The 2012 Chicago Mere-a-thon

When Tom Skilling tells you that the start of the race will be about 34 degrees, and by the time you finish it should be in the high-40’s with partly sunny skies and no rain, you know it’s going to be a good race day.

When I started walking to the car at 6am, the air felt nice. By the time I actually got to the car, a mere 45 seconds later, I was cold. Brrr! It was going to be a cold race. But cold races are usually where I perform the best. It’s when the sun is out, the humidity is high, and the temperatures creep above 70 that I am miserable on the course.

Thankfully, the Weather Gods were on Team Meredith on Sunday!

Before the race, I saw a co-worker heading to the corral, so it was nice to touch base with him. Then while in the corral, I’m not sure what happened…Usually, you can strip off your clothes and stand in the corral, basking off the warmth of fellow runners. Not this time. No one was huddled close together. Everyone gave the infamous “bubble” to each other, as not to intrude. I keep shaking and shivering all the way until I started running (30+ minutes later!).

Walking to the start line, I got pumped by “RIGHT NOW!” by Van Hallen. This is the 3^rd Chicago Marathon that has played this song as I crept up to the start line. Must be a sign. I was excited!

The 4:15 pace group was who I tried to stick near for the first part of the race. Either right behind or just leading them, the pacer and her team sporting bunny ears and white cap kept me on pace. I lost them right after a water station after mile 12. How runners can run and drink at the same time baffles me. Between mile 15 and 16 I got a little tired and contemplated walking. It’s a little early to hit the wall, I thought to myself.

So I played a little game that I’d like to share with you. It’s called “Pick ’em and Stick ‘em”. I picked someone who had a consistent stride and good pace and stuck behind them. I literally served as their shadow, following them with my head down, weaving in and out of other runners together. Ideally, this individual would not notice me (stealth ninja moves!). Mr. Red and Orange Shoes got me through 2.5 miles until I felt good again. I tried this again later in the race, however no one did as good of a job as my first guy.

Lessons for other runners

1.       NEVER stop in the middle of the course. Seriously, it’s just plain dangerous. Knock it off.

2.       Throw your banana peels to the side of the course. The cartoons don’t lie: they are slippery and I am sick of almost biting it on the course.

3.       Get those damn headphones out of your ears. All you runners who did that on race day made it suck. I didn’t make ANY friends this year. That’s not natural. No one wanted to talk because over 75% that I saw wore headphones.

4.       GET OFF YOUR PHONES. Texting, Tweeting, Updating, and… get this – TALKING? Really!?! At mile 4 there was a woman yelling into her Bluetooth saying “You shouldn’t be running! You are a terrible runner!” and everyone around her thought her to be a total “B” because most of them didn’t realize she was talking to someone else on the phone. Regardless, she was an idiot. Also, for those who were just chatting away “Oh yeah, no, it’s fine, I have time. Mile 15 feels good, what are you up to?” Cut the crap. Hang up, call them when it’s over. And for those dumb eough to whip out their phones and text others? That’s just plain dangerous. I tripped over many of you. Don’t text and run.

 

At mile 24, I was tired and chilly, but I kept the mantra “The more you run, the faster you’re done”. It worked. Crossing the finish line at 4:37:30, I felt okay about everything. By Tuesday, I was walking fine and even jogged a little without pain. That, in itself, is a success!

 

My next goal: scale back from 26.2 and focus on shorter, faster races. 13.1 and 15k’s are in my immediate future with the goal of breaking 2 hours for a half.

 

All – in – all the 2012 Chicago Mere-a-thon was a great success. It may be the last one for a while… at least until runners go through “Runners Etiquette” and stop being cotton-headed-ninny-muggins on the course.

 

The evils of "Just"

Just think: Hal Higdon had you putting in mile after mile for the last so many weeks and now you can cut back the distance and frequency... this should be heaven!

But it's not. What gives?

We did a quick 3.28 mile run last night. It should have been a breeze considering my last few weeks included several 8, 9, and 10 milers. But I felt heavy! I felt like that awkward 5th grader attempting the mile run in gym class. Each step goes *THWAMP* hard on the pavement and it looks like they're about to throw up, and it's only the first lap...

Then came a cramp under my ribs that would NOT fade away. Ugh. So this is how it's gonna be, huh?!? (Dear body: get it out of your system now because come Sunday, you BETTER behave!)

Tapering should feel like welcomed relief. When you finish and think "why did I even change out of my jeans? That was hardly a workout!"

Then you wonder things like, "Can I justify a burger if I only ran 3 miles?".

And to think that just months ago, you would say things like "I ran 6 miles! High five!" but now you use that evil word "just". 

"My run last night? Yeah, it was just 6 miles" as if you need to apologize for slacking.

Quit slacking. Call it what it is: Tapering.

Because come Sunday around noon, you'll be thinking, "I JUST RAN 26.2 MILES!" and there's no apologizing needed. You're not a slacker. You're a marathon runner.

Creepy!

My parents threw an incredible Engagement Party for us on Saturday night. While sipping on glass number 3 (?) of red wine, my friend asks if I'm ready for next weekend.

Huh?

Oh right. The marathon. I completely forgot that it was next weekend! I truly thought I had a few more weeks for training. Whoops! That totally creeped up on me BIG TIME

No worries, I'm feeling good. I've been running more frequently than I have for other marathons, and I got in several 9 milers on my own and did a half marathon two weeks ago.

PLUS! Get this! The weather is going to be FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC! High of 55, low of 40. Beautiful running conditions for this girl.

Now all I need to do is figure out what I'm going to wear:
a) Something corny like "The Chicago Mere-a-thon" (always a classic)
or
b) "Runaway Bride" since there's a high likelihood that this will be my last marathon with my last name before it changes!

Suggestions?

Swap Out Your “Buds”

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose…but, unfortunately, you can’t pick how those around you run.

Headphones, those little buds that seem to be attached to runners’ ears on race day, are becoming a bigger and bigger problem.

I feel strongly that wearing headphones is absolutely, positively the stupidest thing that a runner can do on race day. Yes, it’s even dumber than starting out too fast, missing a turn (which could be attributed to being distracted with headphones and not watching the course) or forgetting to hydrate.

Gosh, this really grinds my gears. Why? Why do I let myself get so worked up over this?  Let me share with you my thoughts, and then I will share some thoughts of others that I talk to on race day about this topic.

In my opinion, headphone wearing runners are:

1.       Party Poopers! Running events are designed to be highly social (unless you’re actually good, in which case you need to finish fast for prize money). Cheering others around you on helps to gain motivation. It’s the motivation of people running alongside of you, pushing toward the same goal. Even if you huff and puff out a “Good job” or “are we there yet?” along the course, it not only helps the other person perk up a little, but it pushes you to keep going.

Example 1: During my half marathon this Sunday, I congratulated 3 women running past me. I said “good job, ladies, keep it up!” through short breaths. What response did I get? Nothing. Nada. Zero response. Lame.

2.       Oblivious to those around them. They are in their own little world and miss out on critical announcements or instructions.

a.      Example 2: During the half marathon, it was an out-and-back. Volunteers kept yelling “keep to the right! Runners are coming!” Well, the headphone-wearing hooligans around me either (1) Didn’t care of (2) Didn’t hear the instructions because they took up the entire path. They finally got over just in time for the first 4 lead male runners to pass, then drifted left again, just in time for the next wave of runners to come by, forcing some of them into the grass to avoid collision. Ridiculous.

3.       Unlawful. Many races clearly state “no headphones”. It’s for your safety! You need to hear announcements, updates, people around you, etc. It’s not because the race director doesn’t like Kayne or Ozzie setting your cadence. They care about you and your safety.

What others say:

1.       Headphones keep them going. Okay, I can understand that. Maybe only wear then when training. Sometimes running solo gets lonely and it takes all 5 of the Spice Girls to keep you going.

2.       They train with headphones, so why change on race day? True, you aren’t supposed to do things drastically on race day, but finding a new way to motivate you shouldn’t be life-or-death.

3.       My iPhone tracks my pace, speed, distance, etc. for me. Congratulations. I’m happy that you’re relying on technology for this. Whatever happened to the good old fashioned Timex and mentally calculating where you are? What else is your brain doing when you’re running? Don’t let it go mushy.

So, please, if you’re a headphone wearing hooligan, please reconsider your ‘buds on the course.  Then, on race day when you’re with hundreds of your closest friends covered in Body Glide, you can bask in the gloriousness of other sweaty, stinky, panting, runners who are grinning like fools because they made a running comrade along the course.

I challenge you, for your next race, swap out your music-blaring ‘buds for the living, breathing kind that need to feel the sense of belonging with fellow runners as badly as you do – I guarantee you’ll have a heck of a lot more fun and will be grinning from ear-to-ear.