Anyway, it was a great Friday night. We raised a good amount of money, and most of us who were there still managed to make it out for our early Saturday morning run! Let me tell you though, it was a slow 12 miles for me! That's ok. I don't have plans to run another race for a couple weeks. But there are a bunch of great events coming up. The first is the run to the Plaza which starts at Millenium Park. I believe it's basically a group fun run. It's part of a series the folks who produce the marathon are putting together this summer. It's free, but you need to sign up online. Event: RUN to the Plaza "the first in a unique series of events" Host: RUN312 Start Time: Tuesday, June 2 at 5:30pm Where: Park Grill Plaza Speaking of the marathon, it's been sold out for a while, but there are a number of charities which still have spots open that include entry into the race. The Respiratory Health Association's Lung Power Team is one of them. I ran with them a couple years ago, and I recommend it to anyone. This weekend is also a great event that will inspire anyone who has daughters. I have four, so I need to be there I guess! It's the Girls on the Run 5k. Here is part of an email they sent me: The big news is that we will be hosting more than 2,500 young girls aged 8-12 as they celebrate their “girl power” by running the 5K race at Montrose Harbor. We expect a total of 7,000 runners to participate in this exciting event and Girls on the Run International Founder Molly Barker will be there to start the runners off and kick off Girls on the Run-Chicago’s ten year anniversary celebration! I'll see you on the roads....There is so much going on in the running community right now it's almost overwhelming. But over the weekend a group of friends and I took some time to celebrate success at the Boston marathon and raise some money for "Team with a Vision" which represents a Boston area agency that assists the blind and vision impaired. Kurt Fiene, the Elmhurst runner who won visually impaired division at Boston, was the guest of honor, and we were all inspired by his example. He is pictured with myself and Lisa Zimmer, who got a little lesson in pizza-making as part of our fundraiser! As you might imagine we were out to have some fun and eat some pizza.
Or should I say, make some pizza. First the background. In high school, I worked in a pizza place, called 'Briano's' with another friend, John Garrido, from high school. The restaurant, long closed,was owned by John Daly (no relation to the mayor's family). Well the three of us and our wives/girlfriends have gotten together a few times over the years to make some pizza for ourselves at our houses. Objectively speaking, let me says it's pretty good stuff.
So my wife got the idea of getting us together to share our pizza with a larger group, and make some money for a good cause as well. She called it 'The three Johns toss dough for your dough'. She also got a number of local merchants to donate pizza ingredients, beer and wine, and silent auction items. Come to think of it, she did all the work. We just had to make the pizza, which was actually more fun than work. And yes, we did toss the dough in front of an audience crammed into our kitchen!
Are you still looking for an entry into the sold out Bank of America Chicago Marathon? The Lung Power Team has entries available (June 30th deadline). Commit to raising $750 and get great benefits including complimentary entry fees & training. Contact Jamie at (312) 628-0213 or LungPowerTeam@lungchicago.org. Or check out the website: www.lungchicago.org.
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Two Days. Two Races.
I do realize it is far from ideal to start racing again soon after a marathon. The body does need time to recover before pushing it to it's limits again by racing. You should listen to your body and wait till you feel fully recovered before you start training seriously again. I know that. All the advice you hear over and over again about rest, and cold baths after the race, and message etc. is true.
The problem is that I hear what my body is telling me (ouch!), but I don't agree with the answer. So, hey, it's been a month since Boston, and that's long enough. And, as I mentioned last week, I had two races on the schedule over the last couple days. They both sounded like a lot of fun, and I vowed to give it a pretty good effort in both.
Thursday, there was a group of us from ABC-7 who ran as a team in the Chase Corporate Challenge. Pictured from left (front row) are Carrie Walker, Idalis Mercado, Michelle Gallardo, (back row) Stacey Baca, myself, and Blanca Rios. The race is an odd distance, 3.5 miles, but it's a good opportunity to run a little faster that I have been in training for a marathon. So I started out running even, and passed the mile at about 6:45. It felt comfortable, so I tried to keep that pace. It was a beautiful evening for running through downtown Chicago, and that probably helped me to finish is 23:39. I figure that translates to about a 20 minute 5k. And that, for me, means I gave a good effort.
But that was just the warm-up. A day and a half later, Saturday morning, pride was on the line as a large group of my running friends lined up for what has become our spring tradition. The Soldier Field 10 mile race has become the run we point to all winter. And for our former High School coach, Rick Staback, who won or placed in lots of local races in the 80's, it's about the only race he enters all year. So, even though my focus for the winter training was on the marathon, this was a race I could not miss, and had to try to run well in.
Suffice to say, noone ran as well as Jeff Jonaitis, who won easily in 49:58, which I'm told is a new course record. Since the course is 'out and back', I saw Jeff and the other leaders passing the 6 mile mark well before I came to the 5 mile mark. I also saw some of my group a little way back including Mark Wojciewkowski, who ran about 1:02, and Greg Sanchez, who was 30 seconds behind Mark.
I struggled along trying to keep a 7:10 pace for as long as I could. My sore hamstring bothered me the last couple miles, but I managed to finish in 1:12. That's only about three minutes slower than my best time on that course a couple years ago, so I have no complaints. I got to see lots of friends along the course and at the finish, and I can tell you most people had smiles on their faces. It was a good day. And our friend Tom celebrated the one year anniversary of tearing his achilles tendon, by running well, and finishing just about three minutes slower than last year, about 1:18. He's made an amazing recovery!
The race itself was the best it's been since they started it six years ago. Every year, the people at Fleet Feet Sports (which puts it on) tweak it a little, and make some improvements. This year they started the 8,000 runners in two waves to lessen the congestion on the path. They also added a marching band near the entrance to Soldier Field. They were about a half mile from the finish, and added to the festive stadium atmosphere. Runners entered the stadium from the Tunnel on the northeast corner of the park, and ran under the stands to enter the field at the northwest corner, before the sprint around the field to the 50 yard line! I enjoyed it. So did lots of the runners who were taking part to honor veterans on the Memorial Day weekend. And there were a few high profile runners, like White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, secret service officer in tow, who jumped into the race the last couple miles to finish with relatives. And Jenny Spangler, the former Olympic marathoner also won her age division.
It was a great day for the race, and a nice couple of days for me. Suffice to say, I took Sunday off! But the racing season is heating up, and there will be much more to talk about in the coming weeks.
See you on the roads....
Race Time
I'm still dragging from my Boston marathon experience less than a month ago. The nagging injuries I've been dealing with seem to be nagging more annoyingly than ever. But that's the way it goes I guess. The weather is warming up, racing season is upon us, and I'm not gonna miss it!
Two very fun events are on tap this week. Both are very different, but very big.
Thursday evening is one of the bigger downtown races of the season, and it draws an incredibly diverse crowd of runners. The Chase Corporate Challenge is a tradition for many area companies. This year more than 540 companies will have teams represented, including ABC7 for the first time in many years. I recall running the race with my colleagues Andy Shaw, Karen Meyer, and Suzanne Rico many years ago. We had a blast. Andy is now retired. Karen no longer runs. And Suzanne runs a little where she now lives in L.A. So I'll be the only veteran when we run Thursday!
More than 16,000 runners will line up for the start of the 3.5 mile race. The winners will qualify for the championships later this year in New York. I know this is serious business for some companies, like the group I trained with at CNA insurance a few years ago. They have sent teams to New York before.
ABC7 will not be sending a team to New York. But we will be in Grant Park. For several years organizers have contacted me to see whether I might be able to get a team together. I've always declined, because there aren't that many runners here, and I haven't had time to organize. This year, however, another employee organized a team, and invited me to join. I can do that! They all plan on finishing, and running most, if not all the way. I'm proud of them for doing it!
The race attracts lots of people who make this their only running event of the year. There are plenty of people who walk most of the way. There are also some really strong runners in front who make this a very competitive race for the leaders.
They are also collecting food for the Greater Chicago Food Depository this year. They are encouraging companies to bring a box of food they collect at the office to a collection point on-site. It's a great initiative, and that might be the most important impact of the event. Here's a link. http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=5&page=events042309
The other race happens just two days later. The Soldier Field 10 miler has become an annual event on my calendar. I have run it every year since it's inception about 5 years ago. In fact, my former high school teammates and current running partners all try to make it for this one, and get together for breakfast afterward. We've all been gearing up for this one for the last few months, and I've been trying to recover from the marathon quickly enough to run a good time. We'll see what happens.
But no matter your pace, it is exciting to run part of the race along Lake Shore Drive, back up the lakefront path, and finish at the 50 yard line in Soldier Field. The race also traditionally honors our Veterans at the start. And one of the really neat aspects of the race this year is that a group of running soldiers will run a ten mile race at their post in Afghanistan at about the same time as the runners in Chicago. The folks at Fleet Feet Sports, who put on the race, have sent finisher medals, and even some of the Soldier Field turf to the war zone.
I know there are many other great races in the area in the next few weeks. These are just the ones on my personal calendar. Whatever your plans, enjoy. It's time to go!
See you on the roads....
Rev Up Your Run?
I've never shared this story with anyone before, but I thought about it when reading a recent story about caffiene and endurance athletes. It is something I've thought about quite a few times over the years, and I'm sure my former teammates have as well.
Maybe I'm getting old, but I barely remember most of the races I ran in College. And I was 
an 800 meter runner. The race typically lasts less than two minutes. And I still don't remember much. But I do still remember my last high school race 27 years ago very clearly.
The pictures, by the way, are of other high school track runners. I have no pictures from the races I'm writing about.
In any case, In what would be the last track meet of my high school career, the night before our senior prom, I decided to run the lead-off leg on our 4x800 meter relay. The week before, we had run a school record time, and that made us a favorite in the sectional meet. But there was a big difference in our lineup this time around. Instead of our really strong all-conference miler running on the team, we had an equally talented, but inconsistent, runner taking his place. The other team members were all strong though. The coach gave me the 
choice of leading off or running anchor. I decided to try to get us off to a good start, and chose to lead off.
This was the meet that would determine who qualified to go to the state meet. This was what we worked for all season. The pressure was intense. But our strategy worked pretty well. I ran about 1:59 for the first leg, and handed off the baton in third place, still very close to the lead. We stayed close with our second runner, and then he handed off to the third runner, the one who had not been on the team the week before.
That's when it fell apart. He ran nowhere near his capability, and we were pretty much out of it by his second lap. The anchor leg was run by a really strong runner who later played quarterback on his college football team. But by the time he got the baton, it was too late.
I tell this story because of what preceded it on the team bus. I've never discussed it with anyone, and I'm keeping the names out of it, but I've thought about it often over the years. The third runner, who had about as much natural talent as any runner I've ever known, lacked confidence. He was the proverbial 'head case'.
Well he and the rest of the team were sitting on the bus before our race, talking strategy, and basically killing time before starting our warm-up. Out of nowhere he pulled a baggie out of the pocket of his sweats and took a pill out of it. I don't remember what he said it was. Probably the equivalent of 'speed' or something. I'm betting it was actually a caffeine pill. Anyway he offered one to all of us, and we declined. Then he said it would help him, and he swallowed it.
Well, obviously it didn't help him. Or us. Our time was nowhere near what it was the week before. To this day, that's as close as I've ever gotten to an athlete taking supposed 'performance enhancing' drugs. In this case, I believe it was the result of someone who lacked confidence trying to get some help in what at that point was the biggest race of his life.
This was years ago, long before the scandals about drugs in sports came to light. I think the pressure he felt is a common feeling among athletes. But the feeling we, his teammates, had is also common. We all declined the pill, and turned our heads the other way. We didn't feel like it was our place to tell him not to do it. And we worried about how it would affect his run, and our chances. We all felt pretty good about our chances without any artificial (though not illegal at the time) 
help.
I don't blame this runner for our failure as a team to make it to state. It was a character-building experience, and what was meant to be. We learn from our disappointments as much, if not more, than from our successes.
All this came back to me as I read a recent story in the New York Times about the effect of caffeine on running performance. I read it with interest, even though about the only thing I do to help my performance is try to get good sleep, and eat pasta the night before a big run. The conclusion of a number of researchers, however is that caffeine makes quite a positive difference. And it's perfectly legal Here is a blurb and a link to the full story.
Exercise physiologists have studied caffeine’s effects in nearly every iteration: Does it help sprinters? Marathon runners? Cyclists? Rowers? Swimmers? Athletes whose sports involve stopping and starting like tennis players? The answers are yes and yes and yes and yes.
Starting as long ago as 1978, researchers have been publishing caffeine studies. And in study after study, they concluded that caffeine actually does improve performance. In fact, some experts, like Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky of McMaster University in Canada, are just incredulous that anyone could even ask if caffeine has a performance effect.
“There is so much data on this that it’s unbelievable,” he said. “It’s just unequivocal that caffeine improves performance. It’s been shown in well-respected labs in multiple places around the world.”
I'm the type who likes to run on basically an empty stomach. I never drink coffee before a run. In fact, I've always heard there are health risks to that. The story suggests otherwise. It's interesting reading, but I'll probably take a pass on trying it out. After three decades of running, I have a pretty good idea of what works for me, and I'll stick with that. Even if it costs me a few minutes on my marathon time.
See you on the roads....
Run to Remember
The time on my watch said 7:53 am. The race was supposed to start in 8 O'clock. The problem is that I was still in the car, waiting to get into the Soldier Field parking garage. And once I found a place to park, I still had to help my wife unload our 4 kids and the stroller, and then make it over to the starting line. I resigned myself to the idea that I wasn't going to be running the Run to Remember 5k that morning. I figured I would just walk with them, and try to enjoy the beautiful morning.
I'm still in the post-marathon 'relaxation mode'. But Tom, one of my running buddies, and I planned to meet at the start and we were going to let it go a little. We were curious to see what kind of time we could run considering my post-race soreness, and his injury-recovery status. But as we walked up toward the start, the race was already starting. Oops. That allowed me to get a picture of the leaders at the start anyway. Tom, however, was long gone.
So we worked our way to the back of the starting line as the last of the walkers with strollers were leaving. That's when my wife told me to go ahead and run. She would walk with the kids and let them enjoy some of the activities there. As you can see, they found a couple friends to play with.
Well, after a moment of hesitation where I tried to determine whether she really meant it, I decided to go ahead and run. I hadn't warmed up or stretched. It was almost ten minutes after the start, and I was going to have to weave my way around and through the walkers and joggers, but at least I'd get a little bit of a workout in.
Once I hit the first mile mark I looked at my watch and discovered I'd failed to start it. That seemed to go along perfectly with the rest of the morning at that point. Once again, I decided not to worry about it. It wasn't like I was going to run a good time under those conditions anyway. I was guessing the first mile was somewhere around 8:00. At that point in the race though at least I was pretty much past the walkers. I just had to find gaps to make my way past some of the runners at the back of the pack.
Apparently in my haste while I was weaving through the runners, I missed the highlight of the race that my friend, John Garrido later told me about. There was a keg at the turnaround point where runners could replentish the carbs with something other than gatorade! John used that as an excuse for his slower than expected time!
As I neared the finish there was some guy huffing and puffing his way to a sprint finish, so I decided to go with him, and try to encourage him to make it all the way in. That probably helped my time a little as well. When I met up with my family and Tom at the end however, I had no idea what my time was. The finish line clock was useless, since I had started too late. I guessed it was in the neighborhood of 24 minutes. Tom's watch shoed he managed to run one second under his goal time of 22 minutes.
I was curious though, so I checked the website to find my actual finishing time according to the chip. When I saw it I started laughing. First of all, I saw that the winner of the race was a friend of mine from High school. Coincidently, Rob Chenoweth and I were both at an event at Fleet Feet Sports the night before, where we both were out too late, and enjoyed more adult beverages than advisable given that we both had a race the next day. Not that either of us were too worried about it. When we chatted at the event, neither one of us mentioned we were running the next morning.
And it turns out I ran a little quicker than I thought. Under the best of conditions, I would expect to run very close to 20 minutes even. Maybe a little faster. But these were far from the best conditions. I still apparently ran well enough to finish third in my age group. My time was 22:17, which was good for 71st place of about 1500 finishers.
None of that really mattered much. More importantly, my wife and kids had a good time. And we were all there to support a very worthwhile organization that helps support the families of Chicago Police officers killed in the line of duty. This was the fifth year of the race, and the best one yet. Next year, you should consider adding it to your calendar!
See you on the roads.....
