2008 Chicago Marathon Race Report

I signed up for the marathon this year with the thought, “I might as well do it this year since the chances are so slim that it could possibly be as hot as it was during last year’s race”. With Chicago being a candidate city for the Olympics in 2016, I knew they really needed to fix the mistakes that they made during last years race. I am very happy to report that yes, there was plenty of water, Gatorade, wet sponges and cooling water misters. I wish I could report that it wasn’t as hot but I’ve read various reports that it soared to 86 and 84. Luckily, we were blessed with low humidity.

I have been nursing a right hip flexor injury for about 4 weeks. Unfortunately, the only way to let this injury heal is with rest, which is impossible to do with the amount of running we had to do in order to train. I knew going into the race that it was going to be a painful one for me, but I didn’t train for 18 weeks to hang up my shoes without stepping up to the start line.

When we stepped off at the start at 8am, it was already 65 but with lower humidity. I wasn’t so much worried about the weather as I was about my hip flexor. There was a bridge at Mile 2 and as soon as we ran up the bridge, I could feel my hip flexor starting to say Hello. By Mile 4 or 5 it went away and I felt great. The crowds were amazing during the entire race, but they were especially amazing on the near north side of the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and in Boystown. Man I love those dancing queens!!! I ran with a friend until about Mile 9. At that time she needed to slow her pace as she was nursing a back injury that was bothering her. I found one of my best friends, Chanthana, running a little ahead of me and I sped up to meet her. Around Mile 9, I noticed that now both of my hip flexors were hurting. I sort of laughed at the fact that here I was worried about the right one and the left one came out of no where to surprise me. Go figure. Chanthana and I continued to run together until about Mile 17. Somewhere between Mile 10 and 15 my left knee was now killing me. I had a sharp pain that went down the outside of my hip to my knee. At this point, I took some Ibuprofen at an Aid station. I noticed that when I stopped to get water and Gatorade, it was very difficult to start running again. My body was now hurting in all sorts of places and running was clearly the last thing it wanted to do! It literally took a good half mile to find a good groove; a nice painful groove, at that. Around Mile 18 I ran past a bank that had a digital sign and the temperature read 86 degrees. It was certainly warmer out at that point, but it didn’t feel like it was 86 degrees. I had to make one pit stop at a porta potty around this mark but kept going afterwards.

Around Mile 22 I was amazed at the crowd support. I tried to focus on the people around me and their smiles and cheers and not think about the pain in my body. They had already raised the running conditions to “Red Alert” and they had announcers telling us to slow down and drink more water. At one point I started saying “I feel good, I feel good, I feel good” out loud. I knew if I could just stay positive, I’d get through these last few miles. I laughed when a guy who was running by me turned to me and said, “You look good, too!” I didn’t know my mantra was loud enough that my neighbors could hear me. Ha! He and I made some small talk until the next aid station. At that point, I popped a few more Ibuprofen and I also took an Imodium AD to prevent the gastrointestinal issues I always have post-race.

I was really hoping to run my race in under 4 hours. I looked at my watch at mile 24 and I was already at a time of 3:45. Even though I felt like I was running 8:30 minute miles, my watch told me I was over 9’s. That’s how I knew it was even hotter as I couldn’t seem to run any faster than 9’s. I quickly did the math and realized that there was no way I would be able to finish in under 4 hours. So what was my next goal? It was to beat my last marathon time. This was still possible so I just kept my head down and kept moving one foot after another. I envisioned myself crossing at 4:03. The sun was blazing on my back and I could have moved over to the right side of the street that was somewhat shaded but I couldn’t even think about making the effort to do that. I just had to keep moving my feet and finish. I thought about my husband who was waiting at the finish line, and the fact that my training was over now and I could relax post-season and eat a lot of chocolate and drink a lot of wine. I just pictured all sorts of things that made me happy. J

I crossed the finish line in 4:07, beating my last time of 4:09 by a mere two minutes. At first I was very disappointed with this time, but seeing all of the people in wheelchairs and in the medical tent, I realized that I should be happy to have a PR (Personal Record) in these conditions.

My “marathon moment” was at the finish line. I was making my way to get my medal and I passed a woman who was soaking wet, crying and looked a little lost as she was walking against “traffic”. I reached out and said, “You did it! You finished!!” and she just took my hand, squeezed it and quietly sobbed. We walked to get our medals hand in hand without saying a word. I think she just needed a little support at that very emotional moment and I was happy I was there for her. We went our separate ways without saying anything but just smiled at each other. I knew the 18 weeks of training and a grueling race was worth it at that very moment.

I was very happy to reunite with my husband and my in-laws at the finish for a nice cold beer. Even though my mother-in-law is still recovering from knee surgery, she and I limped together a mile or so to their car.

Then the real fun began!

I took a few more Ibuprofen at the finish line. I didn’t realize that I basically took over 2000 mg’s of Ibuprofen between 6am and 12:30pm. Oops. That’s a bit too much. So I spent the entire afternoon and evening in my bed with severe cramping, dizziness, shivers and a fever. The only time I was able to move around was when I raced to the bathroom every 15 minutes not knowing which end was going to surprise me this time (sorry for drawing that picture). It was a horrible, horrible night. Brian noticed the bottle of Ibuprofen expired in 2003. Damn you, Costco, for making bottles impossible to finish!! Lucky for me, Brian’s best friend, Andy (who also ran the race that day) is an ER Nurse. He instructed me to drink lots of fluids and try to eat something. At 9am Monday, I finally ate some cereal and kept it down. Any runner can tell you the only way to help your muscles recover is to eat protein. Going the entire day after the marathon not eating a single thing is not going to help my recovery.

I’m still very sore, but I know the worst is over. I'll definitely lose another 2 toenails, bringing the grand total to 3 this season. Ahh, toenails are overrated!

Kudos to all of my friends who pushed through the hot and horrible conditions and finished the race!!! Thanks to everyone for your emails, calls and texts!! You are all amazing!

Summer is in Full Swing!

Hello.

It's been a while, I know. But as I sit here with a head cold and a sore throat and procrastinate working, I'd thought I'd give ya an update.

To finish my last post, an old friend from Ohio reached out and found me online! She and I were bff's up until 3rd grade when she moved away to Arizona. It wasn't until she said via email that she lived in Casa Grande that it hit me. I vividly remember writing her letters (remember when we did that? We should to talk to someone about bringing that back!) addressed to "Casa Grande, AZ" and my imagination was filled with scenes out of an old western movie complete with horses drinking out of a water trough on a dusty road as I put those letters in the mailbox. She used to ~ and still does ~ do barrel racing. So Stacey has 2 kids and has been married for 10 years. We exchanged pictures and got caught up and are throwing around the idea of a reunion. Hey, I now have 2 newly reunited old pals that live in Arizona...why not go out for a visit?

What else? Brian and I have made an offer on a lake house in Michigan. There were 2 that we liked but of course we both liked different houses. I opted for the turn-key immaculate smaller house with a two story gorgeous deck and a brand new dock that comes with no toys.....Brian opted for the the bigger house that needs a lot of work, all walls are covered in dark wood paneling with a small deck and crappy dock, choppy layout but comes with LOTS of toys. I call it the "Polygamist House" because it currently sleeps 18 or 19 ~ the place is filled with twin beds and baby bassinets. We made an offer on the Polygamist House. I agreed because I have personally witnessed magic moving from Brian's brain to his hands when it comes to home renovation. The man is a visionary in that sense so if he tells me he can make it not only nicer than the other house, but better, then I'm on board.

We went out to Michigan a few weeks ago and Mike and Carolyn, the owners of the clean house, took us out on their boat and gave us a tour of the lake and the adjoining lakes. They are GREAT people and now I know why it's never a good idea for buyers to meet the sellers ~ because emotions are involved. They bought a bigger house on the same lake and they are waiting to move in until they sell their 1st house. Mike actually called Brian and said 'What's up, buddy? I gotta get my wife out of here! Let's make a deal!" He really needs to sell. Then the realtor called Brian the next day and said "I've got something to tell you. Mike wants to make YOU and offer. He dropped his price and is throwing in the brand new dock and the bar." Ain't that some shit?? Have you EVER heard of a seller making an offer to a buyer??? Crazy. Gosh we'd LOVE to help them out but we need to do what's best for us and our situation. Mike and Carolyn will still be on the same lake so I do look forward to hanging with them more. I hope they just want to hang with us if we don't buy their house!

In other news, I'm training for the Chicago Marathon again this year. Haven't run it since 2004 as I got into the sport of Triathlon for the summers of 2005 and 2006. Last year I took a break and used wedding planning as my excuse, but that's all it was. I just needed a break. Training is going well and we're already into Week 3. Brian's best friend and Best Man is also running it this year so he'll be making the trip here from Virginia so that'll be fun. Too bad he runs a lot fast than me. He'll finish in about 3:30. I'm hoping to beat my last time of 4:09 and run the race in under 4 hours.

Well I need to stop procrastinating and get to work. I'll try not be such a stranger here this summer!

No Extra time for me!

So I saw a sneak preview of the Promotion last night ~ you know ~ the movie I was supposed to be in with Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly.

Our running scene was in the first 3 minutes of the movie and they showed a total of 2.2 seconds of it. I wasn't in it. I did see my friend, Angelle, and another friend, Kelly, was standing next to Seann in a scene that took place on the El.

My review of the movie? I give it 1 thumbs up....it's a definite renter. But since no one has seen one single preview of the movie that is supposed to be out this Friday, I'm sure it'll go straight to video.

Hey, at least I got paid 100 bucks to be an extra!

The Promotion

So I was an extra in a movie over TWO years ago and it's FINALLY coming out in June! I'm pumped!

There is even a shot of one of our scenes in the trailer. We shot in a few scenes with Seann William Scott (aka Stiffler) where we are running in his marathon training group along Lake Michigan.

Check it out!
http://movies.aol.com//movie/the-promotion/33211/video/trailer-no-1/2120893

I heard it supposed to be HIGH-larious!

If you do go see it at the movies, I’m in the very front row of the running group as we run towards the camera in the center. You can't miss me seeing as I was a good twenty pounds heavier at the time!

One week until Mexico!

I know I haven't really blogged lately about the going-ons of day to day life. What can I say? I leave for Mexico in a week and I'll be married in 12 days!! I can't even believe how fast it's crept up!! My family and B's family seem to be very excited for the trip and the event.

It's been nearly 5 weeks since I've been on my "wedding program" (I use that term because I hate to say diet). I abandoned Jenny Craig and got back to real foods ~ very boring foods ~ but real, nonetheless. I must say that my body is responding very nicely. I'm under 20% body fat now and I'm at 125 lbs. I haven't been 125 lbs since I was in my early 20's. I always used the excuse, "I'm all muscle" but I've had the sad realization that that's all it was ~ an excuse.

So we still have the daunting task of figuring out how we are going to get 27 gift bags, each filled with goodies and a 60x30" cabana towel, to Mexico. The box the towels came in was about 3 feet high and a foot and a half wide. I don't even have a suitcase that big and that's JUST the towels. Ugggh. I think we're going to box them up in a cardboard box and put the bags and goodies in a carry on and give that to a very helpful family member to bring with them. We were going to FedEx everything but our wedding planner advised against it. She said she's seen one too many times gift bags showing up 3 weeks after the wedding. Mexico Customs is the hang up...there is no rhyme or reason to their process.

I've started having nightmares about possible wedding scenario's that could go awry. Last night I dreamed that it rained, the night before I dreamed that my wedding dress was stolen from my hotel room ~ by our photographer, no less. I guess it's just par for the course and hopefully completely normal. I should probably be taking a Tylenol PM every night but since I'm doing cardio every morning at 5am, I fear that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed.

Oh speaking of this morning.....

I was pulling in to our development from the gym at 6am when I spotted my neighbor walking his two Siberian huskies. One of them went #2 in my neighbors yard and the guy just waved at me and smiled and kept on walking when his dog was finished with his business. This infuriated me to no end! Because either 1. he forgot doggie bags ~ but seeing as he has 2 dogs, I think that's unlikely or 2. he thought walking his dogs under the guise of the morning darkness means that no one would see his dogs go #2...so why pick it up?

Either scenario is just plain messed up! If you are a dog owner, you should PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG! Period.

God Bless my friend, Ayca, btw. She's staying at our house the entire time we're in Mexico and she'll be taking care of Cooper. I really hate leaving him for more than a few nights at the dog kennel so this was a fabulous option. She can keep him company and make sure he gets plenty of exercise. Thanks, girl!!! You rock!

TGIF

My week has flown by. I mean just ridiculously flown by. Sometimes I just want to grab onto the hands of time and stop them from moving to the right. Can't someone take that battery out for a day or two?

Anyhoo......

We awoke to at least a foot of snow today. What a train wreck it was getting to work...even by train. No, not literally, but it was just a mess to schlep through the unplowed streets and sidewalks. Our SUV was parked outside (and the inside was still all torn apart from the latest repair that Brian had to do....but unfortunately, the leak he was trying to fix is still leaking) and Brian had to dig it out from the foot of snow we got.

I got hit by falling ice on my walk to the office from the train. I had a hat on and a hood and it slid right down my back....Thank GOD!

Onto other topics, we've decided to take both Brian's SUV and my car and trade them in this weekend for a different SUV. I drive my car like 4 times a month* and when it snows, then I take the SUV, so it just makes sense. Did I mention we have 4 cars? Yes, FOUR cars. Granted, one doesn't see the streets but for the 4 or 5 times during the year that B races it, but still, 4 cars? So yes, we're ready to get that number down to 3.

As for the weekend, we have so much we need to do! I need to buy my shoes for the wedding so that I can start my fittings. I need to pick up some of my attendants gifts at the bridal store. Brian and I need to finish the wording of our invitations and get those ordered Saturday. We need to trade the cars in. Oh so much to do and so little time!

Saturday night we'll be enjoying a meal at AI Sushi with some friends. I've been wanting to try this place since it opened and can't wait! Sunday we'll be watching the big game with some friends and I'll be trying not to negate all of my efforts this week with bad...errr.....good food.

* So I get a letter in the mail yesterday telling me I owe the state of Illinois 63 bucks and change for blowing through tolls on the toll ways. Come again? Ummm, I don't ever recall blowing through any tolls, thankuverymuch. I always take Brian's IPass when I drive on a toll way. But there it was....a picture of MY car and MY license plate glaring back at me. Upon further examination of this document, I notice that two of the tickets happened during the week around 2pm....while I was at work......and while my car was SUPPOSED to be sitting in the garage......where the Valet put it!!!! Can you friggin' believe this? What the F? So I called that state and yes, the time of the ticket is accurate and no, they could not tell who was driving in the pictures (too dark). But they said I could fight the ticket in the not-so-convenient suburb of Downer's Grove. I think I'll just pay the 63 bucks and put a hidden camera in my car!!!

(And yes, I need to pay better attention to my mileage and gas when I get my car from the garage. Crazy that I thought I could trust these guys. LESSON LEARNED!!)

The List Keeps Growing

It seems the faster I check tasks off my list the sooner they are added.

Brian and I were busy all weekend organizing and preparing for the holiday party that I'm hosting for my women's networking group. Brian has graciously volunteered to make his awesome chili but was testing various recipes in the kitchen all day yesterday.

Between now and Wednesday I have to:

1. Go to the dentist this afternoon
2. Buy a gift for our Yankee Gift Swap
3. Make the corn bread muffins
4. Make eggnog (for 25)
5. Drop off my car at the shop on Tuesday AM
6. (Hopefully) Pick up my car from the shop on Tuesday PM
7. Pick up my food at Jenny
8. Find some time to do some cardio at the gym (so I can enjoy the eggnog without feeling guilty)
9. Finish my holiday business cards (I think I only have about 20 left!)
10. Install Microsoft Office on my Mom's laptop
11. Send laptop to Ohio

Okay I guess the latter two don't have to be done by Wednesday, but the rest do. I wish we could have about 10 more hours in a day, but I'd easily settle for 5.

Did I mention I haven't even started my holiday shopping yet??

What not to expect the week before Thanksgiving in Chicago

I was sweating by the time I arrived to my office after the 3 block walk from the train station because it's 63 degrees out.

And I guess global warming is still believed to be a democratic conspiracy, huh?

Update on Weather

There have been no official reports of a tornado touching down IN the city, however, MORE storms are on the way.

Happy friggin' Friday to ya!

Tornado in the city??

Whoa.....we had some serious crazy weather today in our fine city. Now did you hear about the tornado in Brooklyn recently? Yeah, who would think THAT could happen?

Apparently, that's what happened in Chicago today. One of my coworkers got a call from his wife from their suburban home telling him that their trampoline was picked up and thrown right through their wood fence. Even though that may suck, tornado's are pretty common in the southern burbs where they live. The good news is that she and the kids were safe. Then another coworker gets a frantic call from his wife who works on the 73rd floor of a Michigan Ave building around 3pm because she was being evacuated to the basement of her building. WTF? A tornado? DOWNTOWN?

I log on to my weatherbug and sure enough, there is a Tornado WARNING for my zip code.....in Lincoln Park. Yes, "warning"...as in, "twister spotted". It already looked like death outside and all of a sudden the building shook for 6 straight seconds (okay it doesn't seem long but it sure as hell does when you are IN the building).

I left work and getting home from downtown
seemed pretty uneventful. As I drove north to pick up my dog from daycare, I saw trees down all over the place...but it got worse as I went north. The daycare told me they had a huge branch that snapped in their backyard but all of the dogs were safe.

Brian and I got home around the same time and we couldn't even drive through our gate since our power was out; forcing us to drive around to our back gate. Just in the two block drive to the back gate I saw at least 4 trees down and debris scattered EVERYWHERE. I pull up to the garage door and the first thing I notice is all of the water is completely drained out of our pond. Can someone explain to me how 35 gallons of water gets removed from a pond during a torrential downpour?? Or was it sucked out?

We head up to the rooftop deck to check out the damage. If my camera wasn't broken, I'd take some pics right now. We find our heavy teak furniture was all over and in disarray. The hot tub cover that is too heavy for me to lift was halfway off the hot tub. The flowers...trashed. Cushions from the furniture....missing. The worst part was that one of the posts of our deck was moved in about 6 inches which snapped the deck walls that were attached.

Just as we were about to straighten up the roof, it starts pouring again. Storm #2 is in full effect. Our power is back on though and the weather seems to be calming down, BUT, there are still flash flood warnings and severe thunderstorm warnings.

Great. ANOTHER storm is on the way?

Someone should call my boss and reassure him that he's right. There is no such thing as Global Warming and it sure as heck doesn't wreak havoc on our weather. :\

For more pictures, check out http://www.chicagotribune.com/ or http://www.suntimes.com/.

Awwwwww Yeah!

Looks like we might be getting a Pinkberry or Red Mango in Chi-town! For those of you who don't keep up on the Tinseltown news (of course you don't, but I'm lame and I do), Pinkberry (aka Crackberry) is all the rage in LA right now. Celebs are photographed with their little pink frozen yogurt containers everywhere and Pinkberry has refused to give up their recipes. I do believe they were forced to remove "Frozen Yogurt" from their signs. Whatever is in that concoction appears to be yummy and I can't wait to have a taste!

Hellz ya!

Let the Fro-Yo Battle begin!

Ill-mannered Manor & Free of Frugal Femmes

We had a bachelorette party for one of my best friends last night. We started out at a friend's house for gifts and drinks after the rain kept us from having the party on a friends boat downtown.

Earlier in the week, one of the girls had us put on the list for bottle service at Manor, one of the hottest new clubs. Upon our arrival, they could not find our name on said list and they were really not very polite in trying to accommodate us. After a few phone calls, they found our name and then proceeded to tell us that we could be seated at our table, but the VIP service was now a 3-bottle minimum. Yes, a.three.bottle.minimum. Even though there were 9 of us , we had already started drinking 3 hours earlier, and there was no possibility of us finishing 3 bottles of Greygoose.....especially at $300 a pop. So with gratuity, we are talking about a $1035 bar bill which is just insanity. We said "Well, we'll definitely buy 2, but we aren't going to get 3". The douche bag GM basically said, "Yeah, sorry, but that's not happening".

Now it's common knowledge in the bar business that having women in your bar brings the men and the men bring the money. In our case, you have 9 sexy ass women AND we are buying our own alcohol.....slam dunk, right? Well apparently not. One would THINK that a new club would want to make a good impression on their new patrons but that's strike two. WTF? Then he has the audacity to look at us and say, "Well if you don't want bottle service feel free to enjoy some cocktails at the bar". Since we were looking eye to eye (and I'm only 5'4"), I bit my tongue and didn't say, "Why gee whiz there, Napoleon, you are too kind! You mean you'll actually let me stand here at your bar, buy drinks and even CONSUME them in your fine establishment?" Strike three, you're out.

So we jumped in a few cabs and told them to pound sand.

We moved the party to Level where they gladly offered us a VIP table for 2 bottles of Greygoose. The GM constantly checked back with us to make sure we were happy and even when I told our server that our floor smelled like dirty feet (seriously), some young lad promptly showed up with a bottle of Febreze and handled the problem.

That brings me to my 2nd part of this blog.... I think it's pretty sad when a group of 9 women, all in their early 30's, are giving each other high 5's because not one person batted an eye and gladly forked over cash when we told them our bar bill was $700.

Without sugar coating this {because why would I do that?}, WHY ARE SOME WOMEN SO FUCKING CHEAP? It's just sooo exhausting to go to dinner, have drinks, do ANYTHING with a group of women. It's almost guaranteed that at LEAST one girl will say, "Well I only had a salad" or "I didn't have any drinks" or "I am not drinking tonight so why should I pay?". WHY, people, WHY?? What is so freaking hard about just adding the tip and splitting the bill equally? That's what you do when you go out with a big group.

We are grown adults. We are not in college anymore. If saving 5 bucks or even 20 bucks is that important to you, then here's a thought: stay home and save your money! Don't make it weird for the rest of us. Seriously.

So here's my plea to all women readers: don't be a cheap ass. Don't be that girl. Just grow up and split the bill equally whether or not you had an appetizer, okay??? I mean when is the last time you were at dinner with your elders and your grandma said "Honey, you had 2 more glasses of Chardonnay than I did so please don't add that to my portion". Yeah, didn't think so.

And now for a few pictures from last night:

Here's a picture of CT and I when we aren't all sweaty after a half marathon and that's the bride on the left with 2 of her bridesmaids.