My Second Marathon
October 15th, 2009 § 2 Comments
I think I will call this race my comedy of errors, because a bunch of things seemed to go wrong…but I DID finish and I had a fabulous time with Melanie and her family, as well as seeing some old friends from Chicago! So all in all, worth the trip 
So this past weekend my friend Melanie and I ran the Chicago marathon. It was my second marathon, and her first. Now, I’ll be honest when I say I didn’t have the best track record when it came to the training. I was very good in the beginning, but then my schedule was all messed up and we moved and blah blah excuses–long story short, I was a little nervous that that would come into effect. But I completed the 18-miler and the 20-miler, so I knew I would at least be able to finish. Cut to Saturday morning at 5am on Saturday when I woke up and got my stuff together to leave for Chicago from DC. My cab was late, and I made it there in the nick of time for my flight. We board and I find myself next to a larger man who has already fallen asleep and is snoring LOUDLY. Okay, snoring is just something I can. not. take. I was just thinking this thought when the pilot came on and said that an indicator light came on and we needed to restart the plane on the runway. Naturally, Mr. Blocked Airways dozes right on through. Fifteen minutes later the problem is still not fixed and we have to head back to the gate for maintenance to look at it; but we’re assured it will be a quick fix, which is nice, since my layover time is rapidly decreasing. Well, fifteen minutes after THAT and the plane isn’t going anywhere so we deplane and head up to ticketing to rebook, only to find out that the only supervisor has left and no one is empowered to issue any tickets. UMMM this is what bothers me about airlines–with all their fancy communication gadgets, shouldn’t someone have sent the word that 100 people are storming back upstairs that will need immediate attention? Luckily I was person #5 because I booked it up the escalator, but it still took twenty minutes to talk to a real person. There was a girl in front of me who was also running in the marathon, and my heart almost sank when she came back and said the only flight available to Chicago left from DULLES and got into Chicago at 4:40…which meant I would miss the expo and would have to send Melanie along to pick up my packet and all my race day stuff. Well, lo and behold, I step up to the agent and she’s found me a flight on another airline that gets into Chicago at 1:45. Hooray! I’m beaming from ear to ear as I plant myself downstairs to finish The Stranger before my new flight (DIRECT to Chicago!) and everything went off without a hitch.
Once I got to Chicago I took a cab down to McCormick Place, picking up Melanie as I went, and picked up all of our stuff for the race on Sunday. The expo was crazy and it brought back a lot of memories for me. Watching the video of the course was especially emotional because I remember how I felt, particularly at mile 23 when there were NO SPECTATORS and I was so ready for everything to be over. At more than one point I found myself wondering, why did I decide to do this AGAIN??!? But, all in good fun. We headed up to Lakeview to meet up with Colleen and Amity and we went out to eat at The Olive Garden for some pasta and then I crashed asleep.
Next morning I woke up when it was still dark out, got dressed and crept out of Colleen’s apartment. Outside it was FREEZING and I went to wait at the bus stop. Wellll, twenty mintues later there was no bus so I found a group of girls and we started looking for a cab. Buttttt all the cabs were full, few and far between. So when the bus randomly pulled up, I hopped on and made my way downtown. Met up with Melanie and we dropped off our stuff and went to the start line. Probably about 5 minutes before the start, I dropped my iPod and it broke. Believe me when I say, my heart sank with the prospect of having to run 26 miles without music…again. Last year we weren’t allowed to have headphones so I was really looking forward to having it this year. Well, no such luck. But Mel and I were still pumped when we started walking towards the start line, and when we crossed it at a slow jog, skipping over the piles of old sweatshirts and warm-ups. As a sidebar: I kept my blue flannel pajama pants with frogs on them until about mile 10.
The first part of the marathon is always the best–there are lots of fans, the runners are pumped, and you’re feeling good and energized and fast. Mel and I ran the first 7 miles together, and then we got split up. I felt pretty good throughout, and the parts that I was really dreading didn’t end up being that bad. The last few miles, in particular, were full of people whose cheers really did help! Only problem was, my bladder decided to wreak havoc on my race and I had to stop–not once, not twice, but THREE times to go to the bathroom. So, that was kind of annoying because I had to waste time waiting in line for the port-a-potties. Although, to be honest, I didn’t push it as hard as I could have. Towards the end of the race–and even in places in the middle–I kept thinking, I really want to enjoy the race and not kill myself trying to get a good time. I think I was just remembering last year when it was so hot and I wanted to do well and there were points that were downright dreadful that I didn’t want to repeat…so yeah, ended up finishing 5:08:32, which was 20 minutes slower than last year’s marathon. But! It was a great time, and afterward I was so thrilled to eat a CRAPload–bagel, three packs of pretzels, banana, gatorade…and then once Mel and I met up we went to get a quick massage and then hobble back to her family’s condo, where we cuddled in bed and watched TV until dinner (Aurelio’s!).
All in all, a very enjoyable trip, and I almost DIED when Melanie said she wanted to do it again (just the day before she was adamant about how she wasn’t going to be one of those people that caught the marathon bug…well, long story short we’re planning to do a half marathon in March and do the Chicago marathon again next year…what can I say?). I just hope we can get our friends Meg and Katie to run with us, because Mel and I both have high hopes of all four of us running together!!! We missed our Katie dearly this weekend since she got injured during the training and couldn’t run.
And, hey! If you made it all the way through this post, congrats!!! It took me a couple sittings to even write it 
Anyone else a runner or thinking about running a (half) marathon? I’d love to hear about any tips or good races!
Update
May 24th, 2009 § 1 Comment
It’s been a lovely weekend. On Saturday I got up early and went for a run. When I got out to the path, there were a BAJILLION people out so I asked a guy what was going on. Apparently there was a “little 10-miler” going on, and I could probably join in if I wanted. I said cool, but no thanks, I was only running 4 miles today. But oh how fun it was to run with so many people! I did have to do a lot of weaving, but that’s okay. I ended up feeling so energized I ran an extra mile, and much faster than I normally run, so yay!
Got back to the apartment and changed shirts and put on my yoga capris and walked over to the Family Resource Center, which I learned was actually on the second floor of a church. I was going for free yoga led by one of the SSA grad students, and when I got there I found out that we were going to be practicing outside on the grass in a little courtyard…awesome! It was so peaceful and a great way to spend an hour and a half, but gosh my quads were BURNING! But honestly the best feeling in the world is doing the shivasana at the end…oh my gosh I am never so restful and at peace. And I made friends! There were 5-6 girls there and apparently they do yoga pretty regularly together, including at the business school so I’ll have to check it out one of these days (well actually I think they’re ending this week….) but if I’m still in Chicago over the summer they have free yoga in Millenium Park every Saturday morning so I’m thinking about running downtown, doing yoga for an hour or so, and then running back. That would be about 14 miles, maybe a little less, so it’s good that they don’t start up the activities until a bit later in June. But I’m excited!
Also when I got back from yoga I made this delicious pasta. It really is so quick and divine. I really do love prosciutto, even though it is so expensive. But I figure pasta, peas, and cheese are pretty inexpensive, so the $/meal is not that bad. Supposed to make 4 servings, but I was rather hungry and ate it in two and a half (yes, it’s gone already). I did it pretty much along the recipe, except for adding a pinch of red pepper flakes and mixing in a bit of parmesan cheese at the end before serving. Really, it was soooooo good you should try it!
Today I was supposed to do Bike the Drive but I woke up so sleepy and after chatting with Mom online it was almost over, so I guess I missed it. Oh well. As it turns out you could only enter from Jackson, so I would have had to take the bus with my bike downtown and then ride south…which seemed like kind of a hassle. Ah well. Other than that I have been really lazy–saved some jobs to apply to, watched several episodes of Doogie Howser (seriously, my NPH obsession is reaching dangerous levels), and browsed a lot of blogs to add to Google Reader.
I think I’ll write for a bit and then eat some dinner…and I should post a little shout out for the Cavs who are playing Orlando tonight in Game 3! I am hoping they do well so Drew is in a good mood and so he doesn’t abandon the jersey I got him (apparently the Cavs are 1-3 while he wears it). Hope you all had fabulous weekends! So sad that another week is already here to greet us.
Hello hello
January 26th, 2009 § 2 Comments
Wow, it’s been a while! I guess I took off longer than I intended After Christmas I was enjoying my reading and watching movies routine so much I forgot to blog!!! Have still been reading all my lovely blogs and therefore have tons and tons of stuff to post… Ay, I’m a little hair-brained today…I better do this bullet-point style:
1. Drew visited and it was fantastic!!! He stayed for a whole week and I loved having him here!!! We did lots of fun stuff–went to a Bulls-Cavs game, the Art Institute, ESPNZone, a little shopping, Clarke’s (the Wake Forest bar!!!), watched the Eagles game (boooo loss to the Cardinals), ate yummy food, watched plenty of How I Met Your Mother and Battlestar Galactica (I’ll let you guess who picked which), and most importantly spent lots of time together!!! It was quite nice to come home after class to him here… Ah well, soon enough!
2. At some point I’m going to make a few new year’s resolutions. I always have a few mental ones, but I thought I’d put a few down on paper this year…we’ll see what happens.
3. Classes are going well so far. Taking four plus TA-ing so I’m busy, and trying to catch up after Drew’s visit, but it hasn’t been that bad. I’m enjoying being a student for a little while longer.
4. Job hunt continues though I have done very little applying since December. At some point I’ll need to start that up again. Drew and I both have interviews with Whirlpool in the next month or so (hopefully we can coordinate for the same time!) which has stalled my search a bit. If we both landed leadership development programs there, it’d be quite a nice way to spend the next 3 or 4 years…
5. It’s Monday and that means How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, which makes me happy.
6. My family is getting a new dog…and it’s a puggle!!! Drew said it was a terrible choice but I know what he really meant was I’m so jealous!!! Hopefully a puppy of my own isn’t too far off the horizon…
7. I am cooking more these days, which is nice. I got this cookbook for Christmas and have made the pork cordon bleu (which was reallllllly yummy) and I have lots of recipes saved from this blog (I tried the vodka tomato pasta but I kinda did everything wrong so it didn’t turn out so well…glad I only got the $3 vodka haha!).
8. Have been doing lots of reading. Am on East of Eden right now, but I may take a break to read this.
Well, that’s about it. I’m a happy gal at the moment, with not much at all to complain about. I will be updating more in the future, when I get around to uploading the masses from my desktop. And perhaps I’ll also upload the three pictures I took from Drew’s visit (how come I always forget to take pictures?!?!! Argh.) Til then, stay warm friends!
Chicagoist Photos
September 29th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Thought I’d share these recent photos of Chicago in the summertime, as I’m sure I’ll need them to get through the next several months! It’s not too bad yet, though it is pretty rainy today… Trying to decide if I really want to drive up north to run with the R4R group or just run on my own. Hmmm, maybe if there’s parking… Anyway!
No Chicago This Weekend
August 16th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Well it’ll be the first weekend in a while that I don’t go back to Chicago over the weekend (I don’t count last weekend even though I was actually in the city, because I only spent a total of two hours in my apartment, and the rest was spent in St. Charles, IL/Buchanan, MI). I will miss it, and my apartment, but I am thankful to spend a quite weekend updating my blog, reading!!!, maybe shopping with my grandma, and gardening. Not a bad life…
Still I love these photos!
Lollapalooza
August 6th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Yay, I’m back from Chicago, and had a wonderful weekend with Laura. I took off Friday and headed back to my apartment on Thursday night after work, which was nice because I forgot how much I missed home. I barely had time to get my stuff in the door and buy a bottle of wine (if you’re looking for a cheap and excellent red I highly recommend Robert Mondavi’s Pinot Noir) before leaving with Colleen and Amity for Mexican food. Yum, it was tasty! I had had actually had a burrito for lunch but the food was so good I didn’t mind a repeat We sat around and chatted for a while until Laura got into the city, and then she and I headed back to my apartment. I guess it was still pretty early but we were both exhausted so we just relaxed and caught up and went to bed early.
So Friday was the first big day of the music festival. For some reason I woke up really early (honestly I can’t sleep in these days!) so I decided to walk down to Hyde Park Produce and get some breakfast supplies. Came back and made some pancakes, eggs, and peaches and raspberries, and Laura, Colleen, and I ate and caught up on some missed tv from last week (Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance, two guilty pleasures). A typical lazy weekend morning I’ve missed this summer, so that was nice. Eventually Laura and I made it downtown to Lollapalooza, which was A LOT OF FUN. On Friday we saw: Louis XIV, The Black Keys, Cat Power, a few minutes of The Raconteurs, Stephen Malkmus and the Jinks, and a few minutes of Radiohead. I liked Cat Power the best. We were both pretty exhausted by the end, so we decided to go to Adobo Grill (more Mexican!) for dinner, and then we met up with Colleen and Amity to go dance at Barleycorn. We didn’t stay too long, and called it a night pretty early, which was just fine by me!
On Saturday I had to wake up really early again (this time not naturally though) to run…14 miles. I actually ran 14 last week too even though I was only scheduled for 12, and even though this week I was only scheduled for 13 I decided to keep my length constant. It was actually really nice running along the lake, and I would have beaten my time from last week if my ipod hadn’t run out of battery like 2/3 of the way through…I really suck at running without music because I just get bored and start daydreaming instead of getting energized by the beat! So we’ll see how that goes during the actual race when I can’t wear my headphones… I think there’ll be enough excitement to carry me through though–I hope! But yeah! So now I know I could officially run a half marathon in less than 2 hours, so now a whole marathon in 4 hours doesn’t seem SO impossible, though still pretty challenging. Anyway, came back and showered, then Laura and I headed out to one of my favorite brunch places, Yolk, where I had some delicious cream cheese and raspberry stuffed french toast. Yum! Then we headed over to Grant Park for Lolla Day 2, where we saw: Dr. Dog, MGMT, Brand New, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, and Wilco. I liked Dr. Dog, MGMT, and Wilco the best–I think I would have liked Wilco more than I did actually, if my back hadn’t been hurting like a MOTHER. So I’ll have to download some of their stuff off iTunes. Oh, and in between there we took the L out to Aurelio’s for dinner–YUMM! I was really excited; the super six got me all revved up. So anyway we headed back to my apartment and I lay down on the floor to ease the pain in my back while Laura got a shower, then I cleaned up and we got ready for Colleen’s party. Once we were ready (and had watched a few minutes of Titanic on TV…man, looking back on it the special effects are really insanely obvious and a bit cartoony; somehow I didn’t notice this back in 1997), we were off to Krem. It actually had a really fun vibe this time…maybe the music was louder or I just had a better dance partner (Laura always gets me in the mood to dance…and like no one is watching either) so I enjoyed myself immensely.
Didn’t end up getting back until very late in the morning, so we slept in on Sunday, and kind of lay around for a while chatting and watching Pretty Woman and eating Shells ‘n’ Cheese before heading back out to the final Lolla installment. Day 3 was probably my favorite, where we saw: Blues Traveler, Gnarls Barkley, The National, Mark Ronson, and Kanye West. I would have liked to have seen more of Mark Ronson, Girl Talk, and Flogging Molly, but there were just too many bands packed into tight time frames. Anyway, Kanye was AWESOME–the show was so packed with energy and he was bouncing around the stage almost the entire time. The crowd was going crazy and really fed off all of his energy. We weren’t actually planning on staying through his show at all; we had just heard a rumor that Obama was going to be introducing him, so we really only went to see Obama, but shucks he wasn’t there..though after a few songs we forgot all about it After that we made a mass exit, sunburnt, tired, but still cheering and happy. It was a really fun weekend, and after some much needed food and a long bus ride home, we finally packed up and headed home. Of course I didn’t get back to the lake until like 3 in the morning, so that made it 3 nights in a row with 4 hours of sleep, so Monday was a bit rough. But yay, what fun!
Millenium Park/A Good Weekend
June 30th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Well I had a good weekend back in Chicago. Went to the Taste with friends, and made it our mission to find the best Chicago style pizza. The unanimous verdict was Bacino’s of Lincoln Park!!! Of course Aurelio’s wasn’t there, but that’s thin crust and not stuffed Also went to see Get Smart, which was really really cute. Actually, I kind of want to see it again. And then other little things, and a long run–though to be honest it wasn’t enough time at home. I really would like a good week to go exploring and not work and not do grading hahaha! Ah well, I’ll have to wait until September to do that. Anyway, back in Michigan now, obviously, since I already posted about our dinner last night. But I wanted to share these cute photos of Millenium Park, which was PACKED over the weekend!!!
Whew!
June 28th, 2008 § Leave a Comment
Well, I’m home. In particular, I’m lying on my own bed in pj shorts with the AC blowing comfortably down on me. I’ve missed being home. I love my grandparents and I love the lake, and I love my parents and our house in PA, but this apartment has come to mean a lot to me, and it’s nice to be back. It feels like a while since I’ve been here (it’s been a little over a week). Weekends are nice. I do have a lot planned, including going for a run, doing laundry, going to the Taste of Chicago, getting my bike fixed (finally GAHHH), transferring my iTunes music to my new computer (ALSO FINALLY), dropping off the dry cleaning, church, and hopefully also seeing Get Smart (I’ve been dubbed Agent 99 already at work…). I was thinking I might see it tonight, but after I sat down I realized just how tired I was. My legs are sore and they’re enjoying being propped up on the bed.
But yeah, so far work is really fun. I really do love working, and I am happiest when I feel part of a team doing meaningful work. And I’m doing better with more unstructured time than I thought I would–I think the main issue for me is just having a dedicated work space and a dedicated relax space. When I try and mix the two, nothing gets done, but I don’t really relax either. Hence, I can’t really do work at home (the reading room is where I always read or write papers at school), and working at an office is much the same. I like all my coworkers and I love having my own cube and laptop and journal that I can fill with wild ideas for where I think Whirlpool should go. It’s exciting. Part of my research this week has been around sustainability best practices, and I’ve gotten to learn a bit about some really cool companies. In fact today I felt a really strong desire to move to Sweden and work for IKEA. I really would like to work abroad for a while. It’d be a lot harder when I have a family, and why not now? I am so itching to get back to Europe, and to Latin America, and Australia (probably in part due to Mom and Dad’s trip–they’re somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean right now, heading to Paris). I’m planning on going with Mom, Dad, Michael, Grandma and Poppa to visit Todd when he studies abroad in the winter in Tubigen, Germany, so I’m sure that’ll be really fun. Again I come back to wishing I was in a three-year MBA program, so I could study abroad for part of it and TA for some cool classes and learn a bit more econ/marketing theory. I also think it’d probably be a wise choice to pick up a concentration in Finance as well, so I’m not positioning myself as a total right brain!! But yeah, we’ll see. Also feeling energized about the marathon, which has morphed into a bit of an emotional journey for me…like I mentioned in another post, I always sort of surprise myself when I stick to things independently, and I feel like this race is something I really desperately want to do, for myself, to prove I can do it. I’m also really enjoying running, and I definitely enjoy feeling healthier and stronger, and in general more in control of my own body, which is nice. Anyway, I’m off to read…yay!
