So This Is Why You Live In Chicago

To run by the lake! I wish I had pictures, but yesterday was a glorious day. Temps in the low 70s, beautiful blue skies, and I had the day off! Dave had the great idea that I should run the route for my upcoming race, so I headed out to Montrose Harbor and ran most of the race course.

One of my favorite things about running is that there is no commute time. You head out the door and go. However, I have to admit that running the lakefront path makes the extra time worth it.

My New Coach

Sue and my Garmin have helped me diagnose my biggest running issue -- I'm going too fast. Even though I've been trying to go at a moderate pace and keep myself from going too fast, I obviously don't know what different paces feel like. Enter my new coach.

I did a test run earlier in the week, but today was the first run in alert mode (at a 12-14 minute pace). It was very hard to keep my pace in the zone; it kept beeping at me and telling me to slow down. Overall, however, I did pretty well staying in the zone. I only took one walk break and ran for 1 1/4 miles before taking that break. Even though my time was slightly longer than typical for this route, I ran far more than I usually do. Success!

Now I just need to find the volume control so my coach doesn't yell at me so loudly.

Post-Race Blahs Anyone?

As you can tell from my lack of posting I've been struggling a bit after the race. I've still been running and have had all good intentions to post, but work and life have been extra hectic, and I've been in a bit of a running funk. I resolved on this morning's run to post today, and the stars have aligned to make that happen.

Two days after the race I traveled to Puerto Rico for a conference. It was productive and fun, but tough for running. Shifting from 50 degree weather in Chicago to 90+ degrees and high humidity was not the best for my body. Also, PR is beautiful but far hillier than home. I did get out for a few runs, but tried to listen to my body and took it fairly easy because of the heat. When I returned home I did lots of research to find a continuing training plan post-C25K and to find a June race to run. I had a plan, but it just did not come together as I had hoped. I decided not to do the June race (which would have been today) because it seemed more realistic to focus on July. In short, I'm not running as often or as far as I should, but I'm still getting out there and plan to step things up in the next month to prep for the July race.

Enough of the downer part of this e-mail. There are some fun things to report!

Dave got me the book "Run Like a Mother" for Mother's Day, and it is fantastic! I love to learn by reading, and it is so accessible and informative. I highly recommend it. (The website is in my links section.) Dimity McDowell, one of the authors, was in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, and I got to meet her at a reading of the book. She and all of the mothers there were very inspiring.

Today I went out for my early morning run with a new attitude and a new outfit -- running skirt (love it!), RLAM t-shirt, and a Moving Comfort sports bra. I may have felt hot and tired this morning, but I looked like a cute athlete.

Then came my big surprise. I got a Garmin Forerunner as an early birthday present! Thanks, Sue! I can't wait to learn how to use it and take it out on the road. It's almost exciting enough to make me want to do a second run today. Almost.

Race Day

I did it! The race went great. The rain showers took a break from about 4 a.m. until 11 a.m., which was perfect for the race. I finished with no problems and feel fine. I did have to take a few walk breaks; I did about 9 minutes of walking total, so I will work on improving that in future races. I ran about the first 1.4 miles before taking the first walk break.

Anyway, numbers! I finished in 37.53 minutes, which was 2569th place (out of 2924). It's my first race, so that counts as a PR in my book! In fact, I'm very pleased with that number, as I wasn't sure if I would manage to finish in under 40 minutes.



The girl who is flying on the left side of the picture passed me seconds later.

Right Around the Corner

Tomorrow is race day! I've picked up my packet (bib #700!). I have my clothes all picked out. I've studied the map. I have a plan for getting to the race. Now I just need it to get here. It's kind of like when you are all ready for a test and just want to take it. Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep well tonight.

I am fairly certain that I will end up having to walk for part of the race, but I'm happy to be pleasantly surprised if I don't. The forecast calls for rain, which will be something new for me, but I have a cap and will clean off my glasses as needed. Mostly, I am trying to keep a clear head and positive attitude that this race is all about the experience and I just want to enjoy it. I will report back when it's over.

W8D1: 2.64 miles, 34.21 minutes
W8D2: 2.23 miles, 34.32 minutes
W8D3: 2.4 miles, 30.53 minutes
W9D1: 2.56 miles, 32.11 minutes
W9D2: 1.13 miles, 13.26 minutes (had to shorten for time)

Goals

I've been thinking a lot about goals as I've been doing the 5K training. I never had any doubt that I could finish a 5K, but, as recently as a few weeks ago, I was still very skeptical about being able to run the whole 5K. I still am, given the erratic runs of Week 7, but I am trying to remain optimistic. Right now, I'm holding off on determining a goal for the race. At a minimum, I want to finish the race and enjoy the experience. You only run your first race once, right?

I did come up with a set of goals in terms of races for the year. My goal was to do three 5Ks this year. That seemed very reasonable for a first-timer, yet I've found that, even before running my first race, I'm starting to think that that isn't enough, and I've been itching to add more races. I've at least convinced myself to not sign up for any more until I've gotten the first one under my belt, but in all likelihood, I'll end up adding a couple more. Here are the races I've committed to:

1. Ravenswood Run: Perfect timing for the first race and a nice neighborhood run.
2. Fleet Feet Sports Women's Festival: I thought it would be fun to do a women only race.
3. Hot Chocolate: Fitting, as this is the race that pushed me over the edge into this adventure last year. At some point I will write more about getting started with running, but last year I watched my friend Sue run the Hot Chocolate 15K and decided that maybe I could run a 5K. She's going to run it with me.

That's a good line up and well spaced, but I think I might want to add one in June and one in September. We'll see about that. I don't want to put the cart ahead of the horse. At this point, I have no idea how many would be too many and how many would be just right.

W7D1: 2.43 miles, 33.14 minutes
W7D2: 2.4 miles, 33.03 minutes (lots of walking)
W7D1: 2.4 miles, 32.01 minutes

23 Minutes

That's how much I managed to run on Day 3 of Week 6. Not the whole 25, but not too bad either. I need to lengthen my route because by the time I hit 23 minutes, I was less than a block from our house and that took the air out of any effort to push on for two more minutes. I have a new route picked out for Week 7 that is 2.4 miles, which should probably be about right. (Okay, it might be a little short, but it will be a good start for Day 1.) I won't be able to get out tomorrow because of work, but it's on my agenda for Wednesday.

Active.com had a useful post on Facebook today called 5 Common Hip Injuries You Can Fix. Reading that makes me think that the pain in my left hip is bursitis and not ITB syndrome. I've found some exercises to try and will ice it down after the next run. Hopefully that will bring some relief.

W6D2 (second attempt): 2.23 miles, 30.46 minutes (only did 8 1/2 minutes of the second 10 minute run)
W6D3: 2.23 miles, 29.03 minutes