Chicago Women's Half Marathon mini-update

I didn't get the 2:45 that I was hoping for, but considering the temperature, and the amount of walking I had to do to fight off dizziness, I'll take my 2:50:56.

Full report to come.

(I had a GREAT time)

Hot Time in the Old Town

The word is out. It'll be hot tomorrow. The advisory from the Event Alert System has the event listed as red - potentially dangerous. They're advising people not to attempt a PR.

But I WANT a PR!

I mean, of course I will be safe, and listen to my body, but can it really be that bad?

Feels like 100?

Yeah, it's that bad.

Now, if its anything like today (hot, but overcast and breezy) it'll be fine. There were times today when that Windy City wind had me chilly. Surely that'll be the case tomorrow. Right?

Ugh.

Time to polish off my Gatorade and get a little shut-eye (and hope my neighbors come home quietly).

Tomorrow's the big day!

Packing, and Carbo Loading and Hydrating, oh MY!

It's here. It's time.

Tomorrow morning I leave for Chicago to run the Chicago Women's Half Marathon, which means I have today to get ready for my trip.

I'm currently flip-flopping on what to wear for the race. The forecast calls for totally icky weather. Icky for me, anyway. I'm not great with heat, and that's what we're looking at. Heat! It'll feel like 82 degrees by 8 AM. Humidity to swim through.

So I'll definitely be packing my hydration belt!

As a matter of fact, in that heat, I'll probably want to wear one of my SparkleSkirts.
Since my lovely Dolotech seems to have an uncomfortable seam for running in an *ahem* unfortunate place (it's been relegated to golf only), It looks like I'll be running in my Minnie Mouse print skirt. Which is light and comfortable, but it'll be an interesting colour combo with my new pink/purple FuelBelt! Add in my grey and neon yellow shoes, and I'll be quite the sight.

Source: SparkleSkirts

Source: FuelBelt (What can I say, it was $15 at Marshall's)

Source: Nike

Not the most co-ordinated, admittedly. I'll temper the whole thing with my grey Lululemon grey Run: Swiftly racerback tank. You know, throw a neutral in there.

Also going in my runDisney rolling duffle for my overnight stay:

• KT Tape
• KT adhesive spray
• CEP Compression Sleeves
• Halo Headband
• Endurolyte Tabs
• Clif Shots
• Honey Stingers
• Tylenol
• Sunscreen
• Sunglasses
• Balega Socks
• Compression (Recovery) Socks
• PEAR heart rate monitor
• iPhone, headphones, armband & charger
• SpiBelt with race bib dongley-doos (not the official name, I'm sure)
• Contact Lens case, solution & spare pair
• Body Glide

Today I'm focussing on hydrating and carbo loading. Again, with the heat and flying the day before the race, I'm behind the 8-ball with hydration. I don't want a repeat of my Disneyland Half Marathon shenanigans.  Plus I want to get those glycogen stores up where they need to be so I don't hit a wall.

I'm found a good Runner's World article on Carbo-Loading, so I'm working with that advice and planning a good night's sleep before tomorrow's 9:40 am flight.

Which reminds me. Time for a glass of water...

What have I done?

Oh boy. Oh boy.... In January of 2014 at the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, not only am I running the inaugural Minnie Mouse 10K, but I'll also be running my first marathon as a part of this:

Source:here

So for those keeping track at home, that's 10K on Friday, a Half Marathon on Saturday and a Full Marathon on Sunday.

My husband is calling it a "Gopey". Halfway between a Goofy and a Dopey. All I'm missing is the 5K - but if I get into the Marathon Weekend Meetup, I'll practically be there.

Suddenly I'm running the Chicago Women's Half Marathon this weekend to try and get a better corral placement for Goofy.


I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

Boston, still strong

Although we have walked past the sites of the Boston Marathon bombings many times in our travels through the city, running errands, finding free wifi, scarfing "non-ship" food, we had not yet taken the time yet to visit the memorial.

It never felt right to stop and spend the time when that time would be spent thinking of what we may have missed on a "to-do" list, or nervously looking at our iPhones for the time.

Today, however, it was important to me to stop.

Today is Father's Day, and there three mourning fathers.

Today we leave Boston and go home.

One week from today is my half marathon in Chicago, where Boston will inevitably be on my mind.

As a runner and as a human, it felt important to pay respect and draw strength from this spot. Not the other spots. The sites of the explosions.

"They" chose those spots.

"We" chose this one.

Thank you, Boston.

10 Miles in Bermuda

This week we added a little more sight-seeing in our run.

There used to be a railway that ran almost all the way from one end of the island to the other, connecting people and goods along the 22 mile span of the colonial paradise.

The railway is long gone, but the Bermudans made good use of the path it left behind. They made a trail for the use and enjoyment of Bermudans and visitors alike. You can ride bikes, horses, walk or run this trail.

We opted to run.

Once we got to Somerset, we found the trial head and chugged our own way along the Railway Trail, taking in the scenic vistas and quiet back roads.

If we had thought of it sooner, we would have made more use of these trails. They're lovely. The tourism booths generally have maps explaining where the trails are, how long each section is, and what highlights you find in each.

I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why this is so smooshed.

I will say this about running in Bermuda. The roads are narrow, and sidewalks are a luxury, plus the traffic runs in the "British style", aka "the wrong side of the road" to us. It's worth keeping the earphones out while you get used to that, but also because there are so many birds and chirping tree frogs, it's also its own reward.

Also its own reward? A VERY COLD beer after your 10 mile run. We had ours at a local sports bar before walking back to the ship.

I admit, we looked a little weird. When we paused our run for a moment to explore some steps down to the water, the locals we encountered fishing told us we looked futuristic. We were pretty geared up with our CEP compression socks, new FuelBelt hydration belts (in crazy colours) and my iPhone strapped to my arm.

But hey, we were visible. And on those Bermuda roads, that's important.

Soooo cold!

The Bitter Pill

As a ship dweller, we have little control over the quality of food that we eat. Yes, there is a salad bar, but there are truly only so many days you can eat lettuce, tomato and cucumber and call it a 'salad'.

So this brings me to the idea of vitamins.

I know I should be taking them. I really do. I even splurged on a GNC Vitapak, the very vibrant and athletic (albeit, redundant) sounding "Women's Ultra Mega Active".

ULTRA! MEGA!

I would use a different descriptive.

GROSS!

Greg doesn't understand why I "act like a 5 year old" when it's time to take my vitamins, but honestly, they smell so, so, soooo bad. I put them in my mouth and immediately gag from the smell-taste. We tried a different version of the Vitapak, hoping it wouldn't smell so bad.

It did.

So now I have a nice big ziplock bag in the fridge of various vitamins that I will never take unless harassed and mocked.

Then I tried the shake version of the vitamins. I like shakes! Well, the shakes were worse. They tasted fine, but they made me feel like my stomach was going to drop out of my bum. Gassy? MEGA ULTRA!

So now I just take some fast acting Glucosamine/Chondroitin, which I can handle, and I pretend that I'm getting enough of everything else.

So tell me - what vitamins do you take? And do they smell like an Ogre's behind?