Who Are the Runners in Chicago?

Taking a step away from a blog all about me me me... I know... insane..

I want to share some information I collected on the runners in Chicago.

SOURCE SURVEY

Four months ago I created a survey for a forum I created to gather some anonymous information from the readers. There is a little over 1200 subscribers and 96 of them responded.

Here are the results (pdf) or for a photo of it. Below is a thumbnail of it, but it doesn't enlarge too well. Just use one of the links!

click me!

I also merged my map of select running clubs in Chicago (with pretty static locations) with markers where runners responded to looking for people to run with, Link.

You can see some areas of Chicago that are Running Club deserts. Groups on meetup.com and Facebook pop up pretty often, but pretty often dry up after lack of attendance.

I would like to see Park Runs pop up, that would be fun.

Some data I didn't chart out: Where do runners like to run? Lakefront path the overwhelming victor, followed by the 606, and Prairie Trail.

I had thoughts of doing this on a neighborhood level, but I didn't have enough data.

 Any thoughts, suggestions, or types of data you'd like to see?

Marvel at This!

No, I didn't achieve some superhuman run time, but some totes awesome things have hit the webs! In case you have been living under a rock, here are my picks!

Ant Man:


Star Wars:


And Batman vs Superman:


 I can't rave enough about Daredevil on Netflix either!!

Okay, enough nerdasming!

Running stuff.

Pretty standard week of running, 5 runs, two rest days. Focusing a lot on listening to my body to tell me what to do for each day. I may have my force back, but still have to deal with a lot of stretching and not push extra miles just to reach more mentally fulfilling daily miles.

The most interest run of the week was on Friday (hello 78 degrees!) I had watched this video:


And, while not for everyone, it inspired me to try to make a difference in someone's run. So during my lunch run, before I made it to the lakefront path, I ran into a lady (maybe my age?) running the opposite direction, who was putting in work on her pace. I figured this would be my best chance, as the lakefront is too busy to stand out from the crowd.

I got my high five hand ready, eye contact, hand up, CONTACT.

What else....
I got to see see part of the last Bull's game of the regular season on Wednesday and see some of the players' friends and family!

Before the gates opened!!

And that's all I got for the moment! Thinking of some ideas for more common sections in the blog (like, favorite kidisms of the week/day, favorite ebay tie finds of the week)

Everyone running the Boston Marathon, have fun! You don't need luck if you made it that far!

Learning to Run with Asthma

Today on My American Life (Will you read this Ira Glass?)

Running with Asthma

Disclaimer: This post isn’t a study on runners with asthma or some science of running with asthma. This post is just my experience.

Upon being diagnosed with asthma in November 2013, I was under the impression I would only experience exercise induced asthma, specifically for my long runs. But my doctor cleared me up, telling me to use albuterol (the rescue inhaler) before every run and as needed. I also was put on a corticosteroid to help prevent asthma attacks.  After a couple weeks of use, I felt an improvement; I thought I was on the fast road to being normal. I’d wake up some days thinking I was cured, but it was more akin to falling asleep with your glasses/contacts on and thinking you no longer need vision assistance. Not so fast there slugger. How quickly I was reminded that I was human.

Running outside in the arctic temperatures is a challenge of will and want, but now also poses a health risk for me.  Typically, covering your mouth to keep the air warm as you run is more of an effort of comfort rather than necessity. I learned that when I’m told I now need to cover up… to do it. I had one run where the weather was around 0, and I uncovered my mouth for about 45 minutes due to feeling nauseous on my run and the cool air helped me feel better. Result? A few days of asthma kicking my ass, using my rescue inhaler as often as permitted, and calling my doctor to see if I should be worried. I was banned from running outside for a few days and was allowed to kick up my medicine temporarily… and reminded to keep my mouth covered in this rabidly cold winter.

In my efforts to keep my mouth covered during my runs for warmer air, I have had many times where I was challenged in getting enough air to feel comfortable at a faster pace through my balaclava. It becomes annoying; trying to constantly adjust the balaclava for your mouth, trying to loosen up my jacket, thinking it is too tight around my neck. In the end, I give up and just push through the run. Oddly enough this is not constant, I’ll go on to have a longer and faster run a few days later with my balaclava on and no issues at all with my breathing.  

Sometimes, I can take it off

I have done a few runs with my face uncovered for a few miles just to free up my body in a sense and gain a little speed and have felt fine. I don’t know what my temperature danger zone is yet, which is frustrating as it produces some anxiety whenever I breathe the freezing naked air.  

I have also learned that feeling normal in a respiratory sense will take a lot longer than I imagined. I’ll be on a high level of the corticosteroid until my symptoms calm the hell down, even when I am not exercising. At the workplace, people with intense and/or very chemically smelling perfume now cause me distress as well as gag. And sometimes stress can make it flare up as well.

Now you may be thinking, so your fitness sounds like it is crashing right? Well, not so much.

While I am not on a training plan for a race, I am trying to maintain a loose structure to my week.  A speed day, a day at my goal marathon pace, and a long run or two.  I’m trying to be as flexible and relaxed as possible with my running. Change my run to later in the day so it is a little warmer? Done. Run on the treadmill because it is a rough asthma day? Done.  And like right now, take a longer break due to a winter cold to avoid a combined attack of being sick and cold air on my lungs, done. 

I’m learning to be a little more patient. Some days I have to focus more on the effort I had to muster to do my run than just the raw stats. In the end, I have been able produce even stronger runs that I have in the last 6 months.

I’m running my intervals at a 6 minute mile pace and have yet to get hurt (last year I was doing them more around 6:05-6:10, and have lightly hurt myself doing them twice last year). I have been doing my long runs by feel, which has led to multiple runs from 14-16 miles in the pace of 6:58- 7:11 (and one near 8 minute mile, since I am human).

I feel happy with my progress. I’m getting back to how I felt before I got injured last July, just faster. Looking back at August to October training last year, the difference is night and day.  Maybe it is the reduction of pressure? Maybe asthma makes me better…

Next Episode:  Taking in the big city

Have a great one!

 

Where in the World...did my Blog Content Go?

This update is largely at the request of Mrs. Stop Running Dad, saying my blog misses me.

Post holidays, I have been pretty reserved in streaming my deluge of links, runs, and banter on the internet.  This action is not a result of being addicted to it or needing to go off the grid to enjoy life, but rather just a reset of objectives for the year.

Last year, my blog and connections were based on marathon training and subsequent characters whose life adventured I would join time to time. The year ended with rush of holiday gatherings and emotional highs. As with any extraordinary rush, comes the subsequent reaction the normalize once the stimuli are gone. This time period has had me thinking of what I want to do this year and how can I grow most as a husband, father, and friend. I haven't had any giant ideas or breakthroughs, but I am getting more excited every day for baby #2!

I haven't signed up for any races this year, which removes some pressure, but also some unity with the community I know. I am keeping June through the end of October clear for baby number two (in case he/she comes early, then the period of time where sleep will be short until sleep training begins at four months).  I briefly thought about a spring marathon, but I still need a longer period of time with more easy paces runs (and not on the treadmill) to get the kink out of my left leg. I feel the stress on the period injury flare up, and I know it isn't time to be freaking out about every run and goal time. I'll be restarting the activities I did at physical therapy soon during my lunch, and start doing a partial run commute to give myself more time to run.

The sad part about my run schedule, is that 5 out of my 6 runs a week will almost surely be done exclusively alone, as weekday runs have zero flexibility to them (and odd starting points), and who gets up super early on a Saturday?

But hey, nobody comes to this blog thinking they are reading the text from Live Journal, so here is some life for the post.

Highlights of the last six days:

On New Years day, I was able to squeeze in a short run at night (rare for me) and went out close to 8pm and traversed the snowy sidewalks of Edgewater, where snow drifts easily went from 2-4 plus feet high:

Only my steps went through here

Thorndale park area

The following day I spent a little extra time on the treadmill at work to get a few extra miles. As most of my runs happen during lunch, I am usually constricted to ~7 miles and a quick shower. I have skipped most of my post run stretches for that extra mile, but am paying for it slowly. I did 10 miles doing paces between 6:58 - 7:30. I still hate treadmills and always hurt after them, but enjoyed the satisfaction. But my legs are definitely still not anywhere close to normal yet.

On Saturday, I went for an easy 8.5 mile run at 5:30am. I got to see a bright shooting star on the first half of my run. It was pretty windy, but I enjoyed the run.

Sunday I wanted to do a long run, as the previous weekend's attempt was cut short due to ice and hazardous roads in Michigan. But it was snowing and very windy, plus I didn't have an limitless time frame to run in, so I set a roughly time limit of 1:30. Going south was pleasant..too pleasant. I knew the wind was at my back, but at least the lake front trail was plowed and salted. I ran to Fullerton, and it took me 47 minutes... return trip? 52 minutes. Wind and snow in my face, my balaclava got too wet and it was hard to breath, so I was forced to run with more of my face exposed. I ended up doing something like 11.5 miles. I was happy to have no pressure on missing a workout goal, so I had no feeling of letting myself down.

cheese!

I have enjoyed watching the new Sherlock episodes...without giving away spoilers:

I'm pretty bummed the next episode of Doctor Who isn't until August...

But at least... the mountain is ready soon (Game of Thrones).

I'm still unsure as to the direction this blog will take, if any, but for now...

Just Dance

That's all I got. Stay warm my winter readers!

Tis The Season for All the Emotions

I'm really not sure I know how to organize this post. This last week was emotion overload for me.

But first.. my runs.  As I mentioned in my last post, I saw I got my weekly miles up too fast (0,30s, 50). Last thing I want to do right now is get hurt AGAIN. So I took a little off my daily runs and took an extra day off.

Tuesday: 5 miles dreadmill run. My calves were shot and sore, I decided to stop early and just stretch for an extra 10 minutes.

Wednesday: Rest for my unhappy legs.

Thursday: Runch! The weather approached 40 and I NEEDED to run outside. I took my run during lunch at work out, and it was a bit slushy..well very slushy, and I didn't account for all the red lights on the street. I ran out to the aquarium and back. Here are some photos:

Non Tourist View of the City

View from the Shedd Aquarium

The Runch run felt great! I run so much more easily and faster off the treadmill, my pace was a lot quicker for the effort than what I do on a treadmill.

Funny note for the run: As I was waiting for a light to change (Note, I was wearing my tights) this old lady in her 70s with a walker, and her 13 year old grand daughter walked by me...then stopped. Old lady turns around, stares at me and says: mmhhhhmmmmm mmmmm that butt! turned back and walked away. The young girl turned and said, SORRY SIR! I'm not sure how to feel about it.. used? Awkward?

Friday: Rest again.

Saturday: Early morning 7 and change easy run outside, a little slick on the lakefront, so I just took some kick off my pace.

Sunday: 13 mileish run with Annabelle @ Fluency's Folly. I had a lot of fun with this run.

 The weather was fair (35 and trace wind) and we had a relaxing pace to just chat or just enjoy the peace of the run. We got to see Santa getting some cardio in before eating all those Christmas cookies!

Okay, now for the rest of life, where the emotions happened!

Wednesday... My wife and I finally let friends know we are expecting come July 1! A lot of you already saw this on Facebook and Twitter. I was elated that I could finally talk about it! The pregnancy frames largely what plans are come next year (especially for races, aka, none hah)

Face is up and it is totes waving at me

How we announced it:

 I'm happy :) We are much more relaxed this time around with the pregnancy.


Thursday: The Bootlegger's Running Coalition (BRC) Holiday Party. A fun evening! I got to meet some people for the first time that I only knew from our group page and some for the first time not in running cloths! I have so much to learn about them, but I felt very welcome! I can't wait to develop more friendships here!

Now the hardest part of the night, it would be the last time that I, and the rest of us Chicagoans, would get to see Erin (The Ruminator). I hated saying goodbye, she has been so good to my family and I, the city is losing a valuable person, runner, wife, and mother! Cheers to you Erin!

Next up... Saturday... the visit to see Santa Claus with my daughter.. My wife wasn't feeling well, so I was left to take my tot on a mall adventure..

1st stop- the BIG Macy's in the Loop... hell no... line was depression.

2nd stop - I meant to go to Bloomingdale's mall, which started at 11, but I went to Nordstrom mall instead (womp) and they started at 12...  It was now 11. Off to Bloomingdale's..

3rd stop - Bloomingdale's.. It is now about 11:30.. Line is long, but I thought it might move quickly.. At least it was pretty:

Two hours later we make it to Santa.. my daughter was a doll the entire wait. We had a LOT of play time to avoid melt downs. She was all excited to see Santa... until it was her turn to actually to see him.. melt down... Pictures later... Long day over all! We were wiped.

And there we go! I am a bit emotionally tired from the week, but that's what really stands out when you look back on life right?

Now hopefully my wife feels better by Christmas!
What say you?

Wow! So Much Blog, Many Run!

So I have done an amazing job staying current with my blog, even my wife has been putting on the pressure! So here goes a recap of the last week. (wait... I can barely remember anything I did)

Monday - Friday. Four runs on the dreadmill at work. They were usually 6-8 mile runs at easy paces. Although, even easy paces on the treadmill just don't have that soft fuzzy feeling of running outside. As there are limited TVs in the gym at work, I am usually at the mercy of a more senior employee's preference until they are done... So I typically am force fed some politically charged news station I don't care for or endless sports highlights.

Note for myself, I really need to re-start my stretching routines again, my legs ache!

Also, random photo of my offspring from last week!

Saturday: Group "Farewell Run" for Erin (Running Ruminations) ~ 12.5 miles (for me)

This run was probably the funnest run I've done in awhile.  The weather was chilly and snowing.. a lot! There was no expectation of pace or time we were trying to hit. It was relaxing and slightly challenging as I haven't done much running outside lately nor run double digit miles in over a month. Our group kept growing in size and I got to met several new people... and did I mention I PR'd in high fives?

I GOT 70!!

I won't forget the run or the people! I hope to have more weather gifted fun runs in the future!

Sunday: Recovery run. I meant to just go 6-7 miles or 1 hour. And again, I forgot to look ahead of time where I should turn around and ended up going about 7.5 miles.  If you asked me, I would say I was doing about 9 minute + miles, but turns out it was about 8:15.. So not as slow as I wanted.

Going for a run.. or mug someone... or both

 Looking back, I've amped up my miles a little faster than I wanted and hit 50 miles last week.. Keep me out of injury jail people! I'm going to try to tone it down a little this week.

Monday: Pint Night at Fleet Feet in Lincoln Square. Total miles about 6.5.

Details: Most of it is being censored out for this blog. But we had a lot of fun, and our ability to consume more wurst jokes looked like this:

FIN

Picking it up for the Holidays

I had the pleasure to experience three very different types of run, each providing me their own challenges, but in the end I love every bit of it.

Friday: Dreadmill. 8 miles. 1.5miles warm up at 8:30 pace, 5 miles between 6:40 - 7:04 pace, 1.5 cool down. I wanted to give myself a small test of my breathing capabilities, how my legs were really doing after a rest day, and a little bit of mental confidence that I am on the right road to redemption and not perdition.

Saturday: First run back on the Lakefront Path! I got out around 5:40am. My plan was to do a slow recovery run after my first push on my legs on Friday. I figured 6-7 miles or an hour at a slow pace would be fine. It was a chilly one, I think the windchill was around -1 and the temperature was somewhere between 8 to 11. I dressed warm... a tad too warm.

I had a pretty pleasant run, I saw some normies I had seen many times before, a total of 8 people, they all said hello. My legs were very tired, but I was in no rush. I looked at my watch to turn around at the 30 minute mark, as I couldn't remember my current mile markers from my new place of resident. Once I got home, I saw that I had messed with my stopwatch and pressed the wrong button. I ended up running about 8 and a half miles, woops.

Saturday evening, I went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with some friends from out of town, it was a very frigid evening! Here are some photos, we had fun!

Sunday: First double digit run, about 10 and a half miles. Mid 20s, windier than Saturday, and snowed for half my run. My legs were not very pleased to be huffing around. I had no push to my run, I was pretty sore and just couldn't pick up my pace to my normal long run pace. The wind was giving me a bit of extra discomfort to my deeper breathing, so at my turn around point, I stopped for a puff of my inhaler to play it safe and returned home on my merry way with snow gracing my face.

Sunday Evening I got to visit a galaxy far far away with some fine friends of mine and some six sided die.

What do runners do when they aren't running?

We role play....

Many of you may be saying:

And rightfully so! It was a fun experience I hope we build upon, we have a filthy crew playing out the adventures we could only hope to do.

Although, my first adventure wasn't very fruitful, as all my "rolls" were pretty much as useful as this:

Fun times! I hope you all had a great weekend! What were you up to? Are you in the holiday spirit yet?