Chicago Marathon

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Chicago, Jacksonville, Boston marathons – Information overload

Information overload last night.  TJ and I are trying to decide where to run our first marathon.  RS will go also I assume, if he can stay well.  Anyway, our choices are between the Chicago Marathon or Jacksonville Marathon.  In the end, money may make the decision.  I love Chicago and my lovely wife and I have friends up there as I have mentioned in the past.  But we also have great friends in Jacksonville, although I’ve not been to Jacksonville in a long time.  Anyway, it ends up that Jacksonville’s marathon is over $100 less a person than Chicago!!!  That is $300 more that TJ, RS and I would have to spend to enter the Chicago marathon; let alone travel and accommodations.  Both offer a fast course and the average temperature is about the same at the time of each race.  Jacksonville’s is in December, so that would give us a couple of months longer to get ready.  Remember, TJ is trying to qualify for Boston on his first marathon.  I dream of qualifying for Boston on my first.

So, if there is anyone in Chicago who reads this, could you run by Ballydoyle Pub and ask Phil if he would like to sponsor us?  Just tell him our favorite song is “Sweet Home Alabama” and he’ll know who we are.  I know, it is a pipe dream, but isn’t that what blogs are for???

Finally, onto yesterday.  I LOVE running the day after a tempo run.  It is like my body has said, “hey, as long as you aren’t going to run as fast as you did yesterday, I’ll do what you want”.  I ran 6 miles at an 8:30 pace and could have gone for more.  I stopped because of today…  The dreaded hill day.  It feels like this hill  goes straight up for about 5 miles, but it is only about 1/8 – 1/4 mile.  It is straight up though.  My goal is to make it 3 times, as I did 2 last time.  TJ can do 6 – how does he do it?

So on to another day of work, looking forward to heading home to my lovely wife, kids and dog.  I’ll say hi as I head out to run the mountain.

I love running.

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My first hill run

Okay.  It was not as fun as I thought it would be – Actually I really didn’t think it would be fun, but this was a rough hill.  TJ says it is about an eighth of a mile, but I think it might be further.  It goes straight up for a long time and then levels out a bit and then up more but at a slower incline.  TJ ran it 6 times.  Not me.  I ran it once and then ran other areas of the same neighborhood that were hilly and then I ran it again.  So all in all I ran it twice and then another few miles to make 5 miles for the day.  It was crazy though.  After running the hill/mountain twice, I could barely keep a 10 minute pace.  My legs were shot.  So I guess it did what it was supposed to do.  Hill runs are supposed to help your speed similar to 800m intervals but since you don’t have to run as fast or as hard, it isn’t as hard on your body.

As TJ and I were going to get the pizza for dinner we talked the half marathon.  He really wants to run it in 90 minutes. I told him I want to beat a 9 minute pace.  He said if I can make it in an 8:23 pace and we do the Chicago Marathon, I’ll be about to be in the first 14,000 runners.  Hmmm.

I think I may be in over my head.

I run my first 13.1 miles tomorrow since October. I’ve been doing about 10 miles on my long day, but with the race close at hand, I figure I need to get another one under my belt.  I’m going to try to run it at the same pace I would like to do the half marathon in, so we’ll see how it goes.

I love to run!!!