For once it was warm during the Shamrock Shuffle

Jenn and I ran in the Shamrock Shuffle again this weekend. One thing about having a race this early in the year in Chicago is you never know what the weather is going to be like. Two years ago we ran in a blizzard. So this year the race was pushed two weeks later and what do we get? Near record heat. Yes, I know I shouldn't complain about warm weather in April, but I'm going to. See, I haven't run outside in temperatures about 55 so far this year. It's not that easy to all of a sudden shift like that. Especially as you get older and don't prepare the way you should.

Let's backtrack a bit first. Jenn and I were smart this year and went downtown the night before to make it much easier, and less stressful, to get to the race. We had won a night's stay at the Park Hyatt last year in a silent auction so we used it for this race. It worked great, the hotel was super nice and we had a great view.

We walked around downtown a bit and grabbed dinner at Mity Nice Grill in Water Tower Place. We noticed a million cops walking around as we walked to the restauarant. We weren't sure why, but we thought it might have something to do with it being the first nice night of the year and the cops expected undesirables to come out and try to swipe stuff. Who knows? Whoopi was also in town, maybe they were protecting her. (I'm kidding about that.)

Since we had to get up early we didn't walk around much so we'd be well rested and ready to run. Because we are professionals you know. (What?)

The next morning I put on my favorite nerdy running shirt and we headed downstairs to catch a cab to the starting line. Hey, we were about a mile away, we didn't want to burn ourselves out before the race!

We met up with Jenn's cousin, Kim, and waited a long time for the race to start.

It took so long to start because we are slow people and they let all the good people go first and release the rest of us losers in waves. I think it took a little over thirty minutes from the start of the race until we actually crossed the starting line. Those good people up front are finishing the stupid thing before we even get to the start. That's what happens when you have over 30,000 people running at once.

So, since it was warm and humid, my plan was to start of slow and take it easy. So, of course, I took off in the beginning and totally screwed myself up. I was hot and panting way too early and I never really got my groove back. It probably didn't help that I was wearing a black shirt. Idiot.

I finished though. I don't think it was my worst time, but it was nowhere near the time I wanted. After the race Jenn and I made a pledge to be better prepared and not slack off so much during the winter. Sure, we make the same pact every year, but this time we mean it!

We decided to walk back to the hotel so we wouldn't cramp up after sitting in a cab. We walked by the famous Chicago Magic Bean. I don't know if that is it's official name, but what else would you call a giant chrome kidney bean?

After we cleaned ourselves up we went across the street from the hotel and ate at RL, better known as Ralph Lauren Restaurant. Jenn told me she read that the resturant served Jennifer Aniston's favorite burger in Chicago. So, of course, I had the steak sandwich. Jenn had the burger and said it was good, but she also mentioned that Jennifer Aniston should probably go out and try more hamburgers in Chicago.

Now, I don't know why, but after the race when we got to Jenn's parent's house to pick up the kids I felt like crap. I just wanted to sleep. And, actually, I did drift off for a few minutes while we were there. I chalked it up to not being ready for the run and going a bit too hard in the beginning. But then I felt lousy the next day and Jenn was feeling ill today and stayed home from work. I think someone put something in the water. That's probably why I ran so poorly as well. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The New and Improved Shamrock Shuffle.

(Damn it, I hit enter and sent out a blank post again. Sorry!)

Well, this year was new and improved because we weren't standing in 2 inches of slush at the Shamrock Shuffle like were were last year. The weather wasn't great, especially since it had been in the sixties the few days prior, but at least it didn't rain on us. Also, it's easy to stay warm when you are surrounded by 25,000 of your closest friends.

This year was a little different in many ways. One, my sister-in-law came with us this year. This was her first organized race (nothing like jumping into one of the biggest of the year as your first) but she works out all time, so it wasn't a big deal in terms of mileage. No, we are not going to compare hers and my times. Just drop it.

Also a first, we finally got to meet up with Mr. Unfocused before the race. We met here online about two years ago, and have been at some of the same races, but this was the first time we managed to get the timing and place to match up. We didn't get to talk a whole lot, mostly because he's an awesome runner and was way in the front of the pack, but we got to talk some at least. It was good to finally meet him in person.

The race itself? Well, it wasn't too bad. I did run much this winter, in fact I hadn't run more than four miles all winter, but I did okay anyway. I beat my time two years ago by about 40 seconds or so. I could have done better if my calves didn't lock up in the first 100 yards. It's never good to have to pull off the side that early to stretch out your calves. I really thought I wasn't going to be able to run at all. But, they loosed up after a couple hundred more yards and I was able to finish.

I had a plan this year. I brought my watch to make sure I took the first mile easy and not get caught up in the hoopla and be wiped out by mile two. I actually hit the time I wanted for mile one right on the nose. I was very proud of myself. The problem came in the next two miles where I actually went slower than mile one. That was not planned. But, I was able to pick it up on the last two miles and have better times on each of those two miles. So I can't complain too much.

The end of the race was kind of a mess. This year they had the largest crowd actually show up to run the race. Since the weather wasn't terrible most people still ran it and didn't wuss out like they did last year. That meant the end of the race was a mass of people trying to get water and a banana. They actually ran out of bananas, so it's obvious they expected more people to drop out due to the uncertainty of the weather. Never count out us hearty Chicagoans!

Finding Jenn was a big problem this year. I think every racer was on their cell phone at the end of the race so the circuits were jammed. Luckily Jenn was able to get a message through to me and tell me where to meet her. Otherwise I would have had to leave her behind. Hey, I had the keys, someone had to get the kids. We never met up with any of our friends, or relatives, at the end. t was too much of a madhouse. We just headed to the car to go home. Of course, when we got to the car someone had double parked behind us. Lucky for her she left a number for us to call and she'd move it. Otherwise I would have seen if our car had enough power to push hers out of the way. I'm kidding of course, I would have had it towed. I wouldn't want to ruin our paint job.

So, I sit here today, nursing my still aching calves (I'm doing a good job milking that, no?) and watching the dogs sleep off the fun they had while being boarded. Seriously, they are wiped out. We never seen them this inactive. It's a nice change of pace.

Speaking of change of pace, on Saturday I got home from work to a totally empty house. Jenn had taken the dogs to the place where they over nighted, then was out by her parents for a birthday party and then dropping the kids off at her parent's house for the night. I came home and didn't know what to do with myself. I had nobody to take care of, and no dogs to let out, or anything. So I sat at the computer and watched a show on Hulu and had dinner. Yes, that is kind of sad, but it was a quiet, yet slightly odd, night.

So, that was my weekend in a nutshell. Hope yours was good.

By the way, this is my 666th post. That can't be good...

It's been a busy weekend!

As you know, Jenn ran the Chicago Marathon this weekend. Unfortunately, an injury caused her to stop at the halfway mark. She was not happy, of course. The day before the race when we took the dogs to the boarding place she pulled something in her left leg. She was limping the night before the marathon, which is never a good thing, but she went out that morning anyway. She put a lot of time and effort into getting ready for this, there was no way a simple muscle pull was going to stop her. I give her a lot of credit for that, I would have wimped out immediately.

We all stayed downtown that night, and since the hotel was on the race route, we all went out to see her at the 2.5 mile mark. She was already limping a bit. Again, not good. But she kept going. I left the kids with the grandparents and went out with Jenn's sister, cousin, and her sister's boyfriend and hopped on the train to go to the 8 mile mark. She was still running, but now she asked me for some of the Aleve. She was limping a bit worse, now. But she said she wasn't going to stop.

At this point we went back to the hotel since the 12.5 mile mark was only a few blocks away and I could meet up with the kids again. Before we got there Jenn sent a message asking us to pick up a knee brace for her. That was new, and certainly not a good sign. By the time we saw her she was limping much worse. The new problem arose in her knee on the opposite side. At this point Jenn said she may call it at the halfway point if the brace didn't help. We all thought that was a good idea. About ten minutes after we saw her she sent me a text saying she was stopping. Her knee now hurt more than her other leg. Based on how she has been walking the last two days, it was a good decision.

We are all proud of her. She tried her best. Heck, she tried period, much more than I would do for a marathon. That's just crazy. Not to mention she raised over $1200 for Children's Memorial Hospital. So, can you join me in a chant of:

"Way to go Jenn!"

Thanks.

In other news...

You may have noticed a new widget on the right side of the blog. See it? Well, about three weeks ago the someone from the Schmap Guides sent me an e-mail saying one of my photos on Flickr was short-listed for inclusion in there new Orlando Guide. They asked if I would be interested in allowing them to use it. So, I checked them out to make sure they were legit and then agreed. What the heck? So, turns out they chose to use mine, as well as several others. But still, it's kind of cool. Oh, you can go here, then bring your cursor down to the Epcot and watch as the pictures change on the upper-right. One of them is mine. Just look for my one by Mike. I think I'm the only one with that name there. So, that was kind of nice.

There's more, but that is all the fun stuff for now. I need to go make dinner. Sloppy Joe's, anybody?

Edit: Turns out you can get my picture from the widget, too. You need to scroll over the map to get to Epcot then click "photos" and you can scroll through them. Not much easier, I know.

Marathon Weekend

It's the marathon weekend. And, I don't mean it's a long weekend. Well, it is a holiday weekend, but that's not what I mean either. Should I just get to the point?

This is the weekend that Jenn is running the Chicago Marathon. Sorry, The Bank of America Chicago Marathon. I need to make sure I get it right, just in case the FTC thinks there is some kind of blogging shenanigans going on.

Today Jenn went downtown to get her racing packet at the expo. I was supposed to go with her, but I ended up napping. I've been a little under the weather the last two days. I think I got it from Jenn since she had a bad cold about two weeks ago. At least it's me and not her!

Tomorrow we head downtown in the morning to drop off the dogs, come back out here to take our son to basketball, come home and get everything together, then go downtown again to get to our hotel. Yes, I know, we live in the same area as the marathon, but it's not easy to get there that early and Jenn wants as much sleep, and as little stress, as possible on the morning of the marathon. Plus, the hotel is part of her birthday present that was a few days ago. I mean the night's stay in the hotel. I didn't buy the hotel for her.

On Sunday, when it's going to be in the 30s(!), Jenn will head to the starting line, and the kids and I will go outside to see her run past the hotel just past the two mile mark. Then I'm going to go off with her sister and cousin and try to get glimpses of her throughout the race. I'm sure Jenn is happy it is going to be so cool the day of the race, but I'd like it to be a bit warmer. Say, 20 degrees or so. Seventy-five would be perfect!

Right now Jenn is watching The Spirit of the Marathon to get all psyched up to run the race. I'm here typing on the keyboard because I have no spirit for the marathon. It's too long. Way too long. The human body wasn't designed to run that far. That's why we invented cars. And before there were cars we made animals take us where we wanted to go.

So, to sum it up, we have a busy weekend. Not sure when I'll be back, probably not until Monday is my guess. I may have to carry Jenn around the house after she is done and I can't type while doing that.

Have a good weekend!

Post race slacking: Walter Payton Race wrap-up

Okay, now that the anger about the car has subsided, I can talk about last weekend's race. Let me start by saying that, no, I didn't get sick. Was it just allergies? Did I talk myself out of having a cold? Did that one vitamin C table help? I don't know. All I know is that Friday I took a nap before working the afternoon shift, and I felt better. I wasn't excited about working until 11pm before a race, but you do what you have to do. Can I get an Amen?

So, let's start there. I get done at 11pm, like I just said. Or, that is when I'm supposed to get done. See, I have to wait for someone to come in and take over for me before I can go. Well, it's 10:58 and there is no sign of this person. Ditto at 11pm. Great. The one night I need to get home and get to sleep as soon as possible, my relief is late. I'm not sure what happened exactly, but that person had been out sick for the past two weeks. Chances are he was not supposed to be back yet and his shift wasn't covered. So, I didn't get out until about 11:15pm. Not bad, but every minute counts. By midnight I am in bed, watching the clock. I'm not sure what time I fell asleep, but it was probably about 12:30am. Maybe later.

I'm up at 2:00am to go to the bathroom. Maybe I didn't need all that water during the day.

4:00am: See above.

The alarm goes off at 6:15am. I hit snooze. I have plenty of time.

Alarm goes off at 6:24am. I realize I need to get moving and climb out of bed. I can feel every minute of sleep I missed. I don't know how, but I do. I get my clothes on and go down to have my usually pre-race breakfast; cinnamon toast with peanut butter. And water. I notice the family room and laundry room light are on. At first I thought Jenn left them on for the dogs, then I hear movement in the laundry room. Son has gotten up and hid in the laundry room so I wouldn't be mad. I send him upstairs to lay in bed with Jenn. I don;t want the dogs to wake up and start barking and wake up the rest of the house.

I take care of some personal issues, and get all my gear together. I left at about 7:15am for the 8:00am race. I probably should have left a little earlier, but it was so close to the house I didn't think it would be a big deal. I shouldn't have been.

I got to the parking garage around 7:30am (told you it was close) and started walking to the starting line. I think I got there around 7:45am. Plenty of time to use the porta-John and get in line to start.

Let me take you back a few days for a moment. When I picked up the packet I asked the people how many racers had signed up. She said it was around 1,000 people. This is runners and walkers. Now, if you remember last year, it rained a lot on race day. Like 12 inches. So, needless to say not many showed up, just us stupid people. Anyway, remember 1000 people.

So, I look for the line for the facilities. It really wasn't hard to spot since it was about 200ft long. Probably longer. Guess how many porta-pottys they had. Come one, just throw out a number. Ready? There were six. Six potties for 1000 people to use. Six! It wasn't pretty.

So I find may way to the end of the line, leaving bread crumbs so I don't get lost, and wait. The DJ guy is announcing that people should start to line up since the race starts in 15 minutes. Five minutes later I have moved about 10 feet closer to the front of the line. Now the DJ is telling us we should really think about lining up. Although he is saying it in that cheerful DJ voice, I really want to smack him. I run a systems check as I'm in line. Do I really have to go? Can I wait? The answer is a resounding no. Just to emphasize the point, my kidneys kick my bladder. "See how full it is?"

So, I wait wondering how far down the street the other runners will be when I start. Also, since I have a chip on my shoe, it shouldn't count against my time, right? Luckily, at this point, someone came to the back of the line and announced they were opening up the bathrooms inside the school behind us. I felt my bladder give a big sigh of relief. At least I hope that's what it was.

After I freshened up (as the old ladies say) I found a spot in line. I didn't want to go to far up front, but I didn't want to get stuck behind the walkers. Well, it didn't matter. Why don't the walkers realize they need to be in the back? Look, I'm not elite runner by any means, but there were walkers up at the very front. Those people up there are running full steam, they are going to get ticked at the walkers. Or run them over. Probably both.

Anyway, the first couple of miles were fine. I think I had a decent pace going, though I had to slow myself down at times. I was going to wear my Garmin Forerunner to keep an eye on my pace, but I decided against it. I felt I'd be constantly looking at it over the last four miles trying to figure out how much further I had to go.

Now due to the devious planning of the route, the 5K route and the 15K route start off the same. Actually, they are completely the same, so come the 5K mark you see those people peel off and finish their race while you have 2/3 of the race to go. How mean is that? But, it worked out since I stopped there and use the porta-potty again. Yes, I have a small bladder, what of it?

As I mentioned last year, the course is nice since it goes through a shaded residential area. Also, they post signs along the way on Walter Payton's career milestones. It's something to read while you are running. And, the people living in the house come out to cheer you on, which is nice. One guy had "Eye of the Tiger" blasting out of his house. That made me smile.

So, yes, I was doing fine until about mile seven. That was when I started to feel it. I wasn't breathing super hard, it was my legs. They were getting tired. It started out feeling like I was running in sand, then got to a point where It felt like a 40lb bag of sand was tied to each leg. But I kept going. Can you tell?

I think it was between mile 7 and 8 that I saw Jenn and the kids. That helped a bit. I told her I was hurting and she gave me a towel to help me keep cool. Oh, I should say this was about the time the sun decided to come out. It was hazy/cloudy/foggy until about the last 1.5 miles or so. You know, when I was the most tired.

I left the security of Jenn and the kids to run the last 2 miles. These were a a long two miles. What made it worse was turning away from the finish line several times. I kept thinking I was getting closer then, BAM, I'd have to turn away from he finish. I think they were just being mean at this point. Finally, I saw the 9 mile sign. Only half a mile to go. There were people on the corner cheering. "Only half a mile left!" Easy for them to say as the stood in one spot. They probably drove their car there. I smiled, I think. I was pretty numb by then. I wasn't smiling inside though.

You know how you see people running faster at the end of the race? You know, the ending kick? That wasn't me. I think I went slower. Which was hard to do since it was downhill. By some miracle my time was better then last year. I think that was because I didn't have to read water this year. I certainly didn't feel faster. But, hey, I finished. I'm still tired.

Look how pitiful I looked there?

I have another, tougher, race next month. I don't know what I'm going to do about it yet. I don't want to die.

We didn't win The Great Urban Race, but we had fun

This past weekend Jenn and I participated in The Great Urban Race in Chicago. It was a a lot of fun, a little frustrating and a tad tiring as well.

As you can see here, there were a lot of people in Cubby Bear where we met up. We were told there were over 500 two-man teams. It seemed like a lot more as we were trying to fight our way to get the clues.

I should explain a bit about the race, in case you are too lazy to click the above link. That's okay, I would be too. It's basically a giant scavenger hunt. We got a list of 12 clues that were either tasks we had to complete, riddles to unravel, or things to find. Many of them required photographs to prove that the particular task was completed. No honor system when money is on the line. Also, that means you'll actually see pictures of me and Jenn here. Amazing!

This was a team event so you had to have a team name as well as a costume or same shirt. We didn't want to do a costume, though we came close. Our team name was The Greatest American Heroes, as you may recall, that had something to do with our shirts we (meaning me) chose for the event. There were quite a few in costumes; we saw some Smurfs, Doc and Marty from Back to the Future, and some chefs. It was fun to see the innocent bystanders on the streets looking at all of us as we ran up and down the streets of Chicago. Many would point, and many asked what the hell we were doing. Though, as can be expected, some people found it annoying. At least they seemed annoyed. Those people were probably a blast at parties.

After we got our clues we ran over to the Taco Bell next door to plan our attack. We were armed with pens, my iPhone, a laminated sheet to put the clue sheet in, and we read through the clues to find where everything was located. We found all the ones closest to where we were, numbered them in order that we should do them, then headed out. Looking back on it later we realized we should have done it a bit differently, but I'll get to that later.

I'll just hit some highlights for you. I don't want to bore you to death.

The first thing we hit was the tattoo shop. No, we didn't have to get a tattoo, well not a permanent one at least. I had to put on of those temporary tattoos the kids get in cereal boxes on my face. It wasn't difficult, but we didn't have water to get it wet so we ran to the Walgreen's on the corner to buy a bottle to get it wet. The first one didn't work, that's why it looks like I have dirt on one side of my face.

We had to play charades at Comedy Sportz down the road from the tattoo shop. Jenn made me act it out, she thinks I'm better at acting the things out. I think she just wanted me to make a fool out of myself in front of the other people. Luckily, there weren't too many people there besides us racers. The answer was horse, by the way. It wasn't too hard. I'm glad it wasn't a Pictionary contest. I suck at drawing.

At Chicago's Dog House Jenn had to feed me a hot dog. Not a big deal. It was a good char-dog too. I only put ketchup on it. I'm a bad Chicago native.

While we were there some customers asked us what we were doing. So we told them a little about the race. The thought it was interesting, then I happened to notice the lady's shirt. It was a tie-dye shirt. One of our clues was to take a picture of a real person wearing a real tie-dye shirt. In other words, someone not in the race. What a stroke of luck. She was very nice and let us take a picture of her. I'm not going to put it here since I didn't ask her, plus it was pretty blurry.

This clue we had a problem with. It was a riddle and we just didn't get it. Luckily some other team helped us out. Here's the riddle:

Mr. Reynolds is odd. He likes balloons but doesn't like parties. He likes books but doesn't like reading. He likes weeds but doesn't like flowers. He likes swimming but doesn't like water. He likes letters but doesn't like words. He likes noodles but doesn't like pasta sauce. He likes apples but doesn't like plums. He likes coffee but doesn't like tea.

According to the pattern in the riddle, take a picture of all teammates in front of a street sign the Mr. Reynolds would Like.

I'll put the answer at the end. It seems obvious to me now, at probably to you too, but in the heat of the battle, it was over our heads.

After a few more clues in the Lincoln Park and Wrigley area, we had to head to the loop on the 'L'. Neither Jenn or I are well versed in the use of the 'L' so this was the most stressful part of it. Especially when some nice person had us go on the wrong train to head downtown. Luckily we realized that after the first stop, but it still slowed us down. I'm pretty sure she was paid off by one of the other teams. I think we were a big threat out there.

Nothing too exciting happened downtown, for the most part. We had to count the flags at The Palmer House Hilton, then head to Daley Plaza to take a picture in front of this statue. We had a little trouble figuring out where to go. We got all turned around for some reason. Luckily two other teams were there heading the same way. We helped each other out.

The finale, for us, was to head to Daley Bicentennial Plaza and complete three challenges. We had to do a crab walk, leap frog and wheelbarrow across three (yes, three!) tennis courts. I haven't done any of these activities since grade school! The crab walk went okay, though my abs were a little tight by the end, the leap frog was a little better, but the wheelbarrow was the killer. Jenn was holding my legs while I walked on my hands. Let me tell you, I have muscles that hurt that I didn't remember I had. Like the muscle under my shoulder blade and my fingers. I was pretty wiped after that. Not to mention that we had already walked and jogged a few miles by this point.

We made our way back to the 'L' to go to the finish line at Cubby Beat. This was about 3 pm, or so. Not too late since the game ended at 5pm. Well, it wasn't our day. It turned out that there was construction going on this week on the 'L', so we sat for about 30-40 minutes on one train, not going anywhere, then we had to wait at least 20 minutes, of not longer, for our transfer. It kind sucked the fun out of the whole game. There were plenty of other teams in the same predicament as us, and nobody was very happy. I hate construction season!

We did make it back before 5:00pm, but not by much. All we had time to do was check in, get or pictures checked and head to the car so we could pick up Quincy. Then we headed to Jenn's parents to get the kids and go home and have a take out dinner at 8:00pm. We were quite tired after all that, but it was a lot of fun. I recommend it to anyone who lives near one of those towns that have this race. We will probably do it next year. Maybe next time we'll win. Watch out suckers!

Also, next year we are going to do the parts in the Loop first, I think it would have been quicker.

The answer to the riddle was any name that had double letters. Ugh, we are stupid.