North Shore Classic Half Marathon

You know how water makes the Wicked Witch of the West melt?  … Well that’s how I feel when I run in 85 degree weather.

This past Sunday my running buddy, the other Lindsay, and I ran the North Shore Classic Half Marathon in Highland Park, IL.  We chose this race for a couple reason, but two big selling points were that the scenery was different from our normal lakeshore route and that we hoped it would be cooler than our last half marathon since it was in early June.

Well my friends, you should never gamble on Chicago weather.

Lindsay and I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to fuel and prep for the drive up to the North Shore.  The race started at 7:30 a.m. and we had to be in our corral by 6:45 a.m.  The first thing I loved about this race was the face that it is a lot smaller than the majority of the runs hosted in the city.  Smaller races = less crowds and lower stress levels.

When we got to the starting area, we had plenty of time to visit the port-o-johns, sip on some water and stretch out our hamstrings.

My family was awesome and arrived just as we were gathering in our corrals.  My sister even made some kick-ass signs to help cheer us on!

Before we knew it, it was time to go! go! go!

The first 8 miles were awesome.  We were on pace and ran in and out of the Highland Park neighborhood passing beautiful houses and gorgeous ravines.  You know that scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off where they visit the garage with the super sweet car?

Yah that garage is actually in Highland Park and sits over one of their ravines.

Now that you know we were passing ravines, you probably guessed that this course was not exactly flat.  I’m not sure I realized how hilly Highland Park, Illinois was.  We were constantly going up and down hills, some small…

and some LARGE like the one right at the end of mile 8.  Now when I’m talking about large, I mean large.  I know i’m a city girl that runs on a 99% flat surface, but this one hill was large.

I would be lying if I said that my body handled these hills well.  In fact, I will be the first to admit that I had to walk a portion of those hills – yup.

The last 5 miles were all a deadly mental game.  We entered the Ft. Sheridan military neighborhood that basically had zero shade to block the blazing 85 degree sun and it was a long down and back which meant we were in it for the next 45 minutes.  Even with my amazing running buddy with me, I struggled.

All of our training runs that lead up to our race were in 50 or 60 degree weather and my body was just not ready for such a big jump.  I tried to stay focused and make mini goals in my head that would help the distance go by, but the miles dragged on.  It didn’t help that all of these super fit people around me were stopping to walk and talking about how hot it was outside.  Lindsay overheard a couple runners talking about just ‘finishing the race’ and not ‘running it hard’ due to the weather – talk about a psych out.

By mile 11, I was SO over the race I just wanted it to be done with.  Lindsay, the smart person she is, busted out her iphone and started blasting some motivational music to push us through.

I honestly cannot say enough good things about my running buddy.  When I needed to walk up those hills or take my time through the water stations, she stayed with me – even though I made it clear that she could ditch me at any point.  When I needed a good pep talk – she had one for me.  When I needed to laugh and stop thinking about the damn hills – she busted out her jokes. I’m really glad she stuck with me because her positive attitude pushed me to run those last few and make it to the finish.

13.1 never looked so good.

2:19:08 – 10:36 min/mile

Even though we did not PR on this race, I am glad we ran it.  Lindsay – train more in hilly areas.  Mother nature – stop being so emo and don’t pull an 85 – 90 degree day out of nowhere.

The best part of the race was the ice cold water soaked towels waiting for us at the finish line.

Pure happiness.

It may have not been the time we were hoping for, but we were glad to have another half marathon under our belts.

Almost immediately after chugging some chocolate SILK that was handed out – WIN for us lactose sensitive – we headed out to breakfast with the family.

I ordered the Swedish pancakes with ligonberries and a side order of bacon.

It was the best tasting thing in the world.

I would definitely recommend this race to any individuals who are up for a challenge.  If the weather were 10 degrees cooler I think it would have been a really fun race to run.  My feedback to the race organizers would be to possible switch the route so that you start in the sun in the beginning of the race and end the race running through the shaded neighborhood streets.  Also – if it’s going to be as hot as it was, it would have been super awesome to get that ice cold soaked towel earlier in the race around mile 10 or so.

Shout out to my amazing family for coming to watch and support us.  You guys are amazing and I loved seeing your faces as I turned the corner at the finish!

Until next time!

My First 13.1

Good Morning!

I am so excited to share that I survived my first half-marathon!

I’ll back up a bit to Saturday afternoon.

The majority of the weekend was spent relaxing on the couch and focusing on my eating so that I would not have any GI issues the day of the race.  The only major activity was the Rock N’ Roll Fitness Expo that my running buddy, Lindsay, and I attended Saturday afternoon.  The expo was at McCormick and although the venue was huge, I didn’t really feel like there were too many vendors present. Nevertheless, we had a blast sampling all of the protein/energy products that were there, taking silly pictures and trying on some of their gear.

After the expo, I went home and relaxed with Brian and Bailey on our back porch.  My Pre-race dinner consisted of shrimp and quinoa – high protein – low impact on my stomach.  This meal has worked well in past racing experience, but it really all depends on the person.

I headed to bed around 9:30 p.m. And set my alarm for 4:00 a.m.  As you can imagine, I didn’t really sleep too well as I was extremely anxious about the race!  When it was finally time to get up, I didn’t feel sluggish or tired from my lack of sleep, but rather very very excited!  I had set out all of my gear the night before so all I needed to do was eat my pre-race breakfast (peanut butter toast and bananas) and get ready.

I was out the door by 5:00 a.m. and there were a few other marathoners out with me, but the majority of people that were walking by we’re just getting home from a long night out 🙂  It was rather amusing to watch them all stumble down the street.

Lindsay and I got down to Grant park with about 45 minutes to spare which gave us plenty of time to use the port-o-johns (twice) and get in a little stretching.  By this time, I was nervous and really anxious to get in our corrals.

The race started at exactly 6:30 a.m. And we crossed the start line about 20 minutes after.  The first half of the race was awesome.  We weaved in and out of the river north/loop/west loop area.  We spotted Brian and my parents a couple times which really helped us keep up our motivation!

One of my favorite part of running this race were seeing all of the great signs people had.  My favorites:

“In a galaxy far far away… You are at the finish line”

“Run faster, my arms are hurting”

“Run for the minions!”

We also ran into a couple that both had “Go Lindsay!” Shirts on.  We loved this, for obvious reasons.

After mile 8, things started to get a little more intense.  The sun was a lot hotter and there was very little shade.  Also, my quads were starting to tighten up.  We saw a lot of people stop and start walking at this point, which made our run more of a mental game to just keep going.

Xsport did an awesome job of providing enough water/Gatorade stations along the course.  They even had a one that gave out GU gels.

Once we hit mile 10, it was HOT and I was feeling the effects on my body, but I knew we didn’t have too much further to go.

Lindsay was as happy and chipper as ever, so her enthusiasm really helped me overcome some of my mental roadblocks I was having.  Around mile 11, there was a water/Gatorade station that also had sponges soaked in ice cold water that gave me my second wind.  I drenched myself and pushed on through.

The last mile was surreal – there was a hill – grr – and then you could immediately see the finish line.  We picked up our pace a little bit and pushed on through the finish!  13.1 miles was completed!

We saw our friends and family as we were crossing the finish which was amazing and got me a little emotional.

Our final time:

A little slower than we had anticipated, but the race felt good and I am so happy to have completed my first of many more half-marathons to come!

After we received our medals, Lindsay and I grabbed some post-race goodies and then B-lined to the beer tent to meet up with everyone.

Pure happiness!

I was so glad Brian, my family and friends were there with me to help celebrate – it was a perfect race ending!

After we hung out at the beer tent, Brian and I made our way back home to do some relaxing and recovering.  First stop on the recovery train POTBELLYS.  I was seriously craving a big turkey sandwich and lots of salty chips, so I ordered a Turkey on wheat with EXTRA mustard, hot peppers, lettuce, tomato and pickles.  We grabbed a giant bag of cap cod potato chips at Walgreens, because they are the best, and also two bags of ice.

The ice aided in the second stage of recovery: ICE BATH.

So painful, but so necessary.  The white wine helped a little bit 😉

After about 10 ish minutes in the tub, I came out and inhaled my sandwich.  At that moment, it was the best tasting thing in the universe!

After lunch and a much needed shower, I took a two hour nap and woke up extremely stiff and sore.  I did some stretching on the floor, but the damage was pretty much done and I knew that the next couple days would be a little rough 🙂

My soreness did not, however, stop me from celebrating!  Brian and I met my friend Lauren out for dinner at Wilde Restaurant and Bar just down the street from us.  I ordered the Grilled Salmon Sandwich with a side salad and inhaled all of it.

After dinner, we bar hopped over to DryHop Brewery where we enjoyed a couple glasses of their delicious beers.  It was the perfect ending to an absolutely perfect race.

Time to figure out what my next half-marathon will be!

Running Motivation

Hello Hello!

We are officially 12 days away from the Half-Marathon. Ahhhhh.  I stumbled across an article yesterday that detailed  what runners should be doing/thinking leading up tho their big event.

I found it extremely interesting especially because it emphasizes how much of a mental game it is.  I’ve been searching the web (mainly pinterest) for motivational pictures, words and saying and plan on printing them all out and hanging them somewhere to get me pumped up for the race.  Here are some of my favorites:

The article can be found here, and is a seriously good read for any of you who have a little time off on your lunch break.

Yesterday I perused through the pages while eating this delicious bad boy…

That’s right, I hit up the BOA salad bar because there were absolutely no groceries left in our fridge.  This salad contained mixed greens, shredded carrots, radishes, egg, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, bell peppers, a little tabbouleh, roasted beets and a sprinkle of blue cheese.  All topped with a simple oil and vinegar dressing. SO good.

After work I had a few errands to run.  First up, taking Bailey to the vet to get her yearly shots 😦 We went to a new Vet Clinic that is super close to us called McKillip Animal Hospital and were thrilled with how friendly they were to us and especially how well they took care of Bailey! Bailey did such a good job, she’s always scared of getting weighed just like all the other dogs in the room.  Why is that? She has put on a whopping 8 lbs since we rescued her from PAWS which is awesome because she was way too skinny.

McKillip is a walk-in clinic, so no appointment was necessary but we were in and out of there in 20 minutes. It was awesome! Bailey was thrilled it didn’t take long either…

“Get me outta here!” 🙂

After the vet, Brian and I parted ways and I went to Trader Joe’s to stock up for the week.  Trader Joes is always crazy busy on Mondays… And they were out of lemons! My favorite!

I got a bunch of other great goodies though, including what I had planned for dinner! Fresh wild caught salmon and vegetable kabobs.

I threw together a quick marinade that consisted of balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

My parents got me an indoor grill top for my birthday so it was a perfect reason to bust that out!

Everything was so fresh and delicious which as you know is my favorite kind of meal 🙂

Brian and I have been talking a lot about signing up for a race to do together.  One that he is interested in is the Spartan Race up in Milwaukee which looks really awesome.  I did some research on it last night and found that registration is like $120! Even with the discount codes I stumbled across.  The race in Milwaukee is considered a “sprint” obstacle meaning the course is only just over 3 miles.  I feel like for that distance… is it worth the money?  Thoughts?  Have you ever ran an obstacle race?  How much did it cost?