Running update...

So I haven't been sitting on my butt for the past few months, I just haven't taken the time to update here. I've been training for a half marathon at Disney in January and just finished my 12 mile run this week! So now I'm all set! I'll be heading back to Chicago tomorrow for 9 days and then I'm back to Orlando to meet up with my friend Alison and run the Disney World Half Marathon! It should be awesome!!

As a quick update, races I've run this year:
Disney World Marathon (January)
Shamrock Shuffle 8k (March)
Bastille Day 5k (July)
Tower of Terror 13k (October)

I wish I could have run a few more, but it was a very busy year travel and work-wise. 2010 is looking to be a bit less hectic (maybe) :)

So this week's training runs included two in FL on the same route around my parents' development, an 11 mile and a 12 mile run.

Monday - 11 miles (9:55 pace)
Sunday - 12 miles (10:04 pace)

Week 20

This was a busy week and I was unable to get in all my runs. But it was a fallback week as well, so I guess I just fell back a little more than I wanted to :) Let's see if I can get back up to where I'm supposed to be next week - which includes a 15 miler!

It's also the first week of frigid-coldness in Chicago (it snowed today!) so that may have a bit to do with my lack of motivation.

11/5: 3 miles - track * 5 and back (9:40 pace)
11/7: 7 miles - treadmill (9:40 pace)
11/9: 8 miles - treadmill (10:00 pace)
Total: 18.0

Week 19

Week 19 included some recovery time from my food poisoning, but got right back into the swing of things with a 13 miler on a beautiful 70 degree sunny day in Chicago! It's good to be back in it again and moving along towards 26.2!

10/30: 3 miles - track * 5 and back (9:25 pace)
11/2: 13 miles - lakefront path (9:40 pace)
Total: 16.0

Week 18

Week 18 was a bit rough. I had hoped to get in some nice running along the beach in CA, but ended up being very very sick and needing to take about a week off. So the mileage is pretty light...

10/22: 3 miles - treadmill at hotel in CA (9:40 pace)
10/23: 3 miles - loop in beverly hills (olympic/la cienega/pico/beverly) (9:04 pace)
Total: 6.0

Week 17

It's been a really busy week at work and hard to get runs in. Good thing this was a fallback week. Next week will be even tougher, but may include some running along the beach in CA which will be nice. The cold runs in 40 degree chicago weather are starting to get to me :)

10/14: 3 miles - track * 5 and back (9:08 pace)
10/16: 5 miles - track * 13 and back (9:34 pace)
10/18: 3 miles - smith, 14, quentin loop (9:01 pace)
10/19: 7 miles - palatine trail to dundee, then to library, then track *2 and home (9:23 pace)
Total: 18

Week 16

It's been a really great week of getting back to the training plan. 21 miles right on schedule and I'm feeling great. Today's long run was along the lakefront path which is always my favorite run.

10/7: 3 miles - treadmill at work (raining) (9:30 pace)
10/8: 5 miles - 2 laps of Motorola trail (9:21 pace)
10/10: 3 miles - track * 5 and back (9:30 pace)
10/11: 10 miles - lakefront path from grand to recreation and back (9:22 pace)
Total: 21

Week 15

Back to running this week and feeling better both in terms of my cold that's gone, and with my new running shoes! Starting slow to get back into things, but I'm back on track with the 9 mile run on Sunday.

10/2: 3 miles - track * 5 and back (9:13 pace)
10/5: 9 miles - 4 laps of Motorola + 1.5 on the treadmill when it started raining (9:34 pace)
Total: 12

Week 14

I didn't run this week as I was horribly sick with a bad cold.

Week 13

16 weeks until the marathon and I decided to take the week off of running before the crazy training started. Since I'm in shape to run a 1/2 it seems reasonable. The only running I did was the 5k on the Runway which was a fantastic race with a new PR!

Here's the rundown...

9/21: 3.1 miles - Athens Sister City 5k on the Runway (8:08 pace)
Total: 3.1 (goal 0)

Week 12

So I ended up not running the Chicago 1/2 last weekend. We just had 10" of rain in the city, roads were flooded, and the remnants of hurricane ike were coming through that day with 22 MPH winds and heavy rain. The taper was nice, as was the weekend off of running before hard-core marathon training starts.

Here's the rundown...

9/9: 4.0 miles - palatine trail (library), track*1, and back (9:21 pace)
9/10: 3.0 miles - track*5 and back (9:03 pace)
9/11: 2.0 miles - track and back (9:13 pace)
Total: 9 (goal 22)

5k on the runway

I think I should keep running 5k races. Everytime I've done one this year, I've shaved about 45 seconds off of my time on the previous one!

Today was the Athens Sister City 5k on the Runway at O'Hare. Yes, like the airport. O'Hare just finished a giant new runway so that they can have 3 simultaneous takeoffs/landings going on at the same time instead of 2. It's set to open soon and mayor Daley is having this all day celebration there today, beginning with the run.

I arrived about an hour early and all was amazingly well set up. Free parking in lot G, clearly marked packet pickup and t-shirt tables, D-tags (disposable RFID timing chips) taped to the bibs, no line at gear check. These are the same people who put on the horror that was the Bastille Day 5k, so I was expecting the worst :) No one had an idea what the course would be, since they told us that for security reasons they couldn't tell us and to just follow the course officials. It started about 15 minutes late due to other unnamed "security issues" but other than that, it was all pretty fantastic.

As I feel a cold coming on, I wasn't expecting to go very fast. I planned for just a nice little fun run along the runway. But I ended up lining up a bit towards the front of the pack and decided to just go for it, and if I felt tired, I could just slow down. It was about 3/4 of a mile out to the end of the runway and as I turned the corner, the clock showed I was going a bit faster than planned. I hit mile 1 at about 8:10. The race continued as an out-and-back on the runway and as I turned to come back I was still feeling great. I ran past the aid station and hit mile 2 at about 16:25, still on a great pace. Coming off the runway there was a bit of a downhill to get back to the parking lot and I stepped it up a little, figuring why not? As I made it to the 3 mile mark, they announced that it was coming up on 25 minutes. It was a good thing he repeated it twice because I was sure he had to be wrong. Putting it in high gear, I crossed the finish line to end at 25:30 clock time (25:18 chip time).

Water, gatorade, and bananas were to be had after the race and gear check had no line. All in all, a very wonderful race and fun to have another PR as the race running season comes to a close. Of course for me, the personal running season is just getting going as it's 16 weeks to the Disney Marathon!

Week 11

It's just one week now until the 1/2 marathon. The cooler weather this week was greatly appreciated after that crazy upper-80 degrees run for the Nike Human Race! It was a very busy week and hard to fit my runs in, but I did...even doing one on the treadmill because it was pouring rain outside.

Here's the rundown...

9/3: 5.0 miles - palatine trail (library), track*5, and back (9:31 pace)
9/4: 5.0 miles - treadmill at MOT (9:33 pace)
9/6: 10.0 miles - lakefront train from Grand to Montrose and back (9:28 pace)
9/7: 3.0 miles - track*5 and back (9:25 pace)
Total: 23 (goal 23)