Talking to a Future Marathoner

Last night, I talked with a guy who is training for his first half marathon. He explained his training so far. I tried to offer up tips on recovery weeks, gu and when to buy new shoes. He said he thinks this will be is one and only half, but then later mentioned the marathon.

Each story is unique. We come in all shapes, sizes and ages. We run for different reasons.

This story happens to be mine. All nearly 20 years of it.

In the fall of 1997, I was a freshman in college. That October, I witnessed an incredible event - my uncle ran the Chicago Marathon.

Watching someone you know and love take on a marathon makes the spectating experience a very personal one. First, you're likely on the sidelines scanning for one familiar face. Second, you know this person is not super human. They like Oreos and beer just as much as you do, though maybe not together. Watching this regular person you know run a marathon means that maybe, just maybe, one day you could call yourself a marathoner too.

Somewhere in between the first few miles of that race to when we met him in runner reunite, I'd decided I wanted to run a marathon.

But we all know that talking about doing something is much different than training for something. I ran on and off in college, but not more than a few miles and never with enough regularity to make it habit. I had plenty of excuses why I didn't have time.

After graduating in 2001, I bought my first book on marathon training, the Non Runners Guide to Marathon Training. The title appealed to me as at the time, I would not have called myself a runner. I read most of the book and xeroxed its training plan. That spring, I made my first unsuccessful attempt at training for the marathon. I barely made it through the pre-marathon training program and had hung up any chances of the race by June. Good thing I hadn't registered, I thought.

Though I know now I'd been making a lot of rookie mistakes, I had experienced my first true runner's high. Just enough to want to chase training further over the next few years.

In those early years, I was building knowledge on distance running though I wasn't running long distances. No more cotton socks or running shoes from Kohl's for this girl. I started working with a trainer and doing a mix of lifting and running. Later I introduced yoga.

Three years to the day after I graduated college, I ran my first 5k - a Reindeer Run at a Lifetime Fitness. That experience was rewarding enough to sign up for more 5ks the following spring and summer. The next year, I ran a 10k.

Now in grad school and closing in on ten years since I spectated the marathon, I needed to formulate a plan to make my marathon dream a reality.

I ran a few half marathons in 2007 with varying success. In 2008, I took the plunge and registered for the marathon. I would graduate that spring and felt that the time I'd spent studying for the last four years could now become training time. On an early October 80 degree day, I completed my first marathon.

Through the CARA (Chicago Area Runner's Association) Marathon Training program, I met like-minded runners who became friends. What I thought was a once-in-a-lifetime experience turned into six years of training. Six Chicago Marathons, one Marine Corps Marathon and over twenty half marathons. Distance running became my thing (hence the blog). I have some incredible memories, funny stories and great trips all bound by racing.

Who would have known watching a marathon would lead me down that path. Maybe the guy I talked to last night is next.

Gone Country

Let's go back to Christmas Day, 1992.

My brother and I sat next to the tree in my parent's house, anxiously opening presents. 

I was 13 and had recently purchased the home's RCA all-in-one sound system with CD player.

As we pulled wrapped gifts out from under the tree, it was easy to decipher CD boxes' tall and thin shape. 

One such gift was addressed to my brother. 

I looked on as he opened it. I hadn't known my brother to be into music, at least, not like I thought I was. He smiled and cheered when he unwrapped the box. 

He received Garth Brooks, The Chase -

"Country? Really? He likes country? Who listens to that? We don't live in Oklahoma. We live in Chicago...kinda." I thought. It turns out that Dan had been exposed to Garth and other country artists during time at a friend's house. 

In a one CD player household, compromises needed to be made to after school's hip-hop party and allow for a few tracks from Garth.

Little did I know that my brother's love of country was beginning to rub off on me.

In high school, I would meet two friends, one being my best friend to this day, who listened to country. In between breaks from long playlists of Dave Matthews, B96 mix masters, BoyzIIMen and the like, a few country songs stuck. Enough of them that when Garth released his first "Best of" album in the late '90's, I knew just about every song.

College exposed me to a world of music. Pink Floyd played in studio art classes. Puff Daddy played at house parties. Dave Matthews played as I worked late night in the graphic design lab. Moby played in my apartment. Musically I was all over the place. All but country.

I thought I had all but kicked country to the curb until 2003. Until one day, I received a hand-written letter from somewhere in Iraq. In the letter was a request, "Please send some music. Stuff you listen to and some country, like Toby Keith." 

Toby Keith? Who is that? Well, whoever he was, I was about to find out. I went to Best Buy and bought all the Toby Keith I could find along with a spindle of CD-R's. I spent the next few days copying CDs and putting them in sleeves with handwritten track listings. My boyfriend at the time donated an old discman he had laying around. We bought a brick of AA batteries at IKEA and we created a musical care package. Next stop, Iraq.

That first deployment was a tough one. He couldn't call much. No internet. Mainly we talked through letters. I wrote him a letter every day of that deployment. In many of the exchanges we talked about music. Toby was a big hit with his group.

Toby found his way into my car along with Garth and a few others. A year later, I subscribed to Sirius - any music I wanted commercial free. Over the years since, I've enjoyed jumping from the '80s station to the '90s. From progressive house to chill out and today's hits to country.

I started running while in college. I trained for my first 5K two years out of college and progressed in distance from there. Country has never made it in a run playlist of mine. However, I've run the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville twice and enjoyed country coming at me from all sides.

But the last four months have been unofficially the summer and fall of not running (or hardly running in comparison to other years). And in this not-running time, I've found myself from time to time enjoying some slower, laid back music from today's country artists.

Pre Race Hydration [Drinking 3]

A few Mondays ago, I was in a series of meetings that ate up most of my day. The highlight of the morning was when I received a text from Brian, with this image:

My mind immediately went to where his was when he sent it - drinking three. 

Though Brian lives in New York now, we still seem to be on the same page with our pre-race ritual: Drink three alcoholic drinks the night before a race and get a PR. 

The Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon (which is an amazing race) is talking about proper hydration - water, Gatorade, maybe some Nuuns. 

We're thinking of three craft beers. Or when running Napa to Sonoma last year, maybe a few bottles of wine followed by a very late night supermarket trip for Gatorade and snacks. 

It's all relative, right?

The Man with the Flag

This morning I ran the Chicago Spring Half Marathon. The weather was a complete 180 from last year - warm and sunny.

Jen and I met Sara and a few others at the Universal Sole tent before heading over to the start line.

My runs have been slow and labored lately. Going into this race, I didn't have high hopes for a PR. In fact, I had given up on the thought weeks ago. Note to self, PR's can't happen if you keep doubting.

As Jen and I started, the 2:10 pace team came along side us. We decided to try to keep with them, at least the first few miles. Walking through the aid stations gave me a chance to catch my breath, then continued on. All along, I kept my eye on the flag.

As Jen and I had headed to the start line, we saw a man, a participant in the race, carrying a large flag. I remember reading a post on Facebook about a man running with a large flag at either another race or out on a trail in the burbs. I wondered if this was the same guy.

The flag was a good distance ahead of us. We saw it heading back before we hit the turn around point. It was right around then that Jen pulled ahead and I tried to maintain, staying just in front of the 2:10 group.

The second half was particularly challenging. I've not been training the way I was this time last year. Overall, I'm slower. But yet there I was, attempting to stay within a few minutes of my personal best time for this distance. So I pushed on.

Between mile 11 and 12, I came up to the man with the flag. I wondered if he was having a tough second half too. Though i imagined the sheer wind resistance from carrying such a large flag must be fierce. I thought of the symbolism of him carrying a flag on Armed Forces weekend. I thought of my brother.

As I passed him, I gave him a thumbs up and said "I love it." He smiled and replied "I love it too." I immediately got goosebumps. For a moment I thought I was going to tear up. But that moment provided newfound inspiration that carried me to the end.

Thank you, man that carried the flag today.

Thank you, all of you that serve(d) in our Armed Forces.

Thank you, Dan.

I am cornholio

Ok, I'll admit it, I was never much of a Beavis and Butthead fan.

But I do remember the 'I am cornholio' bit of the show.

Does this photo from the F^3 Lake Half Marathon remind you at all of it?

The swag for registering for the F^3 Lake Half Marathon was a head gator.

A head gator is a tubular piece of fabric around 1' x 1' which you can contort into a half dozen different shapes - many that were quite handy on a windy January day.

I found the head gator to be quite useful during the race. I remember thinking - just when I thought I had every piece of gear related to running, Kim had introduced me to something new. And it worked great. I loved it.

Here's an image of Brian and my finish. Notice Brian's picture-perfect pose. And I, well, I am cornholio.

And I'll use it again. Many times I'm sure. Hopefully there won't be a photographer around to capture it. 

The F^3 Lake Half Marathon

On Saturday, I'm doing something many would think is crazy. I'm running a half Marathon. In Chicago. On the lakefront.

Around 10am on Saturday, approximately 1500 runners and a hundred or so volunteers will gather at Montrose Harbor for the 4th annual F^3 Lake Half Marathon.

What's F^3 you may ask? The F'n Freezing Frozen. Appropriately named considering the weather forecast for Saturday wouldn't you say?

This race is the brainchild of my friend Kim S. She gathered a group of her friends together a few years ago to celebrate winter training with a 13.1 fun run. I didn't get a chance to participate that year. I was rehabbing a sore knee and weak hip. But shortly thereafter that first race, Kim knew she had a unique event to bring to the Chicago running community.

It's been fun and truly amazing to watch Kim grow the race since that first year. She has connected a subculture in the Chicago running community. Some may call us crazy. Others could say hardcore. Truthfully, I think a lot of us share the same disdain for treadmills.

(Fast forward a few days to today, the day after the race. I didn't manage to wrap this one up before the race like I hoped).

Brian and I got together on Friday night to keep to our ritual of drinking three the night before a race. Dinner was followed by laying out race gear (a more intricate task in the winter season) and going to bed. Dave and I headed to the race around 8 ( Dave volunteered), but not before I had to turn around together my bib off the refrigerator. (I'd forgotten the critical step of pinning my bib onto my shirt the night before).

The temperature that morning was what most would call freezing. The light snow the day border made a white blanket over the landscape. Perfect for photos. The wind was light and sun was out.

Dave took a great shot of the start area.

Brian, Jeff and I ran together for most of the race. That is, until Jeff left us in the dust around mile 10. We saw a few friends along the way and marveled at all the faces we didn't know. How quickly Kim's race has grown. We had a few quick walk breaks to alleviate a cramp or to take down fluids, but other than that, we're pretty happy with our performance. Especially with the lack of training we'd both done.

Shortly after the finish, we all met at the after party. It was great to see it so well attended and the crowd excitement for the race. For a short period, a large mass of the crazy winter runners were gathered in one place. We talked, laughed and had a few drinks. Then left each other's company saying we'd see each other soon - whether it be out on the path next week or this summer.

North Shore Runners

There aren't many Saturdays in January that reach 50 degrees. When you get one, you have to capitalize on it. With the F^3 Lake Half Marathon just two weeks away, I had a good distance planned for this weekend. This morning I ran 10 miles through the communities of Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka and Glencoe.

Running through the North Shore is so different than running in the City. First you have the obvious differences. The streetlights are fewer and further apart. The sidewalks are wider. There's fewer high rises and more lawns.

Bikes and cars mix here and with no honking or yelling. Drivers seem to be more aware of runners. They yield to runners in cross walks. They look for us as they pull up to an intersection and let us cross in front of them. Sometimes they even back up to allow you the right of way before crossing the street. This behavior is mind blowing when you're used to playing frogger further south on Sheridan Road.

The thing that throws me any time I run here is what I'd like to all the runner's code of the North Shore. In the city, you may smile or nod at a fellow runner, especially if it's at a time or off season. But you wouldn't do this to every runner or any person you pass by. You wouldn't feel compelled to extend your contact with a greeting like "Good morning" or "How are you?"

But this morning, on my run, I heard this type of chatter. It's nice. Which made me wonder, why is it we don't do this in the City? Is it because we're too busy or don't want to be friendly? Maybe it's because we're scared. Maybe we're trying not to stand out.

Over the years as my contacts in the Chicago running community has grown, I do see us out there. On Friday I ran into George down around the Chicago Yacht Club. We were both a good five miles or more from home. I see George often. Which makes me wonder, how many times had I saw George before I met him?

Maybe if we had been greeting each other all along, we would have remembered each other's faces and started talking sooner. But we wouldn't want to seem creepy doing that in the City, would we?

The First Few Steps...

It's on rainy, dark days like this week that I truly appreciate Pinterest. From time to time, the social networking site which focuses on million dollar room remodels, outlandish vacations and all-too-perfect deserts has sucked me in. But within this time I've built a pretty awesome "Fitness and Motivation" Board.

The images I've included here are part of the build. They focus on the getting a move on to start a run and the sense of accomplishment at the end.

Oh summer, how I remember you with your warmth and 12+ hours of sunlight. Waking up early to run before work was easy. Now in the dark depths of winter, I need a little motivation to keep on moving.

I ran a 10 mile training run for the F^3 Lake Half Marathon last Sunday. I waited until later in the afternoon when the day's temperature was at it's peak (feels like 26 is what my weather app said as I left the house).

I'd put on my gear a good hour before I left. I had to really work to talk myself into doing this run. I had a few good excuses going like 'I've been sick' and 'I don't really have to do 10 miles today.'

Finally I left the house. The first few blocks around Loyola aren't my favorite. Truthfully, the first mile usually isn't great. But by the time I'm closing in on two miles, my body has warmed up and I feel good. 2 mile Laura is happy to be out and in this run for the long haul. Whatever the assignment may be today. But man, 2 block Laura or even 2 step Laura for that matter, was not sharing in the 2 mile presence of mind.

Amazing how a few thousand steps can change your outlook.

Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon

Over last winter, Brian brought up a great destination race - The Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon.

We discussed among friends. When registration opened, Brian was the only one who registered. The race sold out in a few hours. A few months went by. After some research and good luck, I found Rudi. Rudi had signed up to run the race but wouldn't be able to make it. Suddenly I had an entry. I was heading to wine country in July.

Brian and I joked about our perceived success for this race. Was it realistic to think you're going to PR when encircled with wine? We decided going in to the race that we'd have PW (personal worsts) for the distance. This race would be more for fun and the experience than racing to race.

In the weeks leading up to the race, Brian planned out our schedule - we would spend a few days in San Francisco where we'd eat some incredible food, see some sights, eat some more food, and then have drinks. After we'd covered all that was San Francisco, we'd head to wine country.  We'd spend Saturday at the expo, touring some vineyards, then getting a good night's sleep before the race on Sunday.

San Francisco went pretty much as planned. Wine Country was flying by the seat of our pants.

We checked in at our hotel and headed to the expo. Small race equals a small expo, so we were out of there in about twenty minutes. Now on to wine. We arrive at our first vineyard. What was to be a two hour experience turned into the rest of our day. After making friends with the ladies serving us, they offered us concert tickets to see Five for Fighting at the Robert Mondavi Winery. It sounded like an experience we couldn't pass up. We canceled our dinner plans and headed over to the concert. The concert's set up was a lot like Ravinia, but in a vineyard. Which, of course, meant more wine. We left the concert before the end and make a stop at a store like Target to get some race day essentials. Back at the hotel, we had a late night snack with some gatorade, then on to bed...after one a.m.

A few short hours later, our alarms went off. We drove over to a hotel in Napa to board a bus to the start line. The Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon is a point to point race which starts, of course, in a vineyard. On the bus ride, we went over our evening before. Maybe we had hit the nail on the head when setting ourselves up for a PW in this race.

The race started by climbing a rather large hill. This caused concern as to what lay ahead, but by then we were running and committed.

All joking aside, the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon ended up being a great race for both of us. The field was around 2500 runners. How doesn't love a point to point race format? At the last aide station, sips of wine were handed out in addition to the standard gatorade and water. The race was quiet and scenic with beautiful rolling hills. As we ran into Sonoma Plaza, the crowd grew as we closed in on the finish line.

After crossing the finish line, we were handed a wine glass and walked into a wine festival. Would you expect anything else from this trip?

Chicago Spring Half Marathon

One of the benefits of being part of a running team is the occasional free race entry. I'm scared to even ballpark a dollar amount to what I've spent on race entries over the years (but hey, it's better than spending the money on fast food, right?). The Chicago Spring Half happened to be one of them.

Kim S. turned me on to this race a few years ago. The race's start and finish is extremely convenient to her place, which has been the home of some fun post-race parties over the years. But this year, Kim was out of the country and Jen and I were taking on the race.

We decided we'd meet each other down at the start line. This race has a small field for a half marathon. As I got off the bus at Michigan and Randolph at 5:45am, the bus driver asked me what race I was doing. I told her of the race and she said she wished me luck on winning it. (right!)

After checking my bag at the Universal Sole tent, I headed to the start line and found Jen. The weather was overcast but warm. A few announcements were made as the field faced south. The weather didn't look good in that direction. A dark, heavy cloud was hanging that way. It looked like rain. The announcer ensured us the race was keeping tabs on the weather and we may get drizzled on at the southern most part of the course, but after that, we should be in the clear. As we stood there waiting for the delayed start, the temperature started to drop and the wind picked up.

The race finally starts and Jen and I spend the first few miles catching up. Around mile 5, she picks up the pace and I maintain mine. All was good until about mile 6. Rain. Then came mile 6.5, our turn around. Now wind.

At the halfway point, I checked my watch. I had a good pace going in relation to my half marathon PR time at about three minutes faster than anticipated. But could I maintain in the rain and wind. Then I remembered the 2008 Chicago Half Marathon - my standing half PR race. Conditions were anything but ideal then.

From 6.5 to the end, it was a tough, windy race. The rain pelted our bodies from the air and reflected off the ground onto us. The path was covered in puddles. Our shoes were soaked. The wind made our shirts into sails. Out on the the lake shore we had no cover. I'd set a good pace to start with. Now that it was nasty out, I figured it best to try to maintain and get out of the elements.

In the last mile, the rain slowed to a drizzle. I checked my watch as we came into the River East neighborhood. This race would be a PR. And by six minutes.

Maybe the key to PR success (besides drinking three the night before) is rain.

Jen and I met right after the race and headed to a brunch spot to change our clothes, have a hot cup of coffee and celebrate with oreo smores pancakes.

4 Races in 8 Weeks

While filling in the calendar for April and May a number of weeks ago, I realized I'm running four races in the next eight weeks:

Saturday, April 28th - CARA Lakefront 10 miler
Saturday, May 12th - Chicago Spring Half Marathon
Saturday May 26th - Soldier Field 10 miler
Friday June 8th and Saturday June 9th - Ragnar Relay: Madison to Chicago

In past year's I've done a race in the spring. Not two. Or four.

I guess this is one way to mix things up!

Rudi

A number of months ago, possibly during a post-marathon haze, Brian mentioned a great race.

The Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon.

13.1 miles through wine country. Who wouldn't want to do that?

He sent an email out to a group of our running friends regarding registration. No one acted on it.

The race sold out in a day.

In early February, I started thinking of racing season. I had lined up a few Chicago races in the spring, Ragnar in the early summer, followed by the marathon in the fall.

But I didn't have a Nashville, or an Indy, or a duathlon to speak of.

And I started thinking about Napa. And Sonoma. And running. So I went to the race's website. To my surprise, the race allows registration transfers. Which got me thinking, maybe I could get into this race afterall.

I went on the race's facebook fan page and pleaded my case - If anyone had signed up and couldn't run, well, I was their girl.

Within two weeks, I had a message from Rudi.

Rudi had signed up for the race but wasn't going to be able to make it out to California in July. She was currently training for the Publix Marathon and taking care of her grandson.

We exchanged a few emails and discovered we had a central Illinois connection.

We transfered information and I sent her a check.

Today she emailed me to say she had received my letter. She was surprised to see I was from Chicago. She mentioned her daughter lives in Evanston. We exchanged a few emails about the area, to which she followed the last one with, "I'll be in town in a few weeks, want to meet for a run?"

Why, yes, I would.

I love runners.

A Tale of Two Left Shoes

A story from Nashville.

Kim and I flew in to Nashville from Chicago. Tracy met us at the airport. She came in from Texas.

We took a cab to our hotel early in the morning. We couldn't check in yet, but the hotel held our bags while we walked around downtown and went to the Expo.

While at the Expo, Tracy mentioned she didn't like the shoes she'd been training in. She said she was pretty sure the running store by her house had put her in the wrong shoes. She felt like her form was off. She's always had Sauconys, so when we approached the Saucony booth, she went to talk to the guy about her shoes.

One of the rules of distance running is "Don't do anything new on race day." Which includes buying new shoes the day before at the Expo.

Kim and I waited and watched as Tracy talked with the guy and tried on a series of shoes. Then, to our surprise, we watched her buy a pair of shoes.

After leaving the Expo we went to lunch. Tracy said she was almost positive the shoes she bought at the expo were the same as the shoes she had had before her current pair, which she loved. Kim and I were skeptical.

We got back to the hotel, checked in to our room and relaxed for awhile. Shortly before heading out to dinner, Tracy began unpacking her bag. This is when she discovered she had packed two left shoes.

It was after 6pm on Friday, the day before the race. Had she have not bought the shoes at the expo, we would have been pounding on any athletic store's doors to get Tracy shoes for the next morning.

Tracy opened her new pair and compared them to the two left shoes she brought. She was right - The pair she'd bought at the expo was the same as her older running shoe, which she liked.

Despite any concerns Kim and I may have had about Tracy running in a new pair of shoes, she showed us on race day. Tracy ran the fastest half marathon of the four girls, coming in just over two hours.

A PR for her. She said she felt great.

Sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

Country Music Half Wrap Up

Destination races can't rightfully be compared to hometown races. Nashville is no exception.

Take people from Chicago and insert them in to the rolling hills of Nashville - A challenge within itself - and we haven't even started talking about logistics.

As if I didn't know what we were getting ourselves in to, or, more likely, forgot to remember what the course was like, we landed in Nashville on Friday morning optimistic.

My goal was to show up and run a decent race.

The question is, how is a decent race defined?

Walking around Nashville on Friday, in addition to attending the completely packed expo, caused uneasiness on Friday evening. Which lead to some anxiety Friday night that carried in to Saturday morning.

4:40 a.m. came pretty fast. Kim, Tracy and I got ready and met Brian at LP field at 5:40.

We boarded shuttles to take us to the start line. It was a cool morning. We talked on the way to the corral, hoping for the best. It wasn't until we stood on the side of the corral #13 gazing at the flag for the National Anthem that it really hit me.

I'm remembering more of this race now. Shit. This is going to be hard.

We walked our way down the massive hill to the Start line. Once crossing the start line, we would work our way up a hill for close to a quarter mile, then down, then back up, before crossing the first mile. This pattern repeated itself, in it's entirety, for the first 8 miles.

What started off as a cool morning seemed to get warm awfully fast.

Very early on, I could tell my 2:15 goal time was not in the cards. I'll admit it, I could have focused more (ok, maybe the right word is 'some') efforts on hill training. I probably could have ate better. It would have been great to not have been sick for a few weeks. Or for it not to have rained every day in the last two weeks. Or if the Easter Bunny hadn't been so good to me with those delicious Cadbury Eggs.

All excuses set aside, none of it matters when you're running the race. In that period of time, you're just trying to get through it. That's the part that was tough. Somewhere after 3 but before mile 5,  I had an overwhelming feeling to stop. I felt like my body was not acclimating to the conditions. I remember thinking to myself, 'The next medical tent, you're out.'

But here's the problem - Brian was next to me. Brian was having an easier time than I, but he admitted it was by no means an easy race for him either. So in this race, more so than in the marathon, I found myself mentally defeated early on. But it was Brian who guided me through it, whether he realized it or not.

We decided later on the in the race that we were in fact pulling each other through the race. Eventually we would reach the end. Most importantly, thank God we weren't doing the full. Those people are truly crazy.

In the end, I beat my course P.R. in 2009 by two minutes. Maybe it's not the win I was thinking of, but it's certainly not a loss. And four people in our group, including Tracy and Brian, had P.R.'s at the half marathon distance. Just goes to show one person's bad race is another person's 'A' race.

Now, entering May, I have a half under my belt for 2011. Not a bad position to be in.

The Country Music Half Marathon Pack Job

It's Wednesday at 9:30pm.

60 hours from now, I will be finished with the Country Music Half Marathon.

There's not a lot of time, and there's lots to do.

Maybe I should be panicking.

The race is 450+ miles from Chicago and we're at the travel mercy of O'Hare airport.

Destination races are fun, right?

I printed off the confirmation email for the race. The Competitior Group must think I still live with my parents. That's cool. I can run this race as Laura from Mokena.

Then I was on the phone with Kim determining how we're getting to the airport. Our flight is early Friday. I'm still looking for the confirmation email from the airline.

I am in the process of packing. That is, if you can call an empty suitcase with four packets of Gu, a empty fuel belt, running shorts, four packets of oatmeal and a hat thrown on top of it packing. What a random list of crap. Pretty amazing I am thinking of Gu and oatmeal before I'm thinking of other essentials like running shoes or socks. Then again, depending on how well you know me, you know 'I gotta eat!'

This is only my second destination race. My first was this race two years ago. I enjoyed it enough to do it again, but first I had to give myself two years to forget about the hills.

Packing isn't coming along so well since I'm blogging and making up a list for stuff I need to do when I get back. This is part of my OCD while tapering. Tapering for a full will take control of your life for two weeks. A half, well, maybe you can get away with just a few days. I've been worried all day that I'm not hydrating enough, so I know that the taper mentality has certainly set in.

Here's the course map:

Looks like a tangled web of insanity. And it looks really hilly. Somehow.

This race is a half marathon and a full marathon. I'm running the first 11 with the big boys and then I'm taking a sharp right and wusing out. And I'm completely ok with that.

I looked up my time from last year 2:22:something-or-other. Do seconds really matter anyway? If I can do a sub 2:25, I'll call this race a success.  And even if it's not sub 2:25, it's still a success because I had fun, I ran, went on a vacation, and I wasn't sitting on my couch eating (insert favorite Easter candy).

12 Mile Run and the Nashville Taper

Last Saturday, Katie and I had plans to start our 12 mile run (the longest run in preparation for our Half Marathons) at Foster and the Lakefont. When I arrived at 7:45, the street was closed.

As soon as I saw the squad I remembered - CARA (Chicago Area Runners Association) Lakefront 10. Kim S. had asked the week before if I wanted to do it. Had I not needed to run 12 that day, I would have.

I called Katie and we relocated a few miles north to my neighborhood. I guess that's the nice thing about running. It's easy to find alternative places to run if your place of preference is taken.

By the time we worked our way down to Foster, the street was back open. We got to see a good number of the Lakefront 10ers working their way north to the finish. It's not often I get to see the fast people that win races. Scanning for familiar faces certainly helped pass the time. We saw Kim around Belmont on our way south and then saw Sara on our way north around the same spot.

We also saw a group of familiar faces out running that morning - Ken, Carl, and Laura. Ken and Carl were pace group leaders for CARA last year. Laura and I met in 2008 through CARA while training for the marathon. Seeing so many running friends, well for sake of a better word, running, made me start thinking about summer and training. It was the first time I'd been excited about starting in on the summer commitment of marathon training.

The Chicago Marathon's registration opens February 1st. Race day is October 11th, just over 8 months later. This year, the marathon sold out (45,000 registrants) in a record 31 days. As you can imagine, a lot can happen in 8 months. When I signed up, my thinking was that I wanted to have the option to be able to do it again. I couldn't think far enough in the future of actually doing it again.

The Country Music Half Marathon is April 30th. After our 12 mile run, Katie and I began tapering for our races (Katie's is on May 1st in New Jersey). I started it off right by having a huge celebratory burger where I out-ate Dave. But in all seriousness, hope the starts align for me on race day. My training hasn't been perfect this time around.

Once this race is over, and certainly once the weather turns, I'll start setting my sights on the next big thing: Rangar Relay. You thought I was going to say marathon, didn't you?

Elmhurst, You Almost Killed Me.

Instead of running the Shamrock Shuffle last Sunday morning, Kim and I met up and headed to...Elmhurst.

Why Elmhurst?

Well, Elmhurst has a hill. It's actually a sledding hill, but it's a mean looking sledding hill.

We sized up the hill for a few moments, then went over to a soccer field where a group of people were doing a boot camp type class. It was lead by a guy who was Kim's high school trainer. Turns out that he knew my high school trainer, Aaron, very well.

We participated in the first half of boot camp. Kim fared much better than myself. Young kids were running faster and doing more push-ups than me, which goes to show that being a runner doesn't mean you're in tip-top shape. If Kevin (my former personal trainer) and I do meet up in May as we've planned, he is going to beat the you-know-what out of me.

After boot camp had handed us our asses, we headed over to the hill, because, well, we needed to be tortured some more.

So why do I keep coming back to the hill?

Nashville is hilly. Chicago is not. You can figure out the rest.

Kim made up a loop. A wide circle around a soccer field and then up and down the hill. Repeat and repeat...until we reached over 5 miles. It was brutal. It reminded me why I stay away from stair-steppers and stair climbs.

Had I not done the Country Music Half two years ago, I would be pretty freaked about the rolling hills of Nashville.

I can't decide if it's confidence or ignorance that's going to see me through on race day.

See You in April, Nashville

It's January and, or so it seems, all the runners I know are planning their race season.

I may be reluctantly running on a treadmill while the sidewalk's a sheet of ice, but my sights are on...Nashville.

Why Nashville you ask?

I need a spring race.

I need a goal. I need to be able to mark off progress of four months of training each day.

I need a training schedule to be staring me in the face every time I open the fridge.

I need a reason to buy a new pair of running shoes and to continuously update my ipod's playlist.

And it certainly helps to have a race to blog about.

So, it's been decided that a small group of us will travel down to Nashville at the end of April to run the Country Music Half Marathon & Marathon.

This year will not be my first Country Music Half. In 2009, I ran this race with Mary Beth, her sister Katie and her cousin Meghan.

It's a very hilly race, which makes it challenging when training in completely-flat Chicago. It was also unseasonably warm the day we ran the race. Sounds like a familiar theme to my races, eh?

The Country Music Marathon & Half is unique in the way the race is set up. It is a large race which has all distances start at the same time. All runners estimate their finish times and are then placed in to corral assignments based on that number. Both the Marathon and the Half run the same first ten or so miles, then the Half Marathoners turn off to head to the finish while the Marathoners continue on.

I vividly remember standing in the corral in 2009 looking down and then up a very steep hill and around at people's bibs and picking out those who were doing the marathon. At that point, I'd done my first marathon just the October before, but regardless, preparing for a spring Marathon seemed like a far-fetched dream rather than a possibility - mainly due to the winter weather training that would be involved.

I guess that goes to show you how much time training takes for a single race, and then how quickly your body falls out of that shape. That is the great challenge of distance running.

Half Marathon Training Run [in December]

Saturday morning, December 18.

8:30am.

18 degrees (feels like 9).

Sounds like perfect weather for a 10 mile training run.

You may be asking "Why would anyone run ten miles in THAT?"

Well my friends, I'm running a Half Marathon, in less than a month.

Kim S. organized what I believe is Chicago's first half marathon in January last year, affectionately called the "F*cking Freezing Frozen Lake Half Marathon." The race's mascot is none other than our recently-ousted former governor, Blago.

The race proved to be a hit and it's back this January, bigger and better than ever.

Kim has formed a partnership with Universal Sole and is holding training runs from their West Lakeview location.

On this particularly frigid morning, Brian, Kim and I were the only ones who'd shown up for the training run [it turns out other faster runners had shown up earlier and started ahead of us], dressed in our tried and true winter gear. We disembarked from Universal Sole and headed east on Belmont, passing over a few patches of sidewalk with ice. The weather was keeping most indoors on a morning like this, so we weren't fighting crowds as we made our way to the lakefront.

We headed north to Montrose where we then looped and headed south. The wind whipped against us and our faces hurt - the only skin exposed to the elements. Between November and March, the City's water fountains are turned off, so we carried fluids on us. In my case, the water in the bottles of my fuel belt froze.

It was nice to have a trio. We were able to catch up on training and life in general. Anything to take our minds off what we were actually doing - although I will have to say that's a standard practice in running:

While running, discuss anything but. When doing anything else, always discuss running.

3 Races in Less Than 30 Hours

Some of us focus (often for months) on training for one race. But once that race is over, what's next?

By mid-October, running season winds down as temperatures drop.

Still, there are runners who continue running in to the winter, and there's quite an alarming number of us. The Hot Chocolate 15K started in 2008 with 3,500 runners in Montrose Harbor. In 2010, the race has expanded to Grant Park, includes a 5K option and has added 26,500 entrants.

Last weekend, I ran 10 miles with Carrie and Jen as they prepared for the Monster Half Marathon. During the run, they told me our friend Sara would be doing the Half Marathon as well on Halloween.

She' also be doing two other runs - all in less than 30 hours.

At 8am on Saturday morning, Sara ran the Carrera de los Muertos (Run of the Dead) 5k in Pilsen.

At 6pm on Saturday evening, she ran Everybody PRs 6.9 mile run in west Lakeview.

At 8am on Sunday morning, she ran the Monster Half Marathon starting in Grant Park.

Sara and I talked about her multiple race weekend last night after Everybody PRs. Everybody PRs was a 6.9 mile run organized by F^3 Events and Universal Sole. About 30 runners (including Kim S, Kim A, Sara and I) participated on a course that went through Lakeview and North Center.

She said the Carrera de los Muertos was her best 5k time since 1997. She ran the race in sub 9 minute miles.

She said Everybody PRs was a little tougher, she could tell her legs were tired. After a few celebratory drinks, she headed home for a good night's sleep before this morning's Monster Half Marathon.

I'm anxious to hear how the Monster Half Marathon went for Sara, Carrie and Jen.

Running a half marathon three weeks after a marathon makes you rockstars in my book!

Congratulations!