One Month Away!

Well, after taking a bit of a hiatus on long runs to take a much needed and extremely fun trip out to Colorado to go hiking and camping, and then I had the pleasure last month of pulling my hamstring (which has made training interesting for sure).

The marathon is officially only ONE MONTH away, yay!  So, now it's time to finish the tail end of my training program and prepare for the big day.  Now that I've been looking back on my training over the spring and summer, I can't believe how much fun it's been.  Don't get me wrong, I had my bad runs (and boy were some of them), but overall it's been a great experience and I'm going to miss it to a degree.  Never in my entire life would I expect to feel good after running 18 miles and it's been great running into people along the lake path during the summer.

With the big day less than 30 days away, I have to send a big THANK YOU to pretty much everyone.  I can't believe how supportive my family and friends have been over the last six months.  I truly don't think I could have gotten this far without all of your support and well wishes.  You're all the best!

Also, today's September 10th.  Let's wish Kath (my mom) a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Hope it's a fabulous day!

Here are some photos from Colorado :)  Hiking counts a running, right?!?!

A Few Photos from Along my Path to October

Hey Everyone!  Here are a few photos I'd like to share.  Some of them are from under Lake Shore Drive at Belmont, from when I ran north along the path to Montrose Beach, photos from a clear day and when I got to meet Al Roker thanks to Catholic Charities - who I'm running for!  Enjoy and thanks for stopping by :)

I'd like to send out a big THANK YOU! to my Dad & Hope and Kate Toland for their generous donation to the Catholic Charities.  Thank you for your support of this cause and your encouragement along the way!

And for those of you curious after my last post - we've had more Phyllis sightings!

This One's for You, Phyllis!

So, I have been training for about 15 weeks now, which I know seems like a ridiculous amount of time but I wanted to put in a few extra runs before the big day, and after a while you begin to see the same people out on the path.  You know what type of shoes they wear, the shorts they prefer to run in and what water fountain they'll always stop to get a drink and catch a breath; they almost become friends to a degree because you always wave at one another.

Well, on Saturday's when I do most of my long runs there has been one person that I consistently see out there, and I won't lie, passes me and puts me to shame while running.  She's about my height, still has her blond hair, runs with an intensity that I only wish I had and is about 70.  Yes, you read that correctly, 70.  For the last 15 weeks I've wondered who she is and how the hell she's remained in such amazing shape.  Well, on Saturday I finally had that question answered when I saw her blazing down the stretch of Ohio Street Beach in her Team World Vision orange shirt with the name "Phyllis" across the front.

So Phyllis, this one's for you!  You're an amazing athlete and I hope to be moving as well as you when I'm 70!

Best,

I run more like Betty White, "Katelyn"

On an actual running note, I ran 18 on Saturday and I never thought I'd say this after running 18 miles, but I felt really good.  The soreness that I felt from running 17 the week before wasn't as bad and I just need to remember to do more stretching before and after these runs.  Also, a little shout out to Erin H. making sure that I didn't fall asleep during the movie :)

A special THANK YOU to The Jagmin's for their generous donation to the Chicago Catholic Charities.  Thank you for helping me get one step closer to my goal!

15 and Feeling Good!

The weather this past week definitely threw my running program for a bit of a loop.  With the 90+ degree temperatures at the beginning of the week I decided to run my 4 miles at the gym.  Tuesday was pretty awesome running home from work in the fog the entire way, standing at Monroe & Lake Shore Drive you couldn't even see The Field Museum!  Saturday's long run of 15 couldn't have been any better.  I woke up bright and early at 5 am only to realize that the storm from the evening was still going on, bringing with it some heavy rain and lightening.  At about 7 a.m. I was able to get myself out on the path and it was so nice to be out there when it wasn't the temperature of the sun.  The humidity was there for sure, but the intense heat had yet to arrive.  I had my ups and downs, but I felt good for the majority of the run and could have added a few more; however I had somewhere important to be - the Cubs game (they actually won too!).

I'm looking forward to another week of running, realizing that the big race is only a little over two months away!  Here are my photos from the week, enjoy!  The Field Museum is supposed to be at the end of the first photo, but the dense fog completely kept it out of sight.

Now I Remember Why I Hate The Treadmill

When I first started running I loved the treadmill, it was my friend.  It helped me gauge my speed, let me run regardless of the weather and it allowed me to watch Paula Deen on the Food Network!  However, over the last year I've started to run more and more outside and I've fallen in love with that.  I enjoy running along the lake watching the waves, looking at the beautiful downtown skyline and my favorite - people watching.

Today it was hot, ridiculously hot, and I came to the conclusion that if I was going to run outside in the insane heat on Tuesday, that on Monday I was going to make the treadmill my friend again.  I had to run 4 miles on the treadmill today and it was quite possibly the worst 4 miles of my life.  Not because it was a poor run, I actually felt good, but because I was absolutely bored the entire time!  I wasn't able to enjoy the run and take everything in.

Here's hoping that tomorrow goes well and I don't melt somewhere between North Avenue & Fullerton!

Halfway There!

Sorry for the delay in writing, it's amazing how summer can just get away from you!

The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy with my running patterns.  I've had some great runs and then I've had some really, really, really bad runs.  The worst had to have been a few weeks ago when the humidity finally hit Chicago.  I was supposed to do a 12 mile run and I was excited for it when I woke up, especially after the great 12 mile one I did the week before.  However, about 3 miles into the run, I realized that it was going to be a pretty bad one.  The temperature was only 87, but the heat index made it feel like 101 degrees - YIKES!  Needless to say, when I got to 6 miles I realized that I had nothing left in me and walked home the last 6 miles.  For those of you wondering, my sunburn was AMAZING after that.

The runs I've had since then have been fairly good and within the time frame that I would hope to be.  Yesterday I did 14, which is the most that I've ever run in my entire life and I'm happy to say that I ran the entire time, bring on the other 12.2!  The time was a little slower than I would have liked, but I need to take into account the distance I'm running and the weather elements as well.

One thing that I've realized while running is that I'm absolutely OVER my current running mix on my iPod, so I'm open to suggestions.  Let me know if you have anything that you recommend!

Here are some photos from my runs over the last three weeks.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!

I'll never be able to escape it

There was one thing that I could always guarantee after a nice round of golf during the summer, that I would always have a rocking farmer's tan after 18 holes.  There's nothing like finishing a round only to find out that I was burned from the bicep down, just a few inches above my knees and that there was a small "V" on my neckline compliments of my polo shirt.

Well, I learned after my 12 mile run on Saturday in the sun that farmer's tan don't just apply to golfers and farmers, but runners as well!  When I got home from my run I figured that I was just a little overheated from the run along the lake, in which there was NO wind/breeze, but more and more throughout the day I realized that I had actually gotten sunburned during my run.  And yes, it was a rather attractive shade of red once again from the biceps down, just above my knees and this time no "V", but a lovely red circle.  Next time I'll remember the sunscreen!

Now that I'm into my sixth week of training for the marathon, I'm happy to say that my speed is picking up a bit.  I've had two great long Saturday runs in a row and I'm hoping that my third this week (12 miles again) will be just as great.  For runs that are six miles and over, I'm running about 30 seconds faster than expected, so I might try to cool it down a bit.  I do have 20.2 more to run after all :)