14 For Naught?

This isn't getting easier! But I'm still going!

Saturday I ran further than I've ever run in one week, let alone a single day. We began our 14 miles around 7:30 AM as usual and finished 3.5 hours later! It was a long morning of running. The first 7 miles I was plagued with pain in my right knee, presumably because of my IT band. And the last 7 miles I was plagued with pain in my left knee, and then pretty much from the waist down, presumably because I was literally pounding the pavement for 3 and a half hours. 

Unfortunately, lack of support from family and friends may end my marathon training. 

I have only 10 days left to raise nearly $2,700, and I'm running out of options. 

I've been pleasantly surprised by the support I've received from people I least expected to donate. At the same time, I've been disappointed by the lack of support I've received from people I really expected to donate. 

Let me clarify the situation. 

• I am training to run a marathon. 26.2 miles. A distance that takes most people 30-60 minutes to drive. 
  
• Training without a team decreases my chances of successful completion 10-fold. 
• If I do not raise $3,500 I will not be allowed to continue training with the AIDS Foundation Training Program.
• Funding for HIV/AIDS services are being reduced at an alarming rate as States struggle to balance their budgets this year, making donations to organizations like the AIDS Foundation more important than ever!

I've set a goal for myself. I'm training as hard as I can for my health, while raising money for the AIDS Foundation. And I'm asking for your support. If you believe in what I am doing, then please let me know by making a donation. No donation will go unnoticed, or unappreciated. 

Follow this link to donate:

 http://afc.aidschicago.org/netcommunity/gabbiruns

Don't let my hardwork and training be for naught...

Feed Me!

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's still true. I need to eat properly! Not paying attention to my nutrition while training is definitely starting to affect my ability to run longer distances and recover. 

Ideally, I will wake up early enough on the morning of the long runs to eat a bowl of cereal, a couple of hard-boiled eggs and drink a glass of OJ before getting dressed. On the way to the run site, I can then eat a banana. I've been good about... getting up in the morning. 

Before our 10 mile run, I only had a banana. Before our 12 mile run, I undercooked the eggs. This past week, we only ran 6 miles. The eggs were perfect, I didn't have any OJ and I forgot to grab a granola bar on the way out the door. All of this adds up to me not having enough fuel for my muscles and I completely run out of energy EARLY. 

So the past 3 weeks I've been completely relying on energy supplements (chewables) to get me through. And, I'm learning a few things about them along the way. First of all, ShotBlocks are so big that I have a hard time eating one, let alone the recommended three per 45 minutes. Also, when it's pouring rain, the last thing I want to do is fumble around and try to find a ShotBlock to eat. 

I've found the moon shaped blocks to be a tad bit smaller and therefore easier to consume. Although I really enjoy the Jelly Belly Sports Beans, they recommend you eat an entire package every 45 minutes. That's a lot. So, I'll head to the running store again today and sort through the options. The one thing I haven't tried is the gels, and I'm not sure I'm ready to make that leap quite yet. 

As I write this, my stomach is grumbling in competition with the thunder outside because it's well past lunchtime. But, I swear I am trying to eat better during the week as well.

14 miles, here I come! 

**Thanks for reading my blog. Please take the time TODAY to support my fundraising efforts by following the link in the upper right hand corner of the page. 

Drip drip drop

Rain. Rain. Rain. Interspersed with short periods of sunshine. Followed by rain. That pretty much sums up the weather in Chicago over the past couple weeks. 

Last Tuesday was a short period of sunshine so I decided to go for a run with a couple of friends. I was a little weary when they suggested 45 minutes instead of the 30 that I've been running during the week. But I agreed. As we ran I realized a couple things about marathon training. Around 2.5 miles (3o min) I was ready to hurl. *Don't run after overstuffing yourself for dinner. I was tired at this point, but we kept going. We ran up one street and down another. Along busy streets and then down a nice quiet tree-lined street. BAM! I fell flat on my face. *When you're body is still exhausted from the long run, don't push it. And pick up your feet when you're running on the sidewalk. It's not quite as smooth and forgiving as the lakefront path. About an hour and 4.25 miles later we finished. Too long for a weekday run.

Thursday was another day marked by cold, wind and rain. I really wished I had some sort of rain jacket for running. Not to stay dry as much as to stay warm. Either way, I still had to run and running in the rain is actually somewhat meditative. Or so I thought. 

All of this was in preparation for our longest run yet. 12 miles. When we started, it was a little cool with a light breeze. A good day for running. Our course was 3 miles north to the Buckingham Fountain then 6 miles south and 3 miles north again to the start point. It was an easy first 6 miles. At the halfway point we all stopped for a potty break before continuing on south. That's when it began. The rain. At first it was a cool steady rain, but it didn't stop. It just got colder and heavier. As we got closer to the lake the winds picked up and it was miserable. Running in the rain is not always somewhat meditative!

After a nice hot shower at home, brunch and a nap, I awoke to that short period of sunshine. I got dressed, grabbed a beer and walked down the street to enjoy a fantastic evening at the Midsommerfest. 

Now it's time to put on the running clothes and start all over again. 

Going Bananas

10 miles was not easy. When I ran 7 miles through Lincoln Park alone, I knew I could run 26.2 around scenic Maui. When I ran 8 miles for almost 2 hours, I knew I could run a marathon for 6 hours. Every few minutes of this 10 mile run, I questioned whether I would finish the run with the pace group. Two hours and fifteen minutes later, I questioned whether I could finish two and a half times the distance. 

Needless to say, I'm dreading the 12 miles coming up this next weekend. But I'm willing to attribute my struggles this past Saturday to barely running last week because of a bad cold. Now I'm feeling much better and I guarantee I'll do both of my maintenance runs if it kills me. Hopefully it won't. 

I can probably also blame my run on a lack of breakfast. I keep forgetting to calculate breakfast into my wake-up time. Once again, I grabbed only a banana and ran out the door. 

Sidebar: It's taken me a concerted effort to learn to eat bananas without gagging. I don't mind the taste, but I hate the texture. To overcome this problem, there was a period of time when I would buy one banana a month and force myself to eat it. Now I can eat them more often as long as the outside is still slightly green and there are no bruises (somewhere between 4 and 5 on the chart.)

Of course this would be the day that my mind decided half way through the banana that it didn't like the texture and I started gagging. As a result, I started my run with half a banana in my belly. Damn the banana!

Movement

After the 8 mile run this past weekend, I finally moved! This is why it's been a while between blogs. I've spent the past couple weeks packing. Below you'll find both the 7 mile and 8 mile run blogs. Enjoy!

Piecing it all together

Last week, I was busy packing in preparation for my move and only managed to run once during the week. This left me feeling very nervous about the upcoming 8 mile run. It turned out the nerves were for nothing, because it was a rather uneventful run. 

I think I mentioned before that my entire group (14 min) defected to other groups. I migrated to the 13:30 group and everyone else joined the 14:30 group. Now seems like a good time to introduce my pace group - Ryan Hall. I like to think of us as one happy patchwork quilt - connected by a common goal.

Amanda - pace group leader, and my close friend. She leads the pack, sets the pace and keeps track of our run:walk intervals. Raising her hand, she gives us the final 5 second count of each interval. Choosing not to do this, once, led to an overwhelming uproar among the group. This past run, she also provided energy bean/block samples for the group. 

"Speedy" - veteran H.S. sprinter. She likes to get in a comfortable stride with Amanda at the front of the group and then they're off! Thankfully, she wears a florescent pink jacket that can be seen a mile away, so we always know where to find her. 

"Cheeks" - runs with Cameron during the week, (4-6 miles x 3 times!) She's also a proud mother of a 13 yr old boy and can be identified by her prominent cheeks. 

"Legs" - the lone male of our group. He's all legs. Running along side him, I literally take 2 steps for every one of his. Unfortunately, knee pain has been slowing him down. 

"Dreads" - she's still running in long baggy lightweight cargo pants... and possibly Birkenstocks. She was the first to take the plunge into cutting off the sleeves of the AIDS Marathon training shirt. Unfortunately, she's also being plagued by knee pain. 

Neesha - proud mother of a 3 yr old boy, she doesn't talk much, but appears to effortlessly keep plodding along. 

Kathy - our oldest pace group member. She's in her 50s and works for the Lutheran Church. We spent a lot of time talking this past week about a book I'm reading, and landscape architecture.

Me - the designated driver. I keep track of our time for each mile and make sure we stay at a conversational pace by keeping the conversation going... because I have the Gift of Gab. I also make sure nobody gets lost at the back of the pack and yell when our fearless leader gets going just a little too fast. 

So far, we've kept our group together on every run. Sometimes we run a little slower than pace, but most importantly we're covering the distance. And finishing as a unit. 

To Market. To Market

Missing a group run is not something I'd like to make a habit. But Saturday, I had a few perceived obstacles. First, our run site was changed to the North side. I thought this was because Bike the Drive was that day. In turn, I told my running partner, Amanda, that Lakeshore Drive would be closed that morning for the event and it would be difficult for her to make it to the run site. So, when my alarm went off at 6 am, and I knew Amanda wasn't on her way to meet me for the run, I promptly rolled over and went back to sleep. 

A short while later, I decided to check USATF and figure out what a 7 mile loop through Lincoln Park would entail. It was then that I remembered the Green City Market was open! "Maybe I won't run at all today," I thought, "Maybe I'll just walk down to the market instead!" 

"But no," I thought, "I need to run at least 30/45 minutes this morning so I'm don't lose progress." And that's when the answer came to me. I would run south for 30/45 minutes and then walk the rest of the way to the Green City Market, shop a little, then walk home. 

After a few relapses back into bed I finally made it out the door and began my run. 

Usually, I turn around after 15 minutes to complete a 30 minute loop, but this time I kept running. Past the harbor, past the blue wave playground, under Lakeshore drive and past the driving range. There were so many people out running along the path, and I kept running past places I have been, but along a path I'd never travelled. 

48 minutes later, I arrived at the Green City Market, ready for an energy boost. I was immediately energized by the people and activities going on around me... and a sample of maple syrup. Making my way through the patchouli soaked strollers, I tasted my way around the market. however, it wasn't long before I decided it was time to run home. 

And I did. I couldn't hide my smile as I approached Belmont Harbor, knowing that I was close to completing a 7 mile run. Alone. Under my own power and will. An accomplishment that 2 hours earlier I didn't think was possible.

7 miles in 96 minutes, with the knowledge that I can run the Maui Marathon. What an amazing Spring day in Chicago!