Race Recap: Big Ten Network's BTN10K - Chicago, IL

By now, if you have read any of my posts, you have probably inferred that I dislike most race t-shirts, unless they meet two qualifications:

1)      Women’s cut

2)      Dri-fit/technical material

Since most races (except for half-marathon distances and higher) don’t offer shirts in a combination of these two things, I usually don’t take the t-shirt unless it’s included in the price of registration. And if I do, I just get a size large so P can wear it.

On the other hand, my husband P is ALL ABOUT the race t-shirt.  A cool shirt design will sucker him into any race.  He’s easy like that.

We are big University of Michigan fans, so imagine how excited P was when he stumbled upon the Big Ten Network 10k/5k/FanFest, held in Chicago, IL.  For the registration price, you also got a technical shirt specific to the Big Ten school of your choice.  After he heard about that shirt, he was IN, no further questions.  Happily, I found that the shirts are ALSO gender-specific…and, since I’m always up for a trip to Chicago, we registered for the 10k – but not early enough to get our packets mailed to us.

Last Friday - the day prior to the race - we made the 4 hour car trip to Chi-town (3 hours, really…if you count that you gain an hour on the way).  There was no day-of-race packet pickup, so we took the day off work and headed there to get our stuff.  As soon as we rolled into town, we navigated straight to Fleet Feet sports to get our bibs and other race goodies.

Packet pickup was pretty well organized – I was expecting it to be a mess, simply due to the number of participants - the website said they had over 12,000 registered runners.  Pickup was a breeze though – we were in and out in 5 minutes. After pickup, we had some lunch and checked out what was in our goodie bags.  Aside from the BTN bag and t-shirt, there was also a snack sized Clif Bar (chocolate mint, yum), race bib/pins, a race info booklet, and a nifty little zip-tie to strap your gear check ticket onto your bag with.  

BTN 10K goodies

We headed down to McCormick Place (after getting lost in a really shady looking area), and after we checked into our hotel we decided to go out and have “a beer”.  We left at 4PM with the intent of returning around 7PM for some light dinner and shut-eye.  However that turned into us walking from our hotel all the way down to the Mag Mile (about 3 miles).  We kept stopping at bars on the way and had a drink or two at each.  I discovered my new most favorite summer beer (Revolution Brewing Rosa), which made the excursion totally worth it.  Around 11PM we finally wandered back down over the river, hit up a Panera for some light dinner to-go, and hailed a cab back to our hotel where we sat in bed and watched TV and ate soup and salad til midnight.  Totally not part of the plan, but it was fun and most definitely worth it.

The instructions in the packet said to arrive to the course Saturday morning no later than 5:45am (SPEW!)….but the gates to the starting area weren’t open til 6am.  Our hotel was running nonstop shuttles to and from the Museum Campus from 6a-9a that morning, so we knew we’d get there in plenty of time as long as we left around 6-6:15.  At 5am P stumbled sleepily down to the lobby to get us some large Starbucks coffees and I flipped on CNN.  I ALWAYS drink a big cup of coffee while I watch the news before I run.  I also had packed my favorite pre-race meal –whole wheat bread with a generous spread of Jif creamy peanut butter – so, I feasted on that as well.  P had cereal.

Race morning necessities

At 5:45am I was adequately caffeinated/awake, and breakfast was sitting good in my tummy, so I threw on my race clothes.  The “theme” of the BTN10K is, of course, “school spirit” -  so the goal was to put on as much “fan wear” as you could!  I sported my Michigan race shirt, Athleta Swagger skort, and knee high Michigan socks.  I wore block “M” earrings in my ears as well.  P was garbed up in his race shirt along with very stylish matching Michigan sweatband and wristbands. 

Looking very stylish

After we crammed ourselves onto one of the hotel shuttles with lots of other runners, we made it to the start line around 6:20a.  The temperature was absolutely perfect – I have no idea how we got so lucky in July!!!  It was the only random day, after a 2 week long heat wave (heat index 100+), where the high was only supposed to hit 70.  It was about 55 and sunny and I was loving it. 

The starting corrals were in front of the Adler Planetarium.  It was a teeming mass of humanity.  There were people EVERYWHERE and navigating around was a little rough.  We asked several volunteers where gear check was, but no one seemed to know; we just ended up following everyone else with bags and asking a couple of other participants before we found it.  The lines to the porta-potties outside the gear check area were huge….but inside the area, they had a ton of toilets and no real lines to speak of.  We took one last bathroom break then went and stretched before they announced that we needed to get to our corrals.  Getting to the corrals was a whole different story that I won’t elaborate on too much except to say that it was a giant cluster____!

P registered me and I’m not sure what he put down as my projected finish time, but I was in the ABSOLUTE LAST CORRAL.  The only thing that was making me nervous about that was tripping over people and getting blocked in over the first mile or two.  I had a time goal in mind and I really wanted to finish in under 60 minutes, so I knew it was going to mean a LOT of maneuvering around people.

The race started at 7:00a sharp, but by the time us last-corral-ers even started moving forward toward the start, they announced that the lead runner had just passed the 5K mark.  By the time we made it to the start line, over 18 minutes had passed.  Just then, it hit me….I had to PEE.  AGAIN.  And it was definitely too late for that.    I turned my Garmin on as soon as I crossed the start line and told myself to get ready to settle in for a while.

As I feared, I didn’t get very far before I ran right into a wall of people.  Had this been a marathon, I would have just plodded along and waited for the crowd to thin out.  But I was running for a specific time.  People were everywhere with of course no traffic pattern (ie, no “slower runners to the right/faster to the left”- type of organization AT ALL).  I decided to be a little rude about it because I wanted to get away from the slower runners and walkers, so I was all about pushing my way through tiny spaces, cutting people off (while yelling “Sorry!” of course….I can’t be TOO mean about it!) and generally running just outside of cones, up on medians and sidewalks and just trying to get around as many people as I could.  I wasn’t the only one, trust me, so don’t be mad.

The course was an out-and-back right along Lake Michigan, with the start line just north of the Museum. It was flat and on paved park walkways – not very wide at all.  I was at the 5K split in 30 minutes – not as fast as I normally run but not bad for such a crowded start.  I really believed that I could make my goal if I kept going.  It would have to be a fast few miles, but I could do it.  My pacing was right on and if I could keep it up I could do it.

At mile 4-ish I wanted to stop for water.  FATAL FLAW.  So did everyone else.  I literally STOPPED and stood in line to get a cup of water. I watched people slip on the piles of paper cups that were built up all over by the tables.  I took a few sips while walking; merging back into the crowd was a mess.  I pushed my way back in and had to run on the side of the path in the mud and grass to pass all the people I’d already made such an effort to pass.  That was my slowest mile (10:01 pace).  I felt so defeated – I knew I probably wouldn’t make it.  I flip flopped between just finishing out the rest of the run at a comfortable pace, and busting my rear to try to make it to my goal – but I refused to quit.  My full bladder was making its presence more and more known with every step I took, so I tried to zone out, to look at everyone’s costumes, and to pass as many people wearing tutus as possible (don’t ask, I just really don’t get the whole running-in-a-tutu thing and they sort of make me angry).

I did not make my goal – I crossed the finish line in 1:01:11.  1 minute, 12 seconds under my goal of 59:59.  I tried really hard not to be bummed out and told myself that the crowded course did not help my efforts.  I really had given it my best shot, although I suppose I could have skipped the water stop which might have aided me a little more.  All in the past by that point….

P found me within a few seconds and handed me a bottle of water.  He was super happy with his time of 55:04, and I was very proud of him. We funneled into the “tailgate party” area where we got our medals.  We waited in line at the U of M tent to get our U of M sunglasses and football posters.  I was ready for that free post-race beer….until we saw the lines.  There were 2 beer tables and the lines to each were literally never ending and eventually crossed into each other.  It was like the one time I tried to go to Target at 7am on Black Friday and couldn’t even find the end of the line to stand in.  We said forget it and decided to just head back to the room to clean up.

We had missed the last shuttle back to the hotel by minutes (literally) so we walked.  We got cleaned up, hopped on the El up to Wrigleyville and continued our Chicago adventures from there:

Some rooftop bar in Chicago

The Bean

Would I do this race again?  Sure, I would – but I would not set any kind of time goal for myself.  The number of participants in 2013 was twice that of 2012 and I’m assuming it will be even bigger next year.  So I’d do it again as a “fun run” and as a reason to spend a long weekend in Chicago….but I would NOT put any pressure on myself to make a specific time though.  The course is not really proper for the number of people participating, although maybe if the number of runners keeps going up every year, that will change…I’m assuming that shutting down the major streets of Chicago would be an issue though. 



BTN10K race bling

Race Recap: Feet on the Street 5K

I wanted to do a race over the weekend, but not many people from our running group were up for it – only 3 of us agreed to race, and we couldn’t agree on one.   One other member and I chose to run the Feet on the Street 5K in BG – a run to benefit Wood Lane Residential Services, which assists adults with developmental disabilities.  The course was familiar (since I used to live there, and now I run in the general area several times a week) and I really liked the logo on the t-shirt.  Let’s face it – sometimes, it’s ALL about the race t-shirt.

I had been too busy to remember to mail in my pre-registration stuff, so I registered onsite the morning of the race.  The entry fee was $25, which in my mind is a little pricey for a 5K, but when I saw how much STUFF you got in the goodie bag, I quickly changed my tune.  This baby was PACKED!  Water bottle, coffee mug, dog treats, coffee, and tons of coupons to the local running stores, etc.  The t-shirt was a tech shirt, but it was unisex (men’s) cut, so I’ll be giving that to P.  (Side note:  if you are reading this, and are a race director, PLEASE consider adding women’s fit shirts to your races!!  The women will THANK you!)  In addition to the overloaded goodie bag, there were over 140 door prizes plus a 50/50 raffle!  I was majorly impressed with the incentives at this one.   They spoiled the runners rotten!

One of the local newscasters acted as the emcee, and we all clapped and cheered on the 1K walkers as they took off at 8AM.  While the walkers were out on the course, my fellow running club member and I stretched and chatted.  We did some warm-up jogs to the corner and back, and I felt some pain in the medial portion of my left calf, and on my right shin.  I chalked it up to residual muscle soreness from the 10K just 2 days before, but I will say it made me a little nervous.  My legs have been experiencing some weird pains lately  - I guess we’ll see what’s going on with that.

At 8:30AM it was time, so we all lined up behind the bright orange spray-painted Start line.  “Runners Set”…..and then “Go!” and we all took off.  There were just over 160 runners - a nice turn out.  The course was nice and flat and took us through the residential streets of BG.  It was HOT out, as July races tend to be - 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.  One downer was that the wind that BG is normally so fabulous at providing was NOT there on race morning.  I’m not sure if it was because we were in a residential area with lots of houses and trees or what, but the air was thick and heavy.

There were timers at each mile, calling out times.  At Mile 1, the timer hollered “8:43!” to me, which seemed WAY off…and Garmin said 8:54.  Post-race, it was confirmed that the timers on the course were a little trigger-happy, so times were indeed off a bit.  The finish clock was correct though...and in the end, that's the one that counts!

The course had 2 water stops; I skipped the first one but did stop at the 2^nd one just past the 2 mile marker; I was parched.  I took two sips of water while walking, then tossed the cup and kept on going.  I normally don’t stop at water stops because I don’t want to lose those extra few seconds walking, but at these hot summer races, I try to listen to my body more – my body was telling me it needed a drink.  My leg pains were gone, but my lips and mouth were parched and sweat was pouring under my trusty Oakley running glasses and into my eyes (my Oakley glasses are probably my #1 favorite piece of running gear.  Money WELL spent!!!).

The entire first 2/3 of the race, this guy in a white bandana and yellow shirt was right in front of me.  His pace was just fast enough that I didn’t want to pass him too early because I feared he’d be going a bit TOO fast and I wouldn’t be able to maintain it, but I kept right at his heels.  Passing him became my motivation – well, that and finishing as fast as possible, because it was just really fricking hot out.

At mile 2.5 we rounded a corner to the final stretch of road that would lead us to the finish line.  It was at this corner that a ton of people in front of me just quit and started walking.  Aside from the fact that I was sweating buckets and the stale air was a little hard to breathe, I felt fine.  In fact, seeing the people stop just motivated me to keep going.  I turned that corner and it was at that time that I decided to pass Bandana Guy too.  So, I did.  I didn’t see him again til after I’d crossed the finish line, which made me very happy and smiley inside.  No offense to Bandana Guy (and thanks for being my motivator!).

As we charged up the last stretch, the clock came into view.  By the time I was in a spot where I could actually SEE what the numbers were (stupid crappy vision…) it was 27:44.  I was sprinting like a mad woman to get to that finish line BEFORE the clock flipped to 28 minutes. Honestly, it felt like someone was moving the finish line farther away as I was running toward it, because it sure took me an awfully long time to get there!  Of course, I forgot to turn the Garmin off til AFTER I got my popsicle stick (d'oh) so I had to wait for official race results to post, which just went up today - 27:59 - under 28 minutes (by a hair, but I'll take it!). I was 64^th through the finish line, and 4^th in my age group….I had missed placing by quite a bit, as the 3^rd place person was 36^th through.  Oh well.   It was still a PR for me, so I’m not complaining.

Mile splits broke down like this (per Garmin):

Mile 1:  8:54min/mile

Mile 2: 9:02 min/mile (I stopped and got a drink)

Mile 3: 9:07 min/mile (I have no explanation for why I slowed down there, except it was hot!)

Garmin reads 28:04 finish but remember I FORGOT to turn it off til after I got my stick.  Official race results have me marked at 27:59 finish. 

My running club buddy had finished about 30 seconds before I did, so together we went inside and checked the list of door prize winners.  He won something; I did not.  But, no matter….they had a nice layout of water and Gatorade and donuts/fruit/bagels/popsicles plus were giving away free jars of Biscoff Spread…

We stuck around for age group awards (we both were 4^th in our respective AG’s.  Wah wah wahhhh) and then headed home.  When I got home, I eagerly tried the Biscoff Spread as I’d heard about it but never had it.  It’s delicious!!!  It’s creamy like peanut butter, but tastes sort of like a graham cracker. 

Overall this was a fun race with lots of runner incentives (and what a good cause!).  I definitely plan on adding it to my race calendar for next year!

Race Report: OH/MI 8K

Coincidentally, the last two times I’ve had hair appointments, I’ve had evening races as well.  So I go and sit in the chair for 2+ hours while my poor hairdresser works her rear end off, trying to get my massive mane of fuzziness and greys tamed down to a more normal-looking head of non-grey hair – and then a couple hours later I completely ruin it by getting it all sweaty and ponytail-dent-y.  My hairdresser is a runner too, so I am sure she understands, but still – I feel a little guilty when she asks what my plans for the evening are and I say “I’m running tonight.”  All her hard work, destroyed in the span of a couple miles.  Plus the fact that I can NEVER flat iron it as perfectly straight and shiny and fabulously as she does.  For shame.

                                                 Snapped a quick pic in the mirror at work before rushing out the door.  So smooth and shiny.  Sigh.

Anyhow, last Thursday night (July 11) I ran the Ohio/Michigan 8K race for the first time.  8K = 4.96 miles, for those who aren’t interested in performing metric system conversions.  This race is rather popular every year, but this is the first year I decided to run it.  It looked really fun and the entry fee was pretty reasonable, since you got drinks and dinner with it ($25 pre-registration) so P and I decided to go for it.  Several members of our running club signed up too, although we had a couple of them drop out due to injuries, scheduling conflicts, etc.  However, in the end, six of us showed up so the miles counted toward our group goal (per our running club rules, a minimum of 3 members are needed at any one event or group run in order to count the miles toward our 2013 goal of….2013 miles).

The weather was FINALLY dry after 16 – 16! – straight days of rain.  The race was at 7:30, when it was still quite hot out, so I himmed and hawed over what to wear (Shorts?  Capris?  Skort?)  and finally settled on this black tank top from Old Navy, and these shorts from Under Armour which I own in hot pink/white/black.  I've had the shorts for years, and don't wear them much (I normally prefer compression shorts) but I thought they'd be nice because they are meshy and ventilated.  I love the longer length….I have big thighs, and those cute little nylon running shorts with the 2” inseam TOTALLY ride up and cause major chafing issues…so I always stick with longer shorts to prevent that.  I have these shorts in a Medium, and they are  pretty baggy, but sometimes I’ll wear compression shorts underneath, so I like the extra room for those.  Plus mine are bright pink which is sort of fun. It was my first time running in the tank top, but I had tried it on already and knew it was just a basic tank so no big deal there.  The only bummer is that I’d ordered it online and totally thought I’d read that it had a shelf bra, but when I got it, it didn’t.  I went back and read the description and sure enough it does NOT say anywhere on it that it has a shelf bra.  Oh well – runners aren’t normally known for their keen sense of fashion, so I threw on a sports bra underneath and let it all hang out and called it good enough, knowing well that no one cared what I looked like and I was just going to sweat in it, anyhow.  The tank actually ended up fitting sort of big on me....I liked it, but I think I'll size down to a Small on the next one.  I plopped my hair in a ponytail/bun type thing on top of my head with high hopes that I’d be able to get a second day out of my hairdresser’s nice work before I had to wash it.

I was a little nervous all day, which usually happens pre-race anyhow, but moreso this time because I’d had a HORRIBLE training run earlier in the week (which, if you missed it, you can read about here).  I had that butterflies-in-stomach feeling all day long, which caused me to not be very hungry. At 3PM I did force myself to eat the salad and greek yogurt I’d brought for lunch because I knew if I didn’t fuel my body, I’d bonk out in the first couple miles and I didn’t want that.  Don’t get me wrong – I didn’t sign up to run this race to place; this race was HUGE and most of the area’s elite runners participated.  I had a goal to finish in under 50 minutes, but in the big picture I just wanted to run my 4.96 miles and get to the cold beer and after-party part - BUT I also didn’t want to have another crappy run and take a mental hit again this week.  I also snacked on a Bagel Thin with some peanut butter on it right before we left the house, which is my pre-race snack of choice.

Since there was a tornado warning and horrible weather last Wednesday, we did not go pick up our packets at the advance pickup.  Simply by looking at last year’s results, we could see that there were over 400 participants, so we got to the race site about an hour early in case we had to wait in lines for packets/bathroom/etc.  Turns out there were 750 registered participants this year!!!  And magically there was still parking when we got there, and there were BARELY any lines.  We waited in a very short line for our packets, and there were no lines at all for the bathrooms.  Amazing!  The shirt was nothing spectacular – it is a tech shirt, but it’s unisex cut which I do not care for (too baggy in the arms/chest/waist and too narrow in the hip), so it will go in the drawer with all of the other race T-shirts that I only wear to bed or while painting.  I wish more races would dish out women’s cut shirts for the women!  Sigh.

 It was very sunny and 81 degrees at 7:30PM when we all gathered at the start line.

The course itself was a big rectangle – the start line was on Centennial Rd. right outside Centennial Quarry.  As the massive crowd gathered at the start line, we noticed that there was no timing mat at the start.  We had D-tags on our shoes but clearly it would just go off of the gun start since there was no start mat.  So, we maneuvered through the crowd to get up closer to the start so it didn’t take us forever to cross.   We heard “Runners set!” and the gun pop, and off the massive crowd went.

 The course took us through very flat rural-ish roads up into Michigan, then along the state line before crossing back into Ohio and ending in the parking lot of the Rite Aid that’s across from the Quarry.  I can’t say much else about the course itself.  There was not really much to look at except for farmer’s fields, a couple subdivisions on the Ohio side, and occasional traffic.  The first 2 miles were full sun while the last 2.96 miles were mixed sun and shade.  The shade felt REALLY nice!!!   There were 2 water stops, both of which I utilized.  Normally I do not stop at the water stops for shorter runs like this, but it was HOT out and the sun was just a-blazin’.  Simply taking a sip of water and a 5 second walk break to drink can really rejuvenate you during a hot race.  I also enjoy watching all the novice runners attempt to drink WHILE they are still running and end up choking on, and/or wearing the water instead.   The second water stop even had ice chips in the water, which were yummy and crunchy and cold.  It was great!  By the 3 mile mark, people were starting to drop like flies.  Lots of people began stopping to walk and several people who’d passed me in the first half, I was starting to pass at that point.    At the second water stop many people were simply dumping the water over their heads instead of drinking it.  It was just really hot but I paced myself and just focused on breathing and “forward trajectory”, as I like to call it.  I was able to zone out quite a bit, which was nice.

My times were as such:

Mile 1 – 10:15 (remember, it took us about 15 seconds to cross the start line) Pace 10:15/mi

Mile 2- 19:53 – pace 9:56/mi

Mile 3- 28:58 – pace 9:39/mi

Mile 4- 36:24 – pace 9:06/mi

Finish – 47:52:00 overall pace 9:38/mi

YAY for those nice, negative splits!!!!

It was not a closed course (the roads were still open to traffic), but most of it was all on rural roads so traffic was very sparse and we could take up the entire left lane and even spill over into the right lane for the first 4 miles.  The last 0.96 mile though, was up a very busy main road full of traffic in both directions and we were forced to run on the shoulder of the road with traffic cones separating us from the traffic.   It made passing people very difficult and I probably could have ran that last stretch faster if I had the chance to get around more people.  You practically had to bump people out of the way because it was really only wide enough for two people to run side by side.  I guess maybe I’m too courteous.  At the last turn into the Rite Aid parking lot, the blonde in front of me out of nowhere STOPPED RUNNING and started walking and I about plowed her over!  Thankfully I was able to zip around her and sprinted as fast as I could to the finish in order to gain back a couple seconds.  But, overall I’m really happy with how I did.  My goal was to finish in less than 50 minutes and I did that with plenty of time to spare.  I would have REALLY been happy with a 46-ish minute finish, but all things considered with the crowded start line and the heat and stopping at both water stops plus that last narrow mile, I’m glad I did as well as I did. 

I finished faster than P thought I would, so by the time I crossed the finish line he was just getting ready to go out to the street to look for me (he finished in 44:02). I missed his big voice hollering at me “Legs out front!”  as he always does – but also was happy that I finished earlier than he thought I would.  At the finish they had nice cold water and yummy slices of watermelon and pretzels and trail mix.  I grabbed a water and a slice of melon and met up with the rest of the SERC members.  Once we’d all come through the chute, we all walked back to the Quarry where they had an after-party.  All registered runners got a free meal and 2 drink tickets plus they had a band and free use of the Quarry for swimming.  While we didn’t partake in the swimming we did certainly partake in the beer tickets.  They were grilling burgers and brats for dinner which didn’t really sound good to me, and I wasn’t hungry at all, so I ended up giving my food ticket to someone.  Our running group sat together and ate and drank and hung out listening to the band.  By the time we left it was nearly 10PM, I had no idea it was that late!  Again, with that many people I was surprised that there were practically no lines for food and beer, but maybe the heat deterred people from staying.  It looked like there were a good amount of people filling all the tables.

P and I ended up stopping for another pitcher of beer at Granite City, and then headed home and ordered a pizza.   After a shower and slice of pizza I felt amazing and sleepy and totally ready for bed.

And guess what….my hair looked great the next morning!  I just had to touch up a couple parts with my own flat iron and it was good as gold.

                                                                                   Unwashed, day-after-race hair

In short, I really liked this race, and plan on adding it to my calendar for next summer’s races.   Can't beat a race that ends with a decent cover band and a couple Summer Shandys!



Taking the Good with the Bad

You may remember a certain TV show in which the theme song went like this:

“You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there you have…”

(I’ll give you a sec to stop singing it in your head – IF you are as old as me, and know what show that’s from, that is….)

I’ve found that the song above can be applied to running, too.  Most runs I have are great….I feel good, I love the sweat and the feeling of my body moving and using my muscles and getting stronger.  However, there are SOME DAYS in which running just sucks.  While those days are few and far between for me, they really deliver a mental “punch” to my motivation. 

Tuesday’s run was just that – after walking all over the streets of Chicago for 3 days (we were there with the kids, and we had so many touristy sightseeing activities planned – plus we knew we’d be walking everywhere – that  I didn’t even pack running clothes), I was anxious to be back on my home “turf” and get a good, sweaty training run in.  I planned 4 miles at a 9:15 pace over lunch.  At 11:15am, the temp was 77 and humidity was just a bit high (but not chokingly thick) at 67%.  There was a threat of rain in the afternoon, so I decided to take lunch early and hit the streets to run.

I had on my trusty Athleta Relay skort and a nice, meshy tank top from Marika that I found for $10 at TJ Maxx and find very comfortable to run in.  I strapped on the Garmin and got a signal right away (which never happens on campus – so many buildings around),  then started at my usual corner and headed off.   Stupidly, I did not stretch out very well.

Right away, things just felt “wrong”.  I couldn’t really pinpoint why, but I just didn’t feel right.  My stride felt peculiar and I felt like I was really working far too hard for the pace I was shooting for.  I told myself to forget it and just run with a clear head and hope things would fall into place in the first mile. 

Wrong. Wrong.  Wrong.

Just before my Garmin beeped to indicate the first mile, I noticed that my right calf and ankle were really feeling weird.  The lateral portion of my ankle felt tight as did the medial portion of my calf – I’d never had an issue with either of those two areas before.   Since we runners are a stubborn breed, I told myself I didn’t need to stop and that it would just work itself out; however it was really bothersome, so I reluctantly  paused my watch at 1.36 miles and stretched my legs out really well.  Pace: 9:19. 

I unpaused and started running again, and this is just where everything started to fall apart.  My calf started to tighten again and I just felt odd and cumbersome – the normal lightness (or as I like to call it, “ninja-ness”) that I normally feel when I run just could not be found.  I felt like an elephant in running shoes.

At mile 2 I parked it on a bench and stretched out really well again.  Sweat was pouring off my face and into my eyes.  I started to feel really upset and discouraged but told myself to suck it up.  I looked down at my watch: 9:29 pace.  Positive splits, yuck!  I got up and started running again.  I felt like a lug….I felt like my running skirt weighed about 100 lbs., and my butt was made of concrete.  I was shuffling and my legs just didn’t feel like they were working right.  I closed my eyes (there was sweat in them anyhow) and told myself to just concentrate on propelling myself forward.  I then noticed that I hadn’t removed my rings for the run – I ALWAYS take my rings off.  At that point, no matter how much I tried to ignore them, all I could think about and FEEL were my rings.  They felt like a 20lb weight on my hand.  Finally I paused again, stopped on the side of the road and stuck the rings in the back zipper pocket of my skirt.  I started back up again only to find a very distracting, metal CLINKING noise was following me – my rings rolling around in the pocket.  AGH.  I also became very aware of a slight “flapping” sound that the fabric of my skirt was making.  I couldn’t lose myself in the run – I was ultra-aware of everything. 

As my watched beeped to indicate that mile 3 was over, I noticed my pace: 9:36.  Yikes.  WAY positive splits – so very bad.  It was in my head at that point….I kept telling myself to just stop and walk the rest of the way, but I knew I physically didn’t have to.  My legs were ok and it was all a mind trick.  4 miles should be a walk in the park for me, there’s no reason for me to stop now.  My mind was totally having an argument with itself, but as long as my legs kept moving, I was ok.

Suddenly my stomach became very angry, and I started playing every runner’s favorite game: “Is it a fart or is it poop?”   It became increasingly obvious to me that if I kept running, I just might have an accident in my skort.  I was mortified – I had taken care of “business” earlier that day and shouldn’t be having this problem.  WHAT was going ON with me?  I slowed down to a slow jog – around a 10:30 pace.  All of the focusing on other things threw my breathing out of whack, because not only was my stomach still threatening, but a side stitch crept up on my right side.  I focused on blowing out when my left foot struck the ground and tried not to think about the sweat in my eyes or how much this run sucked.

A silver Corvette sped past me – I noticed it was my financial planner whizzing by.  I briefly considered flagging him down for a ride, but realized that would be stupid.  Plus, I was SUPER sweaty and didn’t want to stink up his fancy car.

I was approaching a busy street.  About 100 feet from the curb, I slowed to a walk.  While standing on the curb waiting for the traffic to pass, I decided that this would be my “reset” point.  I would just try to forget about the last 3 horrible miles and get this last one in with a smile on my face.

I made it the rest of the way without too much incident (aside from running directly to the bathroom once I got back to my building).  4 miles in 38:55 - a 9:43 pace overall.  Suck.

I showered and ate lunch and told myself to move on – my sister in law and I were supposed to meet at 6:10PM at the park and do 5 miles together that evening, but it threatened to rain so we cancelled.  Secretly, I was thankful.  Plus my ankle and calf were still a little tender and I didn’t want to risk injury.

I started to analyze the situation and wonder WHY things went so wrong – I run at lunch all the time and haven’t felt that horrible in a long time.  Here’s what I could pinpoint:

-          We walked EVERYWHERE in Chicago, and I wore my NB Minimus WALKING (not running) shoes.  I haven’t worn them in months. 

-          We ate a LOT of our favorite “Chicago food” (read: junk) in Chicago – deep dish pizza at Gino’s, Garrett’s Popcorn, ice cream sundaes at Ghiradelli, Chicago-style hot dogs from a street cart, and the most amazing French toast made of lemon poppyseed bread at Yolk.  I even had Wendy’s drive through on the way home, and I NEVER eat fast food burgers anymore.

I’m thinking it was the combo of walking everywhere in different shoes (I did notice some fatigue in the front part of my calves/shins and a bit in my upper thighs by the end of the trip) and eating SO.  MUCH.  GARBAGE.  and not fueling myself the way I’m used to.  In all honesty, the scale read about 3 lbs heavier than normal when I got home (thankfully, it’s back down to normal now).

I have tried to clear my head this week, and haven’t run since it’s been hella rainy and tornado-y every other day.  But I’m racing an 8K tonight, so we will see how it goes!  And hey – a bad run is better than not running at all, right??



Taming My Tresses

As a long-haired gal, I definitely appreciate finding fun, new ways to wear my hair (while running or not!) that also keep me cool in the summer.  My hair is bra-strap length and very heavy/curly/wavy/HUGE, and can add a lot of extra heat. 

My typical training run schedule right now is:

M, F - run on lunch (varying distances 3-6 miles)
Wed - run to rec center; 45 min spin class; run back to office
Sat - long run

My typical running "hairdo" these days, is to pile it all on top of my head in one of those loopy ponytail/topknot things.   I really dislike leaving the ends of my hair down in a "standard" ponytail in the summer heat  - my hair is so long that the ends of my hair hit my back and get soaked in sweat!  Sometimes, if it's raining, I'll throw a Bondi-Band on as well, just to avoid raindrops rolling off my head and into my eyes (my head gets too hot when I run to wear hats). 

Putting it all on top of my head  also prevents ponytail holder "dents" - important for those lunchtime runs, when I don't want to spend the afternoon at work walking around with a really awkward bump/wave in my hair. I have a shower right in my office, but washing my hair is not really feasible at work - it would take me forever to blow-dry then curl it....and air-drying my hair takes no less than 3 hours.  No thanks!

Today though, I tried a really fun new hairdo that held up through my "run-spin-run" Wednesday routine:

(I found the tutorial for it here.)

It's cute enough that I wore my hair to work like this all day, but it held up well through my workout.  The only downer - as evidenced in the photo - is that post-workout, the little hairs by my hairline curled up, and I didn't bring any product to work to smooth them out with.  An effect of sweating around my hairline plus the water from the shower when I wash my face. However, overall I really liked it, and the other ladies I ran into throughout the day were full of compliments.  Plus, when I was in my dressier work garb, it showed off my dangly earrings - one of my favorite pairs.

Is there a particular hairstyle that works best for you when you run?

On a funnier note....I found this behind the garbage can in my office today:

You know you are a runner when you randomly find D-Tags laying about!

Enjoy every mile!

Jeni

See Jeni Run!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my new blog!  As a runner, I really enjoy reading other runners' blogs, and decided to take on the endeavour myself!  In this blog, I'll cover my training runs, running tips, running gear reviews....and of course, race reports!

A little bit about myself: first and foremost, I was not "born" a runner! I never liked it and never really envisioned myself "being a runner".  I didn't start running seriously until I was in my 30's...up until then, I'd run here or there but not on any type of regular basis.  It all started in 2010, when my sister-in-law and I walked a 5K together and made a pact that we'd run "JUST ONE" 5K together in 2011.  In May of 2011 I ran my first 5K in an old cotton t-shirt and cotton cropped sweatpants, and couldn't even run the whole thing...fast forward to today, where I own more running gear than "normal" clothing, and banging out a 5K run over part of my lunch break on my given day is no big deal!  To date, I have run twenty-three "official" 5K's, 3 half marathons, 1 full marathon, and a handful of races of other varied distances (8K, 12K, etc.)  Of course this does not include training runs, group runs with the local running store or our running club, etc.  I cross train with swimming in our pool (weather permitting, of course!) and once a week I take a Spin class at the rec center on the campus I work on.

My husband was a runner in high school and fell out of the habit until 2012; he was inspired by all the running I was doing at the time, and decided to take it up again.  He's built for running - tall and lean with super long legs!  Since then he's also done at least a dozen 5K's and 2 half marathons; he's currently training for full.  Last year he started our running club (SERC) and we are up to nearly 20 members.

In addition to running, I'm also a mom; we have two WONDERFUL children - both of whom also run! - and I work full time.  My plate is full, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

Upcoming races that I'm registered for:
7/11/13: Ohio/Michigan 8K (Toledo, OH)
7/27/13: The BigTen Network 10K (Chicago, IL)
10/13/13: Towpath Full Marathon (Cleveland, OH)

I hope you join me on my journey through life as a running, working mom who is loving every minute of it!!

Jeni