Own Chicago - Part 1

We finally made it.

Marathon weekend in Chicago. 

My friend Christine and I decided to do our 2 mile "get the nerves out and shake it off" run around on that Saturday morning about the same time as the gun time - 7:30 AM - to see how cold it would actually be the next morning.

We both lugged about four different outfit options to Chicago with us in preparation of what was to come.

If it gets below 60 degrees, us Florida girls just don't know how to dress ourselves.

Turns out he temp that morning was 38.

I ventured out onto Michigan Ave in shorts, compression socks (used as leg warmers, basically), a tank top, pullover, ear warmers and gloves. In the beginning my nose and lungs burned with cold and my legs turned bright red with numbness. I thought for sure I was going to be in trouble.

By the end of the two miles, I was sweating and ready to take off layers. I was relieved to be warmed up so quickly, because I had spent countless hours trying to find the perfect marathon outfit which just so happened to consist of shorts and a sleeveless tank.

Outfit = saved!

I even painted my nails to match my shorts and shoes. How cute am I.

After fueling up with pancakes at The Bongo Room, we headed to the Expo at McCormick Place.

If you've never been, McCormick Place probably holds as many people as my hometown of Cullman. It is a giant structure and navigating around trying to find where to go was not easy. 

Once we found it though, it was like walking into a runner's paradise. We were there for almost 3 hours and didn't even see half of what they had to offer!

My cheerleaders made signs!

 

Cool booth at Nike

Nike+ motivation

We had a delicious pasta dinner that night at Rosebud with friends and family. 

It was Christine's first marathon so I had to pass down some running wisdom to her via Marathon Survival Kit, consisting of running necessities for race day.

 

It wasn't until I got back to the hotel that the nerves really started to get to me and the doubts began to settle in.

Will I cramp up? Do I really think my hip is going to last all 26 miles? What if the dry air makes my contact pop out? How am I supposed to run half blind?

Somehow after all that I managed to get a decent night's sleep.

I woke up race morning feeling fairly confident. I figured whatever happened I would just go with it. Sure, I'd love to get my time into the 3:40's, but that's not what's most important. I just needed to finish.

Race morning!

Christine and I hid in her hotel lobby until we absolutely had to leave the heat and face the cold moring. Luckily we had our "throw away" clothes to keep us warm outside. 

It was mass chaos at the start, and we later found out we barely made it into our corrals before they closed them off-- oops!

Not in any particular hurry

The corrals were definitely not like any other race I had experienced. I had qualified for a better corral placement, so I was with some legitimate runners.

Some of which had no shame to pee right there on the side of the street.

Yea, I'm talking to you, tall bald guy in Corral D with a British accent. 

Once the Star Spangled Banner was finished, there was a massive shower of sweaters, jackets, blankets and fleece pants flying to the edges of the street. It was actually quite comical. I've never seen anything like it. I really wish I had taken photos.

The city ends up donating all of those clothes back to the charities in the area, so if you're in need of a good jacket, there are about 40,000 additional ones right now in the Chicago thrift stores!

It took 8 minutes to get to the starting line after the gun went off. once I crossed that line, it was go time.

Continued at Own Chicago- Part 2

You're The Inspiration

Ok, I promise, this is the last Chicago reference. 

For this week.

 

At the Nike Women's Marathon last year, I was golden until about the 21st mile. 

Then my body started breaking down - everything hurt from my feet to my head and I was mentally exhausted. I had to find inspiration from wherever I could and hang onto it for dear life.

I even slapped myself in the face around the 23rd mile to snap myself back into reality. True story.

I'm not expecting it to get any easier this year in Chicago, so I'm preparing my inspiration in advance, so that I don't have slap marks on my face in my finish line photos.

My playlist has been updated with over 3 hours worth of "power songs", including these few current favorites that everyone should download ASAP:

Besides a good techno track, I like to carry a few images with me on my journey for extra inspiration that I stick in my armband.

 

 Of course, a photo of my dad.

 I'm also including an image of the Hindu deity Hanuman, who is a symbol of strength and perseverance.....

...along with a symbol of the Holy Trinity. 

One other very important item that I will have my sights on after the race is over is some Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza.

Now that's what I call inspiration! 

And let's not forget the bling:

If you want to watch the runners, head over to NBC 5 Chicagoat nbcchicago.com  - they are providing live online coverage on race day!

There will be elites like Liliya Shobukhova and Wesley Korir, and then there will be me and 40,000 other runners.

I'm in the first wave start at 7:30 AM CST, but probably won't make it to the starting line until about 7:45.  Estimate a 9 min/mile pace

Bib number 12780 if you want to keep an eye out!

I may have on ugly throw-away clothes.

Don't judge.

If I see a camera, I promise to make a goofy face at you. 

A fellow running friend once shared this with me before my very first race:

(Un?)Sweet Serendipity

Do you ever get freaked out when the stars align in such a way that you feel like the universe is trying to tell you something?

The universe has been shoving Chicago down my throat for 2 weeks, and things just keep getting creepier. 

Maybe it's because the pure mention of the city of Chicago heightens my interest and I'm just more attuned to it, but I like to think that there is some mystical upper hand at work here.

I have 4 friends that have traveled to Chicago in the last few weeks, know someone traveling there now, and another randomly going to be there this weekend too. The Rays just got done playing the White Sox last week.Companies from Chicago have been inquiring about using our hotel for events.

"Chicago" was playing in Starbucks this morning.

The girl in front of me at yoga came in wearing a T-shirt from some little pizza place from Chicago, and the instructor went on and on about how that was her favorite place in the city. Earlier this week I was right behind a guy with a Bears shirt for the majority of my run. Last night as I'm flipping through local Tampa Bay news channels, a local Chicago news station was randomly airing instead of local news, and just so happened to be showing the weather (which, if you can't tell by now, I am kinda stressing about). 

Thank you WGN for randomly broadcasting into my home from 1,200 miles away and showing a thermometer with frikkin icicles on it right before I go to bed so that I can dream about the "chilly spell" for the marathon weekend.

 Tom Skilling, we are not friends.

Only 3 more days of this wackiness. 

At least it's almost carb-loading time. You know what that means.

Repost- Top {14} Ways You Know It's Race Week

Originally I posted this list here before last year's San Francisco Marathon.

I have since made a few updates and additions for this year's Chicago Marathon.

Here are my top 10 14 ways you can tell that it's race week:

1. You gain at least 3 pounds from carbo-loading.
2. You have nightmares about your legs feeling like they weigh 50 pounds each.
3. You wake up every few hours in the middle of the night the entire week with your heart racing, because you think you've slept in and are late to the starting line.
4. The marathon somehow comes up with every conversation you have with someone.
5. People comment that they never realized how short you are, as you have replaced your collection of stilettos with flats. 
6. You've memorized every turn, every incline, and every decline on the course, and done a Google street view of the entire map.
7. You drink so much water that you have to use the restroom every 15 minutes. 
8. Every meal is carefully calculated by your carb/protein/fat ratio and you start to panic over any nutrient-lacking food you ate during training.
9. You rearrange your playlist based on what estimated points of the race you'll be in at any given time.
10. You incessantly check the weather channel and memorize the race morning forecast hour-by-hour.
11. After memorizing the race morning forecast hour-by-hour, you freak out because you doubt that your warm Florida blood can really handle a low of 40 degrees on  a windy Chicago race morning. This leads to a rework of your race day attire, including "throw-away" pants and jackets, hot hands, and ear warmers, none of which match your carefully selected race day wardrobe that you spent so much time piecing together perfectly. (Well, maybe this is just for us Florida girls.)
12. You look over your training plan from the last few months and freak out that you didn't do enough _________ (fill in the blank with strength training, speed work, stretching, cross training).
13. You swear that you're coming down with the flu if you so much as sneeze/cough, and purge your system with Vitamin C to avoid further sickness.
14. You're more agitated than normal with everything in your life, and people are equally as agitated with you.

What are your race week rituals?

Now where did I put that bagel, Nuun, and Vitamin C....

.....And All That Jazz

Please pardon the title, I'm in a Chicago state of mind.

The Chicago Marathon is in two weeks, and you know what that means!
It's crunch time, where I am officially overwhelmed with work and running and physical therapy and keeping up with life in general.

*Cue sad violin music* 

It was around this time last year, before the San Francisco Marathon, that things started to get real, so I knew I had it coming. (See what I did there? Another Chicago reference. I am brilliant.)

 I've already started to analyze the 10-day forecast and predict what the weather will be like. I read and re-read the participant guide and did a Google street view of parts of the course. I began my list of to-do's, such as buy more Gu, order a Chicago-themed Sweaty Band, and finalize race day attire. I start to look back at my training and worry I haven't done enough, and worry I haven't had a strict enough diet.
To add to the mix this year, I have my piriformis to worry about. 

Piriformis syndrome: It's a literal pain in the butt.

One thing I do have going into this year is the confidence that I can finish.  One other unfortunate thing I have going into this year is a time to beat.

I finished San Francisco at 3:58, which is around a 9:04 pace.

At the beginning of training, back when my hip was OK and I was going to my weekly track/speed workouts, my goal was to get my average pace down to the 8:40's or lower 8:50's. To give you an idea, that's a finish time of between 3:47 and 3:52. I figured with the flat course Chicago is known for, it was definitely an achievable goal. 

Then, after taking almost a month off and then having to re-start training in the middle of the season and not even certain that I would make it to Chicago at all, 
that goal changed to "just finish". 

My goal deep down is to still beat my San Francisco time - that's just the competitor in me. 

But, if I don't, especially after all the pain and the stretching and the Advil and the massage and the physical therapy, I will still be more than happy to simply cross the finish line.  

2 1/2 weeks and counting.....

Elephants, California Dreamin, and a Piri-WHAT?!

As you may have heard, the Republican National Convention is in town this week causing a ruckus. The city is full of patriot-clad delegates, VIPs, VVIPs, and VVVIPs from around the nation. 

I immediately decided that since my hotel was hosting a delegation (amongst some other miscellaneous big wigs) that I needed to be dressed appropriately - decked out in the red white and blue, of course.

The problem with wearing red white and blue (and anything with an elephant on it) is that I don't own much red, and I don't own anything resembling an elephant. The white and blue, no big deal. But I mostly avoid the color red and elephants altogether, due to Auburn's arch rivals the Crimson Tide, whose colors are red/white and have an elephant as their mascot. 

Plus red just ain't my color. Makes me look washed out.

After a trip to Payless and the thrift store for red items, I was able to accessorize enough with my white and blue pieces that 4 different cute outfits were born!

I'm leaving for California tonight so won't physically be able to wear my Day 5 outfit. 

I was sad for about 2 seconds them remembered I would be in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA instead, so then I got happy again.

Doing long runs in the dry cool air along the strand from Hermosa Beach all the way to Marina Del Ray and back are the things that dreams are made of, y'all. 

The sunny 75 degrees hanging out on the sand with a drink in my hand watching a beach volleyball tournament isn't so bad, either.

And, speaking of running....

Moving on to something I've been mute about -- my hip.

At first we (my running coach and I) thought it was probably just a tight IT band, so iced/stretched/took advil/strengthened for a solid 2-3 months and stopped my speed/track work altogether. And it's still not better. 4 or 5 miles into my runs, I get this sharp pain in my left hip and can't shake it unless I take way over the recommended dosage of Advil and stop once every mile to shake it out.  

On a 15 mile run, a stop at every mile past the 5th is an average pace cold-blooded killer.

I finally succumbed to the fact that I needed to see a specialist.

 *Cue scary music*

Sports Specialists: Where runner's dreams go to die.

The doctor thinks its my Piriformis muscle, which connects to the hip joint as well as the sciatic nerve. See highlighted area below for details.

 Yes, I just posted a photo of butt muscles on my blog. Who doesn't like butt muscles?!

I told him I'm running the Chicago Marathon in October. He said he'll get me there, but I may not get a PR. Although I was hoping to get in the 3:40's timing wise this year, I was content with this diagnosis. 

At this point, just get me there!! 

He wants me to do Physical Therapy for three weeks then come back. At that point if I'm still in pain he may shoot me up with some Cortisone I hope he shoots me up with some Cortisone. I can't lie. 

Happy Labor Day/College Football Opening Day weekend, and War Eagle! 

Life Advice From Running (Alternate Title: Embracing Your Crazy)

Running and life in general have many similarities. Here are a few of my favorite thoughts, taken from the miles I've spent on the road:

• Sometimes you're going to love it. It's going to make you feel like you're invincible and you're never going to want to stop. Ever.
• Sometimes you're going to hate it. There will be days when hardest thing to do is wake up and step foot out the door. It's going to hurt. It's going to make you depressed. It's going to make you cry and whine and complain. Keep your eyes on the horizon. This too shall pass.
• Every step is valuable. Pace Yourself. Every journey begins with one step. To achieve your goal just put one foot in front of the other. Always remember that slow is considered a speed.
• There will always be someone a step ahead. But also always someone a step behind. Just do your best, that is what's important.
• Don't lose focus because people pass you. It's impossible to compare yourself to others, because each person is unique, has their own goals and has experienced things differently. 
• Appearances can be deceiving. Not only do  the slowest looking people at the starting line end up smoking you at the finish, but sometimes the horizon hides even more challenges. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, you get thrown a curve ball. Around every corner is another corner.
• Pain is temporary. Remember that nothing lasts forever. If it hurts now, it will eventually stop hurting and you will feel better.
• Sometimes people will think you're crazy. That's OK. Everyone is crazy in their own special way. Embrace your crazy.
• It's easier with a goal. You can go about it day to day, wandering the streets, but with a specific goal in mind you can stay focused.
• You can go at it alone, but it's more fun with a friend. Support each other through the ups and downs. Sometimes the most priceless thing you can have is a cheering section.
• Practice makes perfect. Preparation is key - you get out of it what you put into it. Every minute spent practicing helps the end result be successful. The more you do it, the easier it gets.
• Look ahead, but not too far ahead.  Finish lines may appear closer than they really are.
  
• There will always be hills to climb. You won't be climbing forever. Remember what goes up, must come down.
• It's never too late to begin. If you wait until you're "good enough" at something, you'll run out of time. 
• The perfect shoes for you are the ones that fit your feet. If the shoe fits, wear it. Don't be distracted by pretty colors or what the cute athletic salesman is trying to talk you into buying. You know yourself better than anyone, and you know what works for you. Stick with it.
• There's a difference between "I don't want to" and "I can't". Find something that inspires you and motivates you, and cling to it.
• Just because something is simple doesn't mean it's easy. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
  
• Sometimes it's just a big mind game. Are you eating properly? Have you practiced enough? Are you dressed appropriately? You are your own worst enemy. Stop thinking so much and embrace the moment. 
• Sometimes you need a break. The worst thing you can do is burn yourself out. Take a step back if you need to recharge and refocus on the big picture.
• Watch where you plant your feet. You don't wanna fall off a curb or end up in a hole.
• Be well rounded. Don't focus on one thing. Embrace different activities. (Cross-training!) 
• Things seem to go better with music. And prayer. And maybe beer. Maybe.
• You are inspirational. Others have inspired you, and whether you realize it or not, you are inspiring others.
• Breathe. Enjoy the journey. 

Happy Running!