Release the hounds!!

Killed a great 8-miler today on MY path. Normal route closed at 2 miles, so came home and took the road less travelled south. Fall was in the air and the path was damasked with sunlight hidden by the leaves through the summer, now peaking through as the trees shed their summer green. Pace was 2 full minutes faster than any other 8 miler I've run. Weather was ideal and hopefully a preview of next Sunday. This week will bring lots thinking and finalizing strategy. Should I run with 11:00 or 10:45 pace group? Should I cut carbs next 4 days and carb up last 3 or manage day to day? What do I wear if in the 40's? 50's? Raining? What is the perfect dinner Sat Night? What needs to be packed for my road crew to best support me? Lots of questions. None of which will make or break my performance.

Funny end to my run today. I thought I lived in Suburban Illinois, but was suddenly in an Old English countryside as my run came to a close. Coming home from the South on the Il Prairie Path, about a mile out, there is a series of downhill "steps" made from railroad timbers. As I approached, I ran into 4 horses coming up the steps. The riders were properly dressed in traditional Red jackets, jodhpurs and hats. Interesting I thought. Just after the steps, I cross the tracks and make my kick home, running hard to the edge of the parking lot. Feel great after strong run with really great pace. I'm parked on opposite side of the street. As I approach the street, I look left and see this:



It's the Wayne, IL annual fox hunt. Approximately 30 Hounds and 200 Horses approached and turned right onto the path I had just vacated. It was a sight to be seen and if not for perfect timing, I would have faced the entire "herd" and forced off the path. An admittedly unique ending to my last run on the path for this training season. 3 more runs before 10/11. Plan on my favorite routes. South to Adler for 7 on Tues, North to the point for 5 on Thursday and an easy 3 to the end of Navy Pier to take it all in on Friday. It's going to be a good week.

Check out the new stuff I added today on the blog. 2 documents from Joe about PD and his history with it and a link to Darryl Hill's journal of Shirley's journey with the disease. In addition, I have added some new great pictures from Chicago '08 from Kim to the slideshow. Love the new series of pics from Chinatown...says it all!

thanks for reading and have a great week. P

Oh My God Soba Pasta Salad

Another winner from Mark Bittman.
Click the header for tasty, simple Soba Pasta spinach salad. The recipe has no measurements, so do to taste. I did equal parts Mirin, Miso paste, Soy and the juice of 1 lime. I also added a little crushed red pepper and a touch of honey. In addition, I added Chicken stir fried with garlic and ginger because God forbid I don't have some form of meat in my dinner!

Eating it cold out of the fridge as I type. Delish.

Enjoy.

Cassoulet with Lots of Vegetables

Great recipe from Runner's World this month. Mark Bittman is NY Times columnist and author of "How To Cook Everything" and "Food Matters". His focus is on foods that will help you perform well that taste great and are easy to make. His core philosophy is More Vegetables, so he takes a traditionally meat heavy dish laced with beans and vegetables and turns it into a vegetable and bean dish laced with meat. Serve it with a fresh loaf of french or italian bread (or whatever bread you like!)

2 T Olive oil
1 lb Italian sausage, bone in pork chop, duck breasts, chicken legs or thighs or a combination of meats.
1 T Garlic
2 leeks or onions sliced.
2 Carrots peeled and sliced
3 Celery stalks, sliced
2 Med Zucchinis, cut into 1/2 in pieces
Salt and Ground pepper
4 Cups canned tomatoes (with juice), chopped
1/4 C fresh parsley
1 T fresh Thyme leaves, chopped
2 Bay leaves
4 C canned white beans, drained
2 C Chicken or vegetable broth
Cayenne pepper to taste

Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat, Add meat and cook, turning until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from pan and drain off all but 2 T of fat. Turn heat to medium, add garlic, leeks or onions, carrots, celery and zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes or until softened. Add tomatoes and juice, meat and herbs. Bring to a boil. Add beans and boil again, stirring occasionally; reduce heat so mixture bubbles gently. Cook for 20 minutes, adding stock when mixture gets thick. (I added about half up front. Used about 1 & 1/2 c total) Fish out meat, remove bones and skin and chop into chunks. Return to pot and add cayenne. Warm through. Serves 4 (great leftover)

Enjoy!

Go Team James go!

Let's hear it for Team James! Claudia, Tash, Ciara, Marco, Carlos, Achille, Carmen, Maria Mac and the most awesome one person cheering section ever, Stephanie! Great work today at the Susan G Komen Race for the cure. A great morning and a great event. We missed you Hill (hope you feel better!) and Theresa (slacker!).

One of my best friends in college lost his sister to breast cancer before she turned 30. Fortunately, this is the only person I know who has been touched by this disease, so I can't say that I have a strong emotional connection to this cause. So why did I choose this race/cause to run for today? Besides being an event that we decided to run as a team, I have to admit that, while I'm a legs man, I'm a pretty big fan of boobs too, so I should run in hopes of saving a few. So I did...and it felt great!

After 5 cities in 5 days with lots of work and not a lot of work out, I was admittedly expecting a tough run this AM. It was anything but. Really nice course that starts where the Marathon ends, going the opposite way, so first turn takes us down the hill that burns so bad during the final mile of 26.2. Up Michigan Ave, across to Columbus, turn east and connect to Lakefront running path by The Chicago Yacht Club, N through the marina and looping back south along the water. The end of my 7 milers, but again, the opposite direction. S along the lakefront around the Shedd, up the troublesome little hill that Hill helped me up last Sunday, loop back by Soldier field back around the Shedd and through the tunnel to the home stretch. Here's where they psyched us a little bit. On other races that finish in this vicinity, you come through the tunnel, up a tough little hill and turn onto Columbus for the home stretch. As I motored up the hill, I turned and started my kick to the finish. PSYCHE! Course makes hard right turn back onto the path and around Hutchins field along the drive, turning left on Balbo to the finish. Really nice and I'm beginning to think the 10k is the perfect distance for me.

I wound up finishing with a 10 min mile pace, 1:02:35 was my time. Personal best for the 10k by over 3 minutes. Not bad and new goal for me is to break 60 minutes. Was great to come home to our loud, boisterous cheering section although she was a slacker and didn't make a sign or bring any noise makers or crazy costumes and didn't really cheer much, just a wave and a thumbs up. It was actually just perfect!

So I guess you can say that today was Opposite day. The course was same in many places to other races/routes only in the opposite direction. I thought I was going to have a tough run, instead I had my best 10k run ever. And to top it off, The Seminoles put up a L instead of a W and I am not that upset, which is totally opposite of would have expected. Oh well, you can't win them all.

2 weeks and a day from Marathon Sunday. Starting to get excited. Tomorrow, goal is to figure out how to get the info Joe put together on Parkinson's posted and post amazing recipe from Runner's World that I made last night. Healthy and Delish!

So long....

Learned today that our Gym is officially closing her doors tomorrow. So long Crunch and all the crazy characters we've encountered over the last few years. The place was never very clean and the staff only sometimes friendly, but you were our gym. We never knew from day to day if we'd have mouthwash or q-tips, shower gel or shampoo, but we came and you were ours. You were convenient enough that excuses not to see you were hard to sell to ourselves or our friends, so we woke up with you more often than not. You'll be hard to replace.

And how we'll miss the characters...so long ADD guy, bye bye Albino man in the bicycle shorts. See you later Mr. Mayor of the Locker room. No more watching the Linebacker bounce all over the bike in spin or the wacko who has to adjust her bike all class long. See you later fat naked guy (well, hopefully not) and won't miss seeing you apply lotion in places the sun don't shine Mr. Too much time in the tanning booth dude, seriously, how are you that tan there?? Bye bye Plastic Surgeon's wife and Energizer Bunny, oh how I'll miss you and your 1892 short shorts, how do you go so fast for so long (on the stairmaster)?? Hope you don't get fat now super skinny annoying guy who never works out.

See you Jon, Keith, Rick, Annette and Prima. So long James Spin club. It was a great ride and forever I will hear Annette pushing us to go harder and sweat more than we thought we could. It was fun, really. It was.

So long.

You've got a friend

Classic James Taylor song for today's blog. "Just call out my name and you know wherever I am, I'll come running." I have 2 friends to thank for helping me with today's run.

First, my buddy for the last 20 years or so. Who else is so cool that on her 17th wedding anniversary and night of a huge FSU game against a top 10 team, would be alright with no alcohol Pdaddy (which translates to "crabby Pdaddy") and a carb driven dinner? Hell, Tree even stuck to water with me and made sure the kids were quiet and respectful when I crawled in bed at 9. Training for a marathon is an investment. Long runs happen during family time because it's easier to carve away at these minutes than it is work minutes. Silly but true. So, Happy Anniversary Tree and thanks for hanging in there thru Marathon #2.

Secondly, one of my favorite people. When I posted that I needed runners to help me with today's run, Hill Cavan was the first to respond with "When and where do you need me?" Most of you who read this thing know or have met Hill. Watching her accomplish her first marathon in 2006 inspired me on this crazy journey. Today, she volunteered to meet me at mile 8 and run with me to mile 12 (note, getting from 10-11has been my achilles heel this year). Running with me for 4 meant an 8 mile for her. Not only did Hill help me through a few tough miles, she hung with me to 14, resulting in a 12 miler for her. She even gave up her Sat night out to help me on Sunday morning. Unbelieveable. Hill knows I don't like to talk when I run, so she ran along with me in silence except for amazingly intuitive comments at just the right times, like "Water ahead" when she knew I needed fuel. "Almost to the top" 3/4 of the way up this troublesome little hill. And every so often, a simple "How you doing?". In addition, she knew when to "pull" me and when to "push" to maximize my performance. She will say it was just coincidental. It was not. She was a great coach and a better friend today.

So, I'll try to be brief....morning was perfect. The sky was still black as I approached the city. I would never imagine that the skyline looks as brilliant in twinkle lights as it does against the sunrise. As morning awoke, the clouds turned from deep purple to burgundy to plum to garnet to red to pink. Amazing. The huge sun broke the horizon while I was on LSD. I looked and did a double take as if a gorgeous woman just passed. The type of woman you do that double take for even if you are with your spouse, one that even she would say "ei chi wa wa" (and that's not a sexist statement, you women know what I'm talking about it...you take the double take sometimes too.) It was a perfect morning. Mid sixties and not too humid. All went well with everything from dinner to sleep to am fuel to arrival. I was perfectly prepared for this run. The run starts at Foster and the lake. Unfortunately, parking is not so ample, so I wind up parking about a mile from the start. A runner jokes with me en route to the start "I guess we can tack a mile onto this run!" I reply "this is the easy walk, wait 'til the walk back AFTER the run".

Run started strong and I felt fantastic. Today was about discipline. Can I put my stubborn ego aside and run in a pace group at a slower pace to maximize distance? I started with an 11 min mile pace group and convinced my self to stay with the group through the first few miles. After we settled in and I took my place amongst the group ("2 by 2" as the obnoxious leader of the group behind us kept barking), I became impatient as it felt so slow. Couple that with the chatty girl who wouldn't shut her trap, I struggled not to break away and pick up the pace. I kept telling myself "It's all about discipline today" and stuck with it. Two of my fave up tempo songs even came on..."Stay with it at least 5 miles" I begged.

Route is great. Lakefront running path, a few loops to make the miles work, a journey into Lincoln Park before crossing the bridge at North Ave to join the path again. By this time (7 miles), I had picked up the pace and was solo, as I prefer. Just me, my music, my thoughts and taking in the beauty of the run. I come in and out of my void, but bottom line, feel fantastic. Coming down the path from North to Division, Hill jumps in and joins me for the next 6. It's interesting mentally as I heading "home" from my normal 5 miler route only to connect with the beginning of my normal 7 miler run. So...."almost home" becomes "here we go" in an instant. Take upper path around the Shedd to the beauty of Burnham Harbor and continue past Soldier Field. The struggle is starting and as I hit the 12 mile Aid Station, I have flashback of last year and specifically remember the location. This is where my pause for water turned into "I'll just walk to that lightpost" and then the next and the next until I was in full walk break and the run was busted. I celebrated the mental victory of breaking through this wall. Hill decides to hang with me through 12 and then 13, citing "These are the miles that I struggle through"...right. When we hit 14, I tell her "If you keep going now, you have to finish it with me" which prompts an immediate and definitive "Nope,I'm out. Go Kill it now!" and like that, I'm solo again. Thanks again Hill, you have no idea how much that meant.

In distance running, everyone talks about "hitting the wall". That moment when you are finished and have to make the choice to break through and allegedly, once through, you are running on sheer will power. For me, the wall gets build, one brick at a time, on my back while running. I try like hell to push the bricks off, but eventually can't. I feel it in my posture, specifically, it feels like there is a rope tied to my forehead, putting it down to the road until my chin is on my chest. I start longing for the next aid station and my mouth gets parched and sticky. I push back, adjusting my posture and thinking about "breaking through". All this does is move the bricks from my shoulders to a "backpack", relief for a minute, and then they start piling on again until I can't go any futher.

Today,I didn't make it out of the 16 mile aid station. Only 4 miles to go and I couldn't get through. Don't get me wrong, I finished, but walked maybe half of the last 4. I was again, disappointed, but not upset. 16 strong miles is an accomplishment and finishing 20 is not something most people can say they have done. Perhaps I'm not meant to run more than 16. I've done it before...but just once. Last year's 18 miler. I made 15 1/2 on Marathon day with walking. Maybe that's my limit. I'm not ready to accept that as absolute, but am willing to accept it for this particular journey. Today made me realize that perhaps it's time to adjust my goal and enjoy whatever happens on 10/11. Accomplishing my second marathon, regardless of whether or not I walk some if it, is something to be proud of and celebrate, and I will....until next time.

Interesting lesson learned today....one we all learned as kids from Aesop's fable, The Hare and the Tortoise. Yep, you probably could have guessed. As I'm walking for a minute on mile 20, who comes slowly running by....my pace group, down to the leader plus 2. They trot by and I desperately want to pick up and finish with them, but I can't. Stay with them for a 100 yards or so before I have to drop off and watch them bring it home ahead of me. Curious. Wonder what would have happened if I would have had the discipline to stay with them the whole way? Maybe I'll take this lesson with me to race day and see what happens. Maybe the goal doesn't have to change....maybe.

Long post today, but a long run,so what did you expect?

No, I wasn't kidding...

How bout a 9:41 pace on the 8 miler today? In Haley's words.."Bam! What?"

What an incredible run this AM. Set out for 8 south. My route south is 7, so knew I would be seeing some new path. Felt great and at museum campus, took the right fork to go around the Field Museum to Soldier Field. Was a hard choice as the sunrise was glorious and I knew the view from Adler was going to be sick, but I'm a funny guy and wasn't sure how I would manage the distance as I'm used to doing a straight out and back and if I did the Adler, I'd have to manufacture miles to make up for the blah blah blah... Anyway, I chose to stay on the path and head around the Field to the west. First steps brought me to a tough hill going up to the Field and then path didn't continue as expected. Doh! So I took a left in front of the Field and felt instantly like I was in a place I had run before. Was it the Human Race? No. Soldier Filed 10? No. Rock and Roll Half? No. I was racking my brain trying to remember as I turned south and ran past the concession stands and ATM. Re-connected with the Lake front path by Soldier Field when it hit me. Oh my, this is the Nike Ready to Run 20 miler path....THE race I'll be running on Sunday. Instantly, I felt like Lance. Why you say? Because I learned Tuesday (re-learned really) that Lance rides every mile of the Tour in the months leading up to the tour. No surprises. So, this was my "training" run on Sunday's course. Eventually, I passed the point at which I decided to "take a few extra steps" at the water station and ultimately killed my run last year. It felt great to bust through that memory and run on. Can't wait for Sunday!

I have to comment that south of the museum campus is absolutely gorgeous. Great parks, Burnham Harbor, etc. Just stunning. Coming back, I cut to the East and followed the path to the Shedd. Upper path runs along by the Oceanarium and offers perfect views of the lake and city.

As I approached the pier where the police boats park (where I generally take my last loop out before heading in to the serene riverside park nobody knows about..shhhhh) I hit the ipod to see what I have left. She announces that I have 0.65 miles left and my pace is 9:56. My goal for the run was to complete it in under 1 hour 30 mins @ an 11 minute mile. I heard this pace and got high school kid excited. My oh my, I have to finish under 10 min pace now! I kicked it into gear and for the second day in a row, set a personal best for the mile in my last mile of a run and finished with an average pace of 9:41....2 seconds faster than the 5 miler yesterday. Admittedly, I had great help during the last mile with 3 perfect pace songs. "We are beautiful! We are doomed!" by Los Campensinos, "Sly" by The Cat Empire and "Percussion Gun" by White Rabbit. All fast paced, high energy songs. Brilliant.

During today's run I definitely found my void. My void is when I am thinking of nothing but the music in my ear. Heard a lot of great lyrics today that have been drowned out by the conversation in my head up to now. Really refreshing and a perfect set-up for Sunday's run.

23 days to go. 23, the sum of my participant number. 23..the greatest of all time. Today...I loved my run. I know my next may not be so sweet, but for now, I'm a runner and I'm proud.