Tuesday, August 19, 2014

It's been the best of times and the worst of times

Normally, I love summer. I look forward to summer all winter long. This summer was no different. As with every summer, I had visions of adventures with my boys up in Wisconsin and downtown Chicago.

But they both had different visions of this summer. Teenagers now, they wanted to spend unlimited time with their friends. And I'm ok with that. I get it, it makes them normal, well adjusted, blah blah blah.

What I'm not ok with is the drama, the sleepless nights, and the number of late night phone calls I've gotten, especially lately.



All summer long, my husband and I wake up in the middle of the night to an empty house. Even though they they have a curfew, they ignore it. We call the boys to see where they are...and are told "on my way home". Doing what? Who knows. We hope for the best. Trying to trust these boys.

The last couple of weeks have been over the top.

Three weeks ago...my oldest was a passenger in a car accident. He called me at 10 (ok, not THAT late) to come and get him. No big deal. Right? But I ended up taking him to the ER to get his facial wounds closed. The car? Totalled. Thankful that everyone was ok, this shook me to my core. But red flags everywhere, I considered asking the ER doc to drug test him. Nope, I decided. I need to trust him. And he seemed ok.

Last week, my youngest son, fresh off being grounded for not coming home on time...didn't come home on time. My husband called him and he was with his friends, who were stuck in an elevator in a parking garage? The last I knew he was at a friend's house. Another sleepless night, my son was grounded again, and he didn't talk to me for the entire week. As if it were my fault.

Sunday night, my phone rang at 1130. It was the father of one of my oldest son's friends, who was in the ER after being found belligerent and drunk in a parking lot earlier in the evening. My son, who was home when the phone rang, gave me a vague rundown of the evening's events. The group of boys, who have been friends since first grade, were at another boy's house picking their players for their fantasy football league. That's when the story gets gray. No one remembers the boy drinking. Somehow they were called to where he was found when he tried to run from the police. He is in a ton of trouble. And I tossed and turned the rest of the night. I feel badly for the boy and his father. The details are starting to emerge. My son is being fingered as the one who brought the liquor. He is, of course, denying it. "What are you talking about?",  he keeps saying to me. When I told him he can't drive to school tomorrow, he just about had a meltdown. I told him to tell me the truth. But he swears he is. In my heart of hearts, I know he's lying. Because, after all, I was a teenager once.



My husband makes excuses for my son.

I've shed a lot of tears the last few weeks. Talked to a lot of my girlfriends who have been there with their teens.

These are good boys. Truly. I think that's what makes this all the more surprising to me. I know teenagers have poor judgement and do stupid things. But it is hard to accept it when it is your kids getting in trouble.

And it isn't the liquor use and the weed smoking that bothers me the most. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ok with this. But what bothers me is the lying. As a professional, I know all about teenagers and why they lie. But when it is your own son....

This has been the worst summer of my life. I'm not feeling sorry for myself. It is what it is.



The only redeeming feature of this summer has been my marathon training. I almost think that it was fate that I won this entry. That some power bigger than me knew that I was going to be challenged by my boys, and that I needed something to focus on outside of them, something that would make me tough.

My marathon training, being managed by my trainer Becky, who is a CrossFit coach, is different than any race prep I've ever done in the past. Heavy lifting, intervals, speed work, endurance work..each workout is meant to make me stronger and tougher. This is the hardest work I've ever done. And I'm loving it. I might moan and groan while I'm working out, but when I finish I feel great. I'm focused on controlling my pace and speed for every running workout I do.

Because right now, my workouts are the only thing I can control.


Sunday, August 17, 2014

Marathon training week 5--What doesn't kill me is going to make me stronger...

This week was much less lower on the drama-o-meter. But still not drama free as my youngest son continues to give me a run for my money, I continued to push towards my marathon goal and away from being sucked into that parenting black hole. Thankfully school is back in session this week. 

Here's how it all shook out:

Monday: Becky had me do intervals on the rower alternating with (gulp!) burpees.
-First set was 1500m=100m all out, 100m rest followed by 15 burpees over the rower.
-Second set was 1000m-=200m all out, 200m rest followed by 10 burpees over the rower.
-Final set was 500m-=250m rest, 250m all out followed by 5 burpees.
Yep. Thought I was going to vomit when it was all over. Sweated all over the floor during my burpees. I mean, I left seriously deep puddles. And I didn't care. I got through it and even though I hated it while I was doing it, I knew it would be worth it. I didn't stick around to chit-chat when I was done. I said goodbye and quickly scooted out the door. And no recovery. I had to go to work after that and staff the sick clinic. I pushed through the first couple of hours. About 10am, I started to feel better. Luckily, it was a half day for me and when I got home, I had lunch and hit the couch for the afternoon.


Tuesday: I had 6 miles on the plan. Even though I set my Garmin to pace, I pretty much ignored it. I don't know what got into me, but I just wanted to run. And as a result of that, my splits were all over the place. First 2 miles were 8:38, yeah, but last 2 miles were 9:03 and 9:18. Not at all what I'm looking for. Ok, so I got that out of my system. And now we get back on task. Pace and consistency. That's what's going to get me across the finish line. But in the plus column, I finally got the Swirlgear top I ordered back in April and wore it for this run. Red is my favorite color, and this top was most certainly worth the wait!



Wednesday: I finally got back to the yoga studio for my favorite class with my favorite instructor. I've been carpooling my son and his friend to football all summer and wasn't able to make it to my class until this week. I put my mat down in my usual spot, the back corner of the room. We worked on back bending and it felt great. It would have been perfect, except for the guy next to me who took his ujjayi breathing to the next level--it sounded like Darth Vader was next to me. He also let out a few bodily noises, which never fail to make me chuckle. Because inside, I'm really an adolescent boy. But overall, it was a wonderful class. 

Thursday: Once again, I had mile repeats x 5 on the plan. I dropped the boys off at football and headed over to the retention pond for my workout. I just wasn't feeling it, but after the first mile, my legs loosened up and I really kicked this one out. I finished strong, with that 8:02 split! This was definitely a confidence builder!


Then I headed over to CrossFit for my weekly weight workout with Becky. She had me do deadlifts, 120# x5, 5 sets. After that I did front squats, 55# x 1 minute, alternating with pistol squats x1 minute, 3 sets. My pistols were pretty pathetic, but I got it done. What doesn't kill me will make me stronger, right? And faster? I do think CrossFit is making me both! 

And I did!

Friday: rest day. And as much as I hate rest day, I needed it. My glutes and hammies talked to me all day. Luckily my job has me on my feet most of the day, so I didn't get stuck in one position for too long. Getting in and out of my chair was a challenge though! A mother of siblings I was seeing told me she was training for the Chicago marathon. She had all kinds of questions for me, and I came to the realization that she has no clue what she's in for. Maybe that's a good thing! I think about how seriously most of us take this training, and how hard it is to run 26.2. It will be interesting to hear how she does.

Saturday: I had 5 miles on the plan, and I made it a tempo run. I was thrilled with the outcome: 


After that, I went to work for the morning, and then headed up to Wisconsin for some fun in the sun. Tired from my tempo run, and knowing that I had a long run scheduled for the morning, I wasn't going to go waterskiing, but the lure of the lake was too hard to pass up!


Sunday: I set the alarm for 5:30 (ugh) and after a restless night's sleep, got myself ready for the 14 miler that is on my marathon training schedule. It was cool, cloudy, and breezy, and since I had eaten shortly before I went out, I used that as my excuse to start out slowly. Pacing has been an issue for me, but today could not have gone better. My first 3 miles were sub-10s, and then as my legs loosened up (I'm still sore!), my pace increased moderately. The first 5 miles or so were rolling hills, but between miles 6 and 10, I encountered some really steep inclines. I felt my glutes and hammies engage and pushed up those hills without too much trouble. I only had to stop once at the top, to catch my breath. I've been reading about hills, and the key is to run by effort, not pace. I have to remember that, since here in Illinois, I don't get a whole lot of opportunity to practice hill running! I stopped once to gel, about mile 8, walking as I choked it down. My last 3 miles were sub-9, with my last mile being my fastest at 8:51. I could not have been more pleased with this run. I'm hoping that my efforts to work on pacing are paying off!



In addition to this, I discovered that a fellow FB page owner, Ashtyn from Fit Life with Ashtyn was planning on running--get this--22 miles on the local high school track in the town where we were staying. She invited me come over and meet her, and when I did, I walked a mile with her. She is training for a 100 mile race in January, and has a 50 miler coming up this fall. It was fun to talk with her and learn about her motivation for running. I was so impressed at how far she's come after running her first race only 1 year ago! We talked about our training as well--mine is so different, with the emphasis on cross training and endurance activities, while hers is lots of miles. Although she tells me she's not running as many miles as other ultra runners! It was great meeting her, and I hope we can connect again. 

Ashtyn and me! She's so young...

Overall, it was a great training week for me. I'll admit, I wasn't sure how this training plan was going to work out. But looking back on the last 2 weeks, it seems like it is all coming together. Pacing is improving, and I feel strong! The weather is supposed to warm up this week, so it will be interesting to see if the heat affects me as much as usual. 

Trust the plan, indeed!




Thursday, August 14, 2014

I'll Be Stopping


I have IBS, better known as irritable bowel syndrome, or as my ex-brother in law used to call it, "I'll be stoppin'". For years I've struggled with finding foods that don't make me have to run to the bathroom. It was a struggle for me to complete even a 5 mile run without a pit stop. When I'm planning a run, I make sure that I run by at least one bathroom! You just never know when you have to make a stop. The guys at the Speedway near my house don't blink an eye when I run in to make a pit stop. So naturally, I buy all my gas there. Small price to pay, right? According to a recent article in Runner's World, I'm not alone. It is estimated that 30-50% of distance runners struggle with gastrointestinal issues at one time or another.

You've all seen this shot:


and hope that it never happens to you! 

Three years ago, while training for the Chicago Marathon, I came to the realization that I needed to figure out what was going to make me have to stop stopping. My long runs were plagued with frequent pit stops. And as I continued to train, the number of stops increased as well. I always worried about making it to the next location where there was a bathroom. The final breaking point was when I ran a half marathon during my training and had to stop 3 times to use the porta-potty. Even the imodium I took prior to the race was no match for my intestines. The great long distance runner Bill Rodgers once said it best: 
"More marathons are won or lost in the porta toilets than at the dinner table."


Ok, so even while I laugh about it, because let's face it, poop is funny, my IBS was really starting to get to me. I'm training for a marathon and I have to worry about my stomach? This is what is going to hold me back? REALLY?

I started to do my research on IBS. There are several types of IBS, constipation-type, diarrhea-type, and the mixed type where people have constipation but occasionally have giant blowouts of diarrhea. In the spirit of full disclosure, I have the diarrhea type. In a normal day, multiple trips to the bathroom are not uncommon for me. No one has figured out what actually causes IBS. I have my theories, and I do think our crappy American diet has a lot to do with it. Food additives and junk food cannot be what nature intended for us to eat. I spend a great deal of my day as a nurse practitioner talking to parents and their children about their bowel habits. It really is a huge issue for the majority of people. Some proposed causes include food intolerance, anxiety and depression, bacterial overgrowth, motility issues, genetics...pretty much anything can be blamed for IBS. Over the years, I have tried a variety of probiotics, thinking maybe it was a bacterial imbalance, but I never had a lot of luck. I read about a new antibiotic, rifaximin, which had been trialled and shown to be effective in patients with my type of IBS, and made an appointment to see my internist.

I love my internist, because she gets me. Instead of telling me to suck it up (like the GI specialist told me years ago), we talked about different options. She offered me one other option I hadn't considered, a drug that slows down the motility of the GI tract. Because there had been some issues with bowel obstruction with this drug, there was special paperwork she and I would have to complete should I choose to go this route. She was very positive about this drug, and had had several patients take it without problems. But after a lengthy discussion, we decided to first try the antibiotic rifaximin. I picked my prescription up and almost had a heart attack when I saw my copay...and what the med actually cost. But I was determined to feel better, and after about a week on the drug, I noticed a big difference. And who can put a price on that?

Because I knew the antibiotic would make me better but not last forever, I also began to evaluate my diet to see if there were any patterns to foods I was eating and subsequent pit stops. I was able to identify 2 culprits for sure: corn and anything that contained corn, including corn syrup and the evil high fructose corn syrup; and beef. I even further speculated that because cattle are corn fed, perhaps the cows' diet was affecting me! I tried grass fed beef with mixed results and eventually learned that even most grass fed cattle are "finished off" with corn before they go to market. Who knew? Anyways, once I became a label reader and eliminated those items from my diet, things continued to improve and I was able to run farther distances without those pesky bathroom stops. I have since tried reintroducing beef back into my diet and as long as I limit the frequency, I seem to be ok. But just recently, I ate some steak and that set me back for about a week. I was miserable. Lower fat cuts of beef seem to be much better for me, such as skirt steak and flank steak. Live and learn, right?

What about gels? I experimented with several different gels and learned that the ones that contain fructose, such as GU, are not an option for me. Fructose is a complex carbohydrate well known to cause GI issues in susceptible individuals. Interestingly, the combination of fructose and glucose seems to negate the GI problems associated with fructose alone in most people. But I stick with Clif Razz Gel, which contains cane sugar, for fueling during long distances. And water only. Gatorade is not my friend. No fancy fuels for this girl. I can drink Nuun, tho.

A few years ago, I was treated for Lyme disease, and because I know antibiotics can stir up trouble for me, I started taking the probiotic, Culturelle. I found that also seemed to help me with ongoing issues. So to this day, I continue to take it, once a day.

Ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) has been implicated as a culprit in IBS. Several studies have shown ibuprofen to aggravate exercise induced GI injury and increased GI symptoms. After learning that, I kicked the habit of popping 3 ibuprofens for every ache and pain and just learned to tough it out. This also forces me to stretch and foam roll more, and that is a good thing.

Finally, prior to a race, I really simplify my diet. Lots of pasta and easy to digest foods. Nothing high in fiber. I didn't make all these changes right away. A lot of what I've learned is trial and error from running long distances over many years. But once I found what works, it was easy for me to incorporate these changes into my life. After all, it sure beats running to the bathroom all the time!

Oh and that Chicago Marathon? I had 99 problems but a potty stop wasn't one!









Sunday, August 10, 2014

Marathon training week 4: Drama mama

Oh, how I hate drama. But this week, personal drama was unavoidable. No need to recap. You can read all about it here. Thankfully, it was all over with in 24 hours. I was worried about the impact on my runs, but maybe in spite of all the trauma to my psyche, I was able to get my runs under control and eek out some awesome pacing.



Monday: rest day. Well, a rest day from running, anyways...

Tuesday: was supposed to be an 8 miler, but lack of sleep from the events of Monday left me lagging. This night, I did get a good night's sleep, since both my boys were home and I didn't have to worry about them.

Wednesday: I pulled up my bootstraps and hit the road for that 8 miler. I had an fantastic run, with consistent split times, averaging about 9:10mins/mile, which is about what I wanted for this distance. I felt good. This was the run I needed, the one I've been looking for since coming back from my injury. I was smiling from ear to ear. When I got home, I hit the mat for my scheduled yoga session. I did the SeaWheeze 2014 routine again. And went to work smiling and calm.


Thursday: Once again, I had mile repeats x 5 on the plan. My goal was to get myself through all 5, at a fast pace but with consistent times for all. I met that goal and was happy to see my splits:


That 8:18? Well, I think these look pretty good considering that I've been all over the place with this! My Spotify playlist was great and the last song was Rob Zombie's Never Gonna Stop Me, which spoke volumes to me, and got me home. Nice work, and yes, I'm patting myself on the back. Next up was Crossfit. I don't know what got into Becky. While I was warming up on the rower, I saw her carrying the prowler outside. Ok. When I went outside to start the workout, she strapped the sled to my back. And put a 20# plate on the sled. She had my push the prowler with the sled behind me. O...M...G...! My hamstrings were screaming! When I finished after my first lap, I fell to the ground. She started laughing while I caught my breath. Holy sh**! I did 2 more laps of that and we headed back inside. I was sweating profusely. Actually, I think it was my hamstrings crying.


After the prowler, she had me do progressive deadlifts x 5; 5 sets with max of 115#. In between sets, I did overhead squats with sandbags x 15. And to top it off, I had to do 15 burpees, as fast as I could. Which wasn't very fast. When I got home, I stretched and foam rolled.



Friday: thankfully a rest day. Surprisingly, I wasn't all that sore! My morning in the clinic went smoothly, and I was able to get outside for a brisk 30 minute walk at lunch, which felt great.

Saturday: 5 mile tempo run. Again, working on consistency, I kept my Garmin set on pace instead of miles. I was happy to see this at the end of my run: 


It isn't so much the pace that I was excited about, it was the pacing. Not much variation there, and that's what I'm working on! Now if I can bring that to 26.2...

Sunday: Long run of 12 miles on the plan. I started out slower, but still faster than I'd like. My goal pace is 9:30, this run ended up being about 9:20 mins/mile. It felt hard, tho. I'm not sure why--if my legs were tired from the week or if that extra glass of wine I had last night took a toll. The weather was really nice when I started, about 69F and overcast, with a light breeze to keep me cool. It was fairly humid and I really sweated a lot. I also had some issues with my music--somehow a whole album of Incubus songs got downloaded onto my playlist, and I had to keep stopping to fast forward past them. I just couldn't listen to it--this run was too hard and I needed my running music to push me. I fixed that problem when I got home. Kind of interesting, usually when I run at the retention pond where there is a 2 mile path, I'm usually one of the few runners, sharing the path with walkers and bikers. Today there were some speedy runners--I watched them fly by. I had to hold back not to try to keep up with them. I kept telling myself that I'm running long and slow today. My inner competitor wanted to come out, I guess!



So a few things to work on...pacing is improving, for sure, but I still need to focus on that. I need to do more foam rolling and stretching to keep everything loose. Now I'll be increasing my miles, which should help with my confidence. 

And I'm hoping for a drama-free week. I'm really glad I was able to push through it. Maybe because this week, my runs were the only thing I could control.





Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Mom versus the Marathon

courtesy of our sole intent

So after my wonderful weekend, I woke up Monday morning and started to get ready for work. I was sipping my morning coffee, perusing my FB feed, reading all the positive comments and love I got after my Zooma race. Just feeling really positive. I kept hearing the floor squeaking in my youngest son's room. I started to worry because this kid sleeps like the dead. So I peaked in this room and saw not one but 4 heads. Stunned, I let them sleep and headed to work. I sent him a text, asking him to call me when he woke up. When I asked him about the boys in his room, his response was, "why were you looking in my room?". REALLY? Long story short, he snuck out after my husband and I went to bed Sunday night, met up with his friends and decided to have a sleepover about 1130pm. Why didn't he ask, you might be wondering? He told me that he knew I'd say no.

Was it worth it? He's grounded for a week now....

That night, I got ready for bed earlier than usual. I had an 8 miler on the plan, and needed to get it in before I left for work the following morning. I was excited because it was time for me to break out the new shoes! I mean, really, what gets a runner more excited than new shoes? Especially these babies:

I love black running shoes and the pink accents and laces made them just perfect!
I got the shoes ready, laid out my running clothes for the next morning, and settled into bed with the dog. Into the deep sleep phase, I woke up to my phone vibrating. In a fog, I answered it. It was my oldest son. He told me he and his friend had been in an accident, that he was ok, and I needed to pick him up because the paramedics wouldn't let him leave without me. I asked him where he was and it took a few times for me to figure out where I needed to go. I threw on a sweatshirt, thinking I'd be back to bed shortly, and headed over to the accident.

When I turned onto the street where he was at, I saw a slew of flashing red lights--2 ambulances and 5 police cars. The car was totalled, head-on into a tree. I saw my friend, the mother of my son's friend. She told me Tom was ok, but he was in the back of the ambulance. I walked towards the ambulance and was stopped by the paramedics. I told them who I was.

In a strange twist of irony, one or the paramedics recognized me. From the bicycle accident 2 weeks ago! He asked me if I had been out running. Haha. I wish.

After looking at the lacerations on my son's face, I made the decision to take him to the ER. He argued with me about that. "I'm fine", he kept saying. Because, after all he does know everything. Needless to say, I prevailed, and once we were done, he was happy to be sewn up. After getting home about 1 am, I could not fall asleep. I decided to bag the run and try to at least get enough sleep for work the next day.

Exhausted, I started my day with a full schedule of patients. Lots and lots of school physicals. It's that time of year. My second patient, a teenage girl who wanted acne medicine, also needed her 2d chicken pox vaccine. The visit was uneventful, and the mom told me I was a "10" because I explained everything so clearly to them. I felt great hearing that. I was in the hallway as they left when I heard a thud. My patient was face down on the floor. I rushed over and turned her on her back. All I could think while attending to her was REALLY? I'm a "10" and now my patient faints? And how much more could I take? We revived her, gave her IV fluids, and sent her home.

Somehow, I pushed through the day and got it all done. Truth be told, I don't know how I held it all together yesterday. Maybe it was the exhaustion? I kept a straight face when one mom told me her son and his father have farting contests and sometimes the fart isn't just a fart. It felt like I talked about poop a lot yesterday. Yep, living the dream...

Do you remember that scene from National Lampoon's Vacation? The one where Chevy Chase loses it in the car?


That's how I felt yesterday when I was driving home, reflecting on one the most stressful 24 hours of my life. Marathon training? How is that happening? It was easier to train when the boys were younger! What was I thinking? Well, guess what..it's no longer training...it's a quest! Or as Clark Griswold put it:

......It's a quest. It's a quest for fun. You're gonna have fun, and I'm gonna have fun... We're all gonna have so much fucking fun we're gonna need plastic surgery to remove our goddamn smiles! You'll be whistling 'Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah' out of your assholes! I must be crazy!..

And no, I don't need an aspirin. Wine? Maybe....

I went to bed last night with the plan to try that run again in the morning. Smiled at my new shoes that were just waiting for me. I also needed to do a yoga session, so I got up early to get both done before I needed leave for work at noon. Both boys were home last night and for a change, I slept well. The alarm went off at 5 and I got up and out the door by 6. I had a wonderful 8 mile run and maintained a nice pace of 9:10 mins/mile. I was breathing comfortably, enough to sing along with some of my songs. Yep, I'm that runner. But it was a good run, the one I've been looking for. I need my miles. Regained my sanity. Got my confidence back. I can do this. I'm going to conquer it.






Sunday, August 3, 2014

Marathon training week 3--finding my mojo


This week was all about getting back on track after a rough week 2. My goals for this week were to focus on pacing and getting my timing under control and to get my head in the game. I don't know how well I succeeded at either goal, but at least I'm aware that I need to continually work on both! I did get to run in a beautiful place, and that is always satisfying.

Monday: Crossfit/Tabata with Becky: As usual, I warmed up on the rower, then she had me do Tabata intervals (20 seconds of activity--as many as possible (AMRAP)-- with 10 seconds rest x 8 reps)--burpees, slam balls, step-ups (on a box), and air squats. Then I did supermans, holding each side for 20 seconds.  At the time, it didn't feel like a super tough workout (except for the burpees), but ha! fooled me. I was really feeling it the next day. My youngest son and I drove up to northern Wisconsin to spend a few nights with my parents, and the 5 hour car ride probably didn't do my hammies any favors. I packed my foam roller and did some work on that before I went to bed.



Tuesday: 5 miles at race pace. I was excited to run to the county park which overlooks the waters of Green Bay. Fortunately, I was able to get a signal on my Garmin and I headed off. There is a very steep hill I have to climb at the start of the run, and I have yet to make it to the top without stopping to catch my breath. After that, the run is pretty flat and very scenic. The entire route ended up being pretty close to 6 miles and my average pace was 9:07min/mi. A little faster than race pace, but much more consistent.

This was the destination...

Wednesday: yoga. I went to a yoga class with my mom and her friend. I've taken yoga from this instructor before, and normally I like a little more flow than she does. But lately I've been doing more asana and holding the poses longer to stretch and release my muscles. This class was perfect, and I left feeling really good. Later that night, tho, I had some pain in my lower back, my L sacroiliac joint. I don't know if I did something at the yoga class to aggravate it. I had pain there last week too. Luckily, it was gone the next morning.

Thursday: Speedwork--mile repeats x 5. I had to find a flat, straight road and I did. I fired up the Garmin, and about 1/4 mile into my first mile, I noticed that it had stopped recording. Ugh. I based the first mile on time, about 8:15, and stopped to walk and restart the Garmin at that point. You can see the first mile below, and no, really, it wasn't 14 min/mile. The rest of my miles were uneventful and fairly consistent! I was really happy with this session. Because I was away from home, Becky gave me some homework to do: 50 lunge steps, 50 good mornings (forward bends with a bar behind my shoulders), and 50 sumo deadlifts--all, as she requested, slow and controlled. Since I didn't have exercise equipment, I used a pool cue for a bar and a bottle of laundry detergent for my kettlebell. 'Cause that's how I roll...

Ignore mile 1--it's when my Garmin quit on me.

No, this isn't where I did my speedwork! 

Friday: back to work--rest day

Saturday: Zooma half marathon--which I planned to use as a training run. You can read all about it here. All I can say about that is that it is really challenging to do a training run in a race environment. But I'm glad I did it and finished, all with a lot of help from some awesome running friends! I was really tired that night and sore. I did some stretching and foam rolling, and went to bed early.

Mile 13! Just 200 yards to go...

Sunday: recovery bike ride. I was really dreading this, after that tough run! But Becky had told me to take it easy and I was more than happy to do that. The first mile or 2 was tough, but once my legs loosened up, I felt really good. I love riding my bike and was happy that this was my recovery activity. I did 16 1/4 miles in 1:08. Not that slow, but I felt great after. Later, I rewarded my feet with a pedicure.

Coming up this week: increasing running miles. I'm glad because I'm ready to get some long runs under my belt. The race on Saturday showed me that I need it. All the while working on pacing and toughness.


Saturday, August 2, 2014

Zooma half marathon


Truth be told, I didn't really want to run this race. I signed up last spring after my 2 friends became ambassadors for Zooma. I figured it would be fun to run it with them. But even with the ambassador discount, the race fee was expensive--the most expensive half I had ever signed up for, including Disney.

As part of my marathon training plan, Becky included this race as a long run. We talked about using the race as a training run, to work on pacing. Pacing has been a big problem for me--in the past and currently--as I tend to go out too fast and crash and burn at the finish. My strategy was to run about 9:30 at the start and go with what the rest of the race brought me.

A bigger concern was that I hadn't run any distance farther than 8 miles since my 10 miler in April. I had planned a half in May, but was sidelined with that foot fracture for 4 weeks. I biked and still worked out with Becky, to maintain fitness. I knew I could run this distance, because this was my 10th half marathon. But how well?

I woke up at 4:00 this morning to get ready. Sara, my friend who has a FB page called Cheesy Runner Mom, was meeting me at 4:30 to make the drive to downtown Chicago together. The logistics of the race had me a little stressed out. The race was on the south side of Chicago, at the lakefront, but the parking situation was a little dicey. Zooma had arranged for shuttle buses to drive the runners from a downtown hotel to the race. Sara and I discussed it and we decided to go with that option. We parked the car at the Millenium Park garage and came out into the bowels of the city. Sara's GPS located us, and told us where we needed to be, but we had no idea how to get to the upper level where the street was. We went back inside the garage and took the elevator up, which got us to the street and the hotel where the shuttle buses were located. The ride down to Burnham Park was easy and uneventful.

When we got off the bus, we noticed the portapotties. Or lack thereof. We counted 7 total at the start line. We figured we had better use them before a line formed. My tummy had been funky before I left the house, and this was my 4th trip to the bathroom so far. Not a good omen.



The sun started to come up over Lake Michigan, and we took in the view of the Chicago skyline. Spectacular!



While we were taking our photos, Karen, from Trading in My Heels, found us. She and her friends got in line for the portapotties, which by this point had grown substantially. Michelle, from This Momma Runs, also found us. It was great to see our running friends!

Group shot in the portapotty line!
We lined up for the race. Sara, who is speedy, lined up at the front with the 1:50 pacers. Michelle, Karen, and I lined up with the 2:00 pacers. My first mistake--hello 9:30 pace? We took off, and Michelle ran ahead of us. Karen and I planned to run 9:15, which was a little faster than what I had planned. As we ran along, we both noticed that the humidity was affecting us. My tummy was not happy. My legs kept trying to go faster, but Karen kept pulling me back. Meanwhile, the race took us north towards McCormick Place and Soldier Field. The Chicago harbors were full of boats. Truly a great place to run. At 3 miles, we turned around and headed south.

I had planned to stop to gel at mile 5. I told Karen to go on ahead, because I felt like we were running a little faster than I wanted. Actually, I felt pretty bad. I stopped to use the portapotty (again). Funny thing, I thought I locked the door, but apparently I didn't because a man swung that door wide open while I was doing my business. Hello! I slammed it shut. And hey, isn't this supposed to be a women's race?

There were men running the race--I'm not sure how or why. There weren't very many. I found it odd.

Anyways, I took off again, slowly, about 9:20min/mi pace. After a few minutes, I found Michelle waiting for me by the side of the path. She told me she turned around to come run with me because Karen told her I was struggling. I was stunned. I mean, seriously, WHO DOES THAT? I almost started to cry, I was so touched. I really wanted to quit with the 10K runners, but I guess that wasn't happening...nope, Michelle kept me going. She wanted me to tell her some funny stories, but I was having trouble breathing, much less talking. Too bad, because I had some good ones!

Michelle is my hero! (My camera was all sweaty)


We kept plugging along, stopping to walk to catch our breath. Michelle has been struggling a little with her running too, ever since running an ultra this spring. So it was really nice to have company and not feel guilty when we needed to walk. She kept pushing me to the next mile marker. We walked a little each mile. And the miles passed. When we got to the turnaround, at mile 10, I actually thought I might do this thing! But my stomach continued to cramp. I gelled again at mile 11. At about mile 11.5, I stopped again, and told her to keep going. This time she did, and I walked a little longer, praying for a strong finish. By mile 12, I caught up to another woman in a really cute Lululemon skirt and top. She told me to run with her, and I did. We finished together, and strong. 


Thank you Yolanda, my new friend! Michelle teased me about "ditching" her and making a new friend. We all laughed because runners are all friends you haven't met yet, right? Sweaty hugs all around!

I look slightly deranged--or maybe it is the dehydration. My legs were covered with salt crystals!
Chip time 2:14:30. Mile splits average 10:14. I think this could work for my marathon, but I sure need to do a better job of running consistent splits! Still, I'm glad I finished strong, in spite of feeling pretty bad. This race reminded me so much of that half I ran in Florida last March--the conditions were pretty similar, with high humidity. Clearly, humidity is not my friend. Word to self: must run slower!



Thoughts about the race itself: 
--The course was beautiful. No doubt about it. The Chicago Lakefront is hands down one of the best places for running. BUT it is a public path, and there were all these cycling studs riding through the clusters of racers at top speeds. It was a little dangerous...imagine if you stepped to the side without looking over your shoulder...
--The finish line amenities were a little sparse. There were boxed lunches (which I took a pass on), muscle milk, water, and bananas. Oh, and wine! Which my stomach would not have liked, sadly.
--While the course was beautiful, I wasn't a fan of having to take a shuttle to get there. I get it, there was Lollapalooza going on this weekend, and so the race couldn't be held downtown. But having to be on the shuttle by 6am was tough. Especially coming from the suburbs.
--The cost was high. The goody bag was awesome, but since I didn't want to trek downtown to pick mine up (and pay again for parking), I had it mailed, at an additional cost.
--The race was well organized. There were water stops about every 2-3 miles and mile markers for each mile. No timers though. And even though there were course marshalls, it would have been easy to turn around early to cut some time off your finish time. Not that the thought ever crossed my mind.


--I thought an all womens race would be full of princesses and tutus but I was wrong! Everyone who ran it was nice and supportive. There were tons of high 5s and thumbs ups along the course.

And my final thoughts? I have the nicest running friends you could ask for. Even though the race didn't go as well as I had hoped, I had fun and ran with some amazing women. Lucky me!