Welcome to week 7 of this go round of the Super Squats Club! The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!
In what is probably my most bizarre move during my time as a runner, I decided to run a half marathon while training for a half marathon. Last week I ran the Chicago Monster Dash. It was my first half that was not part of the Rock n Roll series. I have run bigger races and smaller races. The bigger races are nice in some aspects. More people running means more people cheering means a course that is easily accessible to spectators.
The smaller races are nice because it means you’re not fighting with all those other people for space during the race. Sometimes the end of race perks are better in the smaller races. In August I ran a 10k where the post-race activities featured free breakfast, dessert from Corner Bakery and a free 312 beer. In 2010 I ran a 10k (my first and only trail run) where we got homemade breakfast tacos that turned out to be all you can eat because there were so few runners. In both cases the sense of community was so great that I decided to stay through the awards ceremony even though I did not win an award.
The race last week started in Grant Park. Usually runs that start in Grant Park go south and then turn around and head back north. Instead we ran north and then headed south. Since this race was a half marathon and a 5k there were a lot of fun things in the first couple miles, but once we got past Navy Pier, we were in no man’s land.
At the halfway point I realized I was bored, but I had gotten myself that far away and I needed to get back, so I continued on. I finished in a less than desirable time for myself, but it’s not something I’m going to beat myself up about. It was a training run, where I ran 1.1 miles longer than was on my schedule. Now I can look forward to a week of taper training before the race on November 13th. The past 7 weeks have gone by incredibly fast.
How was your week this week? Good luck to anyone running the New York Marathon this weekend!
Image via Flickr.
