Chicago 2.0

Five years ago, I ran my first marathon. Today, I run my second in the same city where all this madness began, along with a few more friends this time.
I haven't trained as hard as I should have.
But I'm here to complete it and I will.

Good luck P. Family, W., Yumke, and thanks to our entire support crew.

See you at the finish line.

Time to reform the habit

I got a kick out of reading Yumke's latest blog post, and while I don't pretend to be as diligent a runner as he, I too have been struggling to get even the smallest run in consistently. But it is time to "reform the habit." Am I talking about running, or blogging?

I think I've done alright with the weekend running, ranging from 5K to 10K (one was the Sporting Life 10K earlier this month, the other was one week before the race) since signing up for the Chicago. It's the midweek that has been hard to fit in, which has to change soon. Still, I'm not entirely worried... have always penciled in June as the start of the real-deal training. But the goal is to have a good base to begin with, be reasonably fit for when June hits... in a few days. Took another step closer to that target with 11.5K (double-digit Ks!) finished with fellow Chicago-bound friend, let's call her BCT. Took a scenic route with hills, muddy trails, a cemetery, and a really tony neighbourhood. Only downside was we started late. Gonna have to start getting up earlier on the weekends to avoid the heat.

Baby steps

A busy week but managed to run three times (Sunday 5.1 with friends, Tuesday solo 4.7, Saturday 6.2 with W.) for a total distance of 16K. Not much, considering that will be a single day's run in the not too distant future, but I'm claiming a mini victory. Right now I'm just going to work on running regularly, having been too sedentary for far too long and not surprisingly gaining a few unwanted pounds, before I embark on a real marathon training program. I am considering redoing the same 18-week novice schedule laid out by Hal Higdon that I completed five years ago, with a start date in June. Or maybe go up a level in his program. Or try someone else's training schedule. Or make it up...
203 days to go...  the hotel is booked though, thanks to Fleet's organizational skills. Now to keep an eye out for airfare sales. The excitement builds!

Act now -- less than 5,000 entries available

Fleet-footed Frankie sent me a friendly email today saying that there are "less than 5000 entries available" for this year's Bank of America Chicago marathon. No additional words of encouragement to sign up, the subject line spoke for itself as a forwarded newsletter from the Chicago organizers. So I signed up; if I were to be honest, I was probably eventually going to register but wow, look at that,  30,000 others have already done so in less than two months? No harm to sign up, except that it'll cost me US$170 (thankfully, the Canadian dollar is at more than 3 year highs today. Where will it be in October? Hello, cross-border shopping on the MagMile). Training will seriously start after the snow goes away. Maybe I'll sign up for the Sporting Life 10K next to get me on track for the spring. 

If life events take over that prevent me from going to Chicago, that's cool, but I can at least give myself the option before registration fills up. I think I would have regretted it terribly if I was shut out of the option at least to participate in the five-year anniversary run with Frankie and Yumke through the beautiful city of Chicago. Also W, my BFF is going, and a bunch of Frankie's siblings.  It's going to be a great time. For now, Deep Dish Pizza: you and I have a date on Oct. 9. 

Return

Maybe it's time to revive this blog, just as I've revived running outside. I took my very clean (ie, little used) running shoes out for a 3-mile run today on the slushy sidewalks of this city. It also got me thinking about what my last blog entry was... and they were thoughts before the Around the Bay Race.... of  2010 (almost a year ago!). No follow-up entry. Short version: the race, as I recall, was a lot of fun and I achieved my goal to complete. Given that I hadn't trained that well for it, I still remember being in pretty good spirits the whole way through, even with the wet snow in the last couple of Ks, even with some guy dressed as the Grim Reaper taunting me, and even if my better trained friends had to wait more than an hour for me to cross the finish line. 

Over the last year, I haven't run very much except for a semi-consistent stretch in the summer when I was away for a few weeks on assignment. Alone in the city, running was something to do and nice way to see some neighbourhoods. Back at home, it's something to do as well but typically overtaken by no will. I even quit the gym that used to be such a regular part of the routine. 

So what's the inspiration to come back from the dead? Two friends are returning to Chicago this fall to run the marathon that the three of us each did as our first-ever marathon five years ago. The idea has some merit, although the US$170 entrance fee is quite the steep commitment. When I ran this marathon I was coming off a hacking cough and it definitely affected my performance. I've always wondered what I could do if I was healthy, having just stuck mainly to a handful of half-marathons and lesser-mileage races since. A couple of other friends have signed up for the race in the Windy City.... does peer pressure win?