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Rock n’ Roll Chicago 1/2 Marathon

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I added a lovely piece of bling to my jewelry collection this weekend.
So what do you think?  I think it goes awesome with my outfit today (I kid, I kid, I didn’t wear it work…but I sure thought about it)
I had a pretty awesome weekend that started on Friday.
Charlie and I picked up our race packets Friday after work at McCormick Place.  ($19 to park…SERIOUSLY MAYOR DALEY!!!) for the Rock n’ Roll half marathon.  We walked thought the race expo and collected as many freebies as possible.  The goods were not great, Lara bars, granola bars and some sore muscle cream.  Since Charlie signed up late for the race he ended up buying the VIP package that included nothing more than a concert at the Park West.
After the expo we grabbed a quick dinner (pasta…carbs..yum) and then went to see Uncle Kracker at the Park West for a private concert.  It was great night weather wise so we walked from dinner to the Park West and then walked for a night cap before heading home (15,286 steps on Friday).
Saturday before the race we took it easy (only 6245 steps). I did  a little bit of gardening in the morning.  In the afternoon we met our friend and went to the Chicago Scene boat party in his dingy.  After cruising around the party for about a hour we headed back to the dock; Charlie and I headed home.  I made grilled Chicken and some pasta (yum..carbs) for dinner.  We were in bed at 9:30 pm.  I was awoke at 12:30 sm by helicopters and ambulances.  Apparently a building about a 1/2 mile from where we live had and electrical fire.  Of course I didn’t fall back to sleep right way.  I finally drifted back to sleep around 2:30am.
Rock n’ Roll Race Report
So I should probably come clean about my training for this race.  I really didn’t train.  I have been running but I did not train properly.  The longest distance I ran was a 10K in July and I didn’t run the whole thing.  I ran to mile 3 then had to run walk the remainder of the race.  Charlie and I missed about a 1/3 of our training runs, most of them our long runs.  Our long runs were not really long runs, but a short run followed by a long run/walk.  If I were to estimate, my longest run prior to the race was probably 4 miles.  (a long story for another day but I had a hard time wramping up to 3 miles coming off my injury..in hind sight I think it was probably mental but it was what it was)
If you planning on telling me about how dumb it is to attempt a 1/2 marathon with minimal training and I should have trained properly, save it.  I’m pretty stubborn and when I decided to do something, I usually do.  I also take no shame in walking part of a running race.  I’m out there to do it, not to win.  I only want to beat myself.    I’m not a 5 minute miler, I never will be.   I’m never going to be in first place.  I take pride in the fact that I was out there, doing MY best.
So my plan going into the race was to run as much as possible and then run walk the rest.  The cut off time was 3:30.  I knew I could walk it in that amount of time. I figured I can could the race as a training run (yes, I have more 1/2’s planned this year, several actually)
Race day, at 5:00 am the coffee pot went off.  At 5:15 the alarm went off.  I drank my coffee, hydrated with 16 oz of water, ate some yogurt and a small granola bar.  I had laid out all my gear the night before so I got ready pretty quickly.  We were dressed and out of the house by 6:00 am.
We cabbed it to Grant Park,  Charlie put our bag in gear check while I waited in the port-o-crapper line.  My coral was 28.  I anticipated a 3:00 hour finish time when I signed up (coming off of an injury I figured I’d be slow).  Charlie and I decided to run together so he dropped down from his coral into mine.  At 6:30 the horn sounded and the runners were off.   In line we saw our friend Kim.  We chatted with her, headed to the bathrooms one more time (glad I did, I actually had to pee, it wasn’t the nervous pee feeling I get before a race).  Colon clean (thank you yogurt), bladder empty I was ready!  At around 7:20 our coral was released to run.
I was kind of pissed when I found out that they released our coral with the last 3 corals all together.  We had walkers galore to run around and they slowed us down.
We ran mile 1-5 only walking through the water stations for a sip of water.  At mile 3 we saw my friend Amy who was also running.  I was feeling pretty good about our first 5 miles.  I had no negative thoughts.  In fact, I can’t remember what I was thinking.
At Mile 6 I stopped to get a hunk ice at a water station then I walked to drink some water.  I wasted time getting ice but at the time it was worth it, it was starting to get hot.
Somewhere between mile 6 and 7 I saw all the cancer society run-walkers.  They had all the people they were running for pinned to their shirts.  I get why they do this, but its just made for a depressing 3 minutes when I passed them.  I also felt like a slacker for not raising money for some cause.
Mile 7 was just slow, the water station was really crowded and Charlie slipped on one of the cups.
So we walked mile 8 and I chewed a piece of quench gum (the sugar tasted good).
Here is the thing…once I start to walk, I find it hard to start running again.
Mile 9 was a run/walk.  More running than walking.  It was at mile 9 that I realized that I was starting to get tired.  I could feel the lactic acid building up in my hamstrings.  My hips were starting to hurt too.
Somewhere in the middle of mile 9 I had my mother voice in my head… “if you had only applied yourself.”   I know, if I only would have done more training, I would have been able to preform better.  If I only studied more in College I would have been an A student not a B student.  Not much I could do about either of them at that point.
Mile 10…Gu!  Normally I don’t like Gu and I decided I still don’t.  I did take one bite, I knew I need the electrolytes.
I knew at Mile 10 that I would finish. I wish I had paid more attention to the race clock at the start of the race.  If I had know I could finish in under 3 hours I MIGHT had pushed myself a little more.  MIGHT!
Mile 11 COLD WET SPONGES.  A cold wet sponge has never felt so good.  And only 2 miles to go!!!
I was hot!  I was just happy to have a cold wet sponge, I thought about taking a shower..or a bath most of Mile 11.
Mile 12…ONLY 1.1 MORE %^&*$#@ Miles to GO!!!!  Charlie took off ahead of me.  I also saw a friend, Krissy,  on race path cheering! Yeah for crowd support.  It was really nice to see a friendly face.
Mile 12, I was just focused on finishing.  I had no thoughts in my head other than I really should have made a longer play list.  I had heard the song I was listening to 2 times already.  “Maaamaaa poker face”….. I guess you can listen to Lady Gaga too much.
Mile 13..I was almost done and  I “sprinted” to the end
13.1  I was done!!!  I did it!
 
The race course was great, I really enjoyed the path.
The music..yeah, most the bands were not that great.
Here is a break down of the race according the to my garmin:

(I find the second set of stats interesting…when I was I not moving and what was I doing,or is my garmin a POS?)

Here is a break down of the race according to the live results update:

My Chip timing is 1:28 more than my Garmin. I stopped my garmin 6 seconds after I crossed the finish line too.  (So which is right my Garmin or my Chip?).

So, I’m pretty dang proud of myself today.  My time was pretty darn good for not training.

After the race, we went to brunch with friends including Amy (seen on race course) and Krissy (seen cheering on race course).   I think ate way to much bacon.

After brunch we headed down to meet our friend at his boat. Putting my feet in the Cold Cold Lake Michigan water felt so good.  We took his dingy out again..this time to Burnham Harbor to run and errand.

Charlie and I completed our weekend by ordering in Thai food last night (you betcha I ordered the fattening panang curry with its coconut milk goodness) and heading to bed at 9:30.

I’m sore today.  My hips are tight and my hamstrings could use a good massage.  I have a large bruise on my arm where I had my iPhone (using it as an iPod for music).   But, I have NO FOOT PAIN.  NONE.  Okay two of my toe nail hurt but that is to be expected.  I was so happy to wake up and be able to walk and pee without foot pain.

Tonight were headed to pick our 5K race packets for Thursday and get our medals engraved.

I think I deserve a thumbs up today!

Dress- Design History (Nordstroms 2006)
Tank- Gap (2004)
Shoes- Indigo (2008) – I chose comfort over fashion today
Necklace- gift
Medal- 2010 Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon
Earrings- Ann Taylor Loft (2008)

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