Dick Beardsley Fun Run

Monday was an exciting day for me. My running hero Dick Beardsley visited Chicago to do a special fun run at Fleet Feet Sports at their Wells Ave. store courtesy of New Balance.

If you aren't familiar with Mr. Beardsley, he is a running legend that hails from the great state of Minnesota, like myself. He still owns the fifth fastest marathon time for a US male. He won the London, Napa and Grandma's Marathons, but is probably best known for his very close second place finish to Alberto Salazar in the 82 "Duel in the Sun" Boston Marathon. He actually lived in my hometown in MN for a while, but that was before I was a runner myself. You may remember that I saw him at Grandma's Marathon earlier this year and he signed my bib for me.

He is just an incredibly inspiring guy and I look forward to any opportunity to see him. He went through a lot of trials and hardships after his competitive running days and came out on the other side with a positive attitude and a desire to share what he has learned with others.

Dick got stuck in traffic from O'Hare getting to the store, but arrived only a few minutes late, changed and went out for a nice easy run with about 15-20 folks including myself and my friend Brian. The run felt great. Brian and I ran about 5 miles at a nice tempo. Afterwards we met back up at the store and he talked with the group for about 45 minutes. If you have never heard him speak, regardless of whether you are a runner or not, you should check him out. He is a fantastic speaker with a lot of funny and touching stories. After speaking with the group he signed some books for people and special New Balance posters printed just for the event. It is very cool and I look forward to hanging it up.

Thanks to New Balance for making his trip possible. Please bring him back again soon, and thanks to Mr. Beardsley for being such a great, inspiring guy. It made my week.

Race Report: Bank of America Chicago Marathon

On Sunday October 12, 2008 I ran the Bank of America Chicago Marathon. It was my third marathon of 2008. All week we watched the weather as the forecast climbed until they were predicting temps in the 70s and 80s again on Marathon Sunday. I was just hoping for an overcast day to keep the heat under wraps. Sunday morning rolled around and temps were already in the mid 60s at 5 in the morning with not a cloud in sight.

It was going to be hot.

I met up with my friend Brian and his girlfriend Amanda and we headed downtown to the race start. I didnt even need to wear a long sleeved shirt. We made it downtown using public transportation with no issues and walked to Columbus and Congress. After a couple bathroom trips and standing around watching the sun rise, I found my way to the D Corral to line up. There was lots of space in the Corral which was nice and I found the sub 4 hour marathon pacers. I was aiming for a sub-4 hour marathon, but knew that the weather was going to be challenging. When they removed the barrier for the open corral prior to the start things got crowded quickly as the faster runners that didnt make a corral time pushed their way towards the front. It was annoying. I thought the Corrals would be started before the Open Corral was released, but that apparently wasn't the case.

Once the race began, it took me less than 5 minutes to reach the actual starting line and off we went. I was expecting a slower first mile with the large crowd but we still managed to hit our 9 minute mile pace right on target. It went so quickly that I didnt even notice the mile marker. The crowds were just incredible downtown. Tons of people cheering everywhere. I felt good as we made our way back down into the Loop and up LaSalle, finding my pace and stride. The tall buildings downtown provided plenty of shade from the morning sun and kept the temps down in the low 70s. I stayed with my pacers.

As we made our way to the northside, the crowd support continued to be great. My favorite part of the race was turning south on Broadway from Addison. I connected with a friend Lara on Addison and waved as I made the turn to a huge, loud yelling crowd of people. It was so inspiring that I couldnt help but pick up my pace unintentionally. Heading back towards downtown I ran into my friend Tom and Brian's girlfriend, Amanda near mile 10. They ran with me for one block, took a few photos with me and I continued on my way.

At mile 12 I was starting to struggle. I needed to find a bathroom and the heat was rising. I knew I couldnt stay with the pacers for much longer. At the half-way mark I started losing the pacers and at the mile 14 water stop I found a port-o-john. I tried to remain positive, but I knew this was the beginning of the end. I pushed through the west side, still keeping a sub-10 minute/mile pace, but walking through some water stops. At mile 18 I stopped and said Hi to a friend Megan who was volunteering for the race. Around this time they raised the color coded threat system to red instead of yellow. Great...just what I needed. I pushed onward to the southside, my goal pretty much out of mind at this point, but a PR still clearly in sight.

As I hit Chinatown I saw the temp on a bank as I passed: 87 degrees and no shade to be seen. My worst stretch was on Wentworth heading south towards US Cellular Field. There was no shade, you are next to the interstate and crowd support was less than ideal. As I hit the International Mile, the southern most point of the course, I was still on pace for a PR, but didnt have much time to spare. Heading north on Michigan I pushed myself as hard as I could to keep running, only walking one more time at mile 23 through the water stop. After mile 24 I pushed myself to run until the finish. Without the open hydrants, hoses and misting stations there was no way I could have kept going. I was soaking wet. At mile 26 the Roosevelt hill is a real killer, but a great chance to pass a lot of people. I tried to enjoy the crowd support as I ran the last .2 miles to the finish, but was relieved to be done with this hot race as I crossed the finish line in 4:25:17. Not my goal, but a PR nonetheless.

The 27th mile was the most brutal. We were forced to walk another mile down a chain link fence with no shade or place to sit. Finally after grabbing some waters and snacks I found my way out of the labrinth to a shady place to sit and ponder yet again why I made this decision to do this to myself. I am either stupid or insane. I made my way to the runner reunite area and found Amanda and Brian. Then later I met up with PJ who ran his first marathon, and finally I found Cassie who finished with all her kids from the mentoring program.

Hot weather aside it was a fantastic race. Plenty of supplies, water and gatorade. Unmatched crowd support. There were people on the sidelines pretty much everywhere except a couple small stretches on the west and south sides. I dont know yet if I feel the desire to run Chicago again, but I would definitely volunteer at least.

Who knows, maybe I will change my mind. I was already considering where I'd run my next marathon before I went to bed at 8 that Sunday. It is an addiction.

Congrats to other runners out there and thanks to the organizers for a great day.

Pre-Race Jitters

On Sunday morning I run the Chicago Marathon. This will be my third marathon this year and by far the largest one with 45,000 participants. Although the weather doesnt look like it will be entirely favorable I am going to attempt a sub-four hour marathon. Luckily, I qualified for the D Corral which should help me achieve my goal with fewer runners on the course when I start. The weather is looking like it will be low 60s in the morning and potentially could hit 80 degrees by mid-day. It won't be as hot as last year, but still, not exactly ideal long distance running weather. If it stays overcast during the morning, at least that would help.

I visited the Expo today while I was downtown for work and picked up my race packet. This was my favorite Expo that I've attended so far. Everything was attractive, very well-organized and efficient. I had no issues. I was able to pick up all my stuff and basically walk around the entire Expo, as well as do some shopping within an hour. I probably would have spent more time walking around, but I had to get to work and I didnt want to come back downtown on Saturday when it was going to be crazy busy.

I'm feeling mixed emotions of excitement and anxiety about the race. I know that I can pull out a sub-four hour race, but mentally I need to be prepared to get from 18-23. If the weather outlook was better, I think I could be more confident. While I dont think I've ever hit "the wall" in my previous two races, I always feel the need to stop running at around this time and have ended up run/walking the last few miles. If I can just get through those miles perhaps by breaking them down mentally into smaller chunks, I think I can do the last 3 without walking.

My training has been going okay. I initially had planned two long runs more than 20 miles, but due to high temps and being sick one week, my training plan was cut a little short. I did run a solid 18 miler and a 21 miler, both during warm temps, so if I can keep those in mind, along with my great half-marathon experience, I will be confident and ready to go on Sunday. I did some speed work, although not consistently every week as I originally planned. I mixed in some great tempo runs the last couple weeks, which I think were a big help.

If you are in Chicago, come out and support the race, it will be a beautiful fall day to spend outside. Course info can be found at ChicagoMarathon.com. I will post a race report as soon as possible.

Race Report: Chicago Distance Classic Half-Marathon

I was a tad nervous entering my first half-marathon distance race on Sunday. I felt under-trained and unprepared. Since Grandma's Marathon in late June, I think I've only run 3 long runs, none of them consistently timed, and none further than 12 miles. However, I had begun doing speed work once a week and biking regularly on non-running days. I set an ambitious goal for myself to qualify for the D Corral at the marathon. I had never run even close to an 8:30 pace on a long run, but wanted to give it a shot.

I can now say without hesitation that the Distance Classic was a break-through race for me. On race morning the temps were in the low 60s, completely unreal for mid-August. I woke up early to go downtown with Cassie to help set up their tent in the charity village. Saturday night I was at the White Sox and Red Sox game at The Cell, and so it goes without saying that I didn't get an adequate amount of sleep, although I was good at the game and stayed hydrated with water and gatorade instead of eating junk food and drinking beer. It was chilly downtown at 4:30 in the morning, but I was feeling good. After meeting up with a few friends before the race, Jon, Erik and Kevin, I went to the starting corral and lined-up with Jon.

I wanted to line-up near the 1:50 pacer, but it was impossible to get close since it was so packed, so I was actually near the 2:00 pacer. The race waves started and I saw the 1:50 pacer go with the second wave, but I was stuck with the third wave. While I appreciated the wave start, I already felt like I had failed at my goal since I was left to my own devices to qualify. After about 5 minutes of waiting, our wave was off and running. I wanted to keep my pace around 9 min/mile for the first half, and then 8:30 or faster the second half. I had some issues with my watch at the one-mile marker, if you see my split below was over 9 min. It was actually about 8:50 and the second mile was closer to 8:45. The rest of my splits were as follows:

Mile Splits:
Mile 1: 9:16
Mile 2: 8:22
Mile 3: 8:39
Mile 4: 8:45
Mile 5: 8:37
Mile 6: 8:21
Mile 7: 10:09
Mile 8: 8:23
Mile 9: 8:12
Mile 10: 8:48
Mile 11: 7:46
Mile 12: 8:05
Mile 13: 8:21
Mile .1: :53

You're probably wondering what happened at Mile 6-7. I'll come back to that. I felt great through about 11 and a half miles, then it got painful. I took 2 clif shot blocks right before the race and at miles 5 and 10, in addition I also sipped Gatorade during the race. Instead of drinking the entire cup like I have done in previous races, I just drank a little and it made a big difference because it allowed me to run through each water stop and I didnt over-drink like I did in Duluth. The second half of my race was about 6 minutes faster than the first, so I had a great negative split.

After my 10 minute mile at the half-way point I felt the qualifying time slipping away so I picked up the pace despite fears that I was going to bonk big time. When I hit mile 12, I was pretty sure that I would miss the D Corral qualifier, since I was pretty spent and needed to run close to a 7 min. final mile. I wanted to stop running so badly during the last mile, but I held on and finished in 1:52:33, which is an average pace of 8:36 per mile. I ran the entire 13.1 without walking once, which was another break-through for me.

After looking through my splits following the race, I was completely baffled by what happened between miles 6 and 7. I knew that I hadn't slowed my pace that much. I hadnt even run over a 9 minute mile the entire race. I felt the distance must have been off by a bit, but of course could not prove anything. While I was disappointed to miss the D Corral qualifier time I was extremely happy with how well I ran. I left feeling like a sub 4 hour marathon was well within my grasp.

I spent the next couple hours cheering on runners near the 13 mile mark and had a great time. The race was well-organized and the course was beautiful. I have only two complaints: No GU or Clif Shots were provided on the course, and the tech t-shirt was HUGE. I think I will drown if I wear it running. Otherwise, I'd definitely recommend this race, although the weather will probably never again be this perfect for a mid-August race ever again.

P.S. Yesterday, on my way home from work I got a text from my friend Jon. It turns out that the course was measured incorrectly and was actually about .2 miles longer at the half-way turnaround. I knew it! The Chicago Marathon adjusted their qualifying time for CDC finishers to make the D Corral to 1:53, so I qualified like I hoped! My average pace was 8:29 for 13.1 miles. I am thrilled that I reached my goal and that I have an even better chance now of running a sub 4 hour marathon in October. Two months to go! Let the hard training begin.

Race Report: Elvis Is Alive 5k

Long time no blog. Since I last posted in June after Grandma's Marathon, I've recovered from that race nicely, struggled to start training for Chicago in October, struggled to be motivated to run in the heat and humidity, started doing weekly speed workouts at the North Park University Track, biked to work about once a week for cross-training, and panicked that the Distance Classic is soon and that I havent done a long run of more than 12 miles since the marathon. So as you can tell, it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride.

The Elvis 5k last year was my first race ever, so it's fun to think about how far I've come in the course of one year. Lots of training, shorter races and a couple marathons have passed. Several friends wanted to run the race with us since we gave it such a good review last year. While last year was typical hot and humid August weather, this year we were blessed with cool and breezy temps in the low 70s. It felt like a September race. The race course moved downtown to Grant Park, which was convenient since I work downtown. The course changed a bit at the last minute because of a pre-season Bears game, but Fleet Feet handled it all very well with email communications.

I ran very well and PR'd for a 5k with a time of 23:35. That isn't official because its not a chip-timed race, but its based on my Garmin watch so I trust it. I was hoping for a time closer to 23 flat, but it was difficult to break open on the first mile on the crowded and narrow lakeshore path. I usually have more energy for a kick at the end, but felt pretty spent. All in all, a great speed workout for the week.

Mile Splits:
Mile 1: 8:08
Mile 2: 7:36
Mile 3: 7:14
Mile .1: :35

The post-race party was a blast with an Elvis impersonator concert and Goose Island 312, which tasted amazing. It's a great atmosphere, if you have never run this race before, I highly recommend it for next year.