The big hurt before the bigger hurt...

20.3 miles

3 hours 2 minutes
6:10 pm start
mid 60s, rainy

So I did it: 20 miles of pain before 26 miles of pain.

I spent the evening prior driving back from Galena with Nicki and stopped drinking coffee around 8:30 pm, switching to water for the three hour ride home. I fell asleep when we got home around midnight and got up at 8am to prep for a study group at 10. I offered to bring donuts in an effort to avoid the coffee I wanted so badly, but knew I shouldn't have. Coffee arrived with one of my classmates and managed to get into me, along with a few fistfulls of mini-donuts. A bottle of Gatorade accompanied me through it, though.

In ther early afternoon, I got to meet the newest member of team Rausch - little Parker James (not PJ) - a clear and, I now know, effective inspiration for long runs. His mom and dad are doing well. Cooing and recording poop cycles. Being parents, yet surprisingly still their cool selves. On the drive back from our visit, I started getting butterflies about the run. Would I be able to go the distance or sputter out and fail like my last big distance run? I thought it best to just dive in.

After peeing nearly clear liquid all morning, I realized I was probably peeing out a good bit of necessary minerals, so in a touch of panic, I scarfed down a large amount of potato chips for the salt. Nicki suggested that the oil might not be a great idea. I thought she was probably right, and in a counter-panic I immediately stopped. I planned my route, grabbed my super-goos (discussed in the previous post), took a few last gulps of water, put on my running costume, and started my assault on the pavement.

Starting out northbound, I ran to Bryn Mawr before a long trek southward on the lake path. I passed my home stretch turn at Montrose at the 30 minute mark on the dot after a quick pee, putting me on pace for 9-minute miles. Confidence high, I trudged on.

At the 1 hour mark, I took my first walk and my first power-goop. I avoided going into a pitch black public bathroom to pee and continued at 1:03:00 down past North Ave. beach. The twilight was superceded by heavy cloud cover, and the sky was dark.

By 1:35, I was passing by my old nemesis, Buckingham Fountain, choosing not to stop for water there for fear of it getting into my head. My pace was still strong and I felt good. I had been starting to get into grooves on long, straight stretches where the blinders engaged and the running felt totally automatic. I kept going, around the Shedd Aquarium and down the long drive to the Adler Planetarium. And as I jogged around the back side of the museum, the noise of the city was suddenly dampened and all I could see was the dark blackness of the lake spreading across the horizon. Stunningly peaceful, but I wasn't about to linger. There was work to be done.

At 2:00:00, I took in my second goo-bag walking past Grant Park. With what I hoped would be only about one more hour of running to do over what seemed like a heck of a long way home, I started up the engines again at 2:03

The rain started when I passed Navy Pier and started out along the beach at Ohio Street. It was warm, but strong and steady. Rain always motivates me when running and it was hard not to speed up with the waves lapping at the walkway a few feet to my right and the raindrops pouring down around and on top of me. WIth no one else on the path, I felt like Mr. Kickass until I stepped into a three-inch-deep puddle at a water fountain past Oak St. Beach. Wet feet brought the reality right back to me.

The rain slowed and gradually stopped, and amidst the balancing act of psyching myself up and trying to conserve energy, I realized I was getting tired. I took another three minute walk around 2:30 and braced for the home stretch. For the preceding 20 minutes, characterized by periodic tingling waves of adrenal steroids coursing through my veins, I had been trying to estimate when I would really start to need those boosts. I decided that I would need to allow myself to call up the reserves after crossing Diversey Harbor.

At Diversey I was ok, but the rain started up again at Belmont Harbor, and with a little more attitude this time. And the hurt started to really sink in then too. It was raining hard enough that I had to squint tightly to avoid and obscured view of the growing puddles on the path. My undershirt started to sag deeply as it clung to my chest, restricting my belabored movement slightly enough to throw my rhythm off. My focus was on maintaining the integrity of my stride--staying strong.

After 2 1/2 hours of running without a thought of my lungs, my breath started coming less easily and I found myself grunting and vocalizing thru it, sounding like my dad when he was frustrated trying to fix somethin in a small enough space where his hands couldn't do the work he wanted them to. I was yelling at myself to keep going.  Then in the next few steps, I'd be telling myself how Michael Jackson "Bad" I was for still running. Had there been ANYone else around, I would have attracted many a leery eye. But by the time I got to Montrose, the psychological pain was receding, as I knew I had reached the point where I could comfortably walk home without feeling too much shame and without risking passing out where no one would find me till morning. I walked another minute, then lumbered the last mile home, even giving a sprint-like effort on the last block.

When I walked in the door, Nicki smiled and congratulated me, pointing to an enormous burrito and tall glass of water which, she assured me, had my name on it. I sloughed my saoked running costume and weighed myself, noting a 6 lb. loss, and jumped in a hot shower.

After a banana, two ibuprofen, a couple glucosamine/condroitin tablets, some salted last-tomato-of-the-summer from mom's garden, and the entirety of that gigantic burrito were washed into me with a gallon or two of water, I slept the sleep of a thousand years, satisfied with my effort.

Chicago Marathon, here I come.



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the sub-eight minute mile...

6.2 miles

48 minutes
8 pm
62 degrees and "smoke" according to the forecast on weather.com

A nice nighttime run. Very fast for me. Very fast.


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Outrunning the elderly...

9.8 miles

1 hour 20 minutes
6pm 75 degrees

As I set out for a run today, I ran past an apartment building that was selling a wide variety of tropical plants on their front yard. Intrigued, I had to stop, jog back to get Nicki, and ended up with an awesome philodendron selloum, which I chose not to run with, but instead pick up after.

On the run, only 2-3 miles in, running at a steady and slow pace, I started passing a guy who was struggling. He was moving along at a decent clip, but just slow enough that I had to pass him on the path. He was older, sweating like crazy, red in the face, and panting like a dog without the wagging tongue. As I started to pass him, only going slightly faster than him, I began to realize that he was speeding up to match my pace. I could hear his footsteps behind me speed up a bit and his breathing speed up even more. This irked me. "Why, old man, would you try and keep up with someone half your age who is just starting a run, when you are clearly well into yours? Are you so proud as to risk your health to prove that you can keep up with a random other runner?" Because I didn't say this out loud, he didn't answer, and instead kept my pace. I sped up. He matched it. After 5 minutes or so of being sure this guy couldn't keep this up, I started to get wierded out: was this guy in some sort of midlife crisis mode that might inspire him to murder me if he couldn't run as fast as me? Aren't most older people homicidal? I sped up to a speed that was more appropriate for sprint training and kept it until I was confident that if I looked back, old man murder wouldn't be within striking distance with a sniper rifle.

The rest of the run went fine and I was not assassinated. Hope you enjoyed my crappy photoshop capabilities.

I know I've put this post up well after the fact, but I need to say thanks to everyone for donating. And thanks for doing it so fast. My little thermometer went up to deadly fever heights within days of a stupid email request for help. I'm stunned! I'll get to some well deserved thank you's very soon. But consider this a preliminary.

THANK YOU!!!

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Disappointment and the reality of the situation...

15.6 mi.

2 hours 16 minutes
10:30 am
low 70s

So this weekend I was supposed to get into 18 mile territory, taking me to the 2/3 mark. I was unsuccessful. My plan was to run down the lake--for the hydration benefits that route offers--all the way around Soldier Field and back. This would constitute just over 18 miles, but it was just not to be.

It all started out ok. The weather was phenomenal: cool, gently breezy, sunny. I felt good running. I felt relatively well-hydrated. I had a Clif bar for nourishment that would take me into almost 3 hours of running. I had a half leftover veggie burger a few hours before the start, as I didn't want a full belly going in.

To make a long story short, I got all the way down to Buckingham fountain on the lake trail. I could see the Field Museum, and behind it Soldier Field, and I thought, "ya know, it's gonna take another 45 minutes to run around that thing." So I pulled up, finished what was left of my Clif bar, and headed back. I wasn't overly tired, but I knew that I didn't really want to run any further. I guess I was bored, maybe just eager to get back home. So I went. And that's when the mental and physical game really began.

I haven't really had to deal with mental exhaustion since pretty early on in my training. I think it was about 7 or 8 miles (a distance that is laughably short to me now) when I was really unsure if I'd be able to run it without injury, after feeling some pain in my hip. The distance started itching at a part in my head I can't reach and psyched me out. The same thing happened on the way back. My gait felt good and the legs were tired, but not in real pain. But by the time I hit Oak Street Beach on the way back, my upper abdominals and diaphragm were starting to spasm, making breathing really hard. One of a human being's most primal urges is for the draw of breath, and we tend to panic pretty universally when we can't do this. I recognized that it was getting harder, understood the panic, and tried to put it out of my mind and keep running.

By the time I hit Irving Park on the way back, I had told myself "20 more minutes and you're home. Just run it out." I stopped at Broadway and Montrose at a light about 15 minutes later and put my hands on my knees, panting and groaning, my diaphragm unable to open my lungs enough for sufficient breath. As I leaned over, I suddenly got light-headed. I stood up immediately and got my legs going, and ran as steadily as I could till home.

After dealing with the serious dehydration and malnourishment I had just put myself through, losing about 7 pounds in water over the course of 2 hours (I weighed myself this time), the chills and some nausea mixed in with total physical and mental burnout followed.

But I was more disappointed that I hadn't gone past that stinking fountain.

I remember swimming in Buckingham Fountain after a World Cup game in '94 when I was 12 with my dad. Probably 200 Bolivians and Germans were climbing on and swimming in it. I thought it was funny, but he was adamant that this was a once in a lifetime celebratory act. No way would CPD allow people to swim in this sacred Chicago landmark en masse unless they were volatile foreign football hooligans. I'll never forget that day.

Now I'll have new view of the fountain. A more solemn one that reminds me how close to Soldier Field it is, and how I missed out on a goal that I hurt myself trying to get. Had I just spent the extra (probably) 25 minutes or so and run past the fountain, I'd have finished 18 miles. Sure, I'd be in pain, but I was already hurting pretty bad. And I don't think another 25 minutes worth of pain would've killed me. What doesn't kill you, when you're working on muscle strength and endurance, literally makes you stronger.

So, kids, the lessons learned today are as follows:
1.) Pain is transient, and must only be respected as such.
2.) I will run 18 miles if it kills me.
3.) Bathing in Buckingham Fountain is very fun, and highly recommended.


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Back in the flow...

8.0 miles

8:30 pm
1 hour 8 min.
Low 70's, consistently drizzling

I got back into training pace tonight with a decent-speed 8 miles. It was another great evening for running: cool and dry. I expect they'll continue like this for a while. Summer is drawing up for Fall and you feel it most in the evenings.

It drizzled throughout the entire time, which conveniently kept me hydrated; or rather it kept me from sweating too much and becomming dehydrated. And it wasn't one of those rains that kicks you into gear like you're amping up for the big game, it was a constant drizzle. As opposed to a driving rain, it was a jogging drizzle, if you will (and you will). It kept people largely off the streets and lakeshore, so the lakeshore path was almost entirely empty, which is exactly how I like it.

I felt really good after the run and continued feeling good all night at work. I feel like I'm over my little break. Next run is for distance.

18 miles, here I come.


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A few weeks off was a bad idea...

4.0 mi.

35 minutes
Upper 70s


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After my hiatus from training for a marathon only a little over a month from race date, and subsequent training restart a few days ago, the muscle stiffness had set in pretty deep. Once you've been running for about 3-5 hours a week for a few months, the muscles get used to the abuse. I was amazed at how quickly that went away. Two days after what seemed like an easy-ish 6 miles, it felt suddenly like I had run a tough 15 with no stretching.

It pained me to think of running, but that's life as an idiot who signed up for a marathon.

I recently rewatched a thriller from 1978 with Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, and the guy from Jaws, called "Marathon Man." I originally saw the last part of it when I had mono in high school and watched anything and everthing on TV. I wanted to see if it would be as interesting to someone who didn't have mono, but was running a marathon. Turns out it has surprisingly little to do with running except that Dustin Hoffman runs away from the bad guys, and it's not really interesting unless you're too tired to change the channel. But there's an early scene where Dustin's trying to get a girl and chases after her (running) and tells her he twisted his ankle but isn't limping because "when you race for 26 miles you don't give into pain." I took inspiration from this asinine movie, and I ran. So I thank Dustin Hoffman today.

Here's the trailer, and in case you were wondering: yes, I do run shirtless and in pajama pants. It helps me draw more inspiration from the character. And I think on race day, I'll imagine I'm running from a safety-crazed torturing Nazi dentist Laurence Olivier.

Back from hiatus...

5.8 mi.

8:30pm
45 min., low 70s

So I took a couple days off, whaduvit?

After my last big run a few weeks ago, I was finally finished with school for the summer. I was tired and didn't want to push it after having emphatically crossed the halfway mark in my distances. So I said to myself a few days after that I'd give it another day's rest before running again. Then I registered for school and started a week's worth of blowing cash on Truman College and their cronies. That made me feel mostly like throwing up and punching things, not running. Then I finished up an 8 day work week and crashed for the weekend, after which school started. This brings us up to today's run. I just finished up my first few days of classes and now that my schedule is tight again, I feel I'm able to cram in some running.

I've always been more or less useless when not busy. Whether its the product of TV, the government, terrorists, an overactive lazy gland, or just a true appreciation of pondering and experiencing nothing whatsoever, I do not know. But the more open my schedule gets, the less I am capable of. This helps to explain the deficits in my early college career (i.e. coming off a lifelong daily soccer routine, activities-ensconsed high school, and summer jobs to an environment with no work and just a few classes periodically througout the week with teachers who barely care if you're there or not--but I digress).

But the opposite seems to also be true: the busier I become, often, the more efficient I become, provided I have the appropriate support tactics from Nicki, which include a lot of understanding, love, and--crucially--making sure I eat more that just Cheetos and Redbull.

So I've started school again and made a copious schedule of events in my life, which includes running. It's on the schedule, so I'll feel obligated to do it. Plus, the more hectic things get, the better it feels to zone out and take a long walk. The only difference is that the walk is really long, and you're not walking, and you sweat a lot. I'm actually looking forward to these big distances coming up.

So I took the run that was in my schedule that I had made a few days before. "8:30p9:30p 6 miles," I wrote. And so it was. All hail the mighty schedule!


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Fourteen and foot math...

14.7 mi.

Not sure how long
Nice day, low 70's.

I did almost 15 miles today. It was a relatively uneventful, nice run. I did a normalish route that took me down, then up the lake, then west to the river and back east across the Wilson bridge in the Ravenswood Manor neighborhood.

At one point--and I'm sorry to lay this on you, kids, but it's just a fact of running such ridiculous distances--I had the rumbly tummy and had to stop at a graciously-located city park building to use the bathroom. I had never considered knocking on someone's door to use the bathroom before today. I guess there's a first time for everything.



But the run went well. And I felt pretty good afterwards, because I just recently started running on new shoes. The Team to End AIDS crew suggested we get new shoes, if we were going to, a month-and-a-half before the race to properly break them in. The idea is that it's bad to run a long distance on a shoe that your foot hasn't gotten to know a bit better. So I sprang for some new shoes the other week, and boy are my feet not tired. I got these Asics that are specifically build for "pronators" or people who tend to run on the outside part of the foot.
My bow-legged, hip-displaced legs lead my feet to this very condition, which doesn't bother me, but shows over time in my running shoes.
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That funny wear pattern is on the outside of my left heel. The treads of these shoes were fully intact at the beginning of my training.

At the orientation to the Team to End AIDS training program, they gave us some facts about running and the foot which made me think twice about buying a second pair of running shoes in the span of under a year--something I've never ever done before. They noted that when running, the each footfall places nearly 2 1/2 times your body weight in force on your soles and the bones and ligaments thereof. So for me, that's about 375 lbs. of force on my foot each time it hits the pavement. Stretch that over a mile (for my stride, roughly 4 ft., making 1,320 footfalls per mile), and you're looking at 495,000 lbs. of force on your two feet or 247,500 lbs. of force on each foot. And that's just one mile!

Since Americans aren't good at math, I'll bring this equation to completion for you. So today, I ran 14.7 mi., putting 3,638,250 lbs. of force on each foot today, making a total of over 7.2 million lbs. of force on the old ground-pounders today. It'll be about 13 million lbs. on race day. And that's a lot of coconuts. Now, bearing in mind that the feet are just composed of 26 of some of the smaller bones in your body, a bunch of ligaments, a few muscles and nerves, a heap of skin at the bottom and couple toenails, the amount of pressure they can take is incredible.

So you'll understand why I went out and dropped some dough on new kicks when I'm broke as a joke. And after the run today, my feet felt supported and loved, as if the new shoes had made them chicken noodle soup when they were home sick from school. And come race day, I'm hoping they'll feel roughly as though the shoes had at least cheered for them when a dozen school bully's beat them up at recess. I think that's the best I can hope for.


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Running in the country...

6.0 miles

Upper 70s
7am


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Running in the country is very boring. This was no Chicago lake path. It was more a country road that happened to be ajacent to one of the Great Lakes. Very different. Though traffic was much lighter on this road than in Chicago's lake path, it was very straight and there's a lot less to look at. On runs like that, I get into my head and my inner older brother comes out. This time, it felt good to push myself. I made good time, though I don't remember how long I went (55 minutes?)

We were camping at a neat little resort on Lake Eerie just outside Sandusky while on a vacation to Cleveland where my good friend from Marquette, Mike (though everyone knew him as Noser) got married this weekend. The wedding was great. Got to hang out with some college people I haven't seen in 5 or 6 years. I was trying to force myself the whole weekend not to sing the Cleveland Promotional Video song, out of respect for my friend to no avail. The part of town we were, on Euclid at Playhouse Square where the reception was, was actually really nice-looking, different than the videos make it out to be. Midwest love! See below (Caution: dirty words...):



and...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZzgAjjuqZM

So long to the Maestros...

4.1 miles
34 min.
100° heat index (until I got there and the temperature dropped a good 15 degrees suddenly, a harbinger of the game's outcome)


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Ran myself to the playoffs tonight. That's right playoffs...for kickball. (I'm only capable of playing kicking-based games.) And no, our team did not win. And yes, we were knocked out of the playoff race by a fancypants bald old man who thought he was (insert good MLB pitcher's name) and pitched a spinning fast pitch that was practically unkickable. And no, I'm not bitter, but for a game as inane and childish as KICKball, you'd think a team would want to let the game focus on kicking and not pitching. Otherwise, the kids would have called it throwball or pitchball or fat-idiot-fancy-spinball. The other team clearly had lost their inner kids.

So to celebrate the Maestros' still vibrant inner kids, we went and got drunk, just like little kids do.

Oh yea, the run was fine.

Running whilst socializing...

9.5 miles
1 hour 20
mid 80s 7pm



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Great evening to run. Ran with my good friend from high school, Brad, on the lakefront. Though I've largely avoided the people-watching exercise in self-consciousness of lakefront running thus far in my training, Brad convinced me to give it a try. Biggest benefits are guaranteed periodic water breaks, and almost no stops for cars. It's truly a pedestrian's dream.

We chatted the whole time, which is something I'm not used to, since I've run mostly solo since I was a kid. It was great to catch up with Brad, and the conversation made the miles go by pretty fast, but running and talking is considerably more challenging to the lungs than running and listening to the ipod in my mind. Also, Brad is a marathon machine. He's run one each of the last four or five years and does a regular pace almost a minute faster than mine. He is a machine. So I was a little macho trying to keep up the pace. I think the chatting caused the time to pass quickly enough, and the distance was just at the threshold of my comfort zone, so it wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.

We ran 4 miles from Montrose and Lakeshore to a spot he knew as a mile marker, then back. But my run began when I left home and ran around the park at Montrose Harbor trying to figure out where we'd agreed to meet. Then a real easy jog home made the full 9.5.

Conclusions:
1.) Lakefront running is not so bad. The lack of traffic stops, abundance of water stops, and the cool lake breeze made it a really straightforward run.
2.) Partner running isn't so bad either. It may take some of the focus off my stride when I'm starting to lose form, but then again, it also takes the focus off the pain. And conversation is a lot better than my minds ipod, which must be a crappy older version and always seems to get stuck on particular phrases of particularly awful songs for long stretches.
3.) Brad is a badass. Don't ever try to outrun him. You will be embarrassed. (I once saw him carry a keg of beer on his shoulder for 35 miles, running in the sand!***)



***At least part of that is a true story.

Running with Sliced Oranges...

4.2 miles

Mid 80s before 7 pm game time
40 minutes


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I ran from home to my kickball game today. Our team is pretty good, for a kickball team. We’re third place in a league of 10 or so teams. So for being so good, I thought I’d reward them with a classic sports snack of sliced oranges. I realized after I sent Nicki to the store that this meant that I would have to carry said oranges on my person somehow while also running. Optimistic that I could pull it off, I put the oranges in a supplemental plastic bag and wrapped them up in my game t-shirt and wrapped that around my waist, and off I went.

It only took about 4 blocks before I gave up, realizing that the weight would continue to sag and bounce on my butt as the t-shirt dampened with sweat. I didn’t want the oranges to bounce on my butt. So the only option was to carry them. And so I did the entire rest of the way, alternating hands when my gait became too awkward.

Turns out there’s no good way to run with six oranges worth of orange slices. But I'm the Treasurer and Vice Pres. of the Awkward Club in my mind, so it suits me.



And we lost the game despite extra Vitamin C.

I take my A & P final tomorrow, then it’s 2 ½ weeks without class before I dive into nursing school proper. Off to study.

Summer in Glen Ellyn...

5.7 miles

Hot day, Low 90’s, humid as can be

Mid afternoon

Just under an hour


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Ran in Glen Ellyn this weekend. Nicki was dogsitting for mom and dad who are in Washington hiking up some good stories for us. Also got to see a couple cute babies that live out in these parts.

Ran with Nicki for about 2.5 miles past the Dairy Queen. This is the store where she worked when we were 16 or 17. We first got to know each other there and she let me make Blizzards with my friends behind the counter when her boss wasn't around. We were a lot cooler back then.

Walked a good bit on my run. Ran over to my parent's shop to say hi and see my dad, Aunt Candy was there too. She called me crazy for running in the swampy weather and offered me a ride back to Nicki’s, which, I have to admit, I felt a bit crazy turning down. Chugged some water and ran back.

By the time I got there, Nicki was about to hop in the car with a cold water bottle to come find me. I had spent too much time chatting and she figured I might have parked myself somewhere to quietly suffer heatstroke. Its good to have someone looking out for you.

Here's one of the cute kids we hung out with this weekend.


And now there's only one other baby around here that I can't wait to meet...

Total Dehydration Masochism...

12.2 miles

7 pm

Just over 2 hours, several minutes of extra walking.

100.2° heat index


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It was a successful run with a few—let’s say—“technical errors” that manifested in some “hardship.” For one, I got mixed around with an unclear route on the last few miles once I hit the lake near Loyola. I tried to find a path along the lake, but only found sand, which I gingerly traversed as to not get too much into my shoes until I found pavement again. This was a stumbling block in my planning, causing unnecessary slowdown when I needed to be pushing through. But this was not my only planning failure on this, my longest run so far.

Before that, running along the river, abundant water was available, but on the 2.5 miles from river to lake and another mile south on Sheridan, no public water was close at hand. My legs were doing the work alright, but I was starting to get a little too thirsty for comfort. I realized that I was probably still a bit dehydrated from Sean and Stacy’s wedding only two days before.

I contemplated sneaking between houses and turning on a water hose, but decided not to stop for fear of not making it back, only about halfway into the twelve miles or, in other words, as far away from home as possible. In retrospect, I wish I had braved a possible trespassing charge.

Once I hit the lake path, water was around, the sun was down, there was a cool wind blowing, and I only had a few miles to go. And after passing Wilson and crossing under Lakeshore Drive at Montrose, I started to notice a pain in my foot which I hoped was not some kind of annoying fracture that would plague the rest of my training. It was noticeable enough to stop me after Montrose and Broadway, less than a half mile from home.

I had finished. My body was telling me in general fashion how reprehensible my leadership over it had been in the last two hours, but I had done it with no major apparent injury, nonetheless.

I showered and chugged about 3 water bottles full of water and lay down for a few minutes before I had to skedaddle for work at 10:30. And it was at work when my body exacted its revenge.

A little background first: Working the night shift is hard enough. With varying schedules and token days off, where one’s sleep schedule is reversed completely for a day before starting another work period more tired than when one finished the last one, one is always tired. And today happened to be the start of a 3-day work stretch, which meant I had woken up for class around 6:30 am, tried unsuccessfully to nap in the sweltering afternoon heat, ran 12 miles, and then went to work, expecting to then go to class again in the morning immediately following work. (Now, I’m no martyr, I’m only relating this to show how justified the following description of my body’s reaction was to that whole “ran 12 miles” part. This decision clearly doesn’t fit well into the series of events surrounding it, and was, incidentally, the most optional portion thereof. Perhaps I was just taking the venture of overcoming my inner older brother a bit too far, but suffice to say, it was dumb.)

The headache started as soon as I got up from my brief laydown, and didn’t go away until I got back in the morning and took some ibuprofen. My calf muscles, utterly limp, refused to function in any capacity on ascents or descents of stairs. After a stretch of a few tormented 5-10 minute naps on my break, I was subject to a bout of uncontrollable shivering. All night, I had a strange tingling and tightness around my eyes and nose—still completely inexplicable to me. And whenever anyone asked me “how’s it going,” I was completely unable to find a truthful, or even appropriate answer, opting for something like, “Geez...I…I’m not sure.” This was met on more than one occasion with confused looks and follow up questions that I was also unable to answer.

Everything went well, though. I chugged water all night, bypassing the coffee that I so desperately wanted, until I peed again and knew that I’d be alright. I even sat through almost the whole class the next morning.

I tell this story as lesson to all you kiddies out there who drink too much at weddings and work the night shift and go to class in the mornings while also randomly deciding to train for a marathon like an idiot (you know who you are).

Don’t do that. Or at least, don’t do all of that. The best options are to take out the drinking thing or the running thing. One or the other. Not both. Your body will be totally pissed. You do NOT want to upset your body.

Time flies...

5.4 miles

Low 80s, midday

Not sure how long...


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Nicki ran with me this morning and I didn't bring my watch or look at the time when I left. Thusly, I have no idea how long it took me to run those miles. We ran along the lake, though, which I rarely do. And it was fun even. Nicki buggered off at Lawrence and I kept going for a bit.

Along the way, I passed the Sun Wah BBQ on Winnemac and almost snuck in their back door to steal some food, it smelled so good. Again, a reminder that I need to eat sufficiently before my runs.

Here's a taste of the path we ran along.

Take'r easy...

4.2 miles

36 minutes

Cool down and relax the joints run, midday

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I also picked up some Chondroitin/Glucosamine complex supplements to help with my hips and knees. Hopefully, it'll do the trick.

Today was nice. Calm and easy. I went out for the run before getting ready to go to a Flaming Lips concert at the Aragon Ballroom (right in our neighborhood) with some friends. The run was a nice prelude to a fun night. A little taste of what came after my run: dinner and drinks at our place with the Krieth boys and girl, then walking over to the theater to see a guy walk over his fans in a giant globe, among other things. I attached a video that will give you the gist of it. Nicki and I and our friend, Pauly, are on the arched balcony behind the "ball" at 1:40. I'm pretty sure you see Nicki's arms flailing about shortly thereafter.

Is it irony or coincidence that the song is "Race for the Prize". I'm not good at English.

Just Ten Miles to the Runner's High...

10.6 miles

1 hour 35 minutes

Mid 80's around 6pm


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On this, my longest run so far, I was optimistic and prepared. I set out the door and off around 6pm, leaving the above map for Nicki to see in case I was attacked by annoying North-siders or succumbed to the distance. I decided to forego the normal isometric stretching routine that I usually perform after my first 10 minutes (I've been running in 10 minute intervals, walking for a minute thereafter before running again, as prescribed by the Team to End AIDS training program). Instead, I started out my run with some warmup exercises I used to do in soccer, all motion-based, during a slow first ten minutes. I think this is what kept me going the whole way.

I had a good route picked out which took me along the river, as you can see, from Devon all the way to Irving Park. As suspected, its a great stretch to run. There's water fountains periodically throughout the parks, people doing sports, grass, and a persistent smell of the fetid waters of the Chicago river. All in all, totally pleasant. I even ran into one of the nurses I work with running the other direction.

By about mile 8, though, my hip was hurting and my knees felt achy. Then less than a mile from home, running down Berteau Ave. underneath the Brown Line, a strange thing started happening. I noticed my vision becoming kind of myopic and weird sensation of detachment. Was this runner's high? I do not know, as I don't indulge in runner's drugs(PCP?).

But after getting home and inhaling some delicious food that Nicki made before going to work, I felt WAY better than I had when I walked through the door. I decided this strange sensation was probably more like extreme hypoglycemia, as in my body deciding not to work because it didn't have enough "nutrients." I have a very obstinate body, it seems.

10 mile barrier overcome.

Overcoming your personal economy...

Please take a look at my fundraising page:

http://afc.aidschicago.org/netcommunity/patrickrahm

I am raising funds for a great organization, The AIDS Foundation of Chicago, in concurrence with my training schedule. I'm going to need some help to reach my goal, as it is substantial. I figure if I put in the miles, I can let everyone else put in the cash. I will show you how many miles I put in and under what circumstances and you can put in the cash you think this is worth.

If that's not interesting enough to anyone, I have a few extra incentives:

• I'll be putting together a list of items/activities that you can "purchase," including, but not limited to, a raceday phone call at the mile marker of your choice, or a chalk graffiti of your choice drawn by me on a run and documented for the blog.


• I'll also be selling advertising space on my sweaty skin on race day which can be leased by businesses and private citizens alike--pricing and rules to come.


• Finally, I'll be setting up a raffle of some great items for larger donations including a series of painting donated by Ross Felten, and a personalized song written about you or the individual of your choice by the creative writing major/adman/award-winning songwriter/soon-to-be father, Tim Rausch.


• Details next week...

Thanks for looking at the words I wrote. Consider donating to a great cause for my sake, or to get some great stuff.

Chicago Hail Storm 2011 (Golf ball size hail and up)

Video from the storm in which I found myself completely amped up to be nearly killed. I was not able to dodge all god's heavenly projectiles, but escaped without major damage.

Overcoming your mother, nature...

06/30/11

5.7 miles
8:30 pm--45 minutes

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=beacon+and+sunnyside+chicago&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=1I7ADFA_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x880fd2319aa02f4f:0xb64acc582a79caf,W+Sunnyside+Ave+%26+N+Beacon+St,+Chicago,+IL+60640&gl=us&ei=pDoNToPdJ46RgQeJpYTcDQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ8gEwAA

Yellow/brown sky at outset, windy with twigs, then branches falling on the path.

Lightning coming closer and closer, then the thunder getting closer and closer in time to the lightning, till several times I was worried that I might become electrocuted by nature.

Nicki watching weather reports of supercell tornadoes, then turning off computers, gathering flashlights, pondering why I chose to run now.

Then rain started (1 mi. from home), then torrential rain (.6 mi. from home), then hail (.4 mi), then big hail (.3 mi.) , then a bonk on the head (.2 mi) with hail which made me worry that I might be bludgeoned to death by nature and forced me to stop a block (.1 mi.) from home.

Then after thinking that the hail was diminishing in size and perhaps letting up, I made a run for it (literally the last 150 yds. around the corner and home) and was completely blinded by the amount of water falling through the air.

Also noticed, at that point, the stench of raw sewage flowing up from underground…yuck. But wow.

What a run!

Overcoming your inner older brother...

7.4 miles

65 minute run at around 11:00 am, 80°, sunny

Route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=beacon+and+sunnyside+chicago&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1&rlz=1I7ADFA_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x880fd2319aa02f4f:0xb64acc582a79caf,W+Sunnyside+Ave+%26+N+Beacon+St,+Chicago,+IL+60640&gl=us&ei=4Hf-Ter4M5TqgAeWq4XeCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQ8gEwAA

I woke up late for my long run today after a long night out with some old friends, capped off by a 3:00 am Mexican combo plate run. When my alarm rang at 7:00 am, my body vetoed the running vote and I went back to bed. When I did get up around 10:30, I hit the road as quick as I could after a semi-serious rehydration effort.

My planned route was to take me almost as far west as Kedzie and as far south as Belmont, but the run got into my head a bit. By the time I got to my western limit—Whipple Street, since I’d rather run on the quiet neighborhood streets instead of busy ones—I was only 2 miles into the run and my right hip was starting to bother me. I could tell that my stride was lazy and I was landing too hard on my right foot, causing some pressure and pain in my hip. And so I started second-guessing myself. Here is a sample of my inner dialogue:

Me: Should I just bag it in for the day?

Me: No that’s dumb, you’re fine, and you’re gonna be running a lot farther than this in October, dummy.

Me: But an injury now is gonna make October so much more difficult, I’ll just shorten my route—I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.

Me: Yes you do: if you can’t manage to run the first few miles without getting scared like a baby that you’re gonna hurt your poor little hip bone, then you’re a whiner, which is loathsome to everyone.

Me: But my hip is, like, pretty important in running and I don’t wanna interfere with my training schedule. I’ll just train hard and smart and do a longer run next week.

Me: What a wussy!

Me: Shut up, this is rational!

Me: You shut up, and stop crying!

Me: No you shut up and stop bullying me!

Me: Keep running or I’ll give you a titty twister! I'm totally serious!

Me: Don’t! Stop it! What the heck!? Owwwwww!

And so on and so forth as I kept running. I walked a lot as I thought it out and tried to really get a sense of how my hip was feeling. Finally, about when I hit Irving Park, I decided I’d turn east at Addison and take it a little easy today, hopefully not embarrassingly so. I didn’t want to give myself any more titty twisters.

So I kept running and tried to focus on really strengthen my posture and stride, and I started feeling better. My intervals seemed to go by quicker. And while I could feel my hip straining, it wasn’t really hurting. Before I knew it, and thanks to a steady stream of Cubs fans walking down Addison to the Cubs Yankees game as a distraction, I had passed my planned turn to the north and instead ran through the crowds at Wrigley and up under the Red Line home.

So in all, I went a full 7 miles and less than half a mile under my initial, ambitious 7.7 mile planned route.

What did I learn from all this:

1.) Don’t drink a bunch of beers the night before a long run, if you can absolutely help it.

2.) 3:00 am Mexican food, while delicious, also probably isn’t worth it.

3.) The miles WILL get to you, even before they happen. Find your rhythm, shut out the chatter, and try to avoid giving yourself purple nurples in public.

Next run: Monday 5 miles

A Pleasant Nighttime Run

5.0 mi.

40 minute run (not including stretch after warm-up), at around 10:00 pm, 70°

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=W+Sunnyside+Ave+%26+N+Beacon+St,+Chicago,+IL+60640&daddr=W+Sunnyside+Ave+to:W+Wilson+Ave+to:N+Kedzie+Ave+to:N+Beacon+St&hl=en&geocode=FfRPgAIdh1vG-ilPL6CaMdIPiDGvnKeCxaxkCw%3BFXBOgAIdzObF-g%3BFaZUgAIdQq3F-g%3BFV1HgAIdra3F-g%3BFXdPgAIdhlvG-g&gl=us&mra=dme&mrsp=4&sz=15&dirflg=w&sll=41.962426,-87.662444&sspn=0.013945,0.027423&ie=UTF8&ll=41.963256,-87.688065&spn=0.02789,0.054846&z=14

I had a short sleep today, awakened by the heat, some kids enjoying their summer break loudly in the parkway next to our building, and the pitter patter of Nicki and our friend, Emily, also enjoying summer in the next room. I had a tough time getting back to sleep because it’s just damn hard to sleep in the 5:00 pm heat of summer. I was somewhat relieved, then, to get a call from work at 9:30 letting me know that I would be “cancelled” for the night. (This is something they do when there aren’t enough patients in the hospital to support my wages, and my PTO bank suffers, though I still get paid. This week was abnormal because I had been cancelled earlier in the week already, so I decided to be relieved to get some extra sleep instead of anxious for my job security.)

I hadn’t planned to run today, but thought it would be good to do a decent run two consecutive days this week, take a day off, and then take a long run on Saturday when I have another day off. (It’s been tough for me to schedule runs around this weird night shift thing.) Since Emily and, by that time, also our friend Kristina were hanging out, I thought I’d bug out and let the girls be girls. I didn’t want to get in the way of their chit chat about boys, menstruating, and flatware themes. That’s what girls talk about. My friend Tommy told me that; he’s a fourth-grader.

It was a pleasant night for a run—ideal, probably. There was an intermittent gentle breeze at around 70° in the early evening.

I Initially planned to do a 4.2 mi. loop that I had done earlier in the week across the river in the Ravenswood/Ravenswood Manor area, but got the gumption to go a little further before turning around squarely in Albany Park at Kedzie and Montrose.

Had to focus on keeping my stride steady once deep into the run. I find that my form suffers a bit when tired—shortening my stride and accentuating my bow-leggedness—and puts strain on my knees and feet. It helps to keep that stride long and straight to maintain a solid posture. I hope this will help me avoid injury and avoid looking like I’m dying on the last miles of my runs.

Next run: Saturday, 7 miles.