Mission Accomplished!

And I feel grand.

Looking forward to writing about it later this weekend.

But just a quickie...

After mile 20 I started worrying if I was going to hit the wall, as I have in my previous two marathons. I had to really step in with some serious self-talk about how I am so much better prepared for this, I am tougher than I've ever been, I am smarter about these things now, etc. At some point the thought popped into my head,

"Wall? What wall? I piss on the wall!"

And you know what?

I never did hit it.

In fact, my last three miles were my most enjoyable (not fast, I was both battling headwinds and going uphill, but fun), AND I felt like I could have done more.

I am now eating a sandwich from my favorite bagel shop called the "Xena, Warrior Princess" and about to take a hot shower.

Damn, it's a good day.

Can She Do It?

This weekend I turn 42.

My 7s years have always turned out to be meaningful for me so I've been curious for some time about what this next year might bring me. And I wanted to mark it in some way.

So tomorrow I'm going to run 42k.

(Yes, that is just about a marathon.)

Now, when I made this plan, about six weeks ago, I really didn't expect it to still be so cold. I envisioned myself running down the length of the lake to the south side until I was halfway done, then simply turning around and coming back. I rarely get to run on the south side of the lake anymore (I used to live down there and loved running that stretch), so I was really looking forward to it.

But with the current forecast two things worry me. One is the wind. Up on the north side if the wind gets too bad along the lake I can always cut back in to the city, and I'll know where I am and how to get around. But that's not at all true farther south. In fact, once I get too far south there are places where I definitely do not want to be forced off the lakefront trail. So for safety's sake, now is not the time to be exploring the southern lakefront by myself.

Then the second concern is having my water bottles freeze. The forecast is better than it's been for the past few days, with a current expected high of 26. But it's going to get down to -4 tonight, so it will start off cold tomorrow, and I don't know how long it will take to warm up. Now, I've taken the day for myself tomorrow, so instead of gearing up to leave from daycare as soon as I drop the kids off, I'll actually come home first. That will give me the opportunity to assess the weather conditions and also provide a little warming-up time. But I do have to expect that it will be cold for much of the morning.

So my new plan is to run different loops, with our lobby as the base for all of them. I'll be able to stash my drinks and extra food in our mailbox, and dash upstairs if I need to take a pit stop. I'll even be able to discard or change layers if it gets too warm for what I'm wearing. I'll do my longest loop first and work my way down (8-7-6-5) which should be a nice mental boost, and for variety I'll do each one in a different direction (N-W-S-E) which will allow me to end on the lake. I'll have to deal with some ice, but the sidewalks are largely clear right now after last week's rain, so it shouldn't be too bad. Sounds nice, huh? Postively indulgent.

And I'll wait until spring for my lakefront adventure.

Anticipatorily,
Annie

I Can Run for Miles and Miles and Miles

Despite my concern about the sidewalks, today had some of the best conditions for running in a while. The temperature dropped enough overnight to freeze a lot of the water (the crazy big puddles turned into slush but it was easier to see and avoid them), and then it was snowing lightly which provided traction! I was worried about the wind when I set out, but still determined to at least try the lakefront path, and it ended up being less windy along there than I thought. There was only a mile of really blustery conditions where I nearly tripped up twice just from the wind blowing me sideways - I felt like those ice skaters who trip on their own feet from not getting the timing right on their jumps. But that was close to the end so I just got off the lakefront at the next opportunity and ran the rest of the way on the inner drive. It was interesting to see just where the wind was worst: on the lakefront it was whenever the trail got close to Lake Shore Drive, and on the inner drive it was when crossing the street, I had to make sure I didn't get blown onto the drive itself.

One unexpected treat was that the path was clear enough that I didn't have to look directly in front of me the whole time, as I've been doing all winter to make sure of my footing. I could look up and around and enjoy the sky (rapidly moving clouds) and the parks (huge frozen ponds), the shoreline (crazy ice formations) and the trees near to me (fat squirrels and red berries!). What a joy.

This week I've run into work twice, once long and once mostly direct (it's about a mile and a half more to run into work along the lakefront vs. taking a street that runs diagonally across the city). I love it, I love it, I love it. I think I'm going to try running in to work every other day.

And in other good news, Goo slept through the night after going down pretty easily! He came out in the morning to tell me "bunny awake mama" (we got a new nightlight that can change pictures from a sleeping bunny to an awake bunny if you set it)... time to now slo-o-owly move that wake-up time a little later in the morning. And as I've been getting more sleep I have again been waking up before him anyway, and can reclaim at least a little of my quiet morning time.

Got a bunch of baking to do for our church's annual South Sudan bake sale/auction - carrot cake and chocolate chip cookies. I imagine some of the cookies will end up staying home with us...

Happily,
Annie

Since Last We Met

Finally getting over a tummy bug that moved through the house, one person at a time. And for some reason I got it last (and worst). The worst of it was over within a few days, but my appetite and digestion continued to stay off for a while and I'm still hesitant to consume anything exciting (coffee / dark chocolate / beer, sigh). It made things interesting as I tried to figure out how to continue training for my birthday challenge next week, first in resuming exercise at all and then in how to properly fuel myself in light of my tender tummy!

Yesterday's long run was crazy. We've had some big melting days here and the sidewalks are treacherous. Much worse than anything I've encountered all winter. Canyons of deep, cold, slushy water on top of ice. After an hour or so I gave up trying to keep my feet halfway dry and just ran through the standing water. The first half of my run was at a 14 minute pace (my usual slow/long run pace is 11:15/mile) as I was running on sidewalks, not all evenly shoveled, and unplowed park paths. But I was on my way into work and feeling anxious about time, so once I hit the lakefront I hammered it the rest of the way in. And then spent the rest of the day with sore legs. They're fine today though.

I've started incorporating speedwork again, first time since before the marathon. It's amazing how powerful it makes me feel, like I can accomplish anything. I didn't know what paces to set for myself so I used my time from last year's Ravenswood Run 5K to get paces from the Runners' World SmartCoach program, and have been working up to them within a session. So for example, this week, the program had me running four half-mile repeats at a 8:36 pace. I did my first round at a 9:05 pace and then steadily increased my pace with each repeat until my last one was at a 8:30 pace. This has been really helpful. I have a bad habit on the treadmill of going too fast too soon and then having to back off considerably (and end feeling disappointed), but by deliberately starting off at a slower pace I've been avoiding that and have instead ended feeling confident! I've also seen over the last three weeks that my speed is coming back more quickly than I'd thought, so I can start being more aggressive with my pacing again.

I've been reading Matt Fitzgerald's "The New Rules of Marathon and Half-Marathon Nutrition". I know my performance with my two marathons suffered greatly because of inadequate fueling so this year I've been making it a priority to make sure I'm doing better. This is essential to get on top of if I'm going to move into ultras. I've been trying hard to consume more during my long runs (not easy since I don't like gels which are the most compact fuel, but I'm working on it), and know I need to do more with my pre-run fueling as well, hence the book. I'll let you know if I find it helpful. I already own his book "Racing Weight", which I think is sound, but everytime I've read it in the past I get fixated on losing weight more quickly than I should and then that derails my training. That's my own head stuff, not his book. But anyway I like the approach of this new one better.

The Goo is still struggling with sleep but things have improved, thank goodness. Everybody's happier when we're all getting more sleep.

It's raining steadily today - I'm not looking forward to the sidewalks tomorrow - and then it will freeze again. What a winter. But I'm so grateful the low temps will be in the 20s and not the teens (or below). I like not having to turn on the space heaters at home. And having use of our dishwasher!

Warmly,
Annie

I Liked It Better When It Was Just Freezing

Today for my long run, I was treated to a light layer of slush over the packed snow (yuck - plus hard work to run on), and then wicked wind on the lakefront (also hard to run in).

I was close to cutting things short, and did end up cutting back off of the lake to the Lincoln Park / Gold Coast neighborhoods. But I made a pit stop, found clear sidewalks, and got away from the wind, thereby getting my second (or third, or fourth) wind, and so was able to finish out my full mileage.

And now I'm ravenous and about to take my second break to get more food. The first round was salt. This round will be sugar. Rawr.

Very Far and Very Cold

I ran to work this morning. Well, it's more accurate to say that I went for a run this morning, and then I ran to work. I'm not going to say how far I ran because

1. It is kind of a ridiculous distance, that makes sense only in the context of marathon or ultra training;
2. At some point, if you make a habit of running long, the distance becomes kind of meaningless. I don't think about "how many miles do I have left", I think about what part of the run am I on and what will I be doing next;
3. A certain person I live with doesn't tremendously like that I run so long or that I run in the cold, and really doesn't like it when I combine the two. No need to provoke him with an actual number.

As for the cold... it was -1F when I left and 5F when I reached my destination. Not as windy as I'd feared, thank goodness. I was snug as a bug in my layers and had greased up my face to prevent windburn. The only issue I had with the cold was that my water bottles froze and towards the end I was reduced to just sucking on the ice. So I need to figure something out there. Oh, and frozen gels are gross. But I've pretty much moved away from gels anyway and have been sticking with "real" food - in my case dried fruit, pretzels, and jellybeans. The dried fruit and jellybeans get hard when it's that cold but a moment or so of chewing takes care of that.

And my reward (aside from the whole running bit) was in seeing, once I hit the lakefront, a quiet, snowy, icy world with almost no one else around. Listening to one of my favorite jazz pianists and just floating in white. Ahhh.

Blissfully,
Annie

Watching Myself - With Love

I'll admit, it's been interesting to watch how I react to this withdrawing from some aspects of social media. If I do a long run, but don't put it up on DailyMile or write about it in one of my Facebook running groups, did it really happen? I notice I sometimes experience a certain anxiety about not sharing my workout information.

At the same time, I'm also experiencing a sense of freedom in my day. No more rushing to the computer right after a run to log it. If I don't announce a particular goal, then I am accountable only to myself about it, and can change it if I like. And never mind the sheer amount of time that's been freed up for me. I truly could never have realized just how much time I lost online until I made a deliberate attempt to curtail it.

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I do have some ideas about my training for the next months, and for the year. I'm not going to call them goals - I have concrete goals for myself this year but none of them are running-related. One is financial (to reduce my credit card debt by a third). One is practical (to get my drivers' license again). One is my ongoing effort to eat in a healthy, mindful, and joyful way. All are about increasing freedom in my life, so I can live in ways that better serve myself and those I love.

My initial training ideas are quite audacious, so I will wait to write about them until I have a better sense of whether I'll be able to fulfill them. I will say that so far, so good. And that I am enjoying both my running and my gym time.

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One article I wanted to share: Nutrition, from iRunFar. Here's the quote that best sums up the article, and nicely articulates what I've been thinking about recently (but only vaguely):

To me, the healthiest diet has nothing to do with never eating specific ‘bad’ foods, but instead with eating the foods that provide us with the most overall health in the given situation.

For me that includes taking "health" in the broadest possible context, to include my social and emotional health.

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It's been a bit of rough start to the year, between the weather and the challenge of my youngest moving into the "terrible twos". I love him dearly, but he is a frequent, ah, opportunity to practice personal growth. The good news is that we can see the fruit of our labor with him as he develops, so that is a blessing and encouragement in our efforts. The other good news is that, by him being the second child, I know from experience and in my bones that all things change, and that what may seem interminable in the moment is truly just a heartbeat of time. We are truly so blessed in both our children.

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And to brag on my oldest - he's currently in thrall to Harry Potter! (He's not reading on his own yet, The Dude reads it to him before bed. We're already on the second book.) This is several steps up in complexity from what we were reading to him before. I am amazed at his ability to visualize what he hears (I'm not very good at that) - the next day he draws out what we read about the night before. When he's not designing helicopters for a building unit at preschool, that is. Truly, my kids amaze me.

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With hope and gratitude -
Annie