CoolRunning in Chicago - Proof!

Well yesterday saw me heading out at 7:30am to the hotel where my friend Gina is staying. it was about 2km away so was a nice warmup. After picking up Gina we then proceeded to run to lake Michigan, we headed south along the lake then we headed back north and ran around the city.

All in all it was close to 2.5 hours for me and about 2okm so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself :) The run felt good, we were only running slowly, about 6.5min pace but to be able to hold it for so long was a great feeling!!

Bring on the Chicago half!! I will be flying the CR colours during the run, hopefully along with my striders singlet. This will probably be only run I have been in where the blue and gold colours will be the exception as opposed to the rule :)

Oh also did some more shopping yesterday, I found a place here called bath and body works - it is the most amazing cosmetics store I have ever seen. I bought every item in their "japanese cheery blossom" line, they smell fabulous and were very reasonably priced. I also bought a killer pair of stilettos, totally impractical but they are just stunning!

All in all a pretty good day me thinks.

tale of two runs...ntr

Run 1 - Friday 11:45. Arrived late. Met Mango soon after, and ran 1.5 laps of Parra Park, and felt blerk. I just had to stop and walk. I had zero energy, and despite getting encouragement from mango, i thought it was best if he just kept going and let me wallow in my own walking-vegetated state! Cause: Poor diet, lack of sleep, no water that day or the day before ( i think they are the causes....)

Run 2 - Sunday 7am - With BennyR and his mate Marlz, did 21~km around Homebush, Silverwater, Rhodes etc. About a third was on tracks, it was muddy, technical and fun! Felt really good ( not as good as Marlz the "newbie" who looked like he could have left benny and I for dust whenever he chose - and he had never run this far before! ). Cause: Purposely ate 3 meals the day before, had a porridge before the run, drank lots of water the day before and had a glass before running, and good sleep!!

Moral of the tale - I will adopt the ancient, mysterious rule of 3.
3 Meals at day
3 snacks a day ( including atleast one fruit )
3 coffees a day (no more then that! )
3 tall glasses of water a day ( = 6 cups...)
3 runs a week ( even if they are small and squeezed in lunch break, or a few hills reps just before i pick the kids up from school care )
3 (+5) hours of sleep a day ( could not think how to work 3 into my sleep pattern!! )
3 messages or phone calls with Rach a day - to keep me sane!!!
3 months away from ones fiance will be all that i can cope with!!

I am now planning on doing Sydney Half Marathon, followed by Fitroy Falls Marathon in September. Both have no real hard core target - just happy to be out and about running in events!

Off to cook dinner now...vegetarian korma and rice! yum...:-)

Chicago half marathon

Care of NTR - mouse is entered into the Chicago half marathon! My attempts at entering the full for a charity didn't work out due to a lack of spots so this is a great alternative!! NTR has posted my new striders singlet to me too so I can wear that and my CR cap in the event - with some pants of course ;-)

I have been doing a fair bit of running at the gym and along the lake but nothing longer than 1 hr so the distance is a little intimidating. I have run plenty of halves on less training though so I should be fine. My aim for the day is to do under 2:30, anythign under that will see me all smiles. I just want to enjoy it :-)

I also have a friend who lives in Calgary coming to Chicago this weekend and we have setup a long run on Saturday morning which will be great. I ran the GC half with her and we are pretty much the same pace so my training run should be very enjoyable.

My visit to the outlet malls proved very effective, cheered me right up. 5 handbags, 2 pairs of sunglasses and loads of clothes later and I was feeling pleasantly dazed and confused. Gotta love that shopping high!

As it is summer here there are a lot of summer fruits out in the stores so grocery shopping yesterday saw me buy loads of strawberries, rasberries, grapes and oranges. Should make for a healthy week, I also bought a taco kit. People here seem to eat a LOT of mexican food so I thought I would make my own healthier version rather than take away burritos....

Feeling much better and Ian has managed to cheer me right up. We have now planned the first leg of our trip, flights to London are booked, Londond accommodation is booked and Paris is almost booked - yay! I am very excited about it, I will not have seen Ian for 3 months.... I have soem friends living in london so seeing them will be fantastic too.

And I miss my bike

Angel would have loved this city - people ride everywhere in the CBD.... Maybe I can buy one here - now there's a thought ;-)

Burgers, baseball and beer

(Warning - this one is a little depressing!!)

Well the heading pretty much sums up America!! Lots of junk food and lots of cheap beer and by cheap I mean $1 beers in the pubs - it is crazy. Then lots of TVs also in the pubs on which people watch the baseball while eating their burgers and drinking their beer.

If only these people played it a little themselves instead of only watching it, strange concept I know - exercise!!

I have been going to the gym every day - doing a combination of running, walking, cross training, weights and core work which has been great. I have not been for a long run for ages though, or a long swim - I am hanging to do both!!

Work wise it is pretty standard, exactly what I do in Sydney which is nice, at least I am not out of my comfort zone too much. The traffic in this city if unbelievable, every morning it takes me over an hour to get to work - a trip that should take 20mins!! Lucky I now have a GPS in my rental car, though I am not sure I trust her, she has been giving me some weird directions. And it is a Garmin!! Too big to take for runs but nice to know all the same - haha. We will need her tomorrow though, we are travelling to Aurora to go to the outlet malls there, I am cashed up and ready to splurge.

Onto the sad stuff.... I am quite homesick at the moment, even going out is depressing when I get home to an empty apartment.... Trying to find healthy ways to keep myself amused though which for the moment is working (kind of - deep breath).

I really miss having Ian there when I get home from work, I miss him making me laugh, I miss his cooking, I miss the kids making me smile, (I even miss the kids making me scream!) and most of all I miss cuddling up to him - sleeping without him next to me just doesn't feel right. Anyhoo, I am getting all teary now so I better go and find something to do, work maybe - yeah probably should do some seeing I have not done much today!

Mouse is in chicago

Well I have been here almost 2 weeks now and have been for a couple of runs. I am goign to have to spot myself on CR as I don't think anyone has seen the CR cap yet!! There is an awesome running track on Lake Michigan, right around the bay, it is lovely. I am going to go for a run tonight actually after work, such a great way to wind down!

My apartment is small but very nice. They clean it once a week too which is great, I have been trying to keep it tidy but I have so many computers, network cables, web cam etc that is looks a bit like a control room at the moment. I have been working out of the city so I haven't been able to enjoyt he 5 min walk to the Chicago office. Tomorrow though I am workign from there, I am already looking forward to the sleep in!!

I miss NTR and the kids a lot - we have been able to chat twice a day which is great but everytime we chat in my AM, I am running late for work so can't spend too much time on the phone - I need to work on that one.... My parents have been calling a lot too which is great and I am keeping in touch with my brother and his girlfriend via email.

I went to Lollapalooza on the weekend, a big music festival in Chicago. I saw Amy Winehouse, Iggy Pop, Pearl Jam and lots of other bands too, it was great. I also found a bar the other night that has $1 bud lights on Tuesdays, pity it tastes so bad but for $1 I wasn't going to complain!!

I will update some photos too soon, I need to take a lot more, work is really getting in the way of my tiem here! Haha.

Can't wait to meet NTR in Europe, we booked his flights this week, return flight to London paid for by frequent flyers, gotta love that! Pity we have to pay the taxes but it is soooo much cheaper doing it this way. Finding runs in Europe is my next challenge, if anyone knows any good tracks in London, Italy (Rome and florence I think), paris or Prague, please let us know!

Chicago adventures to be continued.....

the new goals...ntr

Since my great run at cities ( which i really dont think i celebrated enough to be honest!! ) I have had time to think about goals for the rest of the year ( not thinking past that! ) and have decided to focus on increasing my speed over shorter distances. And the distances are 8.33km ( Parramatta Park Runners course ) and 21.1km. After running today with CR Mango, and chatting about goals, i really felt i needed to get them down on paper( or web...whatever!) and start to plan around them.

As Mouse is away, I won't be training as much, or should I say, like i used to. I can slip up to 2 runs a week in at work lunch time, but they have to be short, with the a max of 1 hour out running, and then 20 mins getting changes and showered etc. Each weekend the kids are home, I am sure I can do another short run, with the kids riding their bikes or something with me. And every second weekend, fill it up with long runs!! One on Saturday, and one on Sunday!

So, the goals for the rest of the year are:
Run in Europe with Mouse - enough said...it will be great!
Parra Park Runners 8.33km - 36:00. Current PB is 0:38:43, so it will be tough, but with 4 months available this year ( 1 month in Europe :-) with my FIANCE ) it is possibly achievable!
Half Marathon: 1:43:00. Current PB is 1:46 ( set Dec 06 at Central Coast) I am hoping that by not walking, and taking my own drink belt on the 21.1km journey, i can shave a minute or so off without trying too much, and that my parra park running might dovetail nicely into better speed over the longer course. I think i can do it!

So there they are, my goals for the rest of the year!

In other news, thanks to Mango for the run today, and CR Blues Buffet last weekend, I have managed to keep off the "post big event blues" better then ever before! I have signed up for the Bankstown Hidden Half on August 19, which is rumoured to be very hilly, and also very supportive, so that is a good long run to start back with i think after cities.

I am enjoying the little bits of SMC web development work - i find it really challenging and can find myself spending way to long researching techniques etc when I really should be in bed! But, its enjoyable, and fills in my nights now....

I am definately in for the Phedippidations World Wide Half Marathon on October 13 or 14, and hoping some other CR's want to meet up for it. Sounds like a really cool thing to be part of.

Next post: hopefully it will be full of energy, complete with a training plan to match the goals, and include details on where Mouse and I will be running in London Rome and Paris!