Race for the Cure

As business school has picked up, the blogs have fallen off, but have no fear readers (Mom), I'm back with exactly two weeks to go until the marathon, and will be posting more frequently until then. Unfortunately, I came down with a chest cold last week, forcing me to take a couple days off, but still managed to squeeze in a 15-miler last Sunday and hopefully 10-12 today. Most runs post-half marathon were easy 7-9 milers at a slow-ish pace. Not much worth writing about. My weight has also stabilized around 192-195 depending on the day, which is light enough, but would have been nice to be about 10 lbs lighter. I've been eating pretty healthy and out a lot less.

I had circled the Chicago Komen Race for the Cure 10k a month ago but wasn't sure about competing, since it is so close to the marathon, and I was sick last week. I was feeling better Friday night, so I decided to give it a go Saturday morning. Additionally, we had our "Fall Frolic" Friday night, where all the cohorts competed against each other in Dodgeball, Volleyball and Basketball. Needless to say, we won our first couple events so it got a little competitive, and by the end of the night my glutes and hamstrings were as tight as rubber bands. Still, I got home at 11 pm and managed to stretch and ice down before bed, and woke up feeling pretty good. I also had a chance to debut my Nike Lunar Racers, which will be my marathon shoe in two weeks (they felt great!).

There weren't too many people up front during the race so I took it out at a comfortable 5:39 first mile - close to marathon pace, then eased faster over the next five. The course wrapped around Grant Park, then headed down to South Columbus, right under my building on to the Lakeshore bike bath, then down to Soldier Field and back to Grant Park. I carried between 5:29-5:37 throughout the rest of the race, and felt great, tight hamstrings and all. I ended up winning the race by about 3 minutes and it felt like a Sunday jog, so that's great news headed into the marathon. Not sure I can go THAT fast for 26 miles, but I think 5:40's are probably doable.

Also received my marathon number - 69 so start making signs!!