Guest post!

Hey everyone!  Waffles here!

Mom's been busy at work this week with a presentation, so being the amazing dog that i am, I decided to come to work with her so i could help out with administrative things like blogging and trying to knock bagels out of the interns hands so that i can steal them.  

I'm a little nervous because tonight we are all driving to Elmhurst, (which for a dog is really REALLY far away) so that i can run my very first 5k tomorrow!  Mom and Dad are even running it with me!  I have never run in a race before, and i have all the same concerns that anyone has before their first race.  
I figured i could vent on here-

1.  What do i wear??  Mom bought me an ugly dog sweater at target, but i panicked when she tried to pull it over my head and ended up karate chopping her in the face.  Now she is going to have to modify it so that it velcros on, but that will take a couple days!  Luckily, it's supposed to be a warm thanksgiving, so i think i will be ok.

2.  What pace do i run??  I don't have much training, but i am naturally very fast.  WAY faster than mom and dad- they could never keep up with me!  I think i could beat a greyhound if i was taller!  I have tried running with mom before, but i like to tug and that annoys her....but she really should run faster.  Sometimes dad will sprint with me, but then i will see something cool that i have to sniff, and i will stop suddenly and end up tripping both of us.  I think we can run the 5k in 40 minutes tomorrow (even though it's untimed!)  If i can ditch mom and dad though, i think i can do it in 15.  If i could stay on the course...

3.  What do i eat?  I have IBD, so a lot of food makes me sick.  I think my meals will all be prepacked for me.  I think i might get some treats on the course though to help keep me focused!

4.  What do i do after? I heard there might be lots of food.  Sadly, my parents are really strict about table scraps.  I'm hoping that if i am really good, i might get some turkey under the table!

I am both excited and nervous.  Since the race isn't competitive  I am just going to try and have a good time, and use my sighthound abilities to  spot the bloody mary station, because mom was so hungover last year she missed it.  I think my mom might take me for a quick shake out jog at lunch too, because i keep running around the office like a maniac and she looks pissed.

I hope everyone has a very happy thanksgiving!!!

His and Hers reviews of SF10!

HERS:
Saturday morning Matt and i sprung out of bed at 4:45 to get ready for the Soldier Field 10-mile race.  Ok, i sprung, he hit snooze, and i had to nag him for 15 minutes.  I was really pumped for this race, because 10 milers to me are kind of the "party distance"  You aren't running so fast that you are miserable, like in shorter races (at least i'm not) and you don't think about dramatically throwing yourself into the nearest body of water, like during longer races.  


AND, you finish on the 50 yard line of soldier field!  I can tell you right now, i have been inside soldier field once, and i got no where near the 50 yard line, and it cost way more than this race.  So already, i'm a winner.  The race had been yellow flagged for both heat, and thunderstorms, you know, because it's me.

I'm surprised people even still showed up to the race after hearing that me and my curse would be there.  But somehow, people did still show up - 13,000 of them!  AND, while we were all hanging out in our corral waiting for the race to start, they cancelled the yellow flag, and switched it to green....WHAT?  I don't even know how to process this!


Matt was feeling nervous because he had never run a 10 mile race before.  Or even 10 miles in a row.  To be honest, he rarely runs 10 miles in a week.  BUT, if he met his goal (which was 1:40) his work would reimburse his race fee.  Right there, i vowed to drag his ass across the finish line if i needed to, because for $80, he could take me out for a night on the town.  Since the weather ended up being cool and cloudy, i told him our goal was 1:35 (which i knew he was more than capable of doing, based on his 10k races.)

It took us 20 minutes to start the race because we were in corral 5.  I had a very weird feeling while standing there.  These little bumps formed all over my skin, and i started mildly shaking.  It turned out i was cold.  Because i was finally running a race that wasn't 80+ degrees. 


The first few miles Matt was in a good spirit.  Our friend Trisha was running with us, and Matt was surprised when we would pass a mile marker, and say "wow, already?"  That was a good sign, until Matt became bored by mile 3 with only me to entertain him.  I soon ran out of popsicle jokes and antecdotes.  I felt bad because Matt kept demanding i entertain him, but i had nothing!  I listen to NPR!  I tried to discuss the financial crisis in Spain, but that just seemed to make him angry.  I sang a little, and i danced a little, but he was definitely becoming grouchy by mile 5.


Then we hit a headwind.  I tried to position us behind some tall people, but it didn't help.  Then Matt started to slow down.  This was so frustrating because about 5 miles is usually when i start to feel warmed up and ready to start the race.  I kept pulling ahead of Matt on accident, because he was wearing the same stupid shirt as everyone else, and was super hard to keep track of.  It was hard because if i were by myself, i would have been running a lot faster than this.


Then he started whining. He was about two feet behind me, and he refused to speed up.  and just loudly whined that i was a bad pacer because i kept running in front of him.  I slowed down multiple times, and often felt like i was running in place.  I kept encouraging him, but he was not having it.  He kept accusing me of speeding up, and i kept accusing him of slowing down.  By mile 8, he was obviously miserable and i told him that in 3/4 of a mile we would get to see Maggie, to which he responded "who is Maggie, and why do i care??"  geez.  Everyone around us seemed slightly annoyed by my cheerleading at this point.  We started a final push just before 9.5, but it might have been premature because Matt started to slow down again by 9.75.  I waited for him, and then we sprinted together to the 50 yard line!

I had a great time at this race, probably because i wasn't super serious about it (although i could have smashed my 10 mile pr with this weather...) I loved the crowds, and there were a lot of friends running it.  And while the course was familiar, finishing on the 50 yard line was super awesome.  I can't wait to run this again!

HIS:
Well hello runners :)  Long time no see on the Gingerfoxxx blog (she refuses to let me post because she thinks that I want to talk about irrelevant things such as "movies that are terrible" and "what sports mascot would kick the other mascots' asses").

I don't see her argument to be valid, but I have to live with her...so I chose to keep my mouth shut for all of these months.  And now you have the pleasure of hearing my side of the story when it came to my first 10 mile race.

Now I will say, the last time I ran a solid 10 miles while being decently in shape was senior year of high school....we used to run in the 100 degree weather in 200% humidity through hilly neighborhoods at a 7:30-8:00 pace.  Now you can see why I decide to whine to Sara saying "I'll never be in shape again."  I have a lot to live up to, to make that kind of time again.

So here's my recap of the Soldier Field 10 Miler:

We arrived at a decent time, and I had a fresh Clif bar in the tummy...so no complaints yet.  The one thing I was worried about was how my stomach felt, and if I had to pee right when the race started.  So I made sure to use the porta potty well before the race (yet I still had to pee like none other when I finished).

The weather looked sketchy....I peeked at the sky every 5 minutes, and the wind was starting to pick up.  But honestly I'd rather it be rainy and windy than 100 and sunny.  So after the lengthy 20 minute wait, we finally got to start...so let's recap by each mile:

MILE 1 -

Nothing to complain about, Trisha actually ran into the bushes before mile 1 to piss....and I laughed.

MILE 2 -

I was surprised to reach it so fast, yet I didn't feel like I was really pushing myself yet.  My explanation of running style is "it's like how I view stairs...I'd rather sprint up them and be done with it than take it slow and waste my time;" so I was glad to be done with 2 miles so quickly.

MILE 3 -

Nothing to report.

MILE 4 -

I still feel good, but I try and keep myself from looking at my Garmin watch and thinking "oh I'm fucking slow" or "you're going way too fast...I don't see any zombies idiot."  Sara yelled at me saying "don't look at your watch, just run."  So I ran...

MILE 5 -

Turn around time!  AWESOME the wind is "totes" blowing all up in my shit, so I feel like I have to push harder to keep on pace.

MILE 6 -

My body is starting to heat up quite a bit, but the good news is that I've started to pass my 6.1 mile race barrier.  So now it's onto my longest yet, 7 miles....

MILE 7 -

Sara is CONSTANTLY pulling ahead of me, and I tell her "hey babe can you please run alongside me?"  She responds with a "sure no problem," followed by about 5 seconds of staying next to me.  She then proceeds to Michael Johnson my ass and takes off in front of me AGAIN.

MILE 8 -

I'M HOT.  WHEN IS THIS OVER?  And Sara is STILL pulling ahead of me...this is supposed to be an awesome run filled with joyous conversation, and yet she can't think of a single topic to talk about.  Wonderful.

MILE 9 -

Just got some water, and in a quarter mile I finally see Soldier Field.  Starting to sprint up to a 7:30 pace and get tired as hell again at 9.6 miles or something..,

MILE 9.8 -

Finally get to see the opening to the field, and I catch up to Sara and finish this bad boy!

FINISH -

We are in Soldier Field, can you believe it?  Right as that thought pours into my mind and I take a look around, a large man in uniform tells us to basically "get the hell out there's more runners coming."

Glad I paid that $65 entry fee or whatever it was.

All in all, this was to see if I'd do a 10 mile race again...and yes, I will.  Will I do a half marathon?  Probably not.  It's going to take some serious convincing...like a free bald eagle with signup or something.

Cya peeps ;)

Hope you enjoyed our recap!  And if anyone knows of a half marathon that gives out baby bald eagles instead of finishers medals, please comment with a link below so i can get Matt signed up!

Celebrity Post?

Yes, in fact I am a celebrity and I am making my first guest blog appearance (although I am not a ginger so is this legit since this I am writing on rungingerfoxxrun??).

Anywho...you can call me Matt, or in lemans terms Sara's special man-friend.  I'm sure you saw that we ran the 10mi/10k last weekend?  Oh boy was that my first test of being able to run, not to mention the longest period of time I've competitively ran without stopping.  I recall the last time running 6 miles with Sara, and it included me with my shirt off exposing my poof of Tom Selleck chest hair whilst stopping every mile or so.  Needless to say I was quite out of shape back in the day (back in the day refers to about 6 months or so ago in my book).

"Hello?  Yes I'll take the usual...5 women to meticulously comb my enormous mustache." 

So getting on to how I trained for this thing?  It honestly wasn't that bad...and that's coming from a chap that works constantly and has to deal with a whole lotta woman when he arrives at the penthouse after work.  But seriously, it wasn't terrible...just set aside 8-10 miles a week on average and get a long run in before you do the 10k.  I ran a 5.5 miler the Monday before the race and was doing quite well after a weekend of resting my sore IT band injury.  I couldn't see any reason why someone who isn't a fitness nerd wouldn't be able to run one of those.  My biggest challenge to anyone though who would be considered "normal" (I mean c'mon who isn't fucking normal these days?) has to be to ditch the drinking.  I KNOW I KNOW...who the hell do I think I am telling you this nonsense?  But it's true...you ditch the drinking and you really get a boost on your training for those running events.

See?  Nothing really to the whole running gig...just wear some ridiculous training gear and ditch booze.  SOUNDS GREAT RIGHT???

Fuck it, just go shoe-less to gain that extra .3 seconds off your time.

I know this is a runner's blog but I can't talk about that crap ALL the time.  Since I'm sure all of you were worried about how I recovered from such a monumental feat I say this...I drank most of the weekend and found a place for brunch that served not one but THREE eggs benedict on one in plate in one sitting.  I wanted to talk about how badass I am for finishing that beast of a meal post-run but I only finished it to about the 90% mark.  Go ahead and hate if you want, it was delicious and put me into a 5 minute food coma of sorts.


What to do now though?  Do I keep running over the winter or do I just saw screw that and get fat hoping that training in the Spring won't be any worse than the training I just underwent?  I swear to god if you want me to just drink I'll do it...just for you.  I think that I will honestly try and keep myself at 3 mile runs 3 times a week or something of that nature.  I don't want to just get sick of running when I have nothing to train for, but I don't want to rid of running all together over this cold and dreary season (did I mention we're supposed to have mega-storms here in Chi-town this winter?).


I do know that I'll be playing some Elder Scrolls:  Skyrim for quite awhile...just picked that shit up last Friday and won't be putting it down 'till the lady person of the house tells me I'm fat, disgusting and smell of take-out Chinese food.  It's one hell of a game though, HUGE new map and tons of stuff I can try and fight even if I literally get raped in 2 seconds by a mountain giant that decides to pummel me with an 18' wooden club.  Sara can't love this new lifestyle she's going to have to live with for the winter since she's used to me watching movies and TV sitcoms with her...but hey at least I get to use the Man Cave for the first proper time since we have moved in together.  YEAAAAAA BUDDY.

Also a new addition to the apartment before I let you go.....Crantini's have made it into the booze-book for Sara and I.  I'm a sucker for anything containing a fruit mixture.  I mean hell I was once at a restaurant with Sara where we ordered a Cucumber Martini and a Dirty Martini...and guess who ordered the Cucumber one?  Yeah it was me, AND the waiter totally gave it to Sara so I had to switch them without the public knowing I was considered a social "schoolboy bitch."

Distilled 114 times with 100% testosterone.

Well folks, I can't really think of anything else to say that wouldn't be too random...I'm sure I'll be back for another blog here and there.  Hope you enjoyed the ridiculousness of all this jabbering I happened to scramble into words.  Until next time.

Cheers.

Matt