Oak Lawn Neighborhood

Solo run around the neighborhood. Gotta love the fall weather for running, sunny and cool! One week for the Chicago Marathon. Extended forecasts from three different weather sites are calling for 50's and partly cloudy,  perfect conditions! The anxiety is building!

Swallow Cliffs 8 mile

Final long run before the Chicago Marathon with the group. Beautiful morning run on the trails!

Country Lane 4 mile Loop

Back to Country Lane for a 4 mile run on the trails.

Swallow Cliffs 6 mile Loop

Nice run on the Swallow Cliffs Trails! Perfect weather!

Country Lane 4 mile Loop

Solo run on the trails at Country Lane.

Brookfield Zoo 5K Run

Had a great time running the Brookfield Zoo 5K Zoo Run with my sister. This was her first 5K ever, finishing without stopping! She used the couch25k program. Congrats to my wonderful sister Janet!

Country Lane Trail

Running the Country Lane Trail with just about the entire group Angelica, Maria, Rhonda, Joanna, Mark and Andy. Cool but luckily no rain! Great run.

Oak Lawn Neighborhood

Nice run around the neighborhood.

Chicago Lakefront Trail Long Run

My last 20 mile long run before the marathon. Nice cool temps along the lakefront but very windy. I postponed my long run until today because of the half marathon I ran on Sunday. Mentally it was important to me to get this last 20 mile run in, with a respectable pace and without stopping, to prove to myself that I can survive the distance and endure the discomfort. So now I am psyched about the marathon and feel that my goal of 3:50 is reachable( hopefully)!

Allstate Boston Half Marathon

Great Half Marathon in Boston. The race started and finished in Suffolks Downs race track and the course was along the coast. I missed a PR by 48 seconds, this was my second fastest
half! Finished overall 139/1202, 10/35 in my age group and 105/474 for males.

Swallow Cliffs 8mile Loop

Nice cool temps for a run on the Swallow Cliffs trail. Wow, I forgot how hilly this trail was, still a very fun run!

Country Lane 5mile Loop

Finally back on the Trails, it has been six weeks since I ran at Country Lane. What a blast running on the trails again! Only minor pain but a very enjoyable run. I am planning on running 5 of Thursday, and then rest two days before the Allstate Life Insurance Boston 13.1 Marathon.

Turtlehead Lake, Palos Heights

Long Run at Turtlehead Lake. Nice cool temp for running. Painful again, it hurts the same regardless of the pace, so I figured it was better to run faster to get the pain over sooner! Yep, I think the speed work definitely aggravated the injury, just when it was getting better.

Oak Lawn Neighborhood

John and I on our 5 mile training run around the hood. Just when I thought my injury was getting better the pain is back again, probably because of the speedwork on Wednesday. Hopefully it won't last long.

Chicago Christian High School Track Speedwork

Back to the track for speed work, 2 warm-up, then 19 400s with 60sec rest in between. We ran the last two 400s with no rest. First time in quite a while that I felt good before, during and after the workout with little pain!

Temp 86° Total Miles: 7.13

Distance               Time    Pace
3200 Warm Up    19:24  9:05
400                     1:46    7:04
400                     1:51    7:24
400                     1:50    7:19
400                     1:47    7:09
400                     1:49    7:14
400                     1:48    7:14
400                     1:50    7:19
400                     1:49    7:14
400                     1:49    7:14
400                     1:47    7:09
400                     1:45    6:59
400                     1:46    7:04
400                     1:44    6:54
400                     1:46    7:04
400                     1:45    6:59
400                     1:44    6:54
800                     3:27    6:54
800 Cool Down   5:10   10:21

Chicago Lakefront Trail

20mi long run along the Lakefront. Cooler temps but humid. My Garmin battery died at the 6mi mark, so I relied on the Lakefront mile markers. I ran from Montrose Harbor to the 11.5mi marker past McCormick Place and back which should be just a little over 20mi. Finally little pain, but forgot my morning bagel, so around mile 18 it was quite a struggle.

Running Excels, Beverly Loop

Ran one 6mi loop with the Running Excels group this morning. I am planning on soing my 20mi long run along the Lakefront tomorrow.