A Tale of a Great Sandwich

A few summers ago, after consuming a particularly delicious sandwich from Whole Foods, I wrote a story about it. 

I decided it was a blog-worthy addition. 

Here it goes:

There once was a veggie sandwich at a fancy, North Shore Whole Foods. 

It was purchased and brought across the City of Chicago lines, where it sat overnight in a fridge. 'What will my destiny be?' asked the sandwich. 

"Certainly a sandwich of my size is destined for a rather large, hungry human." 

The sandwich rested overnight in the fridge, right where a Costco chicken carcass had previously sat.

Then the morning came and the fridge opened. The sandwich had it's first peak at it's probable eatter, and it was, a woman. The sandwich had only a brief look before being stuff into a Land's End lunch bag. 

The sandwich then felt a door close, walking, a bus, more walking, an elevator, and then...rest. The sandwich sat in the darkness of the lunch bag for a few hours.

Around 11:30 it happened. The bag was opened and the sandwich was pulled out of the bag. Now the sandwich got a proper look at the eatter. 

The sandwich chuckled, "This woman is no match for me! She will never be able to finish all of my deliciousness. She will talk a big game, but in the end, she will have to quit. mmmwhhawwww....!"

The sandwich was unwrapped and had a proper eye-to-eye with the woman. In true form and full confidence, the sandwich was ready for what lied ahead. 

The first bite was tiny.

"She's never going to make it!" said the sandwich

But they continued, and continued. 

Suddenly half the sandwich was gone. The woman set the sandwich down. 

"Ah ha! I knew it." said the sandwich

After a short break and email check, the woman picked up the half-a-sandwich. This time the look on her face was more serious. The sandwich noticed a marathon training schedule close by.

"Oh no, she's one of those." he said in one of his last breaths 

It was then that the sandwich knew - he was a goner.

The End.

10.10.10: One Warm [Race] Day

Finally, after months of long runs, short runs, cross training, stretching, foam rollers, loads of laundry, countless bottles of water, gatorade, packets of gu and hours of sleep, the day has come - Race Day.

Goodbye taper madness. I'm standing in the corral, ready to run the 2010 Chicago Marathon!

With the exception of the ankle sprain in week 16, training was a success, so I guess I'm ready.

What's the one thing you can't control on race day? Weather.

Sunday morning was warm, even as we stood in the corral waiting to start.

My training group, for the most part, started together at 7:53. For the first 10 to 12 miles, a small group of us operated like clockwork and according to our plan - slightly slower than a 10:30, consistent miles. The north side of the race is the fun part. Your body's well rested and ready to go. There are a ton of spectators and great sideline entertainment [Hello Boystown Cheerleaders!].

It was shortly after the half marathon mark [which I checked my watch to see we had done in 2:24] that the well laid plans started to unravel. Not due to anyone's fitness level or desire, but rather due to the heat. It was now 80 degrees, and we still had a half marathon to run.

In the next few miles we'd broken in to pairs. Traveling out west towards the United Center is tough mentally. As you're running west, you can look a block south to see everyone in front of you traveling back east.

Carrie and I pushed through mile 19 together, but it was getting really tough. The sun was draining us. In the later teen miles, we took full advantage of walking through the aide stations and using the misters.

As we came up to mile 20, I needed to use the restroom and Carrie wanted to push on. I wished her luck and told her to go ahead - I would have Kim jumping in with me at 21.

Getting from 20 to 21.5 was a journey. I passed a bank's sign in Pilsen that read 87 degrees in that stretch.

Then Kim picked me out of the crowd (as she always does). She jumped in, asked if I needed anything, then called Brian. Brian jumped in with us shortly thereafter for a short while. It was so nice to have people talking to me through that part of the race!

The remaining miles few miles were the longest, hottest and toughest. This is where the race becomes a mental race - almost every muscle in your body hurts. Your body wants to stop [to at least some degree] but mentally you know you're strong enough to get to the end. So you keep pushing. You find sources of inspiration to keep you moving forward. Sometimes you have a friend besides you saying things like 'You look great. You're doing a great job.' Even though you may feel defeated at that moment.

I was lucky enough to have Kim there.

Soon we reached a sign that read 'One More Mile.' Kim said that there was no walking from this point on. I agreed with her - I needed to finish strong - even though Michigan Avenue seemed to be the longest street in the world that day.

Kim stayed with me until the corner of Roosevelt and Michigan. She ran along the other side of the the bridge and spoke words of encouragement as I used my arms to work my way up the hill. At the top of the hill was my Mom and Dave cheering me on. The next thing I knew, we were turning the corner on to Columbus to the finish line.

Crossing the finish line of a marathon is a one-of-a-kind experience. Even if you have crossed a marathon's finish line before. Some people are overcome with emotions. Others just want to grab their free beer and take off their shoes.

I have completed my third marathon. I have run the same course three times, and each time, I have had a completely unique experience. I have loved each year. The feeling never get old.

Will I do another marathon? Let's just say there was talk of another marathon between Kim and I during mile 24.

Yes, we're all crazy.

Marathon Morning

It's 4:30am on a Sunday.

I put on an outfit I'd laid out days before.

The night was somewhat restless, spent in and out of sleep and making multiple trips to the bathroom.

Must be the morning of the marathon.

I eat my regular breakfast, grab my bag, and head downtown on the El. The weather is warm, even for 5 in the morning. I leave my place with just my raceday outfit on. The train goes from nearly empty to completely packed, all full of marathoners and spectators.

I head over to Charity Village in an attempt to be part of Salute's team photo. It is completely dark out with no wind. The city looks stunning as I walk over the 12th street bridge. I reach charity village which breaks the morning's silence - with Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romance.' There are dozens of tents - big, well known charities like the American Cancer Society and much smaller ones like Friends of Prentice for Northwestern's Womens Hospital. I get to Salute's tent to find I had missed the team photo by a few minutes.

I then head to gear check to turn over my bag. I pass by a 'Last minute runner preparation' booth which has jars of vasaline, band aides, safety pins, maps, and more. It is jammed with people. I then head over to the CARA compound at the Congress Hotel. This three step process takes nearly a half hour through crowds and pure distance, and I wonder if I'll be regretting all the pre-race walking later.

Up in the CARA compound, I find the 'Mmm Mmm Good' balloon, which is Kimberley's call sign of the day. Under the balloon stands most of the Saturday 6:30am Montrose Harbor 10:30 pace team. There's a mix of emotions here, varying from excitement to pure fear. We're all, to some degree, concerned about the weather. We sit, wait, watch the sun come up and get more nervous. Then we head out.

But one quick stop along the way - portapotties. This year, CARA had a special section of portapotties just for their Marathon Training members, located just off Van Buren and Michigan. Our group arrived at the portapotties to see a three-layer security detail in place, comparing to going through airport security with the TSA. On the other side of the security line stood a line of clean portapotties with NO line. This is the sort of thing a marathoner dreams of for race day morning. We took full advantage of the situation, even sitting down for a few minutes to regroup before heading to the corral.

The 'Mmm Mmm Good' balloon meets a group of red balloons with a 4:45 finish time sign, which is Tomas, another one of our group leaders. Now we stand and wait. Kim releases the balloon now that the group is together. We are in a sea of 36,000 people. We are somewhere in the middle of the sea, just waiting for movement. Motivational music is playing loudly and there's lots of talking between members of the group.

7:30 passes. We are so far back that we do not hear the gun go off or see the elites start. Shortly thereafter though, the sea of people does start slowly moving forward. We walk til 7:53, when we finally reach the start line.

Our 10.10.10 marathon now begins.

Marathon Motivation, Expo and Charity Luncheon

Above is a preview for the documentary, 'Spirit of the Marathon.' It followed 6 people training for the Chicago Marathon in 2006 - two elite athletes, two experienced marathoners, and two first time marathoners. It is great motivation, so I made sure to watch it earlier this week.

Yesterday [Friday], Kim S, Maggie and I went to the Marathon Expo at McCormick Place. The Expo is an event within itself. Nine rows of everything you could ever want or need was available. We met Kim A. and Sara there. We found our names on the 'We Are All Marathoners' wall along side the Nike booth. After spending some time walking the isles, picking up our packets, and buying some 10.10.10 gear, we headed home.

Friday evening was a 10:30 pace group dinner in Andersonville. We had 38 people in our party, which essentially took over the entire bar area of the restaurant. We had a good pre-race carb load and all got to bed early.

Today I headed down to McCormick Place again - this time to attend a luncheon held by my charity, Salute Inc. It was a great event. We met soldiers the charity has been able to help over their seven year existence. The charity continues to grow, and this year has 110 runners as part of their Marathon Team. These 110 runners raised a total of $80,000, which is absolutely amazing. Again, I thank everyone who donated this year.

It's the stories I heard today that I'll take with me tomorrow morning as I stand in the corral waiting to start the race. It is amazing how doing something so simple as volunteering to fundraise for a charity while training for a marathon can be so rewarding. My training is different, for certain better, than in years past, due to this.