Grayslake 5k

This was my third 5k this year and my fastest ever at 21:10. I was 5th in my age group, which put me out of the running for one of those cool glass mugs they give away to the top 3 in each age group. My dad ran this one too. He successfully reached his goal of sub 30:00 so double mission accomplished.

Since it is the middle of July, it was hot. 79 degrees according to the GCHS sign with some noticeable humidity. OK, I'll say it: I miss winter!

We had a bunch of people there from the Grayslake Running Club, so that was nice to have some people there that I know.

Flat course with only 32 feet of climbing.

Mile 1-6:36 I was trying to keep up with JR and Ricky, but 6:00 seemed unnecessary to me.

Mile 2-6:54 I would have liked to run these first 2 at 6:45 each, but they averaged out.

Mile 3-7:09 Not sure why I slowed down so much here, but clearly mile 3 is where I lost some time.

last .1-0:30

I was really happy to run a PR for this race because my schedule lately has only allowed for about 6.5 hours of sleep per night and it has really caught up to me. The night before the race all I wanted to do was sleep in. Not to mention the fact that my kids gave me their summer cold so it feels like I have a ball of phlegm in the back of my throat. OK enough whining for now.

It was a great race, but running in this heat really sucks.

North Shore Half Marathon

The North Shore Half Marathon is my third half of the year. When I signed up for this race in March I was hoping for this to be a PR race. Due to some injury and training issues I've had to change my expectations.

Short Version:

Finished in 1:43:50, good support, cool backback, dog fight, urination.

Long Version:

I picked up my packet and my dad's packet on Thursday. No T-shirts, but we got a really nice backpack instead. Also included were a bath size towel and a wrist sweat band.



Since I had to work the night before this race, I got less than five hours of sleep. On the way to pick up my dad I stopped at Starbucks for my pre-race fuel of a tall vanilla latte and a maple scone-delicious!

Dad and me pre-race


We got to the start area with plenty of time to spare. This is when a smart person would hit the port-a-potties or maybe a GU or something. I got in line for the lav. While in line, a dog fight broke out between a big black fluffy dog and a smaller brown dog. This discouraged me from standing in line any longer, so I made my way to the start line with Trish. We saw Shanna already in the start area patiently waiting to smoke most of the other women in the field and chatted for a few minutes.

This race is how far?!


Trish and I had the much coveted red bibs, which allowed us into the VIP section of the corrall, so that put Shanna behind us for the start. This was probably the only time we in front of her the whole race.

The race started pretty well, but I had to piss like a race horse. My splits were good up until mile 6, where I had to dart off the course and evacuate my blader. The course was beautiful-Ravinia, Fort Sheridan and views of Lake Michigan.

My dad took this one with his cell phone during the race


Mile 1-7:31 Threw my sunglasses into the grass and yelled "St. Johns and Beech"
so I would remember where to find them.
Mile 2-7:48 Met up with Mark, who I met at one of Jenny's track sessions.
Mile 3-7:36
Mile 4-7:35
Mile 5-7:42
Mile 6-9:31 This was when I left a gallon of pee in a port-a-pottie
Mile 7-7:20
Mile 8-8:11 This mile had a huge downhill and corresponding huge uphill
Mile 9-7:49
Mile 10-7:38
Mile 11-7:49 Had some gatorade and water at this stop.
Mile 12-8:23 Threw my hat in the garbage because I was too hot and didn't want
Mile 13-7:49 to carry it
last 0.1-7:26


The capacity of the human bladder is about 16 oz. Mine was full and then some. It took me a full 2 minutes to take care of business. That is why mile 6 took 9:31. After my pee break I never saw Trish again, but I was able to pace myself pretty well and finish with a respectable time.

In the finish shoot I heard Shanna cheering me on, so that was awsome motivation for the final 100 meters or so.

After the race I got my medal and met up with the family to wait for my dad to finish. He crossed the line at about 2:32. Not to shabby for an old guy.



While waiting at the finish I saw Barry and Shanna and we talked for a minute, then Jack and oliver saw someone with a breakfast muffin, so that was all they could talk about. So we headed over to Corner Bakery for a nice post race Panini. Then I went in search of my sunglasses at St.Johns and Beech-found them no problem.

Summary
I have plateaued in my half marathin times, so I think to get any faster at the half marathon distance I will have to do one or more of the following things:

1.Lose weight-10-20lbs.
2.Run more miles per week-increase from 30 to 40, then 50
3.Take speed work more seriously and do more of it.

At this point I do not think I am willing to do any of these 3 things for a variety of reasons, for now I am satisfied with my times and I'll contine to focus mainly on the Milwaukee marathon in October.



If you have read this far, you are awsome.

Soldier Field 10

In preparation for the race I took off work on Friday so I could go to bed early. I normally work until 11pm and so I normally hit the sack at about 12:30am. I went to bed at 10:30 since I had to be up at 4:00am to drive to Soldier Field. It would have been nice to get more sleep, but whenever I try to go to bed to early I just toss and turn-it's not good.

Jackie and I drove to Soldier Field together, we got there at about 6am. Parking was nice and easy-and free. I picked up my packet and we waited around to meet up with some of her friends.

Before the start I saw Karen Sahr and Barb Bradley in the stadium and talked with them for a few minutes. I was trying to meet up with Carolyn for a pre-race photo op, but we never connected.

This was my first race using Hammer products. I have heard so many good things about them, so I bought some gels, HEED, and Recoverite. I took one of the Gels during the race and it did not agree with me. I think anything I would have taken at that point would have caused the same reaction-nausea. I had the HEED and Recoverite after the race and the taste was good, not too strong, but I couldn't tell if they had the desired effect.

The start was good, we were all in the A corral, so there was not too much traffic to deal with. My goal was to run 7:30 miles. I thought this was do-able since I ran 7:38 miles in a half marathon back in March. I have had some injury issues for the past few weeks, so I was prepared to adjust my speed based on how I felt. The first 4 miles went as planned, then.....the wheels came off. Here are the splits:

Mile 1-7:31---Feeling good
Mile 2-7:26---Ok, this is not so bad
Mile 3-7:27---keeping it up
Mile 4-7:43---Uh-oh-tried to take a hammer gel-almost puked
Mile 5-7:52---Something is wrong
Mile 6-8:34---Had to stop at porta-pottie
Mile 7-8:01---Karen caught up with me here, then dropped me like a bad habit
Mile 8-9:06---Nine minute mile? Seriously?
Mile 9-8:25---Barb caught up with me here and we ran the last 2 miles together.
Mile 10-8:31--I am glad she was there or I may have just walked it in.

As you might expect I am feeling very damaged today. Despite the poor performance/strategy I beat my time from last year of 1:25:xx and ran a 1:21:35 yesterday. So it wasn't a total train wreck. After the race I met up with my wife, Lindsay, and my kids, my Mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law and thier clever baby Will and we went to the Shedd aquarium for the rest of the morning. The crazy dolphin show at the Shedd made me feel better about my day. On the way to lunch I gave my oldest son Jack my other Hammer Gel-he loved it! Then we had a huge lunch at Panera and drove home. Pretty great day all around.

Sorry, no pics-forgot the camera. In the end it is all relative, my best day is someone's worst day and vise-versa