It's Sunday and that means group running today!

It's hot. It's humid. It's almost July and we still have 3.5 months til the Chicago Marathon. The heat and I don't do well. Unless I am on a boat. With a cold frosty beer in my hand. mmm beer. I am trying my best with these warm temperatures to push through them and keep myself hydrated and focused on the task at hand. I envy those who live in the Rockies or the Pacific Coast. They seem to have optimal weather for year round running. I know my husband would love to move back to the Rockies but eh I don't think that's happening anytime soon.

Today's group run consisted of my coach and I going out for a short warm up, coming back out to the trail to pick up the new half marathon trainers, going back out for a 2 mile run and coming back, dropping them off and heading back out  to finish* the 10 mile total for the day. 

On the third time out I started to feel some discomfort in my left foot. :( I seriously can NOT wait for those darn orthotics to come in now. There was a storm coming in and we were hoping to miss the majority of it. By the time we were close to our meeting point with our beverage boys (coaches husband and nephew who help out on the group runs!) my back starting to get painful. Now it's at this point where it's pouring rain (didn't feel that bad though I wish I had my visor), my foot hurts and now the roulette game of how much will my back hurt starts to happen. I decided to call it a day. My back hadn't hurt in about a month and I didn't want to do anything that will make it hurt more. Since I had done almost 10 last week (9.66 miles) it was best that I hitched a ride back to the main lot to end my day. 

I ended up eating a good lunch at home (hoping to fight off any ravenous food cravings like I had last week), taking a shower and  a short nap. I could have slept longer but one of my neighbors decided today was the day he wanted to play the bongo's.  I wouldn't mind it, if he looked like Matthew McConaughey.....

  

Credit: Gregory Pace/FilmMagic

 

but alas he looks like this instead:

I kid you not. He really does look like this guy. Except he's normally seen with cut off jean shorts and no shirt. This neighbor is famous for having weekday parties that involve us calling the cops because nobody likes to hear people hooting and hollering at 2 am on a Wednesday. I call it the "someone got out of jail" party that happens regularly at their house. 

The weather shifts into some cooler temps this week so let's hope it's nice out this week!

Saturday morning round up of give aways!

I only have a couple to post this morning but here they are!

Beth over at Shut up and Run!  has a Silver Maple gift certificate give away ending 7/1.
Run Faster Mommy has a Road ID giveaway til 7/3. I love my Road ID and am thinking of getting one just for my shoe.

Over at  Sticky Finger Prints Chris has a mega give away involving Sof Soles and a bunch of other goodies until 7/9.

Good luck!

A tortoise + a gazillion bugs= one long run

Know what happens when you have a couple days of rain and high temperatures? Well the forest preserve where we run turns into the biggest mosquito heaven on earth. Of course I was only worried about getting a sunburn worse than I already had from Saturday's Warrior Dash so I only sprayed with SPF lotion. Ugh.

We started out with a longer warm up and I think that made for a big difference in how my running went in general. My breathing was good. I didn't feel like I was going to pass out like I did a few weeks back so that is getting much better. There was no breeze on the trail so it was very, very humid out.

About a third of our way into our run we encountered this big guy:

He was in fact trying to cross the trail and at one point was up on all fours! That was pretty neat and towards the end we saw two large deer along the side of the trail. All the beautiful animal life out there did not compare to the humongous and hungry mosquito's that were out that day. I have 10 bites alone on my left arm. Horrible. I'm already planning better for next weekend. 

By mile 8 my foot was hurting and I asked if we could go to a 1min run/2 min walk and we did. Then after about another half mile my foot just couldn't deal anymore and I asked if we could finish with walking and we did. I don't get my orthotics until next week. So this next weekends run of 10 miles most likely will be more of the same. Although this week I will be taping my foot to see if that helps.

After a few potty breaks, refueling and talking to the coach at one point we ended at 9.66 miles in about 3 hours. Not record time but the mileage is in and it's crossed off the map! My friend Margie gave me the idea of printing out a copy of the race day map and marking off my mileage as I did it. Wonderful inspiration! Thank you Margie!

I had my husband print this off the other day and I really looked at the map after that. I grew up in Chicago but never paid attention to the marathon like EVER til this year. The race actually goes through some neighborhoods I used to drink in when I lived in the city. This year I won't be drinking unless it's water that day but it's kinda of funny how your life changes.

Warriors, come out to play-i-ay!

Today was the Warrior Dash in our area. If you don't know what the Warrior Dash is I'll try to explain as best as I can. It's a 5K race with an insane obstacle course that includes: dashing thru a line of fire, tackling wooden spools, going down a ravine, thru a swamp, across a plank, running over hay bales, scaling a wooden wall, going over a cargo net wall and slithering thru a mud pit under barbed wire towards the finish line. Sounds crazy huh?

We were lucky enough to have pretty heavy rains yesterday and last night so not only was the course a muddy mess but the spectator area was a huge mud pit as well. I decided to opt out of running since I have a long run tomorrow and I was worried about running back to back days with the way my foot has been acting. So you can say I was a big ass pussy about it. So my husband was able to get a chic from his office to take my bib so it wouldn't go to waste. Now the girl was late in meeting us and as I kept waiting I kept thinking "hmm maybe I should just do it." Then I thought that would be an asshole move of me and I decided not to. Once the chic arrived I barely had time to hand off my bib, tie the chip to her shoe (because I'm nice like that ;) ) and get over to the finish line to see my husband cross his first finish line!!

Just an idea of what the course might look like, this was just how the spectator area was like.

Before:

Some drunk girl getting violated by a pink gorilla

Final obstacle

There he is!! Go honey Go!

Look it's Sasquatch! < He said I can say that >

After:

This guy wasn't even running today. He's doing that tomorrow. He just came to party today. 

Next year I will definitely be in to actually do the race. I didn't want to ruin my chances of doing the marathon this year by getting hurt at this race. It looked so much fun!

Oh and anyone born before 1980 remember the title of my post? It's from the movie The Warriors that came out in 1979. The tag line that was called out during the movie "Warriors, come out to play-i-ay!" is what I kept thinking about today as everyone was running/walking the course.

Off to bed to do a long run tomorrow am!

Saturday morning round up of give aways!

A few of this weeks give aways!

Marcia is running the Chicago Marathon in October (same as me!) and she is raising money for the Lupus Foundation in honor of her neighbor who has Lupus. She is starting her fundraising drive with a big give away for those who donate and follow her blog. Please check her out! TeaMarcia Running Off at the Mouth ends on 6/20 (my Mom's birthday so I hope it's good luck to me!)

Stephanie over at Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is having a jewelry give away. You can enter the My3Gems give away until 6/21.


Angie over at Barefoot Angie Bee is having a Nuun and Spibelt giveaway. I love my Spibelt that I carry on my runs. It fits my Iphone or Nano and doesn't move on me at all. 



Running Skirts give away over at Sticky Fingers ends on 6/25.
 
Melanie over at Tall Mom on the Run has a give away in honor of raising money for breast cancer awareness.

You can enter over at Tall Mom on the Run Giveaways until 6/26 .


Today is the Warrior Dash in our area. My husband and a few of my friends are running it. I decided to opt out since I have a long run on Sunday for training. I never do backtoback run days and with my foot being the way it is I decided it was best not to chance it. So I will be a sweaty (suppose to be 90 today!) spectator! Go honey!

How do I block out the other runners?

It is inevitable at the races I do that I get left in the dust at the starting line or at least before the half mile marker.
Yesterdays race was no exception. Before the half mile point I was hanging out with the masters. At least that's what the race results are telling me.

I can't be the only one who get's frustrated with that. One minute you are surrounded by people and the next well you are like "I hope to God there is someone behind me!" I find it very daunting to say the least when I am in that position. That is when I think I have to start blocking the other runners out. I know I am slow. I am trying my darnedest to be faster. I have no idea what is holding me back. Will I always be slow? Is it my weight that is slowing me down? Right now is it my injury in my foot holding me back? ( I think that is a big YES esp for yesterday.) Can I become a happy slow runner and not let it get to me?

This pic was taken after a 5K last year with my One More Mile Bingham penguin shirt. "I'm slow. I know. Get over it." Maybe I just need to repeat that over and over?

Downers Grove 5 & 10 miler

I had great expectations for today's race. I've been trying to beat the elusive under 1 hour for an 8k for awhile. My times in general on the treadmill and out on the road have been good. I was hoping a good warm up before hand would help me get close to an hour.

I was a little off this morning to begin with. My stomach was in knots and I didn't want to try to stomach something and then um have an accident on the road. Big fear of mine and I'm sure I'll face it one day but um I'm in the later camp on that.

I normally pick up my race packet before hand to check out the area, parking and all that jazz. Well I couldn't this time since we were busy the last few days. Mapquest is the SUCK and told me to make a U turn when I got off the highway instead of going into town. At least I thought to myself "hmm this is not right.." and I pulled up a different map on my phone. Thank you honey for my Iphone! It also started to rain while I was on my way. I was able to find it, park, get my bag, go back to my car and get my water bottle and my headphones all before the race started. I had about 15 mins to try to warm up before hand and I tried to walk around to get going but I don't think it was good enough because there was still a little lag of time between warming up and the gun going off.

I started off trying to pace myself slower than usual because of my foot. I was running the race without extra support. I started with a 5 min Run and 1 min Walk and I thought that was pretty good. This course was described as "flat and fast" as most of the CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) races are certified as. Well I think someone hasn't been in the old part of this town in awhile. It's not really flat. It's kinda of hilly.

For the first part of the race I was running ahead of Carl. Carl must be an old timer that comes out every year or is part of a running group. Everyone knew him and was talking to him and asking him how he was. Carl also had a bladder infection thing going on this week that slowed him up a bit but he was trudging along. Carl also sounded like he was wearing bricks for his feet. I kept hearing "Plod Plod Plod Plod". I didn't look behind me because I didn't want to see that there was like 4 people behind me so I just kept moving and eventually I lost Carl somewhere. I hope Carl made it to the finish line.

This was a 5 and 10 miler race with the 10 milers coming back thru a second time to complete the race. My biggest fear or really expectation was that at some point I would get lapped by runners and I did. After I hit the 5k mark around 41 minutes (blah horrible!) I started to hear the other runners behind me. Oy. Isn't that the suck? You aren't even finished with your race and people are doing it for a SECOND time and lapping you? These stick figures started to flash along the side of me and a few of the gentleman were shouting words of encouragement to me as we neared the 4 mile mark.

During the last mile I just wanted it done. I was tired, every time I walked my foot would cramp up. Every step I took when I walked I was wondering "wait? is that the same pain as before or something new?" I picked it up and I ran more than walked towards the end. My Nike+ shows me that I had more up time than dip time on my scale. ( I have no idea what else to describe it as.)

Towards the finish line I started to hear people chanting my bib #98. Encouraging me to get thru the last part and make it to the finish line. I made it through the finish line and just kept walking until I was away from people and then I stopped and cried. I saw my time. Roughly 1 hour and 11 mins. It was my worst time since my first 8k in March of 2009.

My pace times are:
mile 1= 12:28
mile 2= 12:56
mile 3= 13:02
mile 4= 13
mile 5= 13:02
*This is from my Nike+ but it's off because it's saying I ran 5.5 miles. You can also tell on the graph where I stopped, cried and then was like "oh shit. I better turn off the Nike+ like it would even matter, blah blah blah"


This is one of those races were it truly sticks out in my memory that running is more mental over body 90% of the time. I had to mentally push out the pain of my foot. When I ran it didn't bother me that much. Then I had to keep telling myself to run because if I walked it would hurt more.

I know what I did wrong today that had me all "willy nilly" before the race: not getting my packet the day before hand, not really knowing where I was going,  not having a proper something to eat before hand and not getting a good warm up RIGHT before the race started and being a gimp with my foot. Those are some of the things that worked against me today. Also I kept thinking that the last few races I did I was about 12-15 lbs lighter than I was today.


Hopefully I can shake off this "bad" run and move on. My husband the non sports fan actually used a sports analogy to say that we can't always hit home runs every time we go out. LOL. If you know my husband you know that you probably just looked at him like wth did he just say? LOL.


Still waiting for my official time to post!
* Final results: 1:10:49 placed 264/269 people. And how did Carl do? Well Carl finished in 1:26. Go Carl!

Saturday morning round up of give aways!

This weeks give a ways you should take a look at!

One More Mile give away over at From Fat to Fab ends on 6/14.
Runners Diet book give away from Run Court Run ends on 6/16. This books is a real eye opener when it comes to the % of carbs/proteins/fats a runner should eat when it comes to losing weight.

Nathan hand held bottle give away from Melanie over at Tall Mom on the Run  ends on 6/17. I LOVE my Nathan bottle. I use it on my long runs to store some Gu chomps and at the gym to store my locker key.

Whooha Gear  give away over at Racing With Babes ends on 6/18.

Running Skirts give away over at Sticky Fingers ends on 6/25.

And last but not certainly least this is like the mother of all give aways here. Marcia is running the Chicago Marathon in October (same as me!) and she is raising money for the Lupus Foundation in honor of her neighbor who has Lupus. She is starting her fundraising drive with a big give away for those who donate and follow her blog. So please check her out! TeaMarcia Running Off at the Mouth ends on 6/20 (my Mom's birthday so I hope it's good luck to me!)

My foot, my foot, my foot is on fire..

Well not really but I got your attention didn't I?

Today was another Cardio Training class at the gym. When I got there the trainer wasn't around yet so I hopped on the treadmill and started to warm up. I wasn't even sure if I was going to attempt to run today. I was indeed wearing the arch support I talked about here. I am putting off the orthotics because well $450 for orthotics that MIGHT work is a hard pill to swallow. Like very hard. So I thought I would give a $20 arch support a whirl. Not even 7 min's into the workout I stopped and pulled that damn thing out of my shoe. Stupid. Glad I only blew $20 on it.

So after I took it out the pain around the bottom of my foot started to disappear. I wasn't wearing the old insoles I had that the podiatrist did not like. I had the old insoles to help with my hip issue I was having. It was just the plain old shoes. So for the first time in months I ran in just plain running shoes. My shins were sore today but not terrible. I worked thru the pain and by mile 3ish I still felt good. I felt so good that by the time I had done 4 intervals of the class I decided I had enough of the up and down of the heart rate zones and to just go full out running. I did it. Ten minutes straight! I hadn't done that in a long time and it felt good. I felt focused and determined. Completely in the zone. Yay me!

I am doing the Downers Grove 5 miler this Sunday and I am going to run without any extra support. No arch support or  insoles. I am thinking positively that it will go well!

I am able to get my class in because I now have a teenage girl babysitter for the summer. So she will be at home with the girls so I can get my cardio class in and also so that I can get in some other classes. So Yay me! I actually can use my gym membership to the max!!

Congratulations to the Chicago Blackhawks!

After a long 49 year drought the Stanley Cup was finally brought home last night by the Chicago Blackhawks!!!

This group of men are exemplary examples of what being part of a team actually means. They have worked so hard to get to last night and it showed every skate of the way.

I honestly think one of the best moments of the night came after the cup was presented to the team captain Jonathon Toews. I probably never watched a Stanley Cup winning championship game because well if the Hawks weren't in it why bother? But I first thought "wow, does everyone get to lift it up and kiss it? does that include the kid who wraps the sticks with tape?" LOL. One of the better moments I thought  was watching former Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick get emotional as they were wrapping it up. You can watch it here:



It was real emotion for the whole world to see. Steve Rosenbloom summed it up perfectly here: Don't like JR's crying?

And now that it will be hell trying to get tickets for a game ever again, thanks for a wonderful season boys!

7 miles and 7 donations! Woot!

Yesterday I had another first when it comes to running. We had our 7 mile long run for training. Last week was the first time I went past 5 miles and the first half of the run I sounded like I was going to pass out. lol. I * think * that's due to more of the humidity & heat of last week. It makes this week's run easy peasey compared to that mess.

It was a great run. It was a much cooler morning and we ran in a very shady part of the trail. My huffing and puffing I think lasted for maybe a mile or so.  I think I got accustomed to the pace much faster than last week. I had some pain in my foot towards mile 5, felt a cramp in my calf around mile 6 but it disappeared really fast. My foot did hurt me after the run for awhile but I iced it and it felt better after that.

Today I had my follow up appointment with the podiatrist and this is the deal for now: no cup, no lift, wear a taped up arch support until I get custom made orthotics that will allow my arch the support and movement it needs. I think that makes sense. I wondered if I could just wear one of these arch support thingies:

But it just looks like we'll be moving to the orthotic. Expensive orthotics. blah. If it works I'll be happy. If not you'll hear about it. lol.

This morning I woke up to a message stating that I had raised over $600 for The American Heart Association!! I was shocked to see that this morning. I had 7 donations that the AHA had received in the mail finally got posted to my web page. Which is great. What's not so great is that I don't know who they are from! They are all listed in my name and not the donor's name! I know now that one is from my Dad but I hope my contact person with the AHA can find out who donated the rest so I can properly thank them. 

So talking about my 7 donations this morning turned into another donation so make that 8 donations in the span of 24 hours for my cause! Yay me!  

Saturday morning round up of give aways!

Laura  over at My Reason to Run is having a Sweat Bands give away that ends on June 9th.

Tricia over at Endurance Isn't Only Physical is giving away a Road ID, ends on June 11th.

Carly over at Tri-ing My Hardest is having a nice little giveaway to bring some new followers to her blog, ends on June 12th.

Danna, Kristin and Suzy are having a Jeff Galloway book giveaway over on She runs like a girl ends on June 20th.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Adventures in barefoot running

Oh no not me!

I can barely keep my stuff together with shoes I can't imagine it being barefoot or almost barefoot. My husband on the other hand is very intrigued by this new phenomenon. After accidentally coming across an episode of HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel last Sunday evening that featured a story on barefoot running he was more than just excited about trying the Vibram Five Finger shoes. They showed up at our door yesterday afternoon and here they are on the model:

I already have an aversion to other people's feet. So all things with other people's feet freak me out. These just look like gorilla feet. He LOVES them. He's very happy with them so far. I will update this blog more with how his running is affected and the pro's and con's to them.

I went how far on the bike?

I made it to the gym this week! Not once but twice! One trip was a complete failure but I will get to that in a minute.

Tuesday I was able to get to my cardio class with my trainer Collette and we decided since I was nursing my goofy plantar fasciitis still and a blister on my right foot from my thicker socks this past weekend that I would work on the bike instead. I wasn't a huge fan of the bike before but after Tuesdays session I am liking it a little bit more. At the end of my 52 min interval session I had completed 13 miles! Woot! Woot! I don't think I've done that in forever if ever! That was pretty neat and I was glad I got to get to the gym without kids to get a good workout in.

On Thursday I attempted to get my 5 mile run in at the gym in my cardio class done. I got the kids together and out the door. I got them all packed with extra stuff for the poop machine and her big sister. We get to the gym and apparently they have to wear socks in the daycare. I'm sure it's in the rules but we started at the gym in the winter so it's probably something I just glossed over. They said I could buy pairs at the cafe and as I headed to the cafe I realized I forgot my wallet!!! ARGH!!!! Now our membership cards can be set up to add stuff to them but my husband being the cheap ass  frugal guy that he is took that option off of my card. After I went back and claimed the now crying big sister we headed home. So I made it to the gym, was in the building but the morning was a total failure.

So tonight I  hope to  get got a 5 mile run in on the treadmill at home as the husband fed them dinner. Better late than never!