Changes. Progress.

So much. May and June have been rather nuts. Moving, finishing the school year, trying not to kill any students/coworkers, moving (it took me weeks to actually finish the move), preparing for school in Rouen, nap-taking . . you know, stressful things.


So, I ran the Soldier Field 10 miler as a training run before the June 13.1 in Chicago. The weather was great that day, overcast, slightly cool, not overly humid. We ran 5 miles south on Lake Shore and the lakefront path and 5 miles back north. Since KZoo was so awful, I tried to use this race to lift my spirits and prove to myself I could conquer it feeling strong. My mantra was "fight" for this race and I used that to keep the pace for the last 5. I tried to save myself and finish strong. I ran the whole thing, felt good and put KZoo behind me. And finishing on the field with my face on the jumbotron was pretty cool.

pace: 10:34
time: 1:45:47

All in all, it was a great race followed by seeing family in IN, drinking beer, eating oysters, steak, etc.


Then . . . a week later. Chicago 13.1 June 4, 2011. The day started with sunscreen, heat, sunshine, fear, and the promise of miles and miles of more of the same (sans sunscreen since it was all sweated off by mile .5). The weather said it would be 80+ and although that sounded hot to me, I had no idea by mile 1.5 I would feel like my skin was boiling off of my body. I thought I would be just charred bones running along by the end. It was so DAMN hot I thought my lungs were sucking in air from a steam room. At about mile 3 I thought . . "why am I running? there are people over there in little cars who could take me back to the start if I just moved over to the side and fell over . . even if I did it on purpose." I kept going. I walked the water stops. I alternated walking and running. Before the race I had had a random conversation with a man who told me he had won the Soldier Field 10 miler (he ended up winning the 13.1 too with a time of 01:09:50. Moses Waweru). He talked about selling cars in Madison, WI and asked about how I trained and what there was to do in Chicago after a race (I said eat pizza and drink beer). So, I was about 5.5 miles in when I saw him on his return. I thought . . WOW! I know him! We have something in common! We are runners in the same race! It's wonderful to remember how we are all mortals . . even those who run a mile in under 5 min. So, ice towels at mile 6.5 were glorious. I was drinking more water than I ever have during a race. I pitched my headphones because they were cumbersome and annoying and I needed all my mental energy to focus on the task at hand. I couldn't listen to anything; it was too distracting. Everyone walked. Even those people who looked like super top runners walked. Heat was the great equilizer. At mile 10 we got the word the race had been red-flagged (clocks stopped, no times). At mile 11 the word came the race was black-flagged (cops forced us to walk). At this point everyone just relaxed and checked on the people around them. I met a lovely woman who I ran the last mile with; we ignored the cops. It was nice to chat about the day, the challenge, the brutality of running in heat when you hadn't trained in it at all.

If my time was correct I finished in 2:42:36 with a pace of 12:31. Of the people who started, only129 officially finished before the clocks were stopped. I learned the next day that a 26 year old physical therapist was taken to the hospital and later died. That just seems incomprehensible to me, so sad. I also wondered how a person that age could run to the point, push themselves to the point where they would be taken to a hospital and die. So sad. And a reminder to always stop when it's too much.


Even with the challenge and not finishing "officially" this race was sorta zen and peaceful. I saw myself as a fighter along side fellow runners (I never used to consider myself a runner, even when I was running frequently). I saw that all races are different animals with unexpected twists and turns. I felt like .... DAMN it's nice to wake up before dawn and run a long race on a Saturday in my beautiful city.


I thought I'd feel relieved to finish what I consider my first season as a half marathon fanatic (5 since Nov), but I just wanted to run another : ) I'll have to wait until Sept. Sept 11 to be precise. Chicago once again. I'm already ready to tear it up!


Another example of my landslide of a mind shift . . . I ran a 10K last weekend and it was humid and semi-brutal but still felt short. 6.2=short. Ha. Hahaha. I love progress.

10K time: 1:03:45
pace: 10:15


Shout out to my amazing friend Miranda for finishing her second 1/2! Knocked off 9 min from her first. WAY TO GO!! I love traveling through this running adventure with you, my friend!

By the way, I'm writing this in the Dublin airport waiting for my flight to Paris. Let's see what the runs are like this summer in Rouen. I think I ran twice last summer .....