Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Day 302
Today I'm thankful for yoga. I took the week after the marathon off and then missed last week's class due to a time snafu. My body needed it tonight!
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Day 301
Today I'm thankful that that it was an absolutely beautiful day and that I got to spend a little while outside enjoying it during my lunch break.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Day 300
Today I'm thankful that we hired a permanent part-time front desk staff person at work. Hopefully this will make things easier on our office coordinator and help the office as a whole to run more smoothly!
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Day 299
Today I'm thankful for a beautiful fall day, a 10 mile run with Natallie, and a relaxing day with John and Keith.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Day 294-298*
Oops...I guess I fell behind on these this week! Time to catch up!
Day 294 - Tuesday I was thankful for a nice, slow day at work so I had time to catch up a little!
Day 295 - Wednesday I was thankful for a very relaxing evening. I had planned to go to yoga but the time was listed wrong on the schedule so Natallie and I missed it. While I was disappointed to miss yoga, it was nice to have some bonus time at home.
Day 296 - Thursday I was thankful to have lunch with Diana. It was great to catch up with her again!
Day 297 - Yesterday I was thankful to spend some non-running time with Natallie. We watched Spirit of the Marathon and chatted. It was a fun night!
Day 298 - Today I'm thankful for an absolutely beautiful (and warm) fall day in Chicago!
Day 294 - Tuesday I was thankful for a nice, slow day at work so I had time to catch up a little!
Day 295 - Wednesday I was thankful for a very relaxing evening. I had planned to go to yoga but the time was listed wrong on the schedule so Natallie and I missed it. While I was disappointed to miss yoga, it was nice to have some bonus time at home.
Day 296 - Thursday I was thankful to have lunch with Diana. It was great to catch up with her again!
Day 297 - Yesterday I was thankful to spend some non-running time with Natallie. We watched Spirit of the Marathon and chatted. It was a fun night!
Day 298 - Today I'm thankful for an absolutely beautiful (and warm) fall day in Chicago!
Monday, October 20, 2014
Day 293
Today I'm thankful for a relatively easy day at work (even if it was still busy and rather tiring). Another Monday in the books...
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Day 292
Today I'm thankful for a productive day at home. I got almost everything on my to do list done. Woo!
Race Report: Bank of America Chicago Marathon
On Sunday, October 12, 2014, I was one of 40,802 runners to cross the finish line of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. It was an absolutely amazing experience. The race was very well organized and had a ton of on course support. Plus, the spectators were awesome.
Natallie and I met in the lobby of our building at about 6:50 am. We waited a couple minutes longer for her cousins to arrive as well. Then the four of us walked to the start line via Michigan Ave, cutting through Millennium Park (and stopping to take a picture with the bean). By the time we got to Corral F, we had about 12 minutes until the cut off time which wasn't enough to wait in the long lines for the port-a-potties. So, Natallie and I both started the race already needing to pee!
It was chilly waiting in the corrals. I was really glad I had decided to wear and then toss (to donate) a pair of my beloved Wisconsin Badgers sweatpants. The wait was bearable with them. Plus, it warmed up a bit once we were all huddled into our corral.
Our plan was to start out at a very comfortable pace, somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30 but closer to 10:30. We did a pretty good job of that but got excited and ran a little fast a few times. Around Mile 6, Natallie was telling me about the documentary Spirit of the Marathon and how it explained two types of marathoners, competers and completers. We agreed that for this race, we were completers. We would both PR no matter what and then could work to improve upon our times in our next marathon. Yes, we were already thinking about the next race during this one!
About the same time, Natallie started to feel a little bit of pain in her feet and knees, likely due to the harder surface of the roads versus the Lakefront Trail that we did most of our runs on. Around Mile 15 she was really starting to feel it and started stopping by the aid stations to get Biofreeze to rub on her legs. My feet and knees were a little sore at this point but not bad at all. In fact, I was ready to increase the pace a little, which is what we planned to do. Natallie wasn't quite feeling that though. We stopped to stretch a few times but that wasn't helping either. Just after Mile 22, Natallie told me to go on ahead of her as she was going to stop in the medical tent. It was weird running without Natallie for the last 4 miles but I honestly felt great. I stopped at the second to last aid station to fill up my handheld water bottle and then I was off again. My last two splits were my fastest of the race!
When I got to the intersection of Michigan and Roosevelt, I almost burst into tears. I kept looking for John and Mom but I didn't find them. (I found out later that John spotted me.) I got goosebumps as I turned onto Roosevelt so I took one last drink from my water bottle and then pushed for the last two tenths of a mile. It was a really awesome feeling to cross that finish line...but a little bittersweet that Natallie wasn't there with me. I finished at 4:38:08 and Natallie finished at 4:54:52.
I walked through the finish area slowly so we could reunite before meeting our families. We got our finisher photos together, just not at the finish line!
My spectator highlights included: Mom at Mile 2 after we made our first (and my only) potty break even though I had to scream and run back to her to get her attention (and she ripped the top left corner of my bib in the process of hugging me), nursing home residents lined up at the window and waving to us somewhere along LaSalle (I think), Natallie's dad and Emil near Mile 8, my former coworker Lynn randomly near Mile 11, John and Mom near Mile 12, Bree and John about Mile 14.5, and Natallie's dad and Emil again near Mile 15. There were spectators lining the course almost everywhere! The only area that really thinned out was between Miles 24 and 25.
I was surprised at how long the race was crowded even though I knew there would be approximately 45,000 runners on the course. I don't think it really thinned out until Mile 24 when many of the people around me were walking. It wasn't too bothersome except in a few places where the course was narrow, either because of the road itself or because spectators were standing on the road too. I'd like to try a smaller marathon in the future to see how much the crowd energy influenced me.
A few of my favorite signs included "LeBron would have cramped by now", "All toenails go to heaven", "Smile if you peed a little", and "I don't know about you but I'm feeling 26.2."
Overall it was a great race with amazing support, plenty of aid stations, and awesome spectators!
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:38:08
Cost: $185 + minimum of $1500 raised for the National MS Society Finish MS team
Pros: Amazing support, plenty of aid stations, awesome spectators (1.7 million of them!), fun and flat route through 29 Chicago neighborhoods
Cons: Huge race (45,000 runners!), expensive official photos, long port-a-potty lines at the start
Would I run it again?: YES!
Natallie and I met in the lobby of our building at about 6:50 am. We waited a couple minutes longer for her cousins to arrive as well. Then the four of us walked to the start line via Michigan Ave, cutting through Millennium Park (and stopping to take a picture with the bean). By the time we got to Corral F, we had about 12 minutes until the cut off time which wasn't enough to wait in the long lines for the port-a-potties. So, Natallie and I both started the race already needing to pee!
It was chilly waiting in the corrals. I was really glad I had decided to wear and then toss (to donate) a pair of my beloved Wisconsin Badgers sweatpants. The wait was bearable with them. Plus, it warmed up a bit once we were all huddled into our corral.
Our plan was to start out at a very comfortable pace, somewhere between 10:00 and 10:30 but closer to 10:30. We did a pretty good job of that but got excited and ran a little fast a few times. Around Mile 6, Natallie was telling me about the documentary Spirit of the Marathon and how it explained two types of marathoners, competers and completers. We agreed that for this race, we were completers. We would both PR no matter what and then could work to improve upon our times in our next marathon. Yes, we were already thinking about the next race during this one!
About the same time, Natallie started to feel a little bit of pain in her feet and knees, likely due to the harder surface of the roads versus the Lakefront Trail that we did most of our runs on. Around Mile 15 she was really starting to feel it and started stopping by the aid stations to get Biofreeze to rub on her legs. My feet and knees were a little sore at this point but not bad at all. In fact, I was ready to increase the pace a little, which is what we planned to do. Natallie wasn't quite feeling that though. We stopped to stretch a few times but that wasn't helping either. Just after Mile 22, Natallie told me to go on ahead of her as she was going to stop in the medical tent. It was weird running without Natallie for the last 4 miles but I honestly felt great. I stopped at the second to last aid station to fill up my handheld water bottle and then I was off again. My last two splits were my fastest of the race!
When I got to the intersection of Michigan and Roosevelt, I almost burst into tears. I kept looking for John and Mom but I didn't find them. (I found out later that John spotted me.) I got goosebumps as I turned onto Roosevelt so I took one last drink from my water bottle and then pushed for the last two tenths of a mile. It was a really awesome feeling to cross that finish line...but a little bittersweet that Natallie wasn't there with me. I finished at 4:38:08 and Natallie finished at 4:54:52.
I walked through the finish area slowly so we could reunite before meeting our families. We got our finisher photos together, just not at the finish line!
My spectator highlights included: Mom at Mile 2 after we made our first (and my only) potty break even though I had to scream and run back to her to get her attention (and she ripped the top left corner of my bib in the process of hugging me), nursing home residents lined up at the window and waving to us somewhere along LaSalle (I think), Natallie's dad and Emil near Mile 8, my former coworker Lynn randomly near Mile 11, John and Mom near Mile 12, Bree and John about Mile 14.5, and Natallie's dad and Emil again near Mile 15. There were spectators lining the course almost everywhere! The only area that really thinned out was between Miles 24 and 25.
I was surprised at how long the race was crowded even though I knew there would be approximately 45,000 runners on the course. I don't think it really thinned out until Mile 24 when many of the people around me were walking. It wasn't too bothersome except in a few places where the course was narrow, either because of the road itself or because spectators were standing on the road too. I'd like to try a smaller marathon in the future to see how much the crowd energy influenced me.
A few of my favorite signs included "LeBron would have cramped by now", "All toenails go to heaven", "Smile if you peed a little", and "I don't know about you but I'm feeling 26.2."
Overall it was a great race with amazing support, plenty of aid stations, and awesome spectators!
Distance: 26.2 miles
Time: 4:38:08
Cost: $185 + minimum of $1500 raised for the National MS Society Finish MS team
Pros: Amazing support, plenty of aid stations, awesome spectators (1.7 million of them!), fun and flat route through 29 Chicago neighborhoods
Cons: Huge race (45,000 runners!), expensive official photos, long port-a-potty lines at the start
Would I run it again?: YES!
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Day 289-291*
Day 289 - I was thankful that our fire drill at work was on Thursday and not earlier in the week so that I was recovered enough from the marathon to walk down 13 flights of stairs without pain! Going down stairs is the absolute worst after long runs.
Day 290 - I was thankful for a little bit of sunshine to start the day. It didn't last long but it was nice while it lasted.
Day 291 - Today I'm thankful for a great day and evening with Geiner and Marcela. It was so nice to see them again even if seeing them makes me miss my Laura even more. Thanks for coming downtown to visit!
Day 290 - I was thankful for a little bit of sunshine to start the day. It didn't last long but it was nice while it lasted.
Day 291 - Today I'm thankful for a great day and evening with Geiner and Marcela. It was so nice to see them again even if seeing them makes me miss my Laura even more. Thanks for coming downtown to visit!
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Day 288
Tonight I'm thankful for all that the Lakeshore East Universal Sole store has done to provide motivation for me to run. Their monthly Pizza in the Park fun runs even got John to start running. I'm very sad they will be closing on November 1st but thankful to have had them in the neighborhood for the past 18 months or so. Thanks, Universal Sole!
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Day 287
Tonight I'm thankful for my warm, dry apartment after a chilly, wet walk home in the rain. Actually, my last three walks from/to work have been in the rain...
Monday, October 13, 2014
Day 286
Today I'm thankful for a wonderful coworker who urged me to come in late to work today. I slept in an extra hour and a half, took my time getting ready, and arrived about 2 hours late (my morning was blocked for admin time anyway since our nurse was there today too). I definitely needed the extra rest...but I'm glad I went to work since it got me up and moving around post-marathon!
Sunday, October 12, 2014
Day 282-285*
Day 282 - I was thankful to have a date night with my husband. We ate dinner at Rudy's, drank tea at Argo, and then saw Amazing Grace. It was a great night!
Day 283 - I was thankful that Mom arrived safely, if quite delayed, after making a wrong turn and getting caught in traffic due to all the marathon street closures.
Day 284 - I was thankful to spend a whole day with my mom.
Day 285 - I am thankful to have finished the Chicago Marathon. Woohoo! (And, I'm thankful Natallie finished in one piece too!)
Day 283 - I was thankful that Mom arrived safely, if quite delayed, after making a wrong turn and getting caught in traffic due to all the marathon street closures.
Day 284 - I was thankful to spend a whole day with my mom.
Day 285 - I am thankful to have finished the Chicago Marathon. Woohoo! (And, I'm thankful Natallie finished in one piece too!)
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Day 281
It's yoga day so today I'm thankful for yoga, of course! Tonight's class was very relaxing in preparation for Sunday's marathon. Woohoo!
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Day 277-280*
Day 277 - I was thankful for a fun day cheering for the Badgers, even though the weather and the game itself were rather awful. Good company makes for good times!
Day 278 - I was thankful for an awesome 7 mile solo run...and a delicious post-run walk through the park and brunch with John, Jamine, Brandon, Natalie, and Taylor!
Day 279 - I was thankful to be able to attend the Medicat Client Conference in Atlanta. I learned so much and met so many new people. I can't wait to apply what I learned when I get the time.
Day 280 - I'm thankful to be back safe and sound at home in Chicago.
I'm also thankful for all the good people in the world. As I was going down one of the escalators in the Atlanta airport, a woman in front of me fell. Luckily, some of the people behind me thought enough to yell up to the top of the escalator for someone to push the emergency stop button. The escalator didn't stop in time for me, the older man in front of me or the middle aged man behind me. But, the older man and I were able to get off the escalator without causing any more harm to the woman, and the man behind me was able to pick her up so she could get back on her feet. She was so thankful for all the help...and so was I!
Day 278 - I was thankful for an awesome 7 mile solo run...and a delicious post-run walk through the park and brunch with John, Jamine, Brandon, Natalie, and Taylor!
Day 279 - I was thankful to be able to attend the Medicat Client Conference in Atlanta. I learned so much and met so many new people. I can't wait to apply what I learned when I get the time.
Day 280 - I'm thankful to be back safe and sound at home in Chicago.
I'm also thankful for all the good people in the world. As I was going down one of the escalators in the Atlanta airport, a woman in front of me fell. Luckily, some of the people behind me thought enough to yell up to the top of the escalator for someone to push the emergency stop button. The escalator didn't stop in time for me, the older man in front of me or the middle aged man behind me. But, the older man and I were able to get off the escalator without causing any more harm to the woman, and the man behind me was able to pick her up so she could get back on her feet. She was so thankful for all the help...and so was I!
Friday, October 3, 2014
Day 276
Today I'm thankful for a great evening with my best friend and her husband. It's so great to have them in town!
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Day 275
Today I'm thankful for another good day at work. Maybe things are finally starting to settle down...maybe!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Day 274
Today I'm thankful for a relatively slow day at work where I actually was able to use my blocked admin time to get things done instead of just staying afloat. Yay!
Tuesday, September 30, 2014
Day 273
Today I'm thankful that my cold has nearly resolved. I felt really bad leaving my coworker alone at work yesterday but it was definitely the best decision for me to stay home.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Day 271-272
Yesterday I was thankful to spend the day with a college friend. It was great to see Lori again and catch up. Plus, she got us outside for a walk that I'm sure we wouldn't have done if she hadn't been here.
Today I'm thankful that I was able to stay home from work to nurse myself back to health after catching the cold John had last week. I think I'll be good to go tomorrow!
Today I'm thankful that I was able to stay home from work to nurse myself back to health after catching the cold John had last week. I think I'll be good to go tomorrow!
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