Mother's Day and a Run!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms of both humans and pets you liken to your own children!

In order to participate in Mother's Day breakfast this morning with my wife and mother in law at 8am at Nookies in Edgewater and not skip my long run, I planned on getting out at 5am to run.  A few things I had to take into consideration for my run:

A) We went to Hamburger Mary's for dinner and I got the Fiesta Burger, a daring choice..

(Side note: Windy City Runner Girl gives a better review of this place and has photos! Only thing I'd add, don't get the Beer and Cheese Dip appetizer, had no flavor and the pretzels were too salted)

B) I usually run at 9:30am, to give myself plenty of time to clear out my stomach, have a snack, coffee, and get my legs.  All this is out the window today.

C) It was a bit chilly...34 air temp.. really? Come on...

Proof of crazies... 4:23am..Sunday

But we are runners, mildly crazy, so I carried on.  Set my alarm for 4:20am, give myself 40 minutes to try and figure out what stomach I'd have

Wake up, after about 15 minutes I can tell my stomach will be like a sleeping Kraken. I took a couple Pepto Bismols to try to keep it in a deep sleep for my run.  I agree with my running part of my brain that I'll run about 30 seconds slower per mile today to keep my stomach happy.

Get outside, brr... I definitely don't have my winter skin anymore.  After a mile I feel better, but the chill tightened up my legs, good thing I wasn't going to be trying for a normal pace.  Anytime I tried to go close to my normal pace, I heard the rumble of the Kraken starting to wake up.

For the first five miles, I saw one runner, one cop SUV, one biker, and maybe 10 drunk people still up from partying the night before probably thinking it would be fun to catch the sunrise.

The rest of the run was unremarkable.  The breeze out of the north was cold, but not that strong.  A pretty sunrise, but I wasn't taking my hands out of my gloves or stopping!

I got home with about 15 minutes to spare.

Fast forward. We go to Nookies in Edgewater (on Bryn Mawr). They are very kid friendly, have good service, and solid food.  I had the croissant french toast napoleon (Layers of crispy croissant with vanilla marscapone and fresh strawberries.), a bagel, chicken sausage, and the oatmeal my daughter decided she didn't like the texture of.  I felt like it was a Man v. Food special, and I won! That's the great thing about running near 14 miles, you can eat a pretty hefty amount and not feet bad!   The french toast is one of my top favorite breakfast items I've had, right after the Out of This World Bread Pudding from M. Henry's!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Did you get a run in today? How are you celebrating?   

Rise and Shine, Attention Please, Prepare to Celebrate your Mother's Deeds!

Hello Weekend Warriors! (and to those who have to work this weekend as well)

This morning's run ( easy run - 6 miles, 5:30am) was a dull photo copy of the past couple Saturday runs.  I was thinking of taking a different route closer to the water, but it was gloomy out this morning, so I kept to my normal path to the recreation drive area and back. The crowd was the same, Elijah running group and a few other runners.

I imagine a lot of people are running the Wrigley 5k today, so I wasn't surprised to see a sparse showing on the lakefront path this morning.  I ended up going a bit too fast on my return trip, threw in a couple fartleks when I had to get around some of the Elijah groups. Had about a mile left and slowed it down a lot to try to not go under an 8 minute mile for an recovery run.

I'm sad since as I write this, it's getting sunny out! bleh. And to follow up from my previous post - Saturday Morning Cuddles! (My daughter always blinks for the flash, sorry honey)

I swear she is awake

And bonus kid footage, vacuuming has become a contact sport - a clip from our vacuum cleaner wars this morning!



I've been mentally prepping myself for tomorrow, Mother's day! You may be asking, prepping for what? Well, if you are a bit of an obsessive runner, you hate missing a run unless you are sick or hobbled.  Tomorrow is my long run, and I won't be able to do it at 9:30am, my wife is going to sleep in tomorrow and taking her and my mother in law out to breakfast.  So that means I need to get my 13 miler done, changed and ready to get my kid up by 7am! So I'm guessing that means I have to get up around 4:15, give myself 45 minutes to drink coffee and clear my system up and give myself some extra time for the run. I need to find a nap time at some point tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone!

How do you fit your runs in on holidays and family events without being inconvenient to the event?

Any special Mother's Day plans?