Training Week 14

Wednesday ~ 5 miles (laps between Bryn Mawr and Foster)

Training Week 13

18 miler
9 miler - home to cara fountain at diversey and back

Training Week 12

Having run 16 on Monday, I wisely opted to rest until Wednesday. I knew I wasn't going to run the suggested 8 miles so I told myself I'd run until the end of a David Gray cd I had loaded on my minidisc player. I never run with headphones but thought it would be fun to give a try. I started my run on the Lakefront Path but quickly realized it was late, dark, and I had not run through the neighborhood in a long time. I turned around at Foster, came back to Bryn Mawr, and made my way over to Clark. I ran down Clark past numerous cafes and restaurants, and zigzagged my way through the people who had just left them. It was nice to back in the old neighborhood again. Despite being just a few blocks away from where I live now, it has such a different feel from where I live, and a different feel than when I moved from there a little over three years ago. I ran p and down side streets to increase the distance but keep the area I covered compact. Although I definitely was sore from Monday's long run, I felt like I was keeping a decent pace. After doing the math, I ran this 5.5 mile route in about 55 minutes (elapsed time of A New Day at Midnight album + U2's Pride) for a 10 minute per mile pace.

Friday night I went out with a bunch of guys from work to German Fest. I knew from the very first sip of the Moscow Mule (vodka cut with ginger beer) Jeremy poured that I might not be able to get up early for the 12 miler Liz and I had planned for the next morning. The massive mugs of beer at the fest confirmed that though. I texted her around 1:30am that my vote was to run in the afternoon to allow myself some time to sleep in. She liked the idea as well. We met at my place around 4 and ran our 12 miles just fine despite not having the comforts of Fleet Feet's hydration stops along our route. They usually pack up by 10am so we missed them by plenty.

Training Week 11

I'm a little behind on updates so most of this is gonna be a bit less detail oriented than usual. Work had it twice yearly disaster recovery drill on Tuesday. I was in the recovery center from around 5 until around midnight, so that kind of screwed up my whole week. Running has a good way of getting me back to normal again. I got in a decent 8 miler on Wednesday. I got another Forest run in on Sunday - running 2 miles, then run walking/dragging him the rest of the way home. Friday, Saturday and Sunday I was in Mt. Carmel, IL for Justin and Jackie's wedding. It was a blast and great to watch a close friend get married.

I had to put off the 16-miler until the following Monday, which was Labor Day. It was a bit overcast and the normally crowded beaches were empty. The weather, and the fact that it was a Monday not a Saturday morning, kept the lakefront path sparsely populated as well. I felt good during the run, although the goo packet I had started leaking its sticky contents about 2 miles in. The run took me from my house down to Olive Park. I'm guessing I kept somewhere around a 9 minute pace, but still being watchless I'm not sure, and I'm not sure I really care. Getting the miles in is the point of training for me these days, not how fast I run them.

I finished off the holiday weekend with a early showing of Little Miss Sunshine at the Davis Theater with my dad and sister. Hilarious and serious, I laughed and shed a few tears as well. What a fantastic movie. Highly recommended.