Ok, Time to Start Freaking....

I told myself I wasn't going to do this, I wasn't going to hit refresh on weather.com every other minute because the weather will be what it will be and there isn't anything you can do about it. Ok. so I peeked. Leave me alone. Could it be more opposite from last year :

So if the weather all moves back a day, we are good, if it moves up a day....85 degrees and thunderstorms....uh...that's horrible! Race day weather looks way too warm. Paces all go up a little when the weather is warm....and 78 degrees is not just a "little" warm.

Sigh. Well we have a week to go so it's still early to look at the temps. Hopefully we'll have Monday's weather!

GO CUBS GO!!!!

AND THUS..........

THE CUBS HAVE WON THE NL CENTRAL!!!!!!!

YAYA!!!!!

27th Mile

Calling all Chicago marathon runners or spectators. If you haven't responded to the lovely Jayhawk's evite OR put your name in her comments, then keep reading.

Come out and celebrate the end of the marathon with your fellow RBFers! Here's the details :

What? The 27th Mile Celebration...RBF Meet Up...Post-Race Celebration
When? Sunday. 10/7 at 6:30
Where? Garrett Ripley
Why? Do you really need a reason to come out and drink...I don't think so. Come out and share your marathon stories!

If you are interested in coming out, leave a message in the comments (again if you haven't responded to the evite or already let Barb know)! Of course thanks to the lovely Jayhawk for getting this set up again this year. She's a rockstar.

The Last Run

Well hard run anyways.

As I mentioned yesterday we had our last tough run of the training series last night. V02 Max 8miles with 3x1600m. Last year our times for the repeats were 7:10, 7:20 and 7:18. This year I looked up what a 5K pace should be for a 3:35 marathon and 7:06 was the big number. We ran down to the track and then started repeating ..... and we did them in 6:57, 7:03 & 6:55. So we saw a nice big improvement from last night. I think this is my favorite workout of the series.

The Dad picked us up from the track and we headed home to a disappointing Cubs game...but (and I can't believe I am going to say this...) a great Cardinals game...go you red birds!

Alright, meeting time and work to do.

Tapering

The good thing about the taper this year is that we are so busy with work and other stuff that it hasn't really hit yet that the marathon is next weekend.

Tonight is the last tough workout of the training series with a V02 Max workout. It's 8 miles with 3x1600m at 5K pace. Shouldn't be a big deal.

Life so far at 28 is feeling good. I had a great birthday dinner on Monday night at Wildfire (my favorite Chicago restaurant).

Alright, that's all from here.....lots of work.....bleh

Wiiiiiiiing!!!!!

Well I might be a little late in the techno-geek world....but whatever. Videos of people wiiiing are always funny!!! Enjoy the video below of these nerds boxing! (I am using the new blogger video thing so hopefully this will work)

I'M NOT THAT OLD

JASON GOT ME A WIIIIIIIII FOR MY BIRTHDAY12!@!1!

WIIIIIIIIIII!!!

Rationality...LOVE IT

Closer to 30

Today is my birthday and I turn 28....you know that's the age where you are closer to 30 than you are to 25. It's going to be a good year though. Last year was rough because I felt like I had gone nowhere with my career or life or anything. This year things are progressing nicely with my analysis being closer to done and Jason having a job and us being able to move this little family right along.

So yes. It's my birthday. Twenty. Eight. (The people that are 28 when you are in college sound like they are sooooooo old....oh well.)

Alright. My birthday brings a lot of work though, so I best get on it.

You have GOT to be kidding me!!!!

The Cubbies are looking like they are going to the playoffs.

Jason, my Dad, my stepmpm and I got tickets online for the NLDS home game 1.....standing room only....but whatever it's a ticket into the ballpark.

The Cubs won again today...the Brewers lost again (sorry Bob!) and so we are up 3.5 games. Looking good...when is that game going to be that we have ticekts to?

How about....FUCKING OCTOBER 6TH. Are you kidding me. ARE YOU FREAKIN' KIDDING ME!?!?! Not only am I not going to the game, but I'll probably be in bed before the game ends to get enough sleep before the race the next morning. I have never been to a playoff game. In 2003 we were in Bloomington.

THEN if they win the first series...and go to the National League championship....the games start on the 11th and end on the 21st or something. The four of us leave Chicago on the 11th for Bloomington and his thesis defense...so we'll be there for the start.....THEN on the 13th Jason and I go to Germany....So we'll miss ALL the Chicago games in Chicago....damn. But.....we'll be here for the World Series if needed :-)

Oh and we ran today. 16 miles...felt "eh". Went too late and it was warm out and the Fleet Feet Gatorade stands were alread down. You know what's gross...The Accelerade gu.....it's all we had in the house and I choked most of it down but YUCK. Alright. Well that's it.

Go you Cubbies!!!!!

You see, Leah would never make this mistake

So, I was all set to run after work. I had it all planned out. I would come home around 6, say hi to my father-in-law, then go out to run. I totally had it all planned out.

But then I beat him home, so the agreed upon plan was to meet at the bar around the corner. Fine. I went to the bar, ordered a beer. As the beer ended and I ordered another, I realized what beer doesn't go well with. Running. It took me a beer to remember that I had to run. You see, Leah has to always be around to be my personal trainer. I can't be trusted.

Oh well. Instead of running I had two martinis. It all works.

87

I thought we were done with the shitty hot weather? Of course it gets all heated up again when it's time for Jason and I to V02 Max. On the way home I saw a temperature on a bank sign of 87 degrees. Awesome.

The run went fine actually. I think we both started to get affected by just how tired we were from our 4 hours of sleep the night before. But all the same 5x600m :

1. 2:33
2. 2:32
3. 2:38
4. 2:37
5. 2:34

So probably started off a bit too fast...but whatever, it's done. We ran back to Noble and Chicago where my dad was waiting to pick us up. Jason and I owe my Dad and stepmom and big thank you. They are staying with us while they are in town and have been able to help us with workouts, (meeting us at the end with Gatorades and driving us home) and Sue has made us dinner most nights which is nice. With all the stuff that has been happening with Jason finishing his thesis and starting a new job and me finishing my analysis and trying to make it through the last few weeks of marathon training, it's been great having the extra support. So thanks you guys.

Speaking of my analysis, it has been handed into the group. Very exciting.

Tonight it's a 5 mile recovery...Friday it's a 4 mile recovery....where the hell is my weekly 11 miler? Gone Gone Gone.

Busy weekend ahead with dinner in Chinatown on Thursday, a girls only family sleepover on Friday, a Cubs game on Saturday (don't even want to talk about last night)....then Monday is my birthday. I'll be 28. What. That's closer to 30 than to 25. Boo. But we are going to go out to dinner at Wildfire which will make the extra year totally worth it.

Jason is really liking his job so far. He said that the guys he work with are all really nice and funny. He's learning a ton and quickly as he already has deadlines and todo lists. So good for him on that.

Like Dawn...What Should I not do....

Oh have a cup of coffee at about 9pm.

Then I'm twiddling my thumbs, watching a movie, opening new circuits on Mario Kart....and then it's 1:30am....still looking at the clock and double checking that yes in fact the alarm is set for 6am.

I am turning in my analysis to the group today and I'm all nervous about it.

No running yesterday and such a light week this week. Today being the toughest at 8miles with 5x600m, but we are pros at this workout so shouldn't be a problem.

Getting. Antsy. About. Race. Day.

Good post huh? Alright, that's all from here. Keep on enjoying the taper everyone.

What's Up Bitches?!?!

22 MILES that's what!

Yesterday morning Jason and I headed out for the last long training run before the taper starts. Since the Fleet Feet people were going to be out there for a their "Ready to Run" run we decided to go as early as possible so we wouldn't have to deal with them too much.

This ended up being a great plan. We got down to the lakefront path at about 6:10am and after about a mile we were treated to a beautiful sunrise over city.

I have to make this short because I have a ton of work to do today, but in short, the last many miles were fast (less than 8:30). Our last mile was in 7:29 and we finished this run in 3:11:39. I went and checked the archives of this blog and found that we had done this run in 3:25 last year. So about 15 minutes faster which is super nice to see. I'm feeling way confident about the marathon now and looking forward to tapering.

Ok now I must get my physics on.

After a Long Night & Early Morning

The boy turned in his thesis to his committee.

I don't know what else to say except that I'm so proud of him! I can't believe it's just about done. In one month from today he will defend the thesis in Bloomington. So not quite done yet as he still has to write a defense talk and then will have more corrections from his committee after the defense. But getting in the 180+ page paper in, is a huge milestone.

No running yesterday.

Today it's a 10miler. Hopefully Jason does end up sleeping while he's running.

Tomorrow it's Notre Dame vs. Michigan....hmm....a big game as always, but fun as both teams are sucky sucky so let's see who goes to 0-3.

Sunday is a 22 mile long run and I must say that I am a bit irritated at Fleet Feet. They are hosting their "Ready to Run" run or whatever (which by the way if you aren't a CARA member AND signed up for their marathon training plan this event is $45 bucks!) They are using the whole fucking lakefront path with 3000+ people participating in the run. What about all the people that aren't part of the magic "I'm loaded so can pay to run with people" that still have a run to do on this day. AND what about their usual Gatorade stands? Now that people have paid for the event are those going to be gone? I'm guessing the official ones for the race are only going be for people with numbers or whatever.

Anyways, I'm sure we'll be fine as they said that the would be separated into groups of 50 people or so, but I'm just annoyed that they feel then need to use the whole path. Not everyone racing on October 7th is signed up for this run and so we'll get pushed around a bit I am thinking. I'm not exactly thrilled about running 9 miles "upstream" dodging people all the way (The plan is to run from the house to the lake front path, then south for 9 miles and then back north for 9 miles. The fleet feet run starts at 7 on the north side and runs to the south end, so I'm thinking I'll get caught up in some traffic on the return part).

So we'll see how that goes.

Ohhhhh SWEEET

Yesterday we had another V02 Max workout. I would have to say of the tough workouts V02 Max workouts are my favorites. They are tough, but unlike LT workouts they end. (I hate LT runs)

So on the calendar was 4x1200m @ 5K pace. I did some running math and a 3:30 marathon had us projected to do 1200m at 5:12 and 3:40 at 5:26. I just checked on the McMillian calculator actually and for a 3:35 1200m should be between 5:11 and 5:26...go figure that I'm doing the math correctly.

The workout also calls for 2 minutes between each repeat which we just about did, but rather took 400m jogging inbetween, this ended up at about 2:30 instead of 2 minutes, but I do like the one lap recovery.

So what were the repeats?...take this :

1. 5:02.26
2. 5:11.83
3. 5:12.67
4. 5:07.18

YAY!

Actually we felt pretty good on each repeat and weren't to labored on any of them. I'm not saying I was thrilled on that last 200m.....but you know what I'm saying.

Anyways.

In work news, I gave an update to my analysis today at the lab and it's looking good to getting approved for the conference I am going to, in fact I might get my own talk now instead of having to talk about two separate analysis. In Jason's work news it's going well so far. Tonight is an off day from running which is good as he'll put the final touches on the ole' thesis.

Weather in Chicago

I love this town for several reason, today displaying one of my favorites...

It's been sticky and hot and stickier and hotter and swealtering and steaming and horrible in Chicago I would say the past month or so. I woke up this morning and my little weather widget came on with a '48' degrees outside. WHAT. You mean not 90? Wait..that means it probably won't get up to 90...and I was right. I walked down to a local coffee shop to get out of my apartment for a little bit (working at home is good..but you don't see anyone else especially now that the boy is all mr.ihaveadowntownjobandimreallyfancy and not home). And I walked in jeans and long sleeve shirt type thing....and was still a little chilly.

IT"S HERE!!!! FALL IS HERE!!!

Now, I just want to hold on to this weather for a little under 4 weeks and have a perfect race day.

Yesterday we did a 5 mile run with 6 strides thrown in during the last mile. Tonight we have a V02 Max workout 10 miles with 4x1200m@5K pace. I'm a little worried about it...but it shouldn't be too bad. I think that the longer the repeat the easier it is...not easy....but you get time to get your stride and your pace under control.

Alright, that's all from here. Time to walk back to my apartment.

She Likes When I Work From Home.....

Cause she has a warm place to sit......spoiled kitty.

17 Miles

On Sunday Jason and I got through a 17 mile long run.

I wish I had more interesting things to say about the run. We ended up averaging 8:55 min/mile. With about 5 miles to go I got a little cranky, but kept putting one foot in front of the other and the run came to an end like it always does.

We did the last mile at marathon race pace coming in at 8:10.

Alrighty. That's about all that's happening here. Jason is having fun at the new job and he already has a project and a deadline.

It's chilly in Chicago these days which is a nice change from the heat and humidity that the end of summer brought. Ok. Fascinating post I know.

No more Fermi

Well, Friday marked my last day at Fermilab (other than the day I go in to clean out the office and, probably, the nerd Halloween party). To mark the occasion, we did one last run around the accelerator ring. For those of you who aren't familiar, Fermilab sports the world's most powerful particle collider, smashing together protons and antiprotons, creating energies not seen since minutes after the Big Bang. For these reasons, we've always though it kind of cool that we were able to run with the protons.

But, probably not anymore. I'm starting my new job tomorrow downtown, leaving the physics world for the finance/banking world. It's exciting stuff, to be sure, but sad all the same. Physics has been a part of my life for parts of the last ten years and it has defined the way I think. But more importantly, I've worked side-by-side with Leah for parts of the last eight years, and pretty intensely for the last five. We've struggled through grad school together and made it out to the other side and it's been everything...everything from fun to frustrating, challenging to elating. I would never trade in the last five years with Leah for anything. Everyone's always been shocked that we work together and live together, but to me it seems the most natural thing in the world. She's my best friend, why wouldn't I want to work with her?

So, yes, I'm going to miss that. But it'll be an exciting new world as well. We'll actually get to miss each other and then share our day with each other, which'll be a nice treat. Plus, we won't be everyone's broke-ass friends who have to duck out of any commitment that costs more than about 10 bucks. That'll be quite nice. So, in summary, it's sad to have to move on, but it'll be good in the end, especially since it eventually means condos and kids and all that.

Anyway, as I said, we did one lap around the ring. We were supposed to do strides as well, but we were caught in a surprise rainstorm, so we decided against it. And it was really more of a walk-run anyway, with an emphasis on "walk." Here's one last look at the ring:

Then Saturday we were supposed to do an 8-15k race. So, we decided to do 5 miles and maybe do them kind of fast...which we did until we decided to walk. Lots of walking in the last couple of days. So, that run was probably a fast 3 miles and then a 2 mile walk-run. Whatev. We wanted to get out and buy my new school work clothes. I'm going to be Mr. Business Casual. Really, my new place of employment puts the emphasis on the casual part of business casual, but I don't want to be on the low end of the dress spectrum. So, I've got lots of nifty button-down shirts, new jeans (my old ones were being held together with safety-pins), and some khakis. Look at me! I'm not a grad student anymore! Whee!

And then tomorrow starts my first day at a real job in over 5 years. Am I nervous?

Yes.

Cubs play today at 12:35. Am I nervous?

Yes.

Bears play at San Diego at 3. Am I nervous?

Nah. They've got Urlacher.

Go Cubs. Go Bears.

11 Miles on the Campus

Yesterday Jason and I headed out for probably our last long run at Fermilab. We had 11 miles on the schedule which is a perfect distance to hit all the major points of interest here. As we were running, in the 90 degrees, with no shade and no water, Jason said, "Oh how I'm going to miss you long straight stretches of death". I said, "You probably could have just known that you were going to miss this without actually going out there and killing yourself in the heat". It wasn't *that* bad though, although the effort that was being put out was not equaling the paces per miles. I hate days like that, where you are feeling like you are working really hard and the Garmin beeps and you are like really.....that was my pace....45 seconds slower than what usually feels comfortable. We ended up pacing about 9:05 min/mile for this run which is fine.

I have been very much, "This is the last time we'll have lunch at the high rise" or , "This is the last time we'll go for a run here" this week. Jason goes..."yeah, uh huh that's sad. I have to finish my thesis, stop talking." Leave me alone. I'm a girl.

Tomorrow really should be the last day. Jason is just finishing the last few changes and can hand the advisor the final revised, plots added, 175 page goodness tomorrow morning. The idea being that at this point any changes that need to be made shouldn't be huge and any additions should be minor. That way he can finish up what he needs to do there in the evenings next week when he gets home from work...that's the idea anyways.

Are We Still Sweating in Chicago?

Jesus H. Christ...what is going on with this weather. Why is it still 90 f'in degrees on September 4th and today we have a high of 90 degrees. However, looking at weather.com relief is on the way with the next 10 days all having a high in the 70s. That's the nice fall weather that we all cherish.

So we had this V02 Max workout last night : 8 miles with 5x600m @ 5K pace with 90s recovery inbetween. I don't know why whenever we run down to the track we feel like crap. It's hot, our legs hurt blah blah blah. No change with that yesterday but I had the added benefit of a super sore stomach. I didn't know if I was hungry or having bigger problems.

We did our first 600m repeat and I realized I was having much bigger problems. I quickly jogged over to the field house that is next to the track and beelined for the bathroom. Not good what happened in there....ANYWAYS, I came back out and finished up the splits and to my surprise they all went really well, taking a few seconds off from when we did this 2 weeks ago. Also we stuck mainly to the 90s recovery aside from inbetween the first and second when I was in the bathroom. The splits were :

1. 2:33
2. 2:38
3. 2:37
4. 2:38
5. 2:35

Nice consistency throughout the splits. We did our usual run back to Ogden and Chicago and stopped in the CVS for some food and Gatorade. Since we smelled super awesome we decided to walk home from there.

I am looking forward to some relief from this weather and that looks like it'll be here tomorrow.

Jason and I have decided to do the next two runs at Fermilab because we realized it was probably the last time we would run here. Jason starts the new job on Monday and there won't be any reason for us to run here anymore. We have a a nice 11 mile run today that will take us all around the campus and then Friday we have a 4 miles run with strides that we run around the ring. One last ring run for this fearless duo.

These times they are a changin'. It's going to be fast, too, like a ripping off a bandaid. We aren't easing into the change by any means. It's going to 1-2-3 your life is the opposite of what is has been for the past 5 years. Yowza. Exciting though!

Hello Florida Humidity!

This past weekend saw me in Florida to celebrate my Grandfather turning 90 years old! I had a fun time with my family and it was good to see everyone. My cousin Erik and his family even made a surprise visit with their little boy Will.

But what about the running? Where would I run, what about water and Gatorade? Before I got there my dad and my Uncle Ken mapped out a route that I would run out in the country. I got up early on Sunday morning to try and beat the heat. The sun didn't rise until about 7am however and I didn't want to be running in the pitch black solo on these country roads so I didn't get started until about 6:20am. My dad and stepmom would leap frog me in the car. They would go about a 1/2 mile ahead and wait and then after I passed do the same thing. It was great and I felt like I had a entourage following me. They would hand out water and Gatorade out the window.

Right at the start of the run there were some roosters roostering and I looked at them and I said, "Well it's obvious we aren't in Chicago anymore". The run was supposed to be 17 miles with 14 at Marathon Race Pace. Due to the heat and the fact that by the time I got to 15 miles I was soaked through all my clothes I decided to cut it off at 15 miles. Good decision on my part because when I looked up at mile 15 there was a giant about 1 mile long hill ahead of me. Could I have finished the full run...I think so. But I didn't think it was worth it to make myself sick as I was already feeling really dehydrated even though I had been drinking water/Gatorade. Had I been in Chicago on the flat and in the cool I think there wouldn't have been a problem to get through the run fully.

I would like my splits for the race to be at 8:15. That is a 3:35 marathon. So let's see how I did :

1. 9:06
2. 9:03
3. 8:52 (Water)
   
4. 8:15
5. 8:19
6. 8:14 (Gatorade)
   
7. 8:03
8. 8:06
9. 8:07 (Water)
   
10. 8:01
11. 8:37 (Gu)
12. 8:07
13. 8:43 (Elongated Gatorade)
14. 8:11
15. 8:36

First thing to note is that the miles that were all at 8:05ish felt really comfortable. I didn't feel like I was pushing that hard and my stepmom took a video of me and I looked really comfortable running. Maybe not that comfortable since I ended up cutting the run short though....but still felt good.

Second, when I had a water or Gatorade stop I didn't lose any time at all when I was feeling ok. This was good because I wanted to test my race method and see how much time I would lose. So I grabbed the water or Gatorade walked a few steps to drink it without dumping it down my shirt and carried on. Nice to see that should work without too many problems.

Third, the Gu stop looked to take about 30 seconds longer than the miles around it. Same method as the other stops, I stop and walk to take it and continue on my way.

You can see the fatigue at the end of the run with the elongated Gatorade stop and then the last mile at 8:36 and of course stopping a few miles early. I am pretty sure that it's not from the previous miles, but rather just the heat and humidity getting to me (It was 80+ degrees at the start of the run). Anyways, I looked back to last year when I did this run and I didn't make it anywhere. So I'm really happy with how it went and feeling more and more confident about the marathon pace I am hoping to keep.

Jason did really good on his run in the city doing all 17 miles and keeping all miles between 8:10-8:20. Yay!

I'd rather be at home

It's just me, stuck here at Fermilab. Bored. A million little fixes and changes to make to this stupid thesis and I'm not really feeling it. The fun part, though? Printing out half my thesis just for editing purposes, thus killing hundreds of trees. I can almost hear their screams of anguish.

We've hit 158 pages and I won't lie to you, it's compelling reading. It's a page turner.

Alright, back to work.

Sigh.

It's 3am, I Must Be....

Running!

This morning I am leaving for Florida for a family reunion type thing to celebrate my Grandpa turning 90! I am picking the lovely cousin up at 5:30am and had originally planned on doing this run when I got down there. Then I was like...If I just get up really early I can squeeze in a 5 mile recovery. So that's what we did.

You know who is up at 3am? All the cool kids going home from a night of partying...I always feel really stupid running by these people. Out of a car window we heard, "HEY THAT'S SOME DEDICATION RUNNING AT 4AM....WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO BE JUST LIKE YOU". Yes I am dedicated...thanks.....when you grow up? Really? I'm that old? Although if my 22 year old self could see my almost 28 year old self she would be all, "Dude...how are you out there running? Didn't you just get home?"

Tomorrow my dad is going to help me out with my 17 with 14 @ MRP. I guess he has a course all marked out in Florida where he could follow me in the car with Gatorade, water and Gus. Excellent.