Running: A History

I mentioned a little bit of my running background in my first post, but I wanted to go a little more into the backstory (and post some hilarious photos of my first race ever). 

First things first, I’m a self-made runner, meaning I was NOT any kind of athlete growing up. I certainly never participated in track, cross country, or any sort of organized sports (I was actually a dedicated marching band geek). As previously mentioned, I’d never run more than 2 miles until my freshman year of college when I boldly, bravely randomly signed up to do the 2007 Chicago Half Marathon with my roommate. Pretty much everyone I talked to thought I was insane. I heard a few thoughts to the tune of “you’re not a runner, how could you possibly run 13 miles?” 

At first, I kinda hated it. But I continued to follow my plan (Hal Higdon, what what?) because I refused to let the whopping $65 registration fee go to waste. Along the way I got hundreds of shin splints and engaged in my first battle with shin splints, but I eventually did it. And ran all 13.1 miles. I recall feeling like it was one of the most surprising accomplishments of my life at the time. When I crossed the finish line I remember thinking, ‘oh yeah, everyone that doubted me? you can suck it!’ I also thought, if  I can do this, I can literally do anything I put my mind to. If I can make my small, unathletic self into a runner, what else can I make of myself. Perhaps a slight generalization, but I’ve tried to keep this attitude going. Cheesy? 100%, but I don’t really care. 

That's me, the tiny person in teal. Fun fact, I still wear those black shorts to this day. Welp, that's embarrassing.

Perhaps I should mention the tall, blonde drink 'a water next to me? My freshman year (and all of college) roomie, Tracy. 

We did it! This photo makes me laugh to this day.

After that race, I was hooked. When I was running, it was infinitely easier to deal with stress, my emotions, and staying out of crazytown. Breakups were easier to deal with by running my face off to a Fall Out Boy album (ha, college), rather than eating a pint of ice cream. 

I mean, look how excited I am.

So, I kept running on and off and eventually did the Chicago half again in 2011. At the time, I was going through a truly awful breakup, and running was the only thing that allowed me to deal. At all.  I don't remember much about the race, other than feeling like each step was getting me closer to feeling OK about life. A few steps closer to where I wanted to be, this beautiful city.

The only photo from the race. Clearly illustrating my excellent photography skills.

 Shortly after that, I moved to Chicago and finally started to feel like a person again. Ready to get after life and not be sad! I felt like I owed myself more of a challenge, a half was no longer enough to provide that sense of overwhelming accomplishment. So, I registered for the 2012 Chicago Marathon. More on my first marathon soon, it deserves it's own post of rambling.

OK enough already. So, that’s how I got to this point. Running my second marathon, hoping for a 4 hour finish. Next up, I’m going to try to explain the love/hate relationship that fuels addiction/mental illness that is marathon training.

Marathon Training Weeks 3 and 4: Solo Runs and Minimal Geese Attacks

Oh, hello there. Week 4 (well, actually week 5 at this point) of marathon training and I’m already behind in my posts. Not surprising. Anyway, I’ll just combine week 3 and 4 here, yes? Okay, cool.

Week 3

Miles: 19

Long Run: 6 miles. Wooo! First cutback week!

Geese attacks: one. Seriously, they're vicious, and they chased me off the path. Please see the below photo for how many GD geese I have to deal with on my daily running path.

Cross-training: yoga. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (yeah, oxford comma, b*tches. get used to it)

Breakdowns: zero. Again, wooo!

The vicious gang of geese. (Not pictured, an additional 50 geese on the other side of the path)

Overall: Pretty great week. Still trying to get more miles in, but it’s kinda difficult with an 1:40 minute commute (that’s one hour and forty minutes. UGH). I skipped running with CARA for my long run since it would’ve taken longer to get to the starting point than the actual length of the run. Also, only six miles? Child's play. Anyway, I found it interesting  that my long run seemed SO much more enjoyable alone. 

Also, first week using my new Garmin watch! Hollllaa. Still trying to figure out all the buttons and how to keep myself from deleting parts of my run, but I'm really digging it so far. And it matches my shoes, so how could I not?

Week 4

Miles: 20 (oops)

Long Run: 11 freaking humid miles. See below photo in which you can physically see how humid it was. (Also, once again accidentally deleted the first 1.2ish miles from this godforsaken watch)

Geese Attacks: zero. Thank christ

Cross-training: yoga on Friday and Sunday. (week 2 of actually getting some cross-training done on Sunday. holler.)

Breakdowns: none, shockingly

Um. Sorry this photo is so gross.

Overall: Once again, not nearly enough week day runs. In my defense, it was a holiday week! Anyway, despite a truly terrible difficult 11-miler on Saturday, I’m really feeling like I’m starting to hit my stride. My body is remembering how to perform and react to the long runs which is a pretty cool feeling. Muscle memory is a pretty amazing thing.

Additionally, this was the second week in a row that I skipped my CARA group. I know, I KNOW. But honestly, even though it was absurdly humid, the sun was beating down, and I had to stop at pretty much every mile, I still think I might’ve enjoyed this run more than the 2 runs I did with CARA. There’s something just SO embarrassing about having your mental breakdowns around people that you’re supposed to be casual chatting with. Not to say that I don’t love the social aspect before and after runs, I’m just wondering if I really am a solo long-runner, especially since I did my first marathon alone. Honestly, I really love running by myself on the lake, not having to chat with anyone, just listening to my jamz. I’m going to do everything in my power to make it the run next week, so stay tuned! 

2 Weeks Down, Only 14 to go....

Well, coming off a less than impressive week one long run, I assumed the only place to go was up. Turns out I was wrong. While pleasantly cloudy, the weather at 6:30 could only be described as soup like.

Once again, I'm disappointed in my myself. I know that my mind is SO much stronger than it's been leading me to believe in these last two weeks. I'm not sure if it was the humidity, that I'm still getting used to running without music, holding conversations while running, or if the pace is just too fast, but this long run was, again, a serious struggle. To my credit, I ran the whole time, 9 miles, 9:00 pace, but the last mile was brutal. I'd like to chalk it up to the extreme humidity that my body just isn't used to yet, but  like I said, I just can't help but be disappointed and slightly embarrassed. My fellow runners were BEYOND amazing, cheering me on, telling me to just take it one step at a time. But ultimately, my hips and IT band felt like they were surely going to explode and they won, keeping me from running up the hill yet again. Though, I suppose I can be proud of the fact that I did not stop until the hill even though my mind was trying so hard to convince me to stop. Also, real talk: attack of the chafing has already begun. It's gonna be a long summer...

This isn't the first awful run I've had, and it surely won't be the last, but dammit if won't
it use it as fuel to work that much harder this week. Most importantly,
I know I'll have another truly great, life-changingly awesome run again soon, and all this will be a distant memory.

2 weeks down, only 14 to go...

2013 Marathon Training: Week 1 Recap

Week 1 Recap

Okay, so I’m nearly a week behind here, but I still want capture my feelings/thoughts on the first OFFICIAL week of 2013 marathon training. Maybe next week I’ll be able to keep the rambling to a minimum.

1st CARA run thoughts:

Saturday morning, 5:15 am: Alarm goes off. Immediately regret every decision I’ve ever made to commit to this training program, yet get out of bed anyway. On my walk to the bus, I shockingly see two other women walking in running gear and shoe tags, apparently I wasnt the only human being awake prior to 6 am on a Saturday. ANYWAY, after throughly studying the Montrose Harbor map on my phone, I finally find the CARA meeting spot. Approximately 100 other runners were  kinda lining up near pace signs. I align myself to the 9:00/mile sign, fully feeling the ‘new kid at school’ nerves, and introduce myself to the others. Everyone was just beyond nice and friendly, swapping marathon stories, recounting the previous year of running. Actually, that was probably the best thing about the CARA training, an overwhelming feeling of community.

After some announcements, my group heads out. I spend the majority of the run chatting with a really nice dude who’s training with CARA for the fourth time. Everything was good and I was enjoying the change from my usual solo long runs. Then at mile 7, my chatting buddy started chatting with another dude. In order to not be the jackass running 3 wide on the path, I dropped back. The wheels started to fall off the wagon. With all of the excitement/stress of just trying to get to the meeting spot by 6:30 am, I neglected to actually mentally prepare myself to run 8 miles. Normally, I run by myself, I’m in ‘the mental zone’ the entire time. When you run without headphones with a group of people, you actually have to, ya know, pay attention to the world. I’ll be sure to be ready for this in the coming weeks. As we approach the finish/starting spot, I see that some of the other groups are starting to run up the large hill (Cricket Hill), and I think ‘wow, those people are hard core.’ Then, my group started to head toward the hill. My mind refused to accept it. I refused to run up the hill. Yep, completely wimped out. This moment of mental weakness has been haunting me ever since. SO, Cricket Hill, I hope you’re ready for me this week, because I refuse to let my mental weakness overcome my strength again.

Welcome/LET'S DO THIS

Hi there. I’m Erin, which you probably already figured out from the title. Welcome to this blog/journal/diary of pain that is training for a marathon. This will be my second time running the Chicago Marathon, but this year I have a goal besides just finishing and not dieing. It’s my goal to run all 26.2 miles in under 4 hours.

A bit of background: I guess you could say I became a runner at the end of my freshman year of college. Despite having only run about 2 miles previously, I boldly (stupidly) signed up for a half marathon. I found a training plan and hit the trail (college town sidewalks). Along the way, I got shin splints, hundreds of blisters, and multiple sunburns, but I also gained a new-found sense of self confidence and accomplishment. A way to exercise any and all demons, stress, and negative vibes. I was hooked.

While I certainly ‘heart running,’ I also ‘heart’ a lot of other things; yoga, (mostly) healthful eating, this beautiful city of Chicago, oh and french fries. I really heart french fries. Annnnyyyway, I want this blog to be a record of my struggles and accomplishments in my goal to live a healthy, happy life through running (cheesy, I know, just get over it).

So, I hope you’ll stick around as I document/whine/annoyingly gush about running and a few of my favorite things.

Let’s do this!!

Erin