Random Thoughts About the Chicago Marathon

--You want to run this race?  Yeah, yeah of course you have to train -you already know that.  But ask yourself this: Do I have a tolerance for large crowds? Remember-this year's field was 45,000.

--I volunteered at the Marathon last year, so one half of my brain understood that I'd be in a big crowd.  Yesterday, the other half of my brain got it when my corral started running. THIS is what rush hour on the expressway would look like if no one drove!
--Not everyone tosses their sweatshirts, gloves, etc. before the start.On Columbus Drive after the tunnel, I almost tripped over a sweatshirt.  First two miles were an obstacle course.

--Surely, this crowd will thin out, I kept thinking at the 10 mile.  Umm, no.

--Surely, this crowd will thin out, I kept thinking at the 15 mile.  Umm, no

--Surely, this crowd will thin out, I kept thinking at the 20th mile. Maybe it did, but only because everyone was passing me.  I was walking by then.

--I didn't want to get too caught up in the atmosphere, and start running faster than my intended pace.  To make sure I didn't, I wore earplugs for the first 13 miles.  That was pointless.  The spectators in the Loop and the North Side neighborhoods were loud.

--On the other hand, I wish I kept them on.  I liked hearing the live bands, such as the Taiko drummers, Illinois-Chicago's band, etc. Electronic Dance Music, or whatever you call that thumpy-thumpy shit sucks.

--I expected to be bothered by my glutes.  I was surprised that my feet felt as if they were swelling.  That didn't happen when I ran the Madison Marathon last year.  I'm running Madison next month, and I'll wear different shoes.

--Membership has its rewards!  I'm a member of the Chicago Area Runners Association,or CARA.  We had a CARA Compound at a local hotel.  Thus we had our own gear check, and a space to go to post-race.

Plenty of food and "Runners High P.A." from Lagunitas brewery to drink.

This is the outfit I've picked out for booth the Chicago and Madison Marathons.
It'll be my first Chicago Marathon tomorrow.  Have I gotten pre-race jitters?  No.  I've been marveling at the contrast between last year's Madison run, and tomorrow's extravaganza. Madison's field is capped at 1500, which is the size of oh...two or three Chicago Marathon corrals?
This year's Chicago field is 45,000, which is equivalent of two or more suburbs of Madison, I guess.
After picking up my packet, and a few other things, I one of the shuttle busses back  from McCormick  to Roosevelt & State L station.  Before heading home, I....wait a  minute -  that's a contrast.  In Madison, I strolled over to Monona Terrace from the hostel, picked up my packet, and then maybe wandered over to Capitol Square to watch them set up the race.  Today, before heading home, I wandered East on  Roosevelt Road to Columbus Drive.  This is the end of the Chicago course.  Everything was fenced off, the P.A. system was being tested, and a bunch of other last minute activities were taking place.  I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve looking at the presents under the tree.  Couldn't touch them.  Couldn't shake them.  But I knew it was for me.

10 Idle Thoughts About Running, Part 1

 1. Track coach & Physiologist Dr. Jason Karp asserts that “marathons change lives”. I'm sure there's some truth to that. I'll say that road racing has changed my perspective.

2.  I never cared about how crowned a road was until I started running on them,and my left glutes started giving me a hard time.

3.  Why do cracks appear longitudinally at the top of a road's crown, anyway?

4. Before I started consistently running, I'd grumble about bus routes being interrupted by the Chicago Marathon. Now, I'm running in my first Chicago Marathon, and hey people-it's a temporary disruption! You'll have your streets back in the late afternoon.

5. Do marathons change lives?  I don't know, but running the Madison Marathon made me slightly condescending.  "Why yes, I'll run your flat course, but Darling, we all know real marathons are run over hills."

6. I downloaded the 2013 course.  There are some long straight stretches. "Straighter than a preacher/ longer than a memory" as Steve Earle sang in "Nowhere Road.  After running over 22 miles, that last long stretch up Michigan Ave. looks like a "nowhere road".

7. I felt the same way about John Nolen drive during the Madison Marathon.  I'll spare you the rant.

8. Several weeks ago, when I went to pick up my bib for the Madison Half Marathon at the Monona Terrace convention center, I paused near John Nolen Drive.  I was about to unleash a torrent of obscenities at that drive.  ("Mommy, why is that man yelling at nothing?  Dear, he ran a marathon here back in November, some people just don't know how to let bygones be bygones.  You'll understand as you get older.")

9. I restrained myself and stayed quiet.  However, at the bib pickup & expo, I talked about it with a volunteer who had run the full Marathon.  He observed that it's one thing to see where you finish, which is the State Capitol building, and then another thing to know that you have to run another three miles to get to it.

10. I was going to spare you a rant.  Sorry.  I lied.  Marathons change lives. ;-)

The 2014 Madison Half Marathon: Thoughts on a "variable"

If my road racing was a scientific experiment, then the first three half marathons I ran would be part of the "control" group,. because
1. They were all run in Chicago, therefore
2.I slept in my own bed at home, and was guaranteed a quiet night.
3. The races  started far from where I lived, therefore I had to get up early in the morning in time for a light meal,and a long bus/train  ride to the start area.
4. They were all run on mostly flat, or  gently rolling terrain.  The only thing approaching a hill was the off ramp turnaround point during the 2012 Chicago Half  Marathon.

This weekend's Madison Half Marathon was DEFINITELY the variable, because:
1. I stayed at a Hostel near the starting area.  My sleep could have been interrupted  by late night travelers/bar crawlers entering my dorm room.  Fortunately that didn't happen.
2.  I didn't HAVE to get up so early, but on race day, I'm used to it.  Get up. Make that Ancora coffee I bought the night before (local shop on King St. -shameless plug).  Big pot for everyone. Eat a small meal.
3. The race had hills! (Feel free to say DUH, it's Madison!) Yes, I knew that from the full Marathon.  But by God, whoever laid out the course wasn't going to let the runners forget it. The Carroll St. Start was on an uphill grade.  Once we ran three sides of  Capitol Square, we ran downhill for a little while before winding our way up, up, UP through some part of the U.W. campus, and then onto Observatory Drive.
4. There were other ups & downs.  The evil geniuses course planners had us run through the Arboretum on a downhill course - which was the opposite direction of the full marathon route, I think.  When that pleasant jaunt was over with, there was a steep hill to climb on Edgewood Ave.  I noted other runners were walking it, but I made it a point to run the hill. It was a slow run.  I had to make myself angry to produce enough adrenaline so I could manage a slow run up a steep hill.  Gasp. Gasp. Goddamnit I didn't pay an entrance fee to walk! Gasp.  Gasp.
5. I didn't get in as much out door running beforehand as I would've liked to.  My expectations weren't as high.  I wanted to not take this event too seriously, so I taped a saying to my back.  See photo.
6. However, if I did better than 2:24:00, I'd be happy.
7. Final time 2:18:50

More "coming attractions"

Good day for a run down to the Navy Pier flyover construction site.  It doesn't look like much now, but when it's complete, it will reduce a lot of the foot and bicycle traffic that flows under Lake Shore Drive.

Horner Park river bank botanical restoration project

This is a Northwest side  park  that had a dirt trail I used to run on.  The dirt trail is cordoned off now, because it is part of an Army Corp of Engineers project to remove invasive species trees and plants.  They will be replaced by plants and trees indigenous to this area.  Details here 

A couple of Saturdays ago, I ran over to Horner and took some photos.  Sigh,  yes.  A part of my finger got in the way of the lens.  That is NOT part of the restoration.

A DIY "stick" (self massage tool)

Last week, after running the Lakefront 10 miler I decided to stick around for a free massage Chiro One was offering.  My left glutes act up after a long run, so a massage seemed like a good idea.  The masseuse used a stick.  It worked well.
However, after visiting the website I wondered if I could create a cheaper alternative.  I have a cheap store brand wooden rolling pin that I bought at my local Jewel.  Never used the thing.  Could I duplicate the bumpy surface found on some foam rollers?  Sure.  A trip to the dollar store later, and I had  a bath mat, which I cut to size.
How to fasten?  I didn't have the right size nails, nor did I have the appropriate sized staples.  I did have fast drying glue.However, to make sure the mat stayed on the rolling pin, I channeled my inner Red Green and resorted to "the handyman's secret weapon - duct tape".
You can see the result here.

It works just as well as the stick.