite the smiles, Bobbi wants to strangle me for hexing this race with my heat-wave curse.  My bad!  This is probably the only 10k where i had to apply body glide and take a salt pill.  I also strapped a ziploc of ice across my back, and ran with a bottle of ice water (you know it's serious when this girl carries water with her during a race!)

I'm not going to lie - this was rough.  It was so hot and steamy....the heat index was in the 90's at the START.  On the plus side, as a small neighborhood race, there were lots of people out with hoses and sprinklers doing their best to keep us cool.  I was dumping so much water on myself it was crazy, and ended up causing a delightful blister on my toe from getting my shoes soaking wet.  Neither Matt or i came anywhere near winning.  Or even PR'ing.  Actually, since the course was a double loop, that involved us passing the car, we both thought about jumping in the car and just taking off after the first three miles.  But we didn't!  Mostly because Bobbi would have probably seen us.

Rocking the shirt cape

A melting pot of emotions....primarily, "sweaty"

We went home to grill with our spoiled pup

But....
3. We incurred some damage to the door on the office in a freak accident and it needs to be replaced.  They don't make them like they used too.  Add it to the tab, i guess.


4.  Then, the pup got sick.  She had been throwing up all week, and finally we had to call the vet, because it obviously wasn't random puppy pukes.  Maybe we should stop feeding her foam hot dogs.


5.  She went to the vet, and they couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with her.  They asked what she had eaten the past week aside from puppy food that could have upset her tummy.  And i replied:
- about half a cup of dirt
- a bowl of fancy feast cat food
- pool water
- lake water
- a green onion
- part of the aforementioned foam hot dog
- a stick (okay, 3 sticks)
etc, etc, etc.
In the end, it was determined that puppies get sick and eat things they shouldn't, and a general antibiotic would treat whatever it is.  It also cost a ton of money to find all this out.  And buy the antibiotics.  And buy special wet food to mix the antibiotics into.  And to buy toys for her because of how guilty i felt that she was sick and had to spend a day at the vets.


6.  I tried to do a 10 mile run on saturday (in the blistering heat/humidity) and only made it 7 miles before failing miserably and suffering an asthma attack.  Luckily Sunday was a blissful 78 degrees.  I almost cried during my run because i was so happy to not feel like i was dying.


So that was my week.  It was impressively stressful and expensive.  This week looks to be much cooler and calmer - so here's to much easier training runs, and possibly a new part-time job as a pan-handler to pay for some of the expenses incurred last week!

Survivorwoman.

It's another scorcher.  Even the homeless panhandlers are no where to be found in the heat of day.  I think something like 8 billion people were shot this weekend in Chicago.  The italian ice vendors are out of everything but lemon by evening.  Everyone is grouchy.  People are out walking their dog before 6am, not just me anymore.  And most importantly - hooligan cooling is in full force.

(if you have never lived in a somewhat less affluent urban area, you are missing out.  We know how to party when its hot. this hydrant was jam-packed with no less than 2 dozen people until well after midnight.)


And most importantly, Tom Skilling is predicting an extra hot summer to rival 1977.  (which apparently was the hottest on record? - i wouldn't know, i wasn't born yet.)  


I could list a bunch of great tips for summer running - always have water, don't run during the hottest part of the day, but we all know that.  I don't know what it is, but as soon as i hear "don't run during the hottest part of the day" i slip on my running shoes and run during the hottest part of the day.  


You might be thinking "but wait, didn't the rockford marathon kick your ass less then a month ago, leaving you a hollow dehydrated shell vowing to never race in the heat again?"  That is very true.  And i won't race in the heat again.  Especially not a marathon - that beast is hard enough in good conditions. But that doesn't mean i won't go on hot weather running adventures!  In a hot weather running adventure, you can stop and cool off if you feel too hot, you can change your course to run in the shade, or even to splash through some water, you can run as slow as you want, whatever distance you want, and you can enjoy the path all to yourself, because most likely, other crazy runners are few and far between.  


There is something about running in extreme conditions that appeals to me (despite my constant whining) - i like the challenge, and i like the feeling of conquering that challenge.  It's just as much a mental exercise as it is a physical exercise - almost like a meditation.  Yeah, it's crazy hot and uncomfortable, and the shortest, slowest run feels like an endurance event, but by the end you almost feel cleansed.  

97 degrees?  110% humidity? 150 mph winds??  In Chicago, we call that "running weather."

****Disclaimer: I always have either my ID or an emergency contact bracelet.  Or if i am really off the grid, i bring my phone.  I am a badass, but i am not stupid - prepare for the worst no matter how tough you are.