15 Miles: August 8th. Woke up to gray, overcast skies and a “breaking news” story on the Chicago Tribune that someone was shot and killed in Marquette Park overnight. There’s nothing like a killing in the park that you train in to cause you to think twice about heading out the door for your long run. After reading the full article, I come to find out that the tragic incident occurred east of the park. I head out the door right before 6:00 a.m. and tell Darrin that I may call and have him come pick me up if it starts raining hard. The first 2 ½ miles are fine – just a few light sprinkles; but, by my second lap, the sky gets darker and the rain begins to really fall. Should I stay or should I go? I decide to stick it out. The rain stuck around for about an hour and then it tapered off. The worst part was just being wet.
16 Miles: August 15th. When I left the house at 6:45 a.m., it was already 78 degrees and quite humid. It was one of the hottest days that we’ve had this Summer and I was kicking myself for not leaving sooner. My leg turnover was slow. I must’ve drank about 60 oz. of water and electrolytes in the first half of my run. Sometimes I swear I can feel salt coming out of my pores (sorry, I know that sounds weird and gross, but when you’re blowing through 2,000 plus calories on a run, you begin to notice bazaar things with your body). It’s like I wanted to run faster, but I just couldn’t. The heat just knocked me out and it wasn’t just me. A lot of my friends who are training for the Chicago Marathon also had similar issues with their long runs on this day. The best thing about this run was that I finally wore this Adidas running visor that I picked up months ago at an outlet store up in Wisconsin. This visor not only blocked out the sun, but it did a great job at soaking up the sweat and keeping the sun off my face. Celebration dinner later that night at Wildfire with Darrin to mark out 17th wedding anniversary.
12 Miles: August 22nd: This run seems like a walk in the park now. Although I stayed up too late the night before adding new music to my iPod, the loss of precious hours of sleep was worth it because the new tunes helped liven up this run. I still enjoy seeing my Saturday morning park friends who are doing their exercise thing each week. I wore my Team World Vision marathon t-shirt so that everyone can see what I’m training for. On the back it says, “26.2 for Africa.”
18 Miles: August 29th. My longest run ever. Remember that part of the movie in Forrest Gump when Tom Hanks is running all across America to the Jackson Browne song, “Running on Empty”? Well, that crossed my mind during this run (and the song is on my iPod, too). I now know that I need a new pair of running shoes because these New Balance have reached their limit. It was pretty cool out for August and the wind was fairly strong. I was able to see members of the Chicago Fire Soccer team who were at Marquette Park putting on a soccer clinic for the kids, which was cool. It’s always encouraging to see kids involved in sports. When I crossed over Kedzie, the passenger in a car going by looked at me and made the sign of the Cross (I wasn’t sure what to make of that). I still visualize race day and how it will pl
ay out. I do believe that I can finish the marathon in under six hours. My legs were incredibly sore for the rest of the day, but since this week is the two-year anniversary of my knee surgery, I’m quite happy to be where I’m at with my running … that I’m even running at all.
12 Miles: August 22nd: This run seems like a walk in the park now. Although I stayed up too late the night before adding new music to my iPod, the loss of precious hours of sleep was worth it because the new tunes helped liven up this run. I still enjoy seeing my Saturday morning park friends who are doing their exercise thing each week. I wore my Team World Vision marathon t-shirt so that everyone can see what I’m training for. On the back it says, “26.2 for Africa.”
18 Miles: August 29th. My longest run ever. Remember that part of the movie in Forrest Gump when Tom Hanks is running all across America to the Jackson Browne song, “Running on Empty”? Well, that crossed my mind during this run (and the song is on my iPod, too). I now know that I need a new pair of running shoes because these New Balance have reached their limit. It was pretty cool out for August and the wind was fairly strong. I was able to see members of the Chicago Fire Soccer team who were at Marquette Park putting on a soccer clinic for the kids, which was cool. It’s always encouraging to see kids involved in sports. When I crossed over Kedzie, the passenger in a car going by looked at me and made the sign of the Cross (I wasn’t sure what to make of that). I still visualize race day and how it will pl
ay out. I do believe that I can finish the marathon in under six hours. My legs were incredibly sore for the rest of the day, but since this week is the two-year anniversary of my knee surgery, I’m quite happy to be where I’m at with my running … that I’m even running at all. * Message I received on a fortune cookie in August.
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