2:23:13

Well, it's over and done with - the Chicago Distance Classic and its 13.1 miles are behind me (photos to come when they upload them). I couldn't have asked for better weather; the route was a beautiful loop down the lakefront to the Museum of Science and Industry, and then back up the lake path. I ran with my brother, Bill, an experienced distance runner who has two marathons under his belt and is training for his third. To be honest, running with Bill was both a blessing and a curse at times, though more of the former than the latter. I had a hard time keeping my own pace, and often ran myself a bit harder than I should have; I'm sure this would have been an issue even alone because I often found myself speeding up to the pace of others around me. There were definitely times, especially after mile 11, when I thought of walking the rest of the way in - however, though running with a faster runner got me there in the first place, having him with me when things got hard motivated me to finish strong; the thought actually crossed my mind that because he'd stuck with me the whole time, I owed it to him to finish running as we had set out to do. Throughout the whole event Bill was great at calling my attention to the fact that I was speeding up, and asking me if this was something I was consciously doing, which, most of the time, it wasn't and didn't desire to do. When I got fatigued and wanted to slow down I didn't feel too embarrassed to ask him to slow a little, and he always responded immediately. I know I said 'sorry' almost every single time I asked him to slow down, but he always reminded me that I didn't need to apologize, and that he knew that I was most definitely running faster than my normal pace.

In the end, running with Bill gave me the best long-run pace yet, ~10min miles, with a finish time of 2:23:13 - only ~3 minutes longer than it took me to run my 12 mile long run a couple weeks ago! I know I would have finished had I run the CDC on my own, but I am absolutely certain that my time would have been much slower. Next year I'm considering running the full marathon with Bill - this experience has shown me that I have a long way to go with my training, but that I have a great motivator on my side to help me achieve what I want to. So Bill, if you're reading this today, thanks for all your help yesterday; you made me push my limits, and thankfully I was able to respond to that well. I hope we get to do it again next year!

As for how my body responded to this experience - the rest of Sunday was spent icing some very sore knees (I trained most of the time on gravel, so the pavement abused them) and laying on my parents' couch with the dogs; today my muscles actually feel completely fine, though my right knee doesn't like me much when I make it walk down stairs. The odd thing is, somehow while I was sleeping last night I managed to pinch a nerve in the area of my left shoulder blade, and now every movement with the left arm, and some movements of my neck cause excruciating pain in that area; it's like my body wants to reward me for what I did this weekend by not making any of my running parts hurt, but is sending me a message that I need to be a bit kinder to it next time by giving me a painful warning shot to remember what it can do to me if I don't play nice.

So, on to the Nike + Human Race 10K at the end of August, and then the Banco Popular Half Marathon on September to complete my running season- in the meantime, more conditioning, and a lot more stretching!

...

So it's Friday, and here I am as usual - at the desk, waiting to go meet friends for that morning tea and croissant. This weekend is a big weekend for me, though I don't feel it yet. I am dropping in on a couple games in a cancer awareness/fund raising tournament with an elite team, and on Sunday I run my first half marathon, the Chicago Distance Classic. Up until now I hadn't been nervous, but now when I actually think about it all I get a slight flutter in the belly. Thing is, none of it is anything I haven't essentially done before (I've done the 12 mile run and felt I could have gone on), but there are always those nagging doubt and over-analysis of physical sensations preceding an event like this - at least for me - that make me feel that when the time comes I won't be able to perform. It's as if I'm mentally inventing blisters, sore knees, chafed areas, and more - I've noticed this kind of mental handicapping before when I've planned on hitting the gym and about 1/2 hour before leaving I get a phantom pain in one of my knees - somewhere in the back of my head someone thinks I can't do these things. Thankfully the rest of me knows that person is a moron.

So, here we go - hopefully I'll have some good pictures to post up after this weekend, and some happy news to report to boot. Have a good weekend.

Home again

Three days, four hockey games, a few pounds of junk food, and about 940 miles later, and I am finally home from my tournament in Nashville, TN. A great time was had by all - we went undefeated and brought home the hardware. I got to have a baptism by fire at playing center (I am normally defense) because I was a late add-on to the team, and the rest of the guys had first dibs on the positions they wanted; I was a bit lost now and then, but I think I did all right. It was fun to get to play with the boys again, as the level of play was heads and shoulders above what I've been enjoying for the last year or so playing strictly women's hockey - I look forward to playing future tournaments with these guys, as we all got on really well.

As for the city, Nashville was a pleasant surprise - I really wasn't expecting much, but I found it to be a really pretty place with extremely nice inhabitants. In all honesty, the only thing I could have done without was the oppressive heat and humidity; I spent most of my time feeling like I was about to melt into a fleshy little puddle on the sidewalk, but it made for nice poolside weather at the hotel. Now it's back to work, sore but happy, and facing down the last week before I run my half marathon. The training schedule looks really laid back, so all I really have to do is stay healthy and get some rest. Here goes!

Here goes

Like the crazy lemming that I am, I have just chosen to follow my brother, sister-in-law, and Julie off the cliff that is running into the abyss known as the half marathon. Yes, I have finally registered for the Chicago Distance Classic after weeks of waffling over the decision, and will shortly begin the process of getting officially off my ass. I plan on getting involved with one of CARA's training programs this time around because I know how I am, and know that I will need someone to keep me from running myself down in the first week - literally. We'll see how it all goes; I have until August to whip myself into champion form, or, more realistically, passable form that will allow my body not to shut down under the strain of exertion. Here goes...