Run #48 Windy City running
Date/Time: April 16th, sometime after 1:30pm
Place: all over the city, 70˚
Mileage: 20
Time It Took: 4:31:03
Pace: 13:33
Miles this week: 20
Miles this month: 60.39
2008 Goal: 298.95/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Where do I begin with this saga of a run? (I suppose at the very beginning.) First of all, as you may recall I took a half day off from work to do this run—cool boss, eh? Yeah, well I really needed to finish something, so instead of leaving between 12 and 12:30, I left closer to 1pm. At this point, I realized that driving to the lakefront was out of the question, b/c driving back to get the girls from daycare would take too long and I’d be late. So I parked my car at the daycare and decided to run the 3.4 miles from there along Roosevelt Rd to the lakefront and roll with it. So that’s what I did.
The first part of the run was fine. I was enjoying finally being able to run in short sleeves, and dare I say that I was a little hot? See, to me, perfect running weather lies somewhere between 50-60˚. But anyway, I’m not complaining-I’m just explaining why I ran out of Gatorade by mile 10. Yeah. But this weather would have been cool instead of the 88˚ we got at the marathon last year.
So I get to the lakefront and decide to run north. As I turn on to the lakefront, the wind that seemed to be a little bit existent finally introduced itself to me. But it wasn’t too bad. The run north wasn’t all that eventful, just a little warm and I kept hitting the Gatorade and took my Gu every 4 miles. When I hit my turnaround at 10 miles, somewhere near Irving Park Road, I realized I had used up all my Gatorade. That’s not good! My watch read 2:07 at this point, so I was already 7 minutes slower than pace.
At this point, mentally, I started to lose my edge. At this point when I turn around, the wind really started whipping around. The fine sandy gravel of the path was blowing everywhere, so much so that up ahead, the air was all gray and sooty. As I approached St. Joseph’s Hospital, which sits right off of the path, I thought, “Hey, hospitals have cafeterias!” So I turned the Garmin off as I went inside in search of Gatorade. WHAT?! No Gatorade?! Well I guess it’s not that improbable. So I made due with some water, some Tropicana lemonade, some pretzels (salt replacement), and doggonit that apple looked good. Somehow it only cost $3 which is a bit surprising for a hospital, isn’t it? I mixed the water and lemonade for some homemade Gatorade, at half the apple and went on my way. Regardless of my trying to “replace salt”, I could feel the crispiness of salt residue all over my face.
Somewhere around here I saw this chic running with a HUGE chest. Now not that I go around looking, but it was noticeable. It made me think of a friend who wants to start running, but fears she won’t be able to find a sports bra. I mean, she already pays like $80 a pop for a regular bra! (Did you know they make size F and G bras?) Anyway, I figured there was absolutely no appropriate way to ask this chic where on earth she got a sports bra that size, so I didn’t ask. But I wanted to, I tried to look around online for her and with a few stores, but no luck. Maybe I should have thrown “caution to the wind-hahaha” and asked. If it were me, I would have my finger on the pepper spray trigger with a question like that.
So I’m running, and putting in some walking breaks at this point. I feel a blister coming on, too. Run, run run, wind wind wind. At 14 miles I hit the “concrete monster” that lies just north of Oak Street Beach, and y’know what? It’s not that bad during the afternoon, b/c the sun is behind all the buildings from downtown. It was actually A RELIEF. (this is a note for my fellow runners who hated this area as much as I did on our early morning runs where the rising sun would beat us into submission along this stretch of the path.) But the wind! Oh the wind, it was getting bad. When I turned to hit the area near Navy Pier, just before going under that stretch of Wacker Drive, I swear it was like a wind tunnel. My foot that was up in the air would blow and hit my leg, almost tripping myself. At one point I stopped at an intersection and held on to the light post!
So I come out from the bridge and the wind is even worse. Oh if I could only get downtown and turn back west, I won’t have to run into the wind anymore. At this point, I feel like if I continue to run, I’m going to burn every last little bit of energy and won’t be able to make the last few miles at all. So I walked. And cursed the wind every step of the way, literally. It was even hard to walk with that wind! I was so mad I felt like crying. I know to all those who passed me on Lakeshore Drive (in this area, the path is right next to the street), I must have looked crazy. I also realized that with all this stopping, I wasn’t going to make it to the daycare by 6pm to get the girls on time. Not good. So I called one of the teachers that I know from church, asked her to keep the girls for me, and since she’s a fan of my cookies, promised her some cookies by Sunday. Hey, cheaper than the $2 per minute late fee!!!
So I get downtown, stop at Walgreen’s (and stop the watch) to buy more Gatorade (thank God for debit cards!) b/c of course I was out of my makeshift ‘ade. I’m heading west now, and how the heck is it that I’m STILL running into the wind?!??! ARGH!
So I finally made it. On this last stretch I caught a glimpse of myself in a window reflection, and it wasn’t a pretty site. I looked tired. I looked like I was barely moving (you call that running?) I had salt streaks all down my face, and salt had dried in my hair (probably from the wind) and it looked like a powdered wig. I even had dried up salt on the tips of my eyelashes.
I’m pretty disappointed with that time, especially since it was even 3 minutes slower than my 20-miler last year. Oh well. Maybe it would have been different without fighting the wind. But I did cover the distance. I’ve done all I can do now. It’s “taper time” up to the marathon now. I hope it won’t be windy. But I already know….I can’t control the weather on marathon day.
PROLOGUE: I hit the Gatorade, rest of my pretzels and water pretty hard, so as to avoid the horrible cramping I had after my 20-miler last year. Success! I mean, I’m sore as all get out, but fine. I also tried to watch the weather to see what those wind gusts may have been up to, but I fell asleep during the commercial break right before the weather.
It's after 4am...I'd better go back to sleep, I woke up and since I couldn't go back to sleep, I figured...LET'S BLOG!
The longest distance I ever ran was 5 miles and I had to really push myself to get throught it. It was a 8k and althougth we started out together her pace was a little faster than mine so I found myself slightly behind the rest of the race. I couldn't even imagine running a full 20 miles alone. My running group will be participating in the Country Music Marathon in Nashville this week. Some are running the half and a couple are running the full. I just envision myself running again b/c I know I need the mental preparation right now. Good for you for finishing with things "trying" to work against you. You were the little engine that could girlie!!!