Three days to San Antonio

I finished a movie of the Fall Chicago Lakefront 50K.

In other news, the weather forecast looks just about perfect for Sunday's marathon in San Antonio. My plan is to head out at 8:20 pace, which could get me to the line in 3:40:00 if I can maintain it. If I don't have the stuff, then I might just relax and cruise on in at whatever feels comfortable. Pushing for a PR would certainly be more exciting, but I don't know if I can pull it off 15 days after a 50K. We'll see!

Showing off

With the help of a $2 item I found at Ikea, I have something on which to display my medals:I'm probably going to buy a couple of more of these the next time I visit the store.

Now, you may ask, "Shouldn't you have more than 4 pegs worth of medals, given that you've run 19 races of marathon distance or greater?" The answer is, of course, YES! My lovely wife, Jenelle, has done a wonderful job arranging several display cases for my medals and race numbers.

From my first four marathons:
From Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge:
From marathons 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10:
Finally, from marathons 11, 12, 14, 15, and 16:
We've got one more frame that we'll be using for all of the medals in the Rock N' Roll series.

Countdown to San Antonio -- 9...

I'm pretty much back to full strength, but I won't be doing a whole lot of training between now and San Antonio. It's supposed to be cold this weekend, so I might have to (gasp) put on the tights when I go out for an easy 5-6 miles tomorrow.

Anyway, I've decided that in San Antonio, I'm going to buy a new running cap. I have a white one that I won at the Lake Geneva 10K last year, but it's getting a lot of use. Hopefully I can find a good one. Any suggestions on color / style are welcome via comments.

Chicago 50K Recap - Fall

Shortly after 5:30 on Saturday morning, I headed from home to the south side of Chicago, along the lakefront, for my second Chicago 50K of the year. Jenelle, Mom, & Dad all joined me, which was a wonderful gift. Traffic was light, so we got to the start very early, and I had more than enough time for the usual pre-race routine (bathroom 30 minutes before start, Clif Bar 20 minutes before start, various stretching / walking / light jogging to get the blood flowing). My friend, Jerry, was also in the race. We started from the 63rd St. beach house and headed north at about 8:30 a.m.

The weather was a bit cold but not too bad for running. The wind was off the lake and also a bit from the north, so the "out" portion of each of the three laps felt a bit tougher than the "back" portion.

I ran a very conservative 50K in the spring, and I ended up running the last mile faster than any other. This time, I decided to run a more aggressive pace and try to keep it steady for all 31+ miles. For the first lap, I was out in 46:25 and back in 46:26 for a total of 1:32:51 (8:58 pace). This was well ahead of the spring's easy-paced first lap, which was about 1:37 (9:22 pace).

I didn't need to worry too much about hydration and fueling for the first lap because of the chilly temperatures. I had bags with Accelerade, sport beans, and GU energy gel in two places. I kept one at the start/finish drop bag area, and my family, who were about 3.7 miles to the north, kept the second. The strategy worked very well, as there was always food and drink nearby to keep me energized.

I took my first gel shortly after completing the first lap, and finished off a pack of sport beans about a half hour later. I was showing signs of fatigue, but cheers and support from Jenelle and my parents kept me going. I reached the turnaround point in 46:39 (9:00 pace). I had more gel and jelly beans on the return trip, along with plenty of Accelerade. I tried to conserve a bit of energy for the final lap, so the return took 49:05 (9:29 pace). I was still on track to beat my spring time, so I ventured north to complete the course one more time and hopefully set a PR.

I wouldn't say that I crashed or bonked in the third lap, but for whatever reason, I couldn't go as fast as I had for the first 20 miles. My mile splits jumped into 9:30-10:00 range. I tried to keep on fueling and drinking. My heart rate was still okay (150s), but the early speed was no longer present. Perhaps I was getting a little dehydrated. In any case, I pressed on, completing the third "out" split in 50:55 (9:50 pace). One surprise on the out lap was seeing my mom walking back south on the trail. I waved and smiled and told her that I'd see her soon at the finish.

After making the turnaround and seeing Jenelle and Dad one last time, it was up to me to keep it together to set a PR. My marathon split was about 4:02:30. I tried to limit my walking breaks in the final four miles, logically reasoning that I could walk all I wanted after the race was over. :) As I approached the beach house, all I knew for sure is that it was going to be close. I made the final turn and crossed the line in 4:49:44 in 32nd place (results are not official yet). After a lot of work, I took about seven seconds off my PR. Heh.

Jerry finished in 4:29:36. He also had trouble in his final lap. However, we were both in good spirits as we chatted after the race.
I had the choice of a green, orange, or blue finisher's medal. I went with orange because I already had a green one from the spring, and it seemed more "fall"-ish than blue. The race shirt is a nice color purple (reminds me of Northwestern), but the script-style lettering makes it perhaps the girliest shirt in my runner's closet. Still, it was a great day, everything was well organized, and all of the volunteers were very helpful and supportive.

Recovery is going well so far. Besides the usual soreness and one blister, there's no real issues. With luck, I'll be in the perfect shape to run San Antonio in two weeks.

Race Stats and Trivia:

Leg	Lap 1	Lap 2	Lap 3
Start to Promontory Point (1.21 miles)	10:53	11:19	12:39
Promontory Point to 39th St. Aid Station (2.48 miles)	22:15	22:12	23:47
39th St. Aid Station to Turnaround (1.49 miles)	13:17	13:08	14:29
Entire Out Leg (5.18 miles)	46:25	46:39	50:55
Turnaround to 39th St. Aid Station (1.49 miles)	13:15	13:53	14:24
39th St. Aid Station to Promontory Point (2.48 miles)	22:10	23:39	24:09
Promontory Point to Finish (1.21 miles)	11:01	11:33	11:41
Entire Return Leg (5.18 miles)	46:26	49:05	50:14
Total Lap (10.36 miles)	1:32:51	1:35:44	1:41:09
Overall Times		3:08:35	4:49:44

• Average Pace: 9:19/mile
• Photos on Shutterfly

Another 50K PR... I think

I went out more aggressively than I did in the spring, but I could not keep the pace, especially on the third out-and-back segment. However, if my Garmin is correct, I set a personal record by a whopping six seconds. I'll post a full recap soon.

A little crazy

Tomorrow morning, I'm heading to Chicago to run my second 50K of the year. I haven't trained as much for this one as I did in the spring, but I still hope for a decent time. I plan to keep the engine fueled with plenty of gel and Accelerade to promote a speedy recovery.

You may be wondering -- why run this when you've got a marathon about two weeks later? Well, you may recall that I ran my best marathon EVER three weeks after the spring 50K. So, consider tomorrow's race a very long warm-up for San Antonio. :)

Six thousand

About nine months after breaking the 5,000 barrier, I hit six thousand miles on my lifetime odometer on Saturday. That's a lot of running.

A squishy trip to work

I've been ramping up the mileage just a little bit over the past week. The highlight would have to be Wednesday morning, when I braved the rain and a bike trail riddled with puddles at 6:15 a.m. and completed a run to work. I managed the 8.5-mile trip in less than 90 minutes, and I was cleaned up and at my desk before 8. Soft ground reduces the impact on your joints, but it also requires more effort to maintain the same pace. So, I went a bit more slowly than usual (often above 10:00/mile), but I made it just fine.

Perhaps, at some point in the future, I'll attempt to run both to and from work on the same day. If I can do that without any problems, then it's time to think about a run-to-work WEEK. That would be 85 miles in 5 days. Hmmmm.....

Kenosha Marathon?!?!?!

If I could buy stock in running, I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm always looking for fun places to run my next marathon. But why go somewhere when the marathon comes to you instead? This article in Chicago Athlete Magazine caught me by surprise. It sounds like some folks across the border saw an already-crowded Wisconsin marathon scene and declared, "Me too!"

The race's official web site isn't up yet -- I'll probably have more to say when that happens.

Rock N' Roll San Jose

I didn't do as well as I had hoped, but I managed a new personal best for the half marathon in San Jose on Sunday.

The weather was just a tiny bit cool at the start -- almost perfect. I felt great for the first few miles, and I was able to keep the 1:45 pace team in sight. I lost track of them when I took a break to get some Cytomax (the sports drink of choice at this race), but I was optimistic that I might see them again.

I started to feel a bit tired at mile 6, but I still had plenty of energy. I began eating a pack of orange sport beans, finishing them just before the mile 7 water stop. My splits remained below 8:30, but I was slowing down a bit. I wasn't sure I could get back to the 1:45 pace group, but I hoped for 1:48 or better.

At mile 10, I took advantage of the PowerGel stop, enjoying the "plain"-flavored variety and washing it down with two cups of water. In retrospect, I should have drank even more here. Things were heating up, and I could tell that my stomach was tightening.

The last three miles were barely below 9:00 a mile, and I was in danger of not breaking 1:50. I removed my heart rate monitor in case it was causing me to cramp up more than necessary. I used most of my remaining energy to keep moving forward down the final stretch, and I finished with a time of 1:49:54. Don't worry, Mom, I didn't fall over at the finish line or anything. :)

I guess this is a decent time, considering that I haven't been training as much lately, and it was pretty warm by the time I finished. However, in Tybee Island in Feburary, I ran the second half of a marathon in 1:51:13 (after a 1:57:52 first half). So, when I pick up my training again, watch out, 1:45!

Mile splits:
8:02, 7:53, 8:02, 8:05, 8:14,
8:19, 8:12, 8:28, 8:40, 8:36,
8:44, 8:59, 8:43, 0:57