Run Dead Redemption

After a couple weeks of taking a bit off my speed to nurse my calf back to health and dealing with lovely GI issues on the majority of my runs, I finally turned running angry last night (not outwardly angry, just got myself worked up for my long run). I started taking some digestive enzyme supplements with my meals, and Pepto-Bismol tabs at before bed. We ended up picking up pizza at Gino's North and knowing how my GI system has reacted to everything, I told my stomach...




I woke up at 6am today, as it was going to stay in the 60s late enough that I wouldn't need to start my run that early.  Took a couple more digestive enzymes with my toast, got my coffee in, and got the all clear from my body at 8:15.

I was not having a bad run today, I would not let it happen, I primed myself mentally, I tuned into some Fear Factory in my mental pandora and walked to my starting point feeling like I was in this video game:

I checked the weather beforehand and knew I would be facing a nasty wind from the north on my loop back so better make the first half count.

I should thank a couple runners for making my pace pick up. I started off a few blocks away from this one shorter, bigger guy that was running fast and hard.  I figured that the pace he was doing wasn't sustainable. Goal one..Pass him.  I didn't do anything crazy and burn out, but I noticed he lost a step every 400 meters or so. I finally caught him and his steps were hitting the ground like a bass drum. I hope he doesn't hurt himself, not usually a great sign.

I continued my run and saw my second challenge. Around Waveland another short guy, but pretty upper body built with a tight tech Ragnar shirt on jumped on the path. He seemed to be going a bit too fast, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. After a block he passes me, that's fine...but he stops increasing his speed and sits in front of me.  I give him a block to figure out his speed, I'm about 5 feet behind him as his pace slowed a little. I went to go around him and he swayed to the side and sped up. Not today man, not today.  I then thought about what some other blogger ladies that did the Ragnar has said about a lot of the men talking about "Kills" in the race and I pegged him as one of them. That settled it. I took off and wanted to say- Kill - to him, but he had on headphones. I never really slowed down to much except to sip my Gatorade. I figured he would make a run for me, but I guess he just burned out on his run early, and I didn't see him again.  I saw checked my watch a couple times and saw I was at mile 4 at 26 minutes now and tried to take a step off. I hit mile 7 (the turn around at Michigan Avenue for me) and was at 46:30. Not really a pace I can sustain for 13 miles yet, but I built a decent buffer for the wind I thought.

I turned to loop back and wow. The wind out of the north from Michigan Avenue to Belmont was just sick. I felt like I was running with a parachute on my back. If the wind was just a little more forgiving I know I would have finished under 90 today.

I know I didn't need to go that fast for training purposes, but I needed a good run for my mental status and I got it. I was starting to feel dumpy thinking I was burning out early or something.  I finished at an even 7 minute mile (marathon pace) and didn't feel tired after.  Good thing as we walked to the Pride Parade pretty quickly after I got home. Round trip that was about 5 miles, which after cooling down, felt rougher than running 13.

Now here are some parade pics!

Getting our station ready

Selfie!

And two videos:







Well if I kept your attention this far, thanks for following along!
One question for you! Do you ever have running advice you give, but you rarely take yourself?

Pink Slip to my Gut

  In case you already didn't see your fill of photos, I have to do something with mine from yesterday's Blackhawk's Parade.

I didn't stay for the rally, I just took an early lunch break to catch the parade, which went a bit too fast IMO.

I was pretty exhausted yesterday after sleeping for 4 hours so I went to bed before 10pm for once. I did grab this one photo of my tot trying on our headphones:

Pump up the volume!

Today I had an easy run on the schedule. Good thing, since I hit another horrible stomach run, This is really getting aggravating. Going to try eliminating some items from my diet and see if something is causing it. I'm also going to start retaking some digestive enzymes. I completed the run in the time it takes me to run 10 miles *sigh*.

Speaking of diet, anyone else lose their appetite with the heat/humidity? I have barely been hungry all week and forcing food to make sure I got energy for the next day.

I don't got much else, tried to nap and failed at it. Hopefully tomorrow is better!

Federal Friday!

Happy Friday Everyone!
My replacement phone came in and everything works minus the actually PHONE part, not that I actually talk on the phone much. Looks like I'm going to get a loaner today until my second replacement.

Yesterday evening I took my wife and daughter to Argyle Nights to meet up with +Erin A.M.G. and her family unity. To keep consistent with our luck, it began to rain even though it was a 0% chance of rain (do you even try anymore weather.com?) As I chased my tot back from running away, she stopped to blab and play with a young lady and a gentleman. Peekaboo, dancing, and sharing her pride flag started. The lady looked familiar, but I didn't say anything..But she did.. Declan?

Kelsey??

Yes, Mrs Fueling Strong was there. What are the chances? Why would my daughter pick her out of the crowd to randomly play with? Three times now in about three weeks. A mini blogger meet up. I got to meet Mr. Fueling Strong as well, both very nice people! I couldn't help but question the coincidence and my wife told me - (I think quoting Long Island Medium) there are no coincidences. With that I struck up another Lord of the Rings reference:  Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum she has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over.

The evening wrapped up good, rain moved out. Although I could not fall asleep until after midnight. Awesome when you have want to wake up at 4:15 to get a longish run in. My stomach was a bit iffy (bahn mi and an egg roll don't make my list of the best fuel the night before a strong run). I got out the door and once I hit the path, I ran through many large families of gnats that I couldn't see in the dark that felt like someone throwing fine sand in my face.. so gross. Less gross, I ran into the Ruminator and did part of my run with her. Today was a tempo run day, but my stomach was borderline warning level, so I was happy to do a longer warm up distance. After she finished her run and ran home I was trying to figure out how far I should go back out and just picked Belmont. I did some tempo miles (a little slower so my stomach wouldn't explode) and ended up doing about 11.5 miles. I had to stop for water every water stop the last 3 miles. When I got home, I tried a gu recovery mix that you put in water.. kinda gross. Equally gross? Looked in the mirror and saw the cemetery of gnats on my neck and chest.. sigh.

(I was not paid by any Gu competitors to say that)

Here is a photo from the run:

Also, with this run I broke 1000 miles for the year running! Glad to hit it before July. Funny how sometimes the runners high hits you later. I felt a bit worn out on my last few miles today, half stomach issues, half not eating enough yesterday, but once got to work I felt like I transformed and was ready to go hard again.

Who is going to the Blackhawks parade today? (We'll obviously see each other in the crowd)

Do you ever think coincidences are a sign and not just random?

Name the movie:  Our little boy is all grows up tonight. You know what big boy? You’re grown up. You’re grown up! Yeaaaheyha! Dig that! Is this a fuckin’ production for ya? Cuz you’re growns up and you’re growns up and you’re growns up!

Happy Friday!

I make that blog come and go

Couldn't think of a title for today, so I decided to fashion it after the first song Pandora played. Please don't judge me too hard. (Can you name the song/singer?)

Keeping in line with my rest day blog posts..

Would you say you have a plethora of random information for me? 

Why yes, yes I do have a plethora of random jazz from you, let us strike the internet pinata  and see what stale candy falls out:

Saw this on reddit the other day from Louis CK's show:

Did someone cut an onion?

A few other quotes from his show here.

When I'm walking/running by myself I often think of conversations I want to have with my daughter when she gets older. Lessons that I can share with her, try to lessen the chances of a turbulent teenage relationship, try and be a good father. They grow up to fast, I hope I can grow up too.

Ever curious if you are using your foam roller right? Check here for videos!

Do you like Asian food/culture or just want to do something tonight? Why not check out Argyle Nights! I'll be there! Will you?

"A weekly Night Market on Argyle Street on Thursdays from 4:00pm – 8:00pm from June 27 through September 19 (except July 4). The Market will be held on Argyle Street (5000 N) from Sheridan Rd. on the east (1000 W) to Kenmore Ave.

Vendors will include farm stands and local Argyle area restaurants, live performance arts, and retail goods.

Confirmed vendors: Tank Noodle, Sun Wah BBQ, Tai Nam Market, Uptown Brownie, Phoenix Bean Tofu, Inspiration Kitchens, Hai Yen Restaurants, Uptown Arts Center, Ba Le Sandwich, Hoa Lan Hair Salon, Farmer Nick's, Beijo de Chocolat, Karl's Craft Soup, All Eyes on Art, and other farm vendors via the City of Chicago’s Farmers Markets.

Live performances will be held each week including performances of “Romeo Juliet” by The Hypocrites the first four weeks and Chinese Dancing Dragons at 5:30pm on Thursday, June 27."

Brokeback Burger- I'm surprised this hasn't popped up on more menus!

Ever wonder how elite runners train? Graph! (and link to comments here)

NBA Draft is tonight! Doesn't mean a lot to Bulls fans for the next season as Thibs doesn't even give you a few minutes until year two. Keep those hopes high! Butler and Gibson have been awesome late round picks.

I created a twitter account last night as one of my friends reactivated their account and didn't want to have like 1 follower. So I went ahead and added a lot of the running bloggers so far! Add me @StopRunningDad !

That should be enough for today! What are you up to today?
How much do you love the Three Amigos?

Rain out? Run it out

(Writers Note: Special thanks to my wife for proof reading what I write! <3)

Yesterday evening I restarted my hip and core stretches at night using my band, roller and so on. Of course, this was the ideal timing for my daughter to pick for reading time. She was sitting on my chest or stomach half the time while I read her books and did bridges, leg lifts and rolled around. She insisted I go "night night" when I was on the ground and proceeded to sit one inch for my face waiting for me to open my eyes and go boo. Pretty fun times, adding that to the memory bank for sure! She also likes taking my big band that I put around my ankles and do sideways walking for hip work and try it out herself (she'll do this funky walk without it throughout the day...).

This morning was a planned 10 miles. After finding out that the Ruminator and I run at roughly the same time and area, we set up to run part of our run together today. I haven't run with another person on purpose in about 10 years, so I was excited for the opportunity.

The storms that hit Chicago today apparently had different ideas. At our initial start time  (You were still sleeping), there was a wave of storms passing. There was a break in the bright yellows and reds in the radar. So we set out.  As we had to start a little later, we cut the miles down a little. About half the run was under just a light sprinkle, then Zeus must have thought Chicago was a strip club and his wallet was too heavy because he made it RAIN.

As good runners think, rain was fun and just made for soggy shoes.  Once we heard some loud claps of thunder that weren't over the lake and lightening, she recommended (smartly) we head off the path and to Marine Drive/inner lake shore drive. Fun run! (not fun enough for other runners, we saw maybe 3 other runners) Last couple miles the rain got horrible, I could barely see through my contacts. Puddles meant nothing. I had newspaper ready for my sneakers and took Ruminator's suggestion to  put them at an angle. I tried to not drop water all over my apartment, hopefully I succeeded.  My phone got some water in it even with the cover over it (filed insurance claim for a replacement), which is a bummer. It's still mostly working.

End thoughts: Glad I did the run and got to meet the Ruminator. Next time there is any chance of rain, I won't trust my phone cover to protect it. I made sure to hydrate plenty as I couldn't take a - how sweaty do I look test. Mixed a Nuun in with some water and was good to go.

Anyone else try to run in the monsoon this morning?
Any phones coming out later this year (preferably for T-Mobile) that you would suggest to keep an eye out for?

Side note: Based on +Adam Conolly  book recommendation yesterday, I went to the library and picked up the Quantum Thief. Looks neat!

Enjoy your day!

Tempting Tuesday

Yesterday I took another step in shaving one second of my run time, haircut day! Maybe I'll get lightening strikes on my sides next time. (Sorry no selfie)

After work I went with my wife and tot to the library that just reopened this last weekend in Edgewater. The first floor is half computers and half kids and teen books second floor adult. We both got new library cards, which is a pretty wild evening for us. Kid's favorite book that we took out was a Max and Ruby book.

And of course the biggest news of the night was that I didn't take out all the mushrooms from the Shepard's pie.  that the Blackhawks went H.A.M. and won the Stanley Cup! Sorry to all my Boston friends, good series. Bulls can you do this next? Gotta get the parade time (Friday, time TBD)! Who is with me? This would make a White Sox parade, Red Sox, Blackhawks, and I was in New Orleans when the Patriots won the Super Bowl some years back. (Disclaimer: I'm from Massachusetts)

Now the run section of the running blog. I have been using the stick pretty frequently and I'd like to think it is helping. My calf was about 95% this morning. I decided to try to do the 600m intervals today. Set up the program in Endomondo and told myself to just ease off a little on top speed. I can hit my time goals and run comfortably in between, but I have a knack for straining my right calf.

Wake up at 4:30, get the G.I. clear, feel a little funky...whatever. Get outside, humid, cloudy, tempting for a fast run. I paced around my start point for the GPS to pick up, but after waiting a few minutes and nothing was happening, I decided to scrap the GPS and go by times. As I wasn't going to be hitting my any 6 minute mile speeds, I decided to time it conservatively. I did 6x2:30 hard runs. This may have been a little more than 600m. It worked me decently and let the run be enjoyable. I'd rather have a mediocre speed day and really good runs the rest of the week, than a really good interval day and 5 other rough runs.

I didn't realize the storms overnight were so bad. A lot brush on the path and some pretty big tree limbs were  split or broken. Thankfully the branches were mostly on the grass. There weren't that many people out until about 5:30am, I'm betting a lot of people had a late night partying.  To keep up with my reputation for being Mr. Lakefront Waver, my success rate was actually pretty low this morning in the usually rough areas of Lakeview and LP.  Although my high five rate was 100%, I crossed paths with the Ruminator and a bombastic high five was had. On my loop back once I got back into my turf, friendlies were out and I about broke even on greetings. And on the plus side, I only ate a few gnats today, but I still am finishing all these runs looking like I went for a swim.

Are you planning on going to the Blackhawks parade Friday?

For you scifi buffs, any book recommendations? I haven't looked into non running/kids books since the near Christmas.

Have a great day!

The runner is a spy!

Yesterday afternoon we planned on going to the beach after the kid got up from her nap. Unfortunately, she too an hour and 45 minutes to even fall asleep. By the the time she woke up and had her milk, it was too close to dinner and we still had to go to the grocery store, so I just too her to the playground, which was a ghost town due to the heat. I swear this year we will go to the beach more often.

My daughter's favorite toys yesterday was our foam roller and the recently purchased "stick". Now if I could only teach her to use it on my leg for more than 2 seconds.

With the extra time I had yesterday, I watched Silent Hill: Revelation which was borderline watchable. Two Game of Thrones main characters were in it, Sean Bean (Ned Stark ) and Kit Harington (Jon Snow).
By the time the movie ended my daughter finally fell asleep so I had about 90 or so minutes left. Fire up +Steam .

I haven't played a video game in months. I used to be a game junkie, and have multiple games unfinished. But I went back to a classic I can't quit. +Team Fortress 2. Logging into a game felt uneasy at first, like starting to run again after a long break. I quickly got in my groove and was top on my team ( we still lost....). Fun times! (Title of post game reference). For those of you that play, what are your favorite classes? I go Demo/Medic/Pyro.

Onto the run. Recovery 6 miles, slow pace. Another humid run, the new norm. I put on light blue shorts which makes you look like you peed yourself. Womp.(see Running for Boston for more on this discussion)
There was an abundance of dragonflies out this morning, anyone else notice this?

The clouds covered up the sunrise, but the sun was still pretty on my way back over Cricket Hill.

Get your hill work in here!

Foot traffic seemed pretty light this morning. Maybe it was just due to my limited time out. This run felt nice though, no pressure for any speed, short distance, and its not a hard enough effort to aggravate the stomach.

Still hoping to hit up the Chicago Fire Jam tomorrow night, we didn't go at all last year. Interested in going?
Here is someone's video of part of it:


That is all I got! Stay healthy and enjoy the day! Go Blackhawks!

Sun(day) fun on the Sun

Short post today.

I learned yesterday afternoon that I saw the Ruminator @ Running Ruminations during my morning run.

This morning I woke up at 5 to give myself  a couple hours to clear my stomach and head out before it got too hot for my long run. Usually I take about 2 hours to get this process down. Today it took me three hours. It was worth the wait as my insides were super empty which is the best feeling to start running on (thank you coffee). I started my run around 8am. The first few miles were quick, but once the heat started to set in, my pace gave out slowly. I'd say about every three miles I lost a few seconds. The worst section was between Fullerton and Michigan Avenue where there is no shade at all, I felt like a roasting bean.

I think I saw Chris @ My Type of Run on my run back, I'm waiting on confirmation on this (if you are reading this, were you wearing a green shirt, maybe shamrock shuffle?).

I also saw a coworker of mine who is training for the Chicago Marathon, but he was just taking a walk today as he is coming off an illness.

And I saw one of my sunrise weekday running peeps (she is a waver convert, but I can't pin down her age, but she always has on really long socks, so maybe I'll call her Miss Kneehigh?) on the last mile of my run and we exchanged a wave and nod.

The run itself was nice. I didn't put my all into it, but I was happy that I maintained on okay time. It was withing the pace that I should aim for according to Hanson (~30 seconds slower- thanks to Lindsay @ Running the Windy City for the book help here).

Random side notes: Tan lines getting strong. Better hit the beach to even out!

The Full Moon Fire Jam is Tuesday night near Foster Beach - anyone going?

Anyone hitting the beach today? Which one?

You do a race/run today?

I'll try to do the photo challenge soon. Time to freshen up

Satisfied Saturday

As mentioned yesterday, my wife and I went out to DMK Burger (My wife had a #1 and the Parmesan and Truffle butter fries and a margarita, I had the #5 sweet potato fries, and watermelon type salad, a mojito and a margarita). We couldn't decide where to go for dessert, so we went to Oberweis Ice Cream a block or so north. I had a dulce de leche malt and my wife had a birthday cake ice cream. We check the time... only 7:30. What do people do? I thought stuff stopped at 8pm! So we went to Target and picked up an assortment of items that we had no plans for. I found that they carried running shorts with the liners for like $17. I used them this morning and they worked real nice, especially for the price.

Before bed I took a some pepto and again when I woke up. I figured the alcohol and mix of food would give me issues and I wanted one easy run to finish the week. I woke up 10 minutes earlier today to make sure I gave my stomach enough time for its business.

Out the door at 5:30, cloudy all morning and a bit muggy. I had no goal pace, just an easy run to relax to, modify speed on how my body reacts. Overall, it went well. I wasn't sure how far I was going to run, but by the time I hit my marker for 9, I decided, oh what the heck, lets do 10 again.

Not sure if there was something in the air, but people were extra friendly today, especially for a Saturday morning run. I spotted Kelsey @ Fueling Strong and she sang out a friendly good morning while running with her CARA pace group, I couldn't pick out Bethany @ Accidental Intentions, sorry! 

Mother-in-law is with us today again, so we'll be taking her out to breakfast to say thank you for watching our daughter last night. Plus, I love me some big breakfast!

In other news today, the Edgewater Branch Library is reopening today! Good thing too, pretty sure we can drop our daughter off there and she'll be happy as a clam. Day plans are unknown as the weather seems questionable for most of the day!

What are ya'll doing today? Any long runs in the plans? 


Happy Saturday!

Loves labour almost 10

Biggest news of the day: Today is our 5th Wedding anniversary! I won't get all Facebook on you, but It's wonderful to have the perfect companion to journey life with and keep you in line. Our story is twice as long and unlikely, but love has made it happen and I can't be happier. We typically do some fancy dinner, but this year we want to be full for under $200 so we are thinking dmk burger and then someplace else.

Now the less fun part of the day. Wtf is going on gut. Get your shit together, literally. I have not had one good run since Sunday because of you. Today was the worst. I planned an easy run of 10 miles. Weather was gorgeous, but the gnats invaded the entire area and I choked multiple times on them.

When I woke up at 4:30am, felt ok. In case you haven't already learned, always go #2 before a hard or longer run. Didn't skip that, but stomach was still iffy. Wasn't sure what was in store, but I have a time limit, let's go.

First 3 miles, manageable. Stopped to get a quick picture before sunrise.

Next three I start to worry. Pressure and aches more constant. Already half way done, just make it home. ( don't worry, I still put on a brave face and waved/nodded to people, priorities) The sunrise was perfect and I almost stopped to get another photo, but I was worried that stopping and starting again might make my stomach angrier.

Miles 6 to 9, my face started to grimace more now. Had trouble jogging. Ugh. Worst run to date. Hit mile 9, come on Declan, don't give up. I couldn't keep going without going. I stopped a run early for the first time. Breathed deeply. Walked most of the last mile home, which was also a challenge. I tried to jog a couple times just due to time constraints.

Not a pretty run, but I'm glad I did it... now I know I can eat normally :)

Alternative? Could have stayed in today with the warning signs I had or do a short run... Naw. Rather hate myself for a little while than beat myself up all day.


Tomorrow morning I'll do the same route, hopefully I have a better experience. Plus, I need to make sure I keep a look out for Bethany @ Accidental Intentions and Kelsey @ Fueling Strong when I cross paths with their running groups with CARA and offer a motivational wave. Do I need to look out for anyone else running between 5 and 6:30am on the Lakefront north?

One link for you today:
Rules of Running - It got pretty popular yesterday, so I imagine it made its way to a lot of you already, but still a nice list.

Lots of beach weather in the forecast! Will I see any of you around Hollywood beach or early morning runs on Sunday as well?

Any weekend plans?

How do you deal with stomach issues during training? Skip/push/cut?

Happy Friday!

Thirsty...For A Topic..Thursday

Rest day from running. I couldn't come to any good topic that has been burning my mind to talk about, so I'll just throw a bunch of ish at the blog this morning and you decide what parts are worth your read!

Links:

• Tongue in Chic already made a pretty good link list this week, check it out here

• Ever wonder about the mile markers south of Belmont on the lakefront path disappearing for some distance? This guy did, my guess is to lead you to the Nikefuel House, do you know why?

• Discussion over- What do you wish you had known before the first time you ran.

•   IAMA with Donald Faison (Turk from Scrubs!! note, Zach Braff has done multiple IAMAs and snoops around reddit, see here)

• Living Social deal for 2tough2bully fun run/walk 5k on 30 June

• And I've been wondering why the sun is always so pretty with the sunrise, easy enough explanation.

Dad Photo Stuff:
Kiddo at the park.. with her turtle again:

Little lady pulled a book into her crib from the changing table when we put her down for her nap.. she put it back after she was done lol

Running Gear:

I finally bought The Stick -Marathon Version - after much suggestion. Hopefully my leg keeps getting better so I can get back to some more intense runs.

Felt like a kid on Father's day getting a check from my mom, wait I'm 30... Hey lets get another pair of shoes right? Probably get another pair of +New Balance m890v3s in this wild scheme.

Questions:
How are you preparing yourself to get your runs done in the heat? Setting that alarm early or waiting for the dusk runs?  Need any early morning advice? (see here)

Should I do the runner photo challenge - Why we love summer? it will obviously include me breaking out the sun dresses and evening out my tan lines.

Favorite hot weather drink(s)? I'll go with a Sangria, it just tastes like summer liquid form.

There Will Be Run

Yesterday evening my wife and child, wife's cousin, and I went out to meet a friend and her boyfriend for dinner over Ethiopian food. Fun and tasty times were had. My tot doesn't care for the food yet, but she enjoyed the waitstaff and making some wild faces at my friend's boyfriend (they were friends by the end of dinner, don't worry). I was a bottomless pit for food as usual and had another snack when I got home...that will end well right?

When I went to bed, I had revenge on the mind. I wanted to make up for that debacle of a run I had yesterday morning. There will be run...

I woke up and thought my first alarm didn't work again, but still had a couple minutes before my second alarm. I turn the second alarm off and notice it is only 3:30...turn alarms back on.  I woke up a few more times and finally it was time to get up. Feet on the ground... queasy. ****. There will be run...Friday.
I decided to just do the same distance, but do it at an easy pace as the schedule called for.  The run was nice, beautiful morning compared to yesterday. No photo today, I wasn't in a good location in the small window where the sunrise is still red and pink.

Kim, over at ilaxSTUDIO sent me a link about bikers and runners waving. The article is very pro waving! I'm glad to see other people maintain success rates in their head! The hardest part about doing the wave is getting ignored and you are left hanging for about 1-2 seconds and you feel awkward for a moment... Get over it and try it again! Their loss right? A couple people beat me to the hello this morning, I usually wait until you are about 10 feet away, they hit me at 15!  Granted this is easier when its lighter traffic than say Sunday morning at the lake. I still haven't mastered waving at bikes, you have a much smaller time window to try to see if they are up for the nod.

Speaking of busy, for those of you that run the lakefront, does anyone ever run north of Waveland or Addison? I always find it odd how the traffic from there to Michigan Ave is so thick, when people could easily just run north instead and have so much more space as it is less congested.

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day. Time to think of something to blab about.

Any plans for the day?

Live to run another day

Last night was a treat of brinner, French toast, and since we have company over, I went out to get us some dessert.  This much sugar can't possibly have a bad outcome right? Hold this thought.

Wake up time, feel exhausted and like I have an extra 100lbs on me. Oh well, let's get this show on the road.

I decided to go easy on my calf until it feels solid a few days in a row. Figure I would do a warm up then see what pace I can hold today. Get out...holy fog , 53 degrees. Fun times ahead. Leg feels decent and holding a nice pace when the check engine light comes on around mile 3.5..

Brain: G.I is this you?...
G.I.: zzzz
Brain: Are you high again? You gave me the all clear 30 minutes ago.. damnit you were on a sugar high..
G.I.: huh.. waaa...I'm so high . I told you what? Wait wait, we have a problem brain
Brain: *face palm* hurry up and tell me how bad it is
G.I.: Michael Jackson bad ... I'm going to take about 2 minutes off your pace and put pain on the face
Brain: wait!
Legs: dudes what's going on? We be jamming
(We are now turning around at mile 4.5)
*A wild wind appears* Going North now are you? Feel my damp embrace
Brain: fine... All system please operate at recovery level.

So yea, last 5 miles were brutal. Guy I was using behind me to keep me honest quickly overtook me once my gut was on high alert. Next time Tuesday... Next time. At least my leg feels okay. I feel like this run shouldn't even count, I don't even feel like I ran. Sigh. Learning experience right?

We do have a new contender for friendliest runner. On my way back I did my normal wave/nod if someone was paying attention. Surprisingly this happened around Belmont, a young lady must have had just downed a 5 hour energy shot or something, I passed along my light wave (note- my wave - when my hand swings up for my normal cadence, I simply turn it to a light wave, and go back to my normal form) and her wave back was...loud? big? not sure how to describe it. Head tilted, smile, giant wave and hello. I immediately thought.. do I know her? I don't think so.. is she going to kill me? Probably.


Side note: My CTA pass hasn't worked for the last 24 hours, time to go to CTA HQ!
And Ethiopian food tonight!

Did you get a foggy run in this morning or are you running later?

Have you ever given a running hello that was a bit much?

A little bird told me to run...away..now

After I published my last post yesterday, my wife, child, and myself went to the beach to enjoy the nice weather. For once this season the temperature held by the lake. We originally thought we would just do some playing in the sand and maybe wet our feet. Our daughter hasn't been the most comfortable yet with the lake.

Well that changed and of course no bathing suits were on. We spent a lot of time in the water and my little girl plopped herself in the water and had a blast. Here are some photos:

Walking to the water

 

She just finished a tough mudder

Cool line of clouds

We would walk out for 10 seconds and run back in

aaaand we go back in

The evening was a bit more testy as we skipped our daughter's nap and her dinner was late so hellooo cranky. She took a quick snooze at a stop at Dominicks:

Cousin It taking a nap later at Dominicks

Move the time to this morning, 4:40 am, shortest run of the week and slowest pace. Still trying to work on my calf. It flared a bit in the evening, but I expected that after 13 miles on a tender leg.

70 degrees at 5am, makes dressing fast.  Upon jogging to the lake I see a group of 10 twenty something year olds leaving the beach rather intoxicated. I'm sure they had a special swim. I also saw thumbs up guy, I am glad he got the memo to get back on the practice squad.

I stopped for a quick photo at Hollywood beach of the sunrise before it got too bright..

The birds were very territorial this morning, chasing squirrels away like fighter plans, and some vicious cardinals scaring away some small birds. I knew it was on a matter of time before I was targeted. Run Declan was the word in the trees.

The gnat families were also out this morning, thankfully I didn't end up wearing them.

Tomorrow is interval day, trying to decide if I should do slower intervals until my leg is better, or just do a basic 10 miles and let my leg rest. Game time decision.

Excited for French toast for dinner and low 80s today.

You get a Father's day run in?

Do you love brinner?

Chasing the Red Baron

Happy Father's Day! To my own pops, if you get the internet up in heaven, thank you for the guidance you passed onto me.

To my little daughter..

I always blink for the flash

Thank you for coming into my life, you have given your mother and I so much meaning to our life, today would not be a celebration without you.

Yesterday I noticed I was mentioned on +OptimalRun.com for running dad's that blog, pretty neat!

To my wife, thank you for pampering me this weekend! Part of my Father's day swag was some running snacks:

Yesterday I had some strawberry custard mixed with a nutella cupcake mixed in... YUM!!  Later we went to Dominicks and saw Red Baron pizza was on sale for 3.99. Anything less than 4 dollars has to be a meal just for one... So I ate the entire pizza for dinner. 1600 calories later, I felt content. Perfect food to charge me up for the long run. Just drank a LOT of water to counteract the sodium.
Today I woke up around 7:15 (yay sleeping in!) and I noticed my leg felt pretty good.. hmm? My wife went out and got me a yummy coffee from +Metropolis Coffee . I drink coffee black and the their brew tasted amazing. A lot stronger than the cheap coffee I keep at hand at home. By the time I was ready for my run, my hands were shaking lightly.  My wife also went out on a run with our daughter in the BOB.

I stepped out today feeling good, my right calf felt randomly a lot better after doing a lot of massages to my leg seen here and icing.

My first mile was pretty quick as my street is always cooler and breezier, but once I hit Hollywood, helloooo heat and sun. Instead of feeling like Red Baron was fueling me, I felt the entire run was a battle against the heat.. slowly crashing and burning like so:

We've been heat struck!

My initial goal was to not hurt my calf, just go slow. I amended this and added, don't get heat stroke. Drank +Gatorade every couple miles, and my pace slowed down every couple miles as well. Lesson for today: No more sleeping in on Sundays. Rather than start my runs at 9:30, I need to be done by 9:30am.

I saw a lot of people coming back from another Color Run (are these like every weekend now?). I saw people burning out on their pace, they would start off really fast and go by me, and be slowing down in less than two minutes. I hope everyone eases into the weather!

Today's run wasn't bad as I didn't try to go fast, which resulted in my slowest time in a few months. I'll take that though over getting sick or hurt.

When I finished my run, I refilled my bottle with water and just doused myself with it to cool off. I also noticed I was covered with gnats. I was going to take a picture, but a sweaty hairy chested guy covered in bugs isn't that hot.

After a recovery Gatorade and trying out the purple Nuun (yum!) , I had a cold shower and forced myself to eat a yogurt and banana. The heat run killed my appetite.

I'll make sure to work on my calf again today to keep up the recovery, but I must depart to go to the beach or something fun!

What did you do today?

Straining to Run

I seem to have a knack for straining my calf doing intervals.  Last fall I had a mild strain to my right calf due to over striding my intervals. Some PT and slower running and I was over it.  Tuesday I had intervals, which I felt I landed okay, but I guess not okay enough boo. I was questioning over the last couple days if its just an ache or what. Same calf, top left side but not as bad thankfully. Ice, compression wrap. No pain to touch, no redness, fine walking and stairs, and I can still run. The runs are a bit more effort.

Yesterday I did 10 miles, I am going to fall into the Hanson schedule now which called for an easy run, so I just did whatever felt comfortable. I almost turned back after 1 mile, as my leg was aching. Not a sharp pain, just that dull warm pain of a strain. I told myself to try a couple miles as these things tend to feel better after a little bit of running. The ache turned duller and by mile 6, it was fairly manageable.  I wasn't tracking my pace as I didn't want to feel some mental obligation to do more. It was also in the evening, which is not my usual run time and felt odd to be out with so many people and not on a Sunday. I got home and felt okay, lots of stretches and icing.

This morning was an easy/recovery type run, 7 miles, slower than yesterday. I wore my compression sleeve on my leg and my warm up for my leg only took like 2-3 miles and I started to feel like I could push off easier. All I did was think about my leg and my training for the run. Would I be able to get recovered from this fast? I figure I can take it a little easier on the next interval day or so, but keep up my miles and keep the tempo days in.  I have to make it a point to make time in the evening to do hip work outs to keep my calves from overcompensating.  My wife is also getting back into jogging and we were able to talk aches that I could finally relate to!

Enough about my pity fest!

This morning's run was also pretty nice. Decent weather, Elijah Running Group was out in force, and on my return trip.. CARA pace groups were hitting the lakefront in mass. I passed at least 5 groups, and I'm sure there were a few more that were coming around an offshoot of the path. I swear I saw Fueling Strong out there in a pace group, or at least her twin ( if you read this mrs fueling, were you out there?).

After my run and getting the kid fed, we went to M Henrietta for breakfast. Anyone I go there, I MUST get the out of this world breakfast bread pudding: a bowl of our creamy vanilla and egg custard brioche bread pudding, topped w/warm peaches & blackberries. Simply AMAZING! I got the large portion, which can be a meal on its own.. But after not eating enough last night, it was a side :) I also got 2 eggs, house potatoes, and toast (which my daughter ate half of with the jam... fun to clean up :) )

Photo:

If I ever learn to make this, I will become 500lbs

Upon getting my eggs and potatoes, there were some cherry tomatoes on the plate.. which my daughter thought were grapes.. With the speed of a striking viper, snatched one from my plate, stuffed it in her mouth.. and hilarity ensued - sour face, spitting back out, and recovery time.. Thankfully we had an amazing waitress who brought her a little plate of fruit without asking!  My wife has an excellent meal which I was fortunate enough to finish off (including the plantains! YUM!)

Later today I want to go to Lickity Split to try their strawberry frozen custard and mix it with a cupcake.  I hope I can keep my calf fresh enough to do a long run tomorrow! I am in contact with a fairly fast runner who is recovering from an injury and his slow state run now is my fast pace (~7 minute miles for a long run, he is going back to 6:30 for 18-20 miles, yikes!) So I hope I can stay healthy enough to do a few runs with him and not let him down! (With that, ever you ever need a running buddy, let me know!)

Any plans for Father's Day Weekend?
Do you love Frozen Custard?
Any extra massages/stretches you do for tight/lightly strained calves?

Have a great one!

Happy Day of Venus!

Short post today as how do you follow up a photo with Fabio?

I didn't get my run in this morning, not due to lack of will/injury/sleeping in, but just some work commitments that would prevent me from getting 10 miles in before work today (unless I wanted to run at like 3:45am.. no thanks.. although I did wake up at that time.. sign?)

I'll do my miles after work today, so wave if you see me! I'll write my apology cards to my morning wavers tonight.

I was rereading a few parts of the Hanson Marathon Method book, especially about the Sunday runs. I didn't notice the first time through that they only prescribe a long run every other week, as they "don't want you to do a Sunday long run, a tempo run that totals 16 miles with warm up and cool down, and another Sunday run all in the span of 8 days". Good to know. I'll have to be mindful of the schedule so I don't hurt myself out of routine. Although I do plan on adding miles to my easy runs and such, so that at the peak of training I'll be hitting around 70+ miles. Hanson mentioned in the book that this is more typical of people hitting low and sub 3 hour marathons. He still says to try and not extend your long runs too much or your intensity runs, but rather your easy runs and your warm up and cool down distances.

Speaking of Hanson's, another lady at my work wants to use the method for a Marathon taking place a week after Chicago Marathon, so I'll be lending her the book for a few days. Yay! Another convert.

And in case you are itching for a cute photo of my daughter, here you go!

Heeeeeey!

With that, don't forget Father's day is this weekend! I'll be indulging at M Henrietta's tomorrow and some home made french toast on Sunday after the long run!

Are you running today?
Plans for the weekend?

P.S. Bulls Fans - Click here

I Can't Believe It's Not Buttah Thursday

Lets start with the most important part of yesterday!

If you are already my facebook friend (and if you aren't, why not?) you already saw this photo, but for everyone else, yesterday I let Fabio have a photo with me. I made sure to stand extra awkward so he wouldn't feel too nervous.

Don't be too jealous

Today is my rest day from running. A few general aches to let heal. My right calf that I strained last fall gets flared up when I do intervals, so I just have to keep an eye on that and be more diligent with my evening stretches (by that I mean, do them). I always feel strongest running, the aches go away, after wasting away at work or sitting is when the hard parts come.

I don't have any big hot topics to discuss, so have some links!

• Last nights game winning goal by the Blackhawks via gif!
• RUN! It's a crazed duck!
• Need something to get a father in your life? Why not some great new fragrance?
• Hairy dudes out there can relate to this.
• An interesting interview with an evolutionary biologist on running and why humans hate exercise.
• Epic Game of Thrones Quote (Can you change the word king to runner?) (Different version of quote here)

I will saw I'm turning slightly paranoid now that every ache could turn into some wild injury. Do you have to deal with this?

My post tomorrow will be late, as I have some work obligations forcing my run time to change..and without my run, I have no post!

Happy Friday Eve!

Timey Wimey Run

Easy run day, recharge the batteries and enjoy the scenery. Lets start with the soft pink glow the Sun shared before swimming into the sky.

I felt pretty happy to get this nice weather for my run seeing as the day calls for potentially wild storms.  I love how accurate the weather forecasts are though! Example A, yesterday around 4. Front page: Dry conditions will continue! Map: STORM!

Along Foster Beach I saw a few popular lines from Dr. Who including Don't Blink and  wibbley wobbly timey wimey written on the path with chalk.  Where my fellow Whovians at?

I also saw some drifters sleeping near the beach for a second day in a row.. not bums, just vagabonds. On the way back one guy woke up and was relieving himself on the tree. If I see them again I'm going to alert one of the police that do a patrol a little farther south.

I haven't seen thumbs up guy all week, he better have a good excuse! Although I did see a couple faces that had been MIA for a couple weeks, welcome back to cool kids club!

Do you ever run into people you only see running in a non running scenario? I'm still waiting for that awkward scenario (outside of Mr. V). Although I have seen a guy I see on the bus on a jog yesterday.

Are you a Whovian?

Practice intervals - take one

Chicago Marathon 18 week training plans started this week..exciting! As posted before, I'm doing the Hanson Marathon Method advanced plan. I'll talk about the plan Thursday..maybe.

The first few week of the plan has no hard runs. I looked to next week and Tuesday has a 12x400 meter run, with a 1.5 warm up and cool down. Today I decided to take a stab at it to get a better feeling of the effort I need to muster.

I feel pretty comfortable adjusting the plan to let it catch up to me. I've spent the last few months restructuring my running to mimic training, 50ish miles a week, 1 long run, two hard runs, 3 recovery runs.

With that positive thinking,  I woke up and felt like having a DNS.  Very tired body and mind. First step out of bed, Achilles felt tight. Dramatic me - one more step and it pops .. it is over. Few more steps, all better. I'm still going to refocus on Achilles stretches.

I used +Endomondo to set up an interval plan, which is pretty nice. I used miles instead of meters, so I actually did .25 mile intervals, which is 402.3 meters! Close enough! Here is what the set up looks like:

The run was hard. The effort level is a challenge, not having visual sights as to when your interval ends takes a bit to get used to, but the hardest part, at least for me, is the sinking feeling in your gut after a few intervals. After every interval, I start to question if I have to go to the bathroom.  Strength and fatigue I can fight through, a scary bowel movement... I cannot. I would say this held up my times more than anything.

My splits were okay to a little slow at times when I felt like nature growling. Glad I did a practice run at this. Next week - wake up earlier to make sure my stomach is settled, and run a little harder. Here is the breakdown:

You can follow pretty easy to see where my stomach started to get mad. And if you were running next to me, you would have heard some expletives after every red portion on my run. Overall though, good run.

The weather was gorgeous, ~60, really nice sunrise, light breeze, lots of people out. I started a few minutes later today as I was waiting for my GPS to connect. When I caught up to Mr. V on his walk, he was worried that I wasn't out yet. Funny seeing everyone on different spots on their run.

I tried to nab a few greetings, not as good results as yesterday. Same results as previous weeks - south of Addison, everyone is more focused on looking for money on the ground than keeping their head up!

I tried to take a photo when I finished my run to show I don't look as peppy as my blog, but I looked like a wet dog- DELETE - .

Did you run this morning? Or running in the heat later?

Are intervals your friend?

OH! And how can I forget - Just say Jenn!  (Fellow Chicago Running Blogger) will be on WGN News at 9pm CST on Friday! I saw a promo for "Chicago's Very Own" this morning and it was her! I emailed her to confirm! Watch it!

Misty Monday, running that fog off

Yesterday evening when my wife, tot, and I stepped out to grab a slice of pizza nearby, we ran into Mr. V picking up gelato for his girlfriend. He seemed embarrassed as it appears he is a super healthy eater... Yea don't stay and watch what I order please! At least now my wife knows who mysterious Mr. V is. We bid adieu until 5am.

Speaking of eating, I am starting to use My Fitness Pal again to try to get back into game shape and fix up my eating a bit. 

6 mile recovery run this morning at a few minutes slower than pace. First people I saw were V and his girlfriend. Then I didn't see anyone for like 3 miles. The weather was more ominous than inclement. 66, foggy, misty, and an occasional sprinkle.  The lake looked like scene from a Stephen King movie.

Eventually I started seeing my morning street team, my wave/nod success rate was pretty amazing today, probably like 80%, good Monday start. Observation of the run, typically there are more women than men running in bad or threat of bad weather, but that trend went out the window today. Odd, but quick wave lady and miss constant were both out so thank you for not letting me down!

Shout out today goes not to a runner, but perhaps the most frequent user of the path. A middle age lady that I am guessing is walking to work every morning, see her bag lunch on her hand every morning. She was out all winter and spring. Not sure if this was a health or economic issue. Although today I saw her on a bike and her face just looked a little more relieved. I hope things are on the upswing for her.

The last mile or so of my jog I put a little extra umf into my run/jog. I looked back and apparently another runner was catching up and I thought... This probably looks like the set up for a challenge or something. Sigh, do I slow down and let her pass me or just do the run I wanted to do. I'm only going maybe up to an 8 minute mile so it won't look that bad.  I get near the end of the path and the runner had sped up as well to not lag behind, I imagine she was determined to get by me and she would have today easy. I went off the path and up home, and she looped back and stayed on the path.

Links for the day:
Phenom Mary Cain set the 5k National High School Record, Cain now holds all high school records from 800m to 5k. AMAZING.

Living Social has a deal today for the Guaranteed Rate Disco Dash 5k/10k run on 27 June

Do you use My Fitness Pal to help organize your diet for any goals (if you want to add me, just let me know)?

Do you have any running nutrition guide suggestions?

Happy Running!

Sun, Run, and Fun

Yesterday I left off my post going to Midsommarfest, we had fun, wife has more videos for her vlog in the works. Until that is done, here are a couple photos:

First band we see upon entering! Kinley was dancing on my back

Moulin Rouge Dancers!

  

We had a fun time! Easier with a 22 month old than an 11 month old. Only downside was a few hours lugging our little lady on my back wore out my legs a bit and put a lot of weight on my heels. Took a couple ibuprofen before bed to help.

We also stopped at George's and had some horchata ice cream! Yum. Although even after fair food, this morning I found out I stopped eating too early, energy level LOW.

I got to sleep in today, and woke up around 8am. I did my normal morning routine - Toast & Peanut butter - Coffee - Sunscreen.

Here are my sneakers with the new +Saucony #bostonstrong tags on them:

They add speed too right?

Last long run before I start the Hanson Plan. I didn't use my GPS, just wanted to do it uninjured and enjoy it.  The run was fun and very busy. I know the busy path can annoy a lot of people, but I enjoy it, we are in a huge city! Just think of everyone as drafting tools! 

I ran through a PAWs 4k or something from Foster to Lawrence or something like that. Only annoying part of that was people that let their dogs leash to go max length and over the entire path...trip cord anyone?

I saw one guy with an Ironman tattoo on his leg and I got very jealous, I want to do one more every day.  Then on the way back I saw a guy wearing a full Ironman Lake Zurich outfit. I tried to wave to him when I was walking home, but I got the cold shoulder.

The zounds of people out brought out a big variety of runners. A lot of amazing runners that made reminded me how far I have to go.  On my loop back, this 14/15 year old buy, maybe 5'4, 120lbs, went zooming by, kid has a lot of potential in him.

I had no strong part of my run where I felt like I was floating. The run down was into the wind and I had a mild stitch in my chest, and back I started feeling a bit hot. I slowed down a few times to get some +Gatorade  down. I finished pretty tired and was thinking what might be the causes.. heat? early morning wind draining me? not eating enough last night? I could use these excuses, but I'll mark this down as more things to train for!

Did you run this morning?

And a sunscreen question for those of you that run sans shirt in the hot weather, how do you make sure your back is well covered with sunscreen if you don't have someone to apply it on you?

I've tried to use the sunscreen spray version, but its still very hit or miss, and I don't like the smell of the spray version of sunscreen.

Have a great day!