Hotel

Well not a running update, but news about the marathon. I was able to score a hotel, relatively close to Grant Park which is the start of the marathon.

I was actually worried due to the fact that every hotel within Chicago city limits is booked. The closet thing I found were hotels near the airports, O'hare and Midway, which would have sucked given that they both take about 40 mins to get into town.

My stay came from cancellations through the actual Bank Of America Chicago Marathon site, putting me up at Hotel 71. I had originally planned for 4 nights of complete relaxation leading up to marathon, but I booked three as it was kinda pricey and 4 days being alot of time to be alone and staying in a hotel.

All that needs to be booked now is my plane ticket. This to has also changed from original plan, which was to drive there, to have transportation. Upon finding that parking at the hotel was $50 a day, the decision was easy to make.

38 days until the big day....

Monday

So what does one think about whilst running? Many things actually, but the funny thing is that after a couple of steps your mind wonders off to another idea, thought, or problem. Kinda like looking at clouds, you stare and your mind creates an image and then wonders off slightly and when it comes back your image has morphed into something else. You would think that it would serve as a purpose to meditate or problem solve while I'm sure for some, it does not for me.

Todays run went fairly well, considering I failed to go run the past three days in the morning. My only cualm is running too fast, for me, at about 8 minutes per mile. My concern is that I want to finish the race without stopping and do not want to run out of energy. I plan on one more long run, hopefully 18 here in another week and use that as measuring stick. Till manana.

Saturday Mid Day Run

So I failed to wake up this morning and yesterday as well, so to "make up" we did a speed run for 3 miles. Finishing run temperature was 86 with heat index of 93. We finished the run with time of 22:48, give or take 20 seconds because my finger accidentally hit stop after a mile.

No pain was felt and ankle feels fine, hopefully it will heal by Monday's run. I am going to start a new thing with refueling besides what I have been doing of flavored water. Going to try sports drinks, mainly powerade. My research is telling me that I should be drinking those before hydration sets in to give me energy when needed, not when it runs out.

When I ran my 26 last year, I drank a big bottle of Smartwater during my run, only drinking about a cup after every 7 miles, and felt great in regards to hydration. My only concern with sports drinks is that they tend to make me more thirsty. We shall see...

Morning Chill

So nice running weather for a change, a start temperature of 64 and a finishing temperature of 65. Weird how all summer long I've wished for cold temperatures and I finally get them and I notice the chill.

The run went really well with no discomfort and only displeasure being my running app not starting with my run. I believe I would have come in at right under an?hour for 7.24 miles based on my starting time of 6:50 AM and finishing time of 7:50 AM.

Kinda cool sitting here on my bench and seeing steam coming off my body, kinda like the football players during a cold game. I wonder where all this sweat is coming from? I mean, I've neve been one to sweat much, even during wrestling in high school, or even last year when I ran my 26 at the gym. It's kinda gross, I even wrung a shirt out once with sweat, prob half a cups worth. Sucks because I have to being an extra shirt on my runs to change into for my commute home.

So till tommorrow.

August 20, 2012

Another good day on the trail, especially after the weather cast was calling for rain showers. No major pains to report, actually ankle feels significantely better, as do shoulders.

Its about a month and a half left until the marathon and I can't say I'm more excited about it. I need to start finalizing my playlist for the one I have now is too short, I believe comin in at 1:45. I have found that pop, fap, and heavy metal provide the best motivation and others tend to slow me down mentally. Nothing like Pitbull and Metallica blasting through the Shures.

My equipment needs replacing soon also as I have had my running shoes for about 3 months and put some nice road on them. Will def be getting the same pair Nike Free Run 3, in neon blue of course. Till manana.

Sense Of Accomplishment

Well today was quite a success in so many ways. After really not wanting to get out if bed, I managed to get out and about rather late, 6:30 AM. Today seemed like a day in which I just wanted to get the run over with but turned put to be a hassle free, almost painfree run. I don't know if it was the running club that was also running out today, and me wanting to compete or whatever, but it was great. Maybe the temperature??? I wish every run from here on out was the same.

Sleep, I do know that my body does not do well with excess sleep, which by my body standards is more than 4/5 hours. For some reason I feel super tired if I sleep more than 5 hours, which is totally against everything you've been told about in regards to getting 8 hous of sleep a night. Maybe I have found the keys to my success.

Food, well yesterday what we had to eat was 1 grilled chicken quesaadilla with rice for lunch and 1 grilled steak quesadilla with rice for dinner. I have found that dairy does not sit well with my body after let's say 5 PM. I guess it needs more time to digest and well we don't want accidents during a race.

Rain Day

Well weather didn't permit me to run this AM, as it was not just raining but lightening, so I guess well have to run manana then skip a day.

Morning Hell

Wow, so even getting out of bed today was a stretch. This going to bed at 1 AM isn't going to cut it. Today called for 7 miles and with a finishing temperature of 77 degrees, the run went fairly well. Pretty cool how the mind works, in respect to zoning out parts of which you don't want to consciously think about, subconsciously. My inside ankle and shins started hurting pretty early on but around mile 4/5 I had pretty much forgot about them even being there. Lets see what tomorrow brings with my 7 manana.

Blogs

Well this kinda bites, I just found out that all my blogs which I thought had been saved to my phone, were never saved or deleted.  Only thing to do know is to keep posting from here out.  Some of those blogs talked about my music selection, equipment, and of course how I actually felt on those days with distances and times posted.  Oh well.  I have decided to get off the marathon schedule and do what worked for me last time around when I ran my 26.2.  Last year I did something which I found out was very unconventional but for some reason worked, which was running 7 miles every day without a day off.  Now I plan on tweaking this a bit by running the same schedule of Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday's.  My version is going to be 7 miles on those days with my long day, Sunday, me running 13 miles.  Part of my decision was based on the fact that some of the Olympic marathon runners have opted not to run in the Chicago Marathon, I guess they didn't want to lose to me, lol.  Their reasons came down to it being to short of a period of time to be in optimal performance to let the body heal in time.  They are professionals and run about twice as fast as myself, so I'm sure they know what they are doing.  My decision is based on my internal motivation which has helped me run, meaning when I ran my first 26.2, I had no formal training, it was on a treadmill and I managed to finish without stopping, except for my 60 sec restroom break, which I will provide details for in a later post.  I just want to finish, and the keys to me finishing my run in Chicago, is music, proper stretching, and people cheering on the 45,000 plus running in the race.  Adios punks, till tom.

August 14, 2014

Just finished 3 miles after not having have run for a week. Felt minor right side craps, upper right arm pain, and right foot inside ankle pain. With less than 53 days until, my only concern is the ankle pain. Plan is to buy some new running shows to see if that fixes it, maybe ones I have now are worn down. Plan is also to get on eating schedule to ensure healthy body instead of shit I'm doing now of eating minor portions of crap and only once a day.

Death

With 56 days until the Chicago Marathon, for some strange reason, the possibility of death from running in the marathon has come into my mind. Its weird as to why anyone would want to think of that possibility happening but as a realistic person, knowing that, it does exist. I don't consider myself the most fit or well trained but do believe I have trained enough to finish the race. Even last August when I ran my 26.2, on the treadmill at Wyatt's gym, I remember thinking the night before what if this happens, but I managed to push the idea aside and finish what I had set out to do. I was reading news article about a 30 year old Claire Squires, from England who passed at the 25 mile mark of the London Marathon this year. Her cause of death has been ruled due to irregular heartbeat, something preexisting. I myself have never gone to a doctor for anything outside of a grade school required medical, so how am I to know of any preexisting heart conditions. I have ran in some pretty serious heat and managed to do fine, I believe only once did it become excess where I was seeing stars, or bright flashes. Hopefully the temperatures that day will be in the upper 50's with highs in the mid 60's around finish time. I don't know if this alone could prevent death but it sure would help with heart failure due to it being overworked or cooked. So it raises the question? How would I want to be remembered, what thoughts would I want people to have or what things for them to say about me? I guess you can't control what they say or believe as long as they know that any wrong doing on my behalf was unintentional. Hell I know I deserve everything that has ever happened to me but believe me when I say it that everynight I go to sleep thanking the man upstairs for having another day to live and giving me the chance to be a better person the next day. I guess I really wouldn't anyone to cry for me, or even know if anyone would shed a tear for me but rather think of the fun times, the stupid moments, the intelligent conversations, and ways I tried to help or did.