Registration for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon opened yesterday. Be sure you register for the race today to ensure your spot on the course October 7th!

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Beginners

Walk The Chicago Marathon

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Run The Chicago Marathon

Intermediate

Intermediate Run The Chicago Marathon

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Advanced Run The Chicago Marathon

Have you registered for the Chicago Marathon yet?

Sometimes it's hard to find motivation to run when you really don't feel like it. There's always excuses that you can think of to put it off. I don't consider myself particularly lazy, since I am a marathon runner. I'm sure most of you can relate to knowing you need to complete a run, but really wanting to rest instead. In this blog I will explore different excuses I use myself, and solutions that can help solve them.

Putting off the runs can really effect your weekly mileage. I've been running every day since January 1st, but sometimes I'll just run a mile because I'm busy or I feel it's too cold outside.

Excuses

• I can't go to the gym or I'll lose my parking spot
• It's too cold to take the bus to the gym
• It's too cold to run more than a mile outside
• I really want to spend time with my roommate
• I want to go out and I won't have enough time to get ready if I run now
• I can't get up early enough in the morning to workout
• I'm battling a cold
• I'm still sore from last week's long run
• I don't have any clean laundry to go running in
• I'm too sad to run
• I run enough already

You've all heard these excuses before. Maybe you've said a form of them to yourself at some point. The reason I truly believe these excuses are avoidable, is because I've been working on solutions all month. Some of you just may not be morning runners. In the winter, I'm definitely not a morning runner. I've noticed that going to the gym after work before I go home helps a lot. If you stop at home before running, it's harder to get more motivation to leave the house again.

Sometimes some of your excuses can be the very reason you should go run.

In 2009, my daddy passed away from cancer. My biggest excuse at the time was being "too sad to run." However, I also felt guilty because he made me promise I wouldn't stop running. I managed to trudge outside somehow, and finish training for my first marathon. I trained with my friend, Shanelle, and ended up having a great summer. All those endorphins can really do a body and mind good! I also know how great Shanelle and I felt (& looked! :-p ) from all the miles we put in.

Last weekend, I wasn't sure if I would participate in the Chicago Polar Dash Half Marathon. I signed up for the race at the 2011 Chicago Marathon Expo. I knew the race was months away, but I was lured to sign up by the awesome fleece pullovers they handed out at registration.

My friend sent me a video (see below) that really made me stop to think. It's a Nike ad that really should push you to just get out there. I think the video is extremely motivational for any aspect of life, not just running. After watching the video, I knew I was going to at least try the race. I ended up not only finishing the race, but getting a 6 minute PR in the half-marathon at 2:18:10. Adam also finished the race with an impressive PR of 1:39:51, coming in 35th place overall. As for myself, I came in 494th place overall, and I'm okay with that :). Ha!

Solutions

• Track your training on WalkJogRun, with the free training diaries

I enter my training entries daily, and I love how you can see your progress over time

• Share those training diary entries to your Facebook and Twitter

It's an easy way to get motivation and encouragement from your friends and family members

• Follow a specific training plan

I follow the WalkJogRun training plans because I know how important it is to follow a plan to stay motivated. If you are constantly striving towards a goal, you're more likely to make it happen.

• Don't skip meals!

It's so important to eat regular healthy meals. If you don't eat right before a run, you're less likely to go out there and complete it. Sometimes I'll skip breakfast and it affects the rest of my day. Don't do that!'



• Run with a friend

As I mentioned above, running with my friend really helped me get motivation. If I didn't feel like running one day, I knew I had to anyway because my friend had planned it in her schedule

What are some excuses you've had for not running in the past? What solutions did you come up with to solve the problem? Go for a run today, and let us know how it goes!

I started a run streak on January 1, 2012. I made a New Years Resolution to run every single day in 2012, for at least a mile. So far, I kept the resolution and plan to see it through. I didn't make up the idea on my own. There's been plenty of runners who have been doing it for a long time. Through Twitter, using the #runstreak hash tag, I've found runners that have been running over 1000 days in a row!

I don't run outside much in the winter. I decided it was something I needed to do more of. What better way than to start a run streak?

I would definitely recommend trying a run streak. If you know you have to do something, you're more likely to do it. Exercise shouldn't be something you skip, just like you wouldn't wake up and decide you didn't feel like going to work. It must become part of you, etched in your brain. You wake up, and know you have to run that day.

It's been about ten days since my run streak began. According to my training diary, I've logged about 25 miles. That is by no means a lot of miles. The point is, I got out there and ran every day. I'm also working through the WalkJogRun Marathon Training Plan. I'm following the beginner plan, even though it's my third marathon. The plan fits well with my schedule. Right now, I plan to run the Cleveland Marathon on May 20th. I've ran the Chicago Marathon twice, and am excited to run in another city. I'll also be staying with my grandparents and visit them a bit.

Starting a run streak doesn't need to be a year long commitment. Start with a weekly goal. Move up to a thirty day goal. I'm sure you'll see the health benefits if you don't workout too often. I've noticed that I go longer than I planned if I feel good once I'm out there. I may not have known I'd feel good running if I didn't get out there! There's been plenty of times I didn't feel like running, got outside, and felt great. Let's not forget the endorphins!

WalkJogRun On Air

Adam, Jeff, and I came up with the idea to start recording podcasts on the run. These podcasts will be called WalkJogRun On Air, a different version of TalkJogRun, since they're recorded while running. I'd love to go for a run with you and talk about life, running, or your story! If you need someone to run with, and you are in the Chicago area, I'd love to accompany you! Let's try to reach our running goals together! Email me!

Benefits of Starting a Run Streak

• Endorphins
• Possible higher mileage
• Discipline
• More inspiration to run a race
• The more you run, the better chance you have for weight loss

What are your goals for 2012? Do you think you'd want to try a run streak? Have you tried one in the past? I'd love to hear your tips! Comment below and share them with us!

Each year hundreds of companies and organizations spend a ton of money advertising in race goodie bags. I decided to share exactly what I got from my Chicago Marathon goodie bag.

There were a ton of pamphlets in my goodie bag. There were a lot in there that advertised particular races. This may be a good idea for targeting a first-time marathon runner who hasn't heard of these races before. However, most of us can get this information online or from word of mouth.

Everyone always loves free samples in a race goodie bag. Clif offered a free chocolate mini bar. I was excited because I like Clif bars, but they aren't anything new to me.

I saw a stick of Extra gum, and tried it right away. Will I ever buy this particular Extra gum again? Probably not.

Will I ever use Affresh dishwasher and disposal cleanser? Certainly not. As a poor post-grad, I have neither a dishwasher or garbage disposal.

Goodie bags may be a good tactic for companies targeting those who are not going to walk around the expo. It does make you wonder if they will even look through the pamphlets, or just take their t-shirts and be on their way.

The Chicago Marathon expo very strategically places T-shirt pick up at the back of the convention center, forcing people to at least take a look at some of the vendors.

What's in a Marathon Goodie Bag?

Before I added anything extra to my goodie bag it contained:

Official Race Packet Info

Official Progam
Chicago Marathon T-shirt

Race Ads

Indianapolis Mini-Marathon Pamphlet
Illinois Marathon Pamphlet
Monumental Marathon Pamphlet
Sedona Marathon Pamphlet

Charity Ads

Team Paws Chicago Pamphlet
Team to End AIDS Pamphlet
World Vision Pamphlet
Team in Training Pamphlet
Alzheimer's Association Pamphlet
Girls on the Run Chicago bumper sticker
Susan G Komen Pamphlet and Ad
American Cancer Society "I'm Running For" race bib

Samples

1 stick of Extra dessert delights
Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter Sample
Affresh Dishwasher cleaner sample
Larger Affresh Dishwasher cleaner sample
Chocolate Chip Mini Clif Bar
Chicago Athlete Magazine
Free Trial Offer at Chicago Sun-Times E-paper

Money Off Coupons

Jbird 10% off coupon/pamphlet
Sports Authority $10 off purchase of $50 or more

Product/Service Flyers

Advocate Health Care Pamphlet
Kefir Pamphlet
Run Your Best Pamphlet
Reavy Rehab Pamphlet
CTA Going Green Map of CTA lines
Hard Rock Café Pamphlet
Tracking Key Pamphlet
MarathonFoto Pamphlet
Lasting Commemoratives Pamphlet
CARA Winter Programs Pamphlet

Chotchkies

CTA keychain

One thing that I did love from my race packet was The American Cancer Society's "I'm Running For" race bib. I definitely wrote my dad's name on this and wore it for the marathon. Everyone knows someone who has passed away from cancer, or is currently struggling with it. I think the race bib was a great way to target runners for charity awareness. The race bib was genius because many people can connect with wanting to remember someone through a marathon. Many already run marathons in memory of someone special. If The American Cancer Society had just put a pamphlet in the expo bag, maybe they would capture some of the 45,000 people who got a bag. By encouraging people to write someone's name on the race bib and wear it for the marathon, they are marketing their charity to not only the runners but the spectators who see the bib as well.

After I walked around the marathon expo, I grabbed whatever people offered me. I got a free Five Hour Energy, sports beans, samples of sports and energy drinks, tons of bars I never heard of before, pamphlets on different charities and races in the next year. I signed up for a few raffles to win race entries. I was convinced to sign up for the 2012 Polar Dash Half Marathon in Chicago. For only $50, I got a fleece jacket and half-marathon race entry. I decided this was a good deal especially since the proceeds go to the Team Ortho Foundation

Overall, I believe the Chicago Marathon had a much bigger expo than some other races. I got a lot of free samples, which means tons of snacks for work today at WalkJogRun. What do you expect to get out of a race expo or goodie bag? What do you do when you see the items in your goodie bag? Toss them? Or do the contents make a lasting impression?

My first marathon. I ran the Chicago Marathon last Sunday. It should have felt fabulous when I crossed that finish line, right? That's what I was trying to tell myself. I put my hands in the air for the finish line photo because everyone else was and I thought that doing so would make me happier. I still have yet to figure out why I was so bummed crossing that line!

Let me take you back in time to Chicago Marathon 2009. I watched Adam run and was completely in awe of the elites and even more inspired by everyone else running. And so, this was really the starting point of my training. I already had a half coming up a month later and another in January. I trained in the dead of Chicago's harsh winter hoping to run my best in my January half (I didn't, but that's another story).

As luck would have it, I got a Team in Training scratch off card in a race goodie bag and underneath the little scratch off box I won an entrance into one of the events they participate in. Chicago 2010 was one of these events. I was officially running Chicago! Special bonus- it was for a cause that hit close to home. Thanks to the support of friends and family, I went on to exceed my $1,000 goal for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

For 20 weeks I was on a run-eat-sleep-repeat cycle. And I liked it. At times I felt like I was a newborn baby, eating every three hours and going to bed at 8:30. Ah, I really did enjoy this eating, though.

I was so pumped to race. I made a playlist with songs to get me through what I knew would be the hard miles. I was ready to rock.

Race Day

I woke up and I wasn't nervous. I knew this was not a good sign. I should've been nervous that I was running the furthest in my life that day, right? The entire wait at the start and the walk to the start, I still wasn't nervous. So when did I actually get nervous? Perhaps it was the timing of my caffeinated energy gels (which I'm never doing again), but when I approached the mile markers where I knew friends and family would be, my heart was racing as fast as my legs were.

At mile 10 I made the mistake of drinking Gatorade. I knew I shouldn't have. I never drink Gatorade. It gave me the worst side cramp of my life! I walked-ran from 10 to 14 and stopped at a med tent to make sure I was still alive.

This didn't slow me down too much, though. I was on target to finish in 4:30 until mile 18. My wall. I saw my friends and family and just started crying. "I never want to do this again" where the only words I could say. Needless to say, 18 to the end was not fun. I forced myself to run 10 minutes and walk 2. My body was fine. It was a pure mental game at that point.

I should mention that the alert advisory for the heat went from green to red in about an hour. The bank clock said 87 degrees.

My initial retrospective look was filled with a bunch of "what ifs". What if I had trained with a group all 20 weeks, would I have been better trained? What if I didn't skip those couple mid week runs here and there? What if I actually did all of my cross training?

Right. I've since come to the realization that running 26.2 miles is in itself quite the accomplishment. I hung my medal over my bookshelf where I can see it every day. I plan on doing a spring marathon and definitely Chicago Marathon 2011. I have to beat my time. I just have to.

I knew I liked training for half marathons, but training for marathons was a different story. I fell in love. I like the structure it gives to my day. I enjoy eating healthy because everything I eat affects how I perform. I like taking up new cross training activities. I like talking about running to anyone who will (pretend to) listen. Not only am I a runner, I'm marathoner. Man, that feels good to say!

Have you ever had a bad race experience? Did the weather, race route, or just a plain old bad day get you down? Please share your story!

Are you hyped up to start training for a race now? Check out some of the race course maps we have or map your own! You can also start training for your race with our customized training plans by Coach Jenny.

If you're like me, then the music you listen to while running greatly influences your pace. I know, I shouldn't be this reliant on my music. I run without music quite often, but I'm running the Chicago Marathon this Sunday and I figured if any distance needs music, it's a marathon!

Listening to music while running isn't always bad. To help keep my pace slower in the beginning, I've front-loaded my playlist with "mellow" songs. I say "mellow" but they're actually just mellow compared to the rest of my songs! This of course isn't my full playlist.

Mile 1-5

• Rusted Root- "Send Me on My Way" Ha, get it?
• Madonna- "Like a Prayer"
• Xavier Rudd- "Famine"
• Rusted Root- "Beautiful People"
• Damien Rice- cover of Nina Simone's "Be My Husband"
• Dave Matthews Band- "Dream Girl"
• Boxcar Racer- "There Is"
• Xavier Rudd- "Home"-An absolute favorite of mine. Usually I finish smaller races with this song, but I figured I'd need more energy at the marathon's final stretch.
• Alison Krauss- "Down to the River"
• Xavier Rudd- "Little Chief"

Mile 6-12

• Xavier Rudd- "Breeze"
• Oasis- "Wonderwall"
• O.A.R.- "Crazy Game of Poker"
• Madonna- "Vogue"
• Rusted Root- "Welcome to My Party"
• Xavier Rudd- "Land Rights"
• Mandy Moore- "Candy"
• Dave Matthews Band- "You and Me"
• Xavier Rudd- "Badimo"
• Rusted Root- "Back to Earth"
• Nine Days- "Story of a Girl"
• Xavier Rudd- "Love Comes and Goes"
• Lady Sovereign- "Love Me or Hate Me"
• Styx- "Come Sail Away"
• Michael Jackson- "The Way You Make Me Feel"
• Ozzy Osbourne- "Iron Man"
• Shaggy- "Boombastic"

Somewhere around Mile 13:

• D4L- "Shake that Laffy Taffy"
• Ludacris-"Move"
• 'NSYNC- "Bye, Bye, Bye" -Saying bye, bye, bye to the first half. On to the second!

Mile 14-16:

• Rusted Root- "Hands are Law"
• DMX- "Ruff Riders"
• Kid Rock- "Bawitaba"
• Xavier Rudd- "Energy"- Time for some power gel!
• Fergie- "Fergilicious"
• Britney Spears- "I Love Rock 'n Roll" - A staple on my running list for about six years.
• Xavier Rudd- "Sky to Ground"
• TLC- "No Scrubs"
• Gwen Stefani- "Hollaback Girl"
• Xavier Rudd- "Food in the Belly"
• Limp Bizkit- "Faith" - Yep, the George Michael song done by Limp Bizkit. I raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and named my campaign "Running with Faith". Faith is/was my mom's name, and I put this on the list in her honor.

Mile 17-19:

• Xavier Rudd- "Set Me Free" - I'll hopefully be feeling good and ready to be "set free"
• Fergie- "My Humps"
• Xavier Rudd- "Introduction"
• LL Cool J and Jennifer Lopez- "Control Myself"
• Nelly- "Batter Up" -Lyrics "took a whole lotta tryin' just to get up that hill" Mile 18 has been my proverbial hill thus far
• Eric Prydz- "Call on Me"
• Xavier Rudd- "Mana" - I love this song. It's all instrumental with a didgeridoo and drums. Yep, a didgeridoo.
• Three 6 Mafia- "Gotta Stay Fly"
• Rihanna- "Please Don't Stop the Music"

Mile 20:

• MC Hammer- "Too Legit to Quit"-I'm anticipating hitting my wall at this point, if all things go accordingly, of course.
• Britney Spears- "Stronger"
• Def Leppard- "Pour Some Sugar on Me""

Mile 21-24:

• Xavier Rudd- "Let Me Be"
• Sean Kingston- "Fire Burnin'"
• Usher- "Yeah!"
• Ying Yang Twins- "Ai Yi Yi"
• Sarai- "Ladiez"
• Fergie- "London Bridges"
• Salt-n-Pepa- "Shoop"
• Rihanna- "Rude Boy"
• Xavier Rudd- "The Mother" It's about Mother Earth "breathing good love."

Mile 25-26.2:

• Rusted Root- "Ecstasy"
• LMFAO- "Shots"
• Salt-n-Pepa- "Push It" -To keep me pushing through to the end!
• Rihanna and Jay Z- "Run this Town"

It's pretty heavily loaded with artists Rusted Rood and Xavier Rudd. They get me through all my long runs. Who are your favorite artists for running playlist? Have any songs you think I should listen to?

Today was my annual running breakdown. I pushed my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday workouts back one day each meaning today and tomorrow make it 5 day straight without rest.

I woke up at 6am and fought the idea of running for 15 minutes before heading out. As soon as I started running I felt dreadful - dead legs and no enthusiasm at all. Usually this passes after a mile or so but today was different and a classic sign of over-training. I hit the lakefront (here in Chicago) at around 1.5 miles in and found some inspiration when I saw the sun hanging low, bright orange over the lake as it began it's hike across the sky.

The usual path was too familiar so I decided to try to distract myself and took a detour along Montrose beach past the bird sanctuary all the way to the end of the pier at Montrose Point. The scenery was just perfect as the low sun lit up the buildings along the lake front and the trees at the edge of the beach. As I turned around I saw what has to be the most perfect view of downtown Chicago as the sun worked it's magic reflecting off the tall skyscrapers. The route is here "Scenic 8 miler".

I reached my 4 mile mark according to my Garmin so turned around and headed back home. Instantly my mood dipped again and as soon as I hit the familiar part of my route I switched back to grumbling and complaining to myself about how hard this all is and how little fun I was having.

Running the 1.5 miles along Foster Avenue back to the apartment was tough. The traffic, the traffic lights, the pedestrians, everyone was a target for my mental grumbling. It was only in the last half mile that it dawned on me - I've run around 450 miles since June so it's no wonder I'm tired!

I got back and told my wife about my little breakdown and she reminded me it was this time last year at the same stage in my training that I hit the same breakdown. The spring vanishes from my step as I get one week out from the peak week of training and the visions of running through the fall and winter to hit another marathon or two disappear in negative thoughts.

I looked at my logs for the 14 weeks of marathon training and got the confirmation about what I've achieved so far. I've logged 439.79 miles in 14 weeks. At a 9:14 average that's 67.6 hours of running and, for my weight, around 68,000 calories. For some perspective that translates to around 19 pounds! I've climbed over 24,000 feet based on elevation change and lost 14 pounds!

If you don't keep a diary of your training, I recommend you start. Be it in a spreadsheet, a log book, online or even sending yourself emails it's a crucial training tool to remind yourself of your accomplishments from time to time. Days like today come and go and you're not alone - it happens to every runner who follows a challenging training program. It felt awesome to tell the clerk at the Drivers License renewal facility I'm 14 pounds lighter than my last license and when she said "you're turning 35? You don't look that old" I nearly kissed her. Running is hard but it's rewarding and worth every minute.

It's easy to do - you're running a race and things aren't going right, you get to the end and look at your GPS and see that the race was too long and feel justified for the way you feel. But don't be so hasty to email the race director, especially if you're running in a city like Chicago with long underpasses and skyscrapers.

A Bridge too Far

Last year in Chicago it turns out the Chicago Distance Classic was an extra half mile than the 13.1 so they adjusted the times accordingly to help people trying to qualify for Chicago Marathon, so this year people were anxious to see how the race measured up under the Rock n Roll brand.

The New Rock n Roll

The race starts in Grant Park, a nice open space but within a quarter mile we go underground for a quarter mile to just before the river. From there we proceeded up to Grand, down Rush to Hubbard then down State Street back into the loop. As you can see from the first WalkJogRun screenshot, this clocks in at 1.6 miles from the pedestrian bridge over Columbus around to Calhoun Place.

The second screenshot shows the points recorded by Garmin 305 GPS. It clearly shows the route up Columbus until we hit the Aon Center (the start of the underpass) and it's pretty clear the GPS is beginning to make guesses about where I'm heading ;-) You'd expect any device relying on satellites to struggle to gain line of sight in this environment! It's basically a quarter mile tunnel so it places me on the parallel street stetson and predicts I've even crossed the river! As you emerge at the other end of the tunnel by the river it quickly snaps back to Columbus as it finds the missing satellites again and we're fairly good from there but note the "wiggling" of the route. It's a small variance but I promise I wasn't drunk or weaving around my fellow race goers - just interference caused by the tall buildings of downtown.

The bottom line is that within what should have been 1.6 miles the Garmin is out by 0.69 miles reporting 2.29 miles vs actual. Fortunately the rest of the race through the loop is on wider streets so the variances decrease and by mile 4 we're heading out of the downtown area heading south on Lake Shore towards Hyde Park where the sky is mostly open (except for a few underpasses under McCormick Place). The actual Chicago Rock n Roll 2009 Half Marathon route is mapped out at WalkJogRun if you need to see the actual course without the wiggles.

Go with your gut

So what can you do? I was using this race as a training run for the Chicago Marathon so I wasn't digging for a PR and decided to listen to my breathing. If it was too labored I slowed down, if it was too easy I picked it up and continued this way until around mile 8. I looked at my time at each mile split and realized I had been maintaining my desired pace anyway - a very natural pace for me. It's a great feeling to be letting go of my reliance on my GPS and other gadgetry. I even ditched my iPod this year and it's been very liberating. After mile 8 my GPS was giving good readings and I felt so good I picked up the pace for the last 5.2 miles of the race to finish just 2 seconds slower than last year when I was pushing hard, but I felt so much better this year.

WalkJogRun iPhone App

Given the story above I wanted to turn back to our iPhone Application, WalkJogRun Routes. We get a lot of requests about incorporating a GPS route mapper into the iPhone application and I understand why. There are a couple of other companies who have added GPS tracking centric apps and they've sold a lot of copies. Understanding how a dedicated device struggles to track your route and your pace, it's obvious that a device with an embedded GPS would be useful but not accurate. If you're a slave to the data you get out of your GPS or iPhone you'll be disappointed by the accuracy. If you're the kind of person who is just curious, you'll be happier but very few will be satisfied.

We held off on our GPS embedding for this reason - accuracy on the website is a big priority and hence the iPhone app strives to maintain that integrity. We believe that if we can show you a route wherever you are and give you an accurate distance, you have everything you need to run. We also got a lot of feedback that tap to zoom on a route wasn't what people expected but the truth is, we tried pinch to zoom and it just wasn't as easy to accurately zoom in on the point of the map you need versus a single tap, so we made that choice. Another factor was the responsiveness of using static maps, which was our only option for the first release. We're working on using the embedded google maps so once that is done, we'll have a better option, but again - accuracy for us is key.

How do you train? Obsessive about your gadgets or a natural born runner happy to follow your gut?

I'm happy to say that with only 2 weeks to go to the Chicago Marathon the only exhaustion I'm facing is mental and not physical. I know it sounds strange but it's a relief because I know that as part of my taper I'll be backing off the mileage and will start to feel stronger, have more time to sleep in and be ready to go.

Last weekend we did our 20 miler and I was more nervous than usual. The week before when we ran 14 miles, supposedly a back off week, I felt a phantom knee pain around mile 6. 3 miles later I felt sick to my stomach and ended up dry heaving by the side of the path. So psychologically, it wasn't the best preparation for a 20 miler! Fortunately for me, the weather was ideal for the 20 miles and I had prepared well with sleep and pasta the night before. I took 2 Power Gel pouches during the run: one at 7.5 miles and another at mile 13 and felt really strong when I finished. It was the ideal end to the incremental mileage phase and a great way to head into the three week taper.

Yesterday we ran 12 miles and again it was cooler than the rest of our summer training and I felt strong. I ran with a guy from the Team in Training crew all the way and maintained a healthy 9:20 pace until the last half mile where we picked it up to give us a run average of 9:14 per mile. My goal for the marathon is an 8:45 pace based on my Chicago half marathon time of 8:18 per mile so we'll see how that pans out ;-) Truth be told I'll just be thrilled to come in under 4 hours to beat my personal best of 4:06 two and a half years ago in the San Francisco marathon.

Until then I'll be taking every opportunity to get off my feet, get plenty of sleep and eat and more responsibly...

I ran the Chicago Distance Classic yesterday as part 2 of my 3 race season with Team in Training. After my Indy Mini PR of 1:58:20 I had a good head start on my training with 14 weeks between races to see how much faster I could get. The Team in Training Summer program features speedwork, stretching and ab work on Wednesday nights and so I pushed those sessions pretty hard.

Over the last 14 weeks we've done hill repeats, yasso 800s, strides, intervals and pickups around one of Chicago Lakefront's only hills at Montrose harbor. My pace had gradually been increasing while my heart rate was dropping over the same easy runs week to week and I felt really strong.

After studying my runners world training diary and pouring over the Garmin workout logs I decided to start with the 8 minute mile Chicago Endurance Sports pace group for a finish time of 1:45. I started in the first wave as a consequence and left with the first batch of runners. I stuck it out for the first four laps with splits of 7:46, 7:55, 7:46 and 8:02 but realized I was out of my league when I peaked at my Garmin to see a Heart Rate of 175 bpm, a rate typical towards the end of my workouts so I slowed down to 8:13, 8:01, 8:05 and 8:06 for the next four. At that point I hit the gusting wind from the north and was pegged back to 8:17, 8:54, 8:02 and 8:17 for the next four miles. The last mile and change to the finish I had nothing left in the tank and slugged through at 8:54 to finish with an overall chip time of 1:48:38 - another PR!

I'm really excited because it's one day later and I don't feel like I've been hit by a bus and ready for the next 9 weeks of training to take me to the Chicago marathon where, through my time in this race, I have secured a corral start! I'll throw it out there now so I can remember it but the Greg McMillan Running Calculator predicts that based on my half marathon time, my current level of fitness would indicate a 3:49 marathon. That would be 17 minutes faster than my 2006 San Francisco marathon finish and a PR so I hope it works!

Anyone else run it? What did you think of the course, the weather and the organization?