Get outta town

When I was in High School my Cross Country team would usually take a trip to Northern Wisconsin at the end of the summer.  It was a combination of running, having fun, and bonding.  And it created some enduring memories that we still talk about almost three decades later.  All it takes when we're together is for one of us to recall "remember when the dog bit Billy?" during one of our group runs, and it takes us back to fond memories and stories from that time. 

I mention this because my family is preparing to leave for a few days of vacation to Wisconsin.  It's supposed to be about 'family time' and relaxation.  We are all in dire need of those things.  But, for me, it's also about the chance to run in a different environment.  The country roads in Delavan, Wisconsin are great to run on.  There are few cars, and it's a little hilly and shaded.  In other words, great training, and no pressure to get my run in before work, or in between taking our daughters to one of their countless activities.  I'm looking forward to it.

It also means going alone on my long runs.  I could run with my wife, but then there would be noone to watch the kids.  And at 3 1/2, our oldest isn't quite up to the task of watching  her two sisters on her own.  There is also the question of running pace, but we'll leave that one alone.  In any case, it's something I'll have to start getting used to.  The injury bug has gotten my two running buddies at the same time.  Our Saturday morning long runs will be disrupted for the foreseeable future because of a torn achilles tendon for my friend Tom, and a variety of issues for my friend Rick.  Rick was my coach in High School, and the leader of those Wisconsin trips.  He'll be back running pretty soon, but for at least the next few weeks, I'm on my own.  Rick is on the left in the photo, Tom is in the middle.  The picture was taken during a fall run in healthier times.

That's not a bad thing.  I am at the point where I need to recharge my batteries and start to focus on my next goal.  That likely means a fall marathon (New York) and a couple of half marathons including the Chicago Distance Classic.  Speaking of races there is also one my wife or I will probably jump into in Elmhurst.  It's the Four on the Fourth, and I hear it's a nice run that is followed by the town 4th of July celebration.

So it should be a good week of running coming up.  I'll leave you with a picture of Bart Yasso of Runner's World signing books as Fleet Feet last weekend.  As you may have read in previous entries, Bart was our teammate in the recent MC200.  It was great to see him back in town.  Meantime, I'm not building as exotic a running resume as Bart Yasso, but everybody has a story, and I'm writing mine.

See you on the roads....

Gibbons Run

How strange.  It seems like it was just a couple weeks ago when I was wondering whether it was ever going to warm up.  Now I'm already complaining that it's too hot.  Runners.  You just can't make them happy!

Really though, it's been nice running the last few days.  I especially enjoyed the Jim Gibbons run on Thursday evening.  It's really nice to work a day shift (I usually work nights), then stroll over to Grant Park for a run.  In this case, it's a run that is close to me.  I never had the opportunity to meet Jim Gibbons.  He was one of the best reporters ABC-7 has had, but he tragically died of leukemia a few months before I was hired at the station.  The race raises money for leukemia research, and it has become a regular part of the late spring calendar for many runners in Chicago.

It's also fun to run with (or at least hang out with) some of my colleagues at ABC-7.  I rode over with Cheryl Burton, Jamie Garton-Insko (producer), and Carleen Mosbach (assignment editor).  We got a chance to catch up a bit on the way over.  It also helped remind me that running a race like this is not all that serious for a lot of people.  We were pushing about 25 minutes before race time, and still on our way.  I was getting pretty antsy about warming up and stretching.  Those thoughts never occurred to them.  It was fun, and I ran just fine without much stretching.

I find I run better later in the day when I'm more loosened up anyway.  And my goals for this race were really pretty modest.  I just wanted to run a steady pace under 7:00/mile.  I hoped to break 21 minutes.  That's exactly what I did.  My time was 20:50.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to catch a train home after the race, so I didn't take any pictures other than the quick shot of the set-up you see here.

But anyway, if you haven't done this run in the past, I encourage you to try it next year.  In the meantime, another favorite race of mine, the Elvis Is Alive run sponsored by Fleet Feet, is moving to a Thursday evening this year.  It's always been on Saturday, but this year they have moved the location to Grant Park, and the date to Thursday August 7th.  www.fleetfeetchicago.com for more info.

On another topic, congratulations to Brendan Cournane!  He just finished his 50th state in a quest to run a marathon in every state.  Brendan is a great guy, and a really good coach.  He works with beginning and intermediate runners as a coach for Chicago Endurance Sports.  He is also a big advocate of the run/walk program.  In fact, he has done a number of his races as run/walk, and has run a sub 3:30 marathon taking walking breaks.  Harry Porterfield recently featured Brendan on one of his "Someone You Should Know" segments.  If you didn't get a chance to see it, take a look.  http://abclocal.go.com/wls/media?id=6211924

See you on the roads....

Let's get it started

The MC200 is in the books for this year, but before I let it rest for good, I want to share a couple random thoughts.

First, I wrote here about how I trained a couple times with runs at night in the dark, so I could get used to running with a light as most everyone has to do in the relay.  Well, of course, I was the one runner on the team who didn't have a night run.  My 'overnight' run was at about 5:30am, and it was pretty light at that point, so I didn't carry a light, or wear a reflective vest.  But hey, the night training runs were still fun!

Our teammate, Bart Yasso from Runner's World, suggested a strategy for approaching each our our three legs of the relay.  He says you should go 80% for the first, 90% for the second, and give whatever you have left in the final.  I probably reversed it a little, giving 90% on the first, 80% on the second, and cruising in on the final.  But it worked fine.  Time wasn't much of a factor at that point, although our final time apparently doesn't take into account the more than two hours we were held back at the transfer areas because of weather concerns.  I haven't even looked at the results.  We finished, and that's enough for me!

Also, Ray Stevens (Ramblin' Ray) began a mock feud with teammate Phil Schwarz last week on ABC7.  He said Phil was, shall we say, 'high maintenance'.  Phil responded the other morning on the air by saying Ray was basically a little crazy.  I would say both were a lot of fun to run with, and there may be a grain of truth to each allegation!  Really, they are both great, and I hope to run with them again.

I personally haven't given it much thought yet, but many of the marathon training programs are getting underway in the next week or so.  Most of the programs locally are designed to get you ready for the Chicago marathon, but the calendar works for most fall marathons if you tweak it a bit.  As you may know, Nike is now one of the sponsors of the marathon, and my friends from there sent over information about their program, and it is listed below:

___________________________________

Nike’s Official Bank of America Chicago Marathon Training Run Program

Nike’s Official Bank of America Chicago Marathon Training Run program starts June 16th and keeps going right up to the marathon.  Those attending our kickoff event at Fleet Feet Sports will have the opportunity to win an entry into the sold out marathon.

Mondays-Fleet Feet Sports at 6:30pm (1620 N. Wells)

Core & Strength training exercises following each run

Tuesdays-Running Away Multisport at 6:30pm (

1634 W. North Avenue

)

Speed workouts incorporated into each run

Wednesdays-Starbucks at 6:30pm (1430 W.

Taylor

)

Injury Prevention tips following each run

Thursdays-NIKETOWN at 6:30pm (669 N.

Michigan

)

Yoga following each run

Saturdays-Foster Ave. at 6:30am (

Foster

Avenue

Beach

House)

Beach Yoga following each run

Additional incentives to include on site nutritionists, shoe clinics, and race day preparation tips. All of this for FREE! No need to sign up in advance, simply show up and run!

Not training for the marathon? Each run will offer a 3, 5, and 7 mile option, along with paces ranging from 7 min to 11 min miles!

* * *

Other options to help prepare runners ..

A Runner’s Own Personal Trainer from Nike: Train with Coach Jenny

Jenny Hadfield – co-owner of Chicago Endurance Sports, columnist for Health magazine and RunnersWorld.com, co-author of the best selling Marathoning for Mortals and the newly released Running for Mortals – has developed exclusive Nike training regimens for beginner, intermediate and advanced marathoners.  Pick your training plan and then start pounding the pavement!

Follow the links below to see an example of the programs available at www.nikerunning.com/chimarathon.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Training with Nike+Coach

Nike+ Coach is a runner's own personal online trainer -- empowering runners with the information and motivation needed to train for a 5K, a 10K, half-marathon or full marathon -- and an easy, accessible way to connect to the world's largest global running community at nikeplus.com.   Nike+Coach allows users to train individually or as a team, follow an existing training program or create their own while visualizing each mile trained, tracking goals and challenging runners from all over the world.  As of February 2008, Nike+ runners have run more than 50 million miles on nikeplus.com -- the equivalent of completing more than 1.9 million Chicago Marathons.

__________________________________

See you on the roads....

What's the big deal?

Let me start by saying this was an incredible running experience.  But the MC200 is much more than that.  It is a people experience.  The running part is great, but you are really only running 1/12th of the time you are out there.  The really fun part is being a member of a team.  It's not something I have done in running since college.  But with this, most of the teams are not so much competing, as they are just enjoying the experience. 

If you have ever trained for a marathon, you have probably done a long run of around 20 miles.  As you know, it's challenging, but you get through it.  Well, as I think about the MC200 we participated in over the weekend, I realize my total mileage was less than that.  I ran about 18 miles, and it was split up into three runs.  A piece of cake right?  Well, the challenge here was doing it when you've been awake for (basically) 36 hours straight, and you've been sitting in a cramped van for most of that time.   

This is what relay distance running is all about.  It was an odd and unique experience.  Even though I have run this relay before, the experience this time around was memorable for many reasons.  First of all it was a joy to run with 11 other people who came together as a team for this event.   

We were the media team:  11 members of the Chicago broadcast and print media (and one staffer from Runner's World Magazine) brought together by our love of running, and challenges.  Team captain Amy Freeze knew none of us when she invited us to join the relay.  But after spending lots of quality time driving from one transfer area to the next, and waiting for the next runner to arrive, we got to know each other pretty well.

I want to share some of the highlights, to go along with some of the many pictures.

Our team had it's share of heroes.  One is Tom Negovan from WGN.  The night before the run, his station sent him to Washington to interview Barack Obama.  He agreed to go, but insisted the return flight be to Madison the next day, so he could join the team in time for his first relay leg.  We, in the second van, picked him up at the airport while the first van began the race.  Tom ran the 6th leg and made it to the transfer area just in time.  He ran, on very little sleep, but kept his commitment to the team.  We really appreciated it.

Then there is Dina Bair.  She was our lead off runner, pictured with my wife Christine, and Amy Freeze.  Dina took off first, and promptly got lost in Madison neighborhoods, where the course markings were a bit confusing.  She added a little distance to the run, but was most concerned about letting the team down.  Little did she realize that letting us down was impossible.  Our only expectation was to finish.  It was only later that we learned Dina put serious health issues on the back burner to do this run, rather than disappoint her teammates.  We would have understood Dina, but we are now your biggest fans, and praying for you.

Amy Freeze from Fox-32 was our team hero.  She not only brought us together, but planned virtually everything.  She even got sponsors who donated shoes (Nike), clothes and equipment (Fleet Feet), Food (Dominicks) and a number of other items.  She was tireless, and even took on some of the most difficult legs of the relay for herself.

Bart Yasso from Runner's World called Amy a 5 star captain.  Bart should know.  He's organized teams, and races, like this for years.  But for this race, I call him a 5 star teammate.  He ran whatever leg we asked of him despite not having run in the previous week because of illness.  He entertained us with stories from his amazing running career.  And he encouraged and inspired us to run our best with good advice.  If you get a chance to read his book, I highly recommend it.  And watch the interview I did with him in my last blog entry.

Most everyone made sacrifices to be part of our team.  Gail Fischer had not been home since early in the week because she was traveling for work.  I didn't even realize that until the relay was just about over, because she never said a word about it.  And Ramblin' Ray Stevens got a shot in his knee the day before, just so he could join us.  He made it with no problem.  He is pictured getting a hand-off from Phil Schwarz.  Phil ran his three legs, slept a couple hours in the van, and then went to work, where he was busy with severe weather all night.

And then there was my wife, Christine.  She ran her 3 legs, totaling 15 miles, with no problem.  That includes the 6.5 miler in the near 90 degree heat, despite having a baby four months ago.  Yeah, there's no question about the strong one in our relationship.

I've done hundreds of races over the years.  Most are individual performances, and the satisfaction I get from completing them is really a selfish one.  It's all about me.  Not this time.  My runs were fun, but the satisfaction was about being part of a team that managed to run continuously from Madison, through Milwaukee, to Chicago.  We put endured the same sleep deprivation that the other 102 teams did, and ran through extreme heat, darkness, and rain storms.  And along the way, we developed a little more respect and admiration for each other.

The picture here is of the finish.  I got the last leg, and was soaking wet, and anxious to be done after being held up for an extra two hours by course marshalls concerned about the weather.  They stopped us just before I got the baton for the final leg.  Those momentary frustrations evaporated quickly though as we took one final picture with the remaining teammates at the finish line.  We got our medals, yes.  But more importantly, we got lasting memories of a really wonderful experience.

On the way back after we were done, Amy started talking about how we could do even better next year.  I'm sure that's possible, but right now I'm not ready to think about it.  Right now, I want to congratulate my teammates, 11 of the nicest, most down to earth media people you are ever going to find in Chicago.  Congratulations also to all the other teams along the way.  Each one had stories equally as memorable I'm sure.  That's why we do it.  And that's why we'll probably be back next year.

Run Bart Run

I'm still in recovery mode from the MC200 over the weekend.  Suffice to say we finished, it was great fun, and it was a long 30 some hours with little sleep.  We met a lot of nice runners along the way, and enjoyed each other's company quite a bit.  Here are a couple of pictures for now including our team posing at transfer area number 6, but what I wanted to make sure to post asap was the interview with our 'ringer', Bart Yasso.   

As I've mentioned, Bart is the Chief Running Officer for Runner's World Magazine.  He has run on every continent including countless marathons and ultra marathons as well as most everything else you can imagine.  He's written a new book called "My Life on the Run".  Bart was a great inspiration to our team, and he entertained us with stories along the way.  The picture here is of Bart posing with my wife as her first leg of the relay was 'suspended' briefly because of a weather warning.  I sat down with him before the relay started and asked him about a wide range of topics.  It was much too long an interview for our news (11 minutes!) but that's one of the benefits of having a blog!  So enjoy Bart, and check back in a day or two for more pictures and thoughts on a great experience, the MC200. Here's the link:  http://abclocal.go.com/wls/media?id=6188857 

Meantime, I'm going to lay down and try to catch up on my sleep!  Then it's time to start thinking about what to train for next!  See you on the roads.....

countdown to relay

It's been more great running weather the last few days.  Of course, most days in June are pretty good for just about anything outside.  And even when it's not ideal, I have no complaints.  The other day I ran in a steady rain and still enjoyed it.  I know, I'm a little twisted.  This week, though, is a little bit of a tapering week.  I'm taking it easy and conserving energy for the weekend.

I've been thinking about the MC200 relay coming up this weekend for a couple months now.  I'm pretty excited about it, more so than I get amout most races, but I'm not exactly sure why.

Usually when you are focused on a race coming up, you train specifically for it.  Depending on the distance, there are workouts suited to working on your speed, endurance or strength.  Like the Soldier Field 10 mile race a few weeks ago, I knew what workouts and distances I needed to run in the weeks before.  In this case, I haven't really done much different with my training, other than do a couple of two a day runs with one of them at night.

The relay is not a new experience for me either.  I've done this exact race twice before, and had fun each time.  In fact the corporate team I was on won their division each time.  The team I am on this time is not expecting to be especially competitive.

But, I guess that's probably what I'm excited about.  The team is made up of mostly Chicago media members.  Most are friends, some are people I don't know very well yet.  But after spending 24 hours or so in a sweaty, stinky van with them, we will probably get to know each other pretty well.

One of the runner's I know pretty well though.  My wife, Christine has been training for this and is ready.  She is just four months removed from giving birth to our third child, and I am very proud of her getting in shape as quickly as she has.

The other runners include Dina Bair and Tom Negovan from WGN.  Phil Schwarz from ABC-7.  Ray Stevens from US 99.5  Liz Plosser from Time Out Chicago magazine, Gail Fischer from Comcast Sports, Kate Bongiovanni formerly of Windy City Sports (now freelance) and Greg Sanchez from NBC-5.

Our Captain is Amy Freeze, from Fox.  She has done an amazing job of organizing the team from getting everyone on board to recruiting sponsors to planning our route.  Nike and Fleet Feet Sports are the two main sponsors with help from Dominick's, Scoozi restaurant and others.  And she also recruited our 'ringer' from Runner's World Magazine, Bart Yasso.  I plan on posting a video link to an interview with Bart after the weekend.  But hats off to Amy!  She has thought of everything.  Now all we've got to do is run.  And I can do that!

I've written about it before, so you may know this is a 12 person team.  Each runner does three legs ranging from 3 to nearly 9 miles.  I will run a total of about 18 miles.  Greg will take the longest leg, about 21 miles.

Our team mottos (also courtesy of Amy) include: "One foot in front of the other" (you know from the Christmas show!) "The faster you run, the faster you're done", and "don't let the cougers catch you".

Regardless of how we do, it is 24 hours of nothing but running, and I'm always up for that!  I will have plenty to write about for the next few weeks!

See you on the roads...