The Mean City Streets

A few weeks ago I met up with a photographer friend of mine who schooled me in using my own camera. He's that good. We met up right after work, so I brought my camera with me to the office that day.

This was during the Mike-as-a-cripple phase of our lives, so naturally he and I drove to work that day. I had just recently gotten my fancy new telephoto zoom lens and wanted to test its image stability. For those of you not as big a photo nerd as I have become, let me just say image stabilization reduces vibration therefor allowing the photographer to take clearer photos. My fancy new lens came with image stabilization and there seemed no better time to test it than in a moving car.

As Mike drove us into work, I snapped photos along the way. Most were highly unimpressive, but once we turned onto Lake Street I knew we'd be under the El. The yellow of the tracks and the intermittent light I thought might result in a cool image, and if I do say so myself, I think it did. It's not the most dynamic image, but I like how it shows a slice of city life early on a Wednesday morning.

Race Day

This photo is what one might call foreshadowing.
I woke up this morning, ready for my race. I felt good about my training and knew this 5 mile race was a distance I could run. The only question in my mind was how fast?

True to the weather forecasters' prediction it started raining last night. I was sitting on the couch and could hear the wind whipping outside and rain hitting our front windows. It wasn't a pleasing sound, but I'd run the Shamrock Shuffle before under similar conditions. In fact the past two times I've run this race, it's been cold, windy and slightly raining at points. What I've never done is run this race under ideal conditions.

When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was walk to our front windows. And before I even opened the blinds I thought to myself it seemed a bit bright. Sadly, this is the view that greeted me:

The sidewalks were not even visible. How can I run five miles when I can't even see the sidewalks? The snow accumulation was what ended up making me decide I was not going to run the race that morning. To be honest, I hadn't really been looking forward to it in the first place. The friend I was supposed to run the race with as of Thursday told me she couldn't. I understood though. She's also a co-worker of mine and unexpectedly had to fly yesterday to Texas for a trial - a trial she only found out about four days prior to going, so I don't fault her. Without a companion though it meant I was taking the train downtown by myself, checking my gear by myself, warming up by myself, running the race by myself and then heading back home, by myself. I didn't want to go it alone, but I would have. Until I saw the snow.

This would have been my third time running the Shuffle. I've finished it twice in the past and know this is a distance I can run in a little more than 57 minutes. I'd trained and had no qualms about being unable to finish this race in at the most 57 minutes. I was running this race to see how much time I could knock off my previous two tries. Looking at the snow, I knew there was no way I'd be able to run this race the way I wanted. This wasn't a dusting of snow. It wasn't only making the ground a little wet. It looked like it had been snowing for a couple hours before I woke up, and NPR informed me that the snow was expected to continue until around 1 p.m. So the entire race I would have been running in the snow. In the thick, slushy snow that was already 2 inches thick when I woke up.

(The railing on our back staircase covered in snow.)

I knew I wasn't going to do this, so I made a deal with myself. I would run that day, my five miles, at the gym on a treadmill and next weekend (weather permitting) I will run 5 miles outside. So instead of starting the Shamrock Shuffle around 9:30 a.m., I hopped in Mike's car at that same time and drove to the gym.

I ran my personal (indoor) Shamrock Shuffle in 56:31. That time is about one minute faster than the past two time I've ran the Shuffle. It gives me hope that when I do my outdoor run (hopefully) next weekend, that I'll be able to come in under 55 minutes. That would put me at under an 11 min/mile pace, something I'd be proud of.

It does kind of suck though because I really wanted to be done with this freaking race. Almost there, but not quite yet.

You Have Got To Be Kidding Me

It has been confirmed twice over now. First on weather.com and now on WGN's 9 o'clock news cast. Sunday's forecast: low of low 30s, high of low 40s, windy and possibly snow showers in the morning.

Snow in the morning.

As in when I'm running my race.

It's not uncommon for Chicago to get snow in March or even April, but really? Really Chi-town? This weekend's going to suck royal ass weather-wise. No doubt about it. And the kicker is this past weekend was gorgeous. It was in the low 50s and sunny. Perfect weather for running. Not the case for this coming weekend. Which in case you missed my saying it before... is going to suck royal ass weather-wise.

Running Update

Well I did manage to get my butt in gear. I did my final long run before the Shuffle. All that's in front of me now are a 3 mile run, a 2 mile run and then the 5-mile race on Sunday. And honestly, I can't wait for it to be over. I'm ready to train on my own ground and workout how I want to work out. I'll still run, but I can guarantee it won't be three times a week.

I have mixed emotions about my run today. It was 4.5 miles, but actually I ran a little more than that - 4.62 miles according to Gmaps Pedometer. I missed a turn and unintentionally added some mileage. And my time? 56:38.

Here's why I have mixed emotions about this run. To see 56:38, I'm upset. From my last 4 mile run to now I added close to 10 minutes, but I only added a half mile. (actually 0.6 miles). That means my pace was much slower. This time also means that my goal of running this race in under 50 minutes is darn near impossible. I do believe the race day adrenalin will help to propel me a little faster and a little farther, but I don't see me knocking 7 or 8 minutes off my time. It doesn't seem feasible.

But here's why I am pretty happy with my run. First, I did it. Secondly, it was easier than my 4 mile run. I hesitate to say it, but it was almost enjoyable. I felt pretty good throughout and walked a whole heck of a lot less than I did with my last run. I really only stopped when I reached stop lights and street crossings. I did stop to stretch my legs twice, but I never really walked just for walking's sake. I am also proud I did this run because my quads were hurting before I began. I did a stair stepper machine at the gym on Thursday, and my muscle soreness really only kicked in today.

So I'm mixed. Honestly, my one prevailing emotion is relief. I am choosing to focus on the relief I will feel next Sunday when this is all over.