Finisher

Oh, friends. After all of my lamenting that I wasn't prepared, I went in and did it. I came. I saw. I conquered. I finished the Rock N' Roll Half Marathon in 2:26.

Now, I know that this is not the fastest time, or even the time I was hoping for when I started training. But is it a time I'm proud of? Yes, undoubtably. Would I run this race again, even though it meant training during one of the hottest summers in recent Chicago history? Yes. Was it worth attending a bar crawl for four hours the night before and not touching any alcohol in preparation? Also yes.

Overall, I was really pleased with the course itself. I thought running through the loop was fun, and ending with glimpses of the lakefront was also great. I thought the course itself was extremely well organized, with lots of water stations, drizzle stations, bands,and mile markers staggered about. Somehow the locations of all of these things seemed to break up the miles for me, so that it went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I also ran my first race with a pace group, whom I stumbled upon at around mile 6. The group was running with a pacer from Fleet Feet Sports, a great running store in Chicago. The girl had us running 5 minutes and walking one with a goal time of 2:30. I think the run-walk strategy also helped to distract me, and I got to hear a lot of random conversations about people's daughters' periods and such. Strange, but interesting.

My one beef about this race as a whole was the incredibly long gear check wait at the finish. I had to wait nearly 15 minute in the line- way too long when I still had my hot boyfriend (yes, I try to get away with calling Kev that still) to find. Special thanks to him for showing up at the finish line at 9:00 am after staying out until almost one the night before at previously mentioned bar crawl.

Finishing this race (my first formal one in two years, since my pre-RA days) was big for me. Last year, I had a terrible year professionally at work, with lots of drama. I let myself get bogged down, and I wasn't always the best that I could have been for the students. I know, also, that my biggest problem is follow-through. I say I will do something, but often I wait until it is convenient for me, or until I have to at the very last minute (hello, training). When I was diagnosed with RA, I thought my running days were over. And yet, I put my mind to something, and even though I wasn't perfectly in shape, I went for it. Despite my 10 pill a day RA regiment, I did it. Despite my self-doubts, I did it. And through it all, I learned that the only one standing in my way is myself.

I'm hoping to take this mentality into the back-to-school portion of August. I want to have a kickass year. More on that tomorrow.

Rock 'n' Roll

Spring is my favorite time of year for many reasons. I love living in Chicago and trying to figure out what the weather will do. Will I wear flip flops? Snow boots? It makes a really nice spring day even better because we don't take it for granted out here in the Windy City. Mostly, though, spring means that a new running season has started.

Last summer I took a little hiatus from running. With my RA, I wasn't really sure if I'd be able to train for anything serious, and quite frankly, I was sick of running and training. This year, though, I'm back in action, and I'm training for something exciting.

Excuse the crappy banner picture, folks. I just don't really have another pic to go with this at the moment. I'm registered and training for the Rock 'n' Roll half marathon in Chicago! I love to run. I love the pacing, the pushing yourself, the opportunity to be alone and just listen to my music and plan routes that let me check out different parts of the city. I love the squeaky clean feeling you get in your lungs when you are done running. I love having a schedule to work out to, especially in the summer when I need extra structure. Love. Love. Love.

I started my training on Monday, when I ran a whopping three miles. I used this as a little test, to check out where my body was at. You know what? I rocked it. I think all of my Game-on diet and exercising and cleaning up my act this winter helped me do more than just drop 12 pounds. I think (gasp) it ACTUALLY MADE ME MORE FIT! So, yesterday I ran 4 and finished two minutes above my goal pace. Woop woop! Today is a day off since I have grad school, but I am feeling absurdly proud of myself. I also like to know that I am doing something good, since summer is coming and I plan on spending as much of it on or near the water as humanly possible. Plus, with Kev getting up early to workout in the mornings now, I feel like less of a slacker if I get a good run in.

I'm planning another post in the near future about running tunes, but I have to ask. What is your favorite running/workout song? I'd love some new tunes for my new lil baby iPod.

Happy Spring!

Spoils of Shopping

I love to shop. Always have. As a baby, my mom and grandma would take me shopping, and when I fell asleep they would just buy me pajamas and keep on going. However, I don't let myself near most major stores for fear of going overboard, so I frequently go on binges at my favorite store of all time...Target.

I talk about Target so often, in fact, that all I have to do is mention that I went shopping, or that I got something from the classroom, and a few teensy Mexican children will curiously ask "a Tar-git?" or "did you buy Target yesterday?" Let me tell you, the joys of kindergarten ESL teaching are many.

Back to Target. I talked my sweet, loving, adoring, devastatingly handsome husband into the necessity of a new ipod for me for the running season. Specifically, the new ipod nano with the handy teensy size and little clip to put on my shirt or pants while I run. I also pointed out that if i purchased said ipod at my favorite location of my favorite store, I would save 5% with my Target visa (I know, it's a sickness. They don't even pay me to write with this level of passion) and I would ALSO be in the suburbs, just avoiding the obscene Cook county taxes. Double win. So I came home with this....

(Please excuse the blurries. I was trying to take the photo with my phone. Plus, the blurries hide my hideously swollen hands. I haven't been being very nice to my arthritis lately, and it shows. Thank you for putting up with my semi-intentional terrible photography so you can see my new toy.)

Now, this is freaking sweet. Seriously freaking freaking sweet. I cannot wait to go on my very first run of the running season tomorrow with this bad boy. BUT THEN...the day got better. I happened to stop by the clearance rack to see if there were any fabulous pieces of clothing. (Kev, remember how much you loooooove me? and how you ENCOURAGED me to go to Target??? I do) Behold....a cute teacher dress!

Covers the goodie bits, cute color, slight style, long skirt so I can sit on the floor with my peanuts- this dress needed to be purchased. And, wait for it.....IT ONLY COST $5.05. YES! YES! YES! A win for everybody. A five dollar dress....and a 5 dollar times a billion ipod. Rock on.

Dante even likes it.

Triple win.

Crash and Burn

March started a few months ago, and with it came the start of my running season. You see, unlike my friend Maria, who trained for and ran races pretty much year-round when she lived in Chicago, I have strict rules about running. It should be done when there is no ice on the ground. It should be done with as few layers on as possible. It should be done with two ultimate goals in mind: 1) to improve slightly time-wise and 2) to look good in a bikini. Since I live in Chicago, this makes my running season from March-October.

So, on March 1st, I laced up my shoes, dusted off my Nike +, and headed out to run before my book club. (We read The Glass Castle, in case you are interested) I battled out a few miles, noted how jiggly I felt during the whole process, and then saw my friend Lindsay's apartment in the distance and realized how invigorated I would feel when I was done.

Boy, was I wrong.

Ten feet from Lindsay's door, I skidded on a patch of ice and ate it. I'm not talking about a little stumble here, people. This was a full-fledged, fall down, skid on the ground, and pray my husband wasn't parking the car somewhere close by extravaganza. I mention this now because I have parent teacher conferences coming up, and I will be sporting both a very professional teacherly dress (sans Keds, thank you very much) and a maroon scrape the size of a Sacajawea dollar on my knee. Yipes.

In spite of all this, I signed up for two runs yesterday: the Wrigley Start Early 10k and the Soldier Field 10 mile. After making excuses for the last few days and sulking, I'm ready to head out after work today for what will hopefully be a much less painful 3.5 miles. Wish me luck. Hopefully, the only evidence I'll be wearing from this run tomorrow will be some poppin' hammies.