Training for Boston started on Jan 29th. Since I was at my parents’ house through Jan
2, I thought I’d get in all this training, with high volume, easy runs on the
grass. It ended up not happening. I got 2x6.6 mi runs in during week 1, and
that left me with a 10 miler as the long run.
There are 2 versions of the training plan that I like to use – a
“hopeful” one with 4 runs per week, and a more realistic one with 3 runs per
week. Week 1 would be a 3-run week.
After driving from Charleston to Greenville on Saturday, Jan
2, I flew out to Chicago early the next morning (waking at 3am Eastern / 2am Central).
I was going in for a business trip early, to visit my old college roomie
and her family. Even though it’s been 5
years, it’s like we were never apart. We
played with their adorable 1-year-old, played board games (Dominion – a cool
card game with options for variations in each game; Pandemic – a twist on board
games, where all of the players work together to beat the game, vs. beat each
other; and Princeton Carcassonne), had a luxurious nap, broke out a bottle of
Malbec, and caught up. The next day,
church, a run, and more games and catching up.
It was snowing out, but I had 10 miles on the schedule, and
it was a prime location for a great run.
They live really close to the Lake, which has green space running all
the way down to downtown Chicago, which was about 8.5 miles away. My welcome to the shore was the sight of tall
waves crashing up against a snowy beach.
There wasn’t much visibility with the snow, so you couldn’t see too far
out into the water. Especially with
Divergent, I was excited about the prospects of making it downtown, to see The
Bean and the Hancock building.
At first, I trudged along on the snow as much as I could, to
avoid the impact of pavement. I had
bought the Salomon Mission trail shoes a while back when I first got into trail
running, but I haven’t run much on trails since. They were perfect for my trips up North, for
getting traction on ice and giving me some un-muddy casual shoes for getting
around during business trips. It’s the
Northern trip version of the minimalist Saucony Hattoris, which I ended up not
using for running, but which made a great, light shoe for getting around
Brazil.
Since I’d be out for a while, and who knew what I’d need, I
took the conservative route and over-dressed.
I had a fleece over a long-sleeve tech tee, a buff for my neck, long
warmup pants, soccer socks, mitten-gloves, and a Salomon cap with a cape-like
thing around the back meant to keep the sun off your neck. I figured the cape thing would be equally
good for keeping snow off my neck. It’s
also something that I had rarely used in the past (save during a trip to the
West last year), which will come in handy now.
I went along on the grass for a few miles. As it got warm, I took off my fleece, buff,
and cap. After going through the Nature
Preserve section, the wind started beating pellet-y snow sideways. It was getting colder, and the snow was
stinging my eyes. At this point, I got a
bit demoralized. I put my cap and
clothes back on, though, and felt better immediately. I was going by Google Maps on my phone to
track my progress. At two points,
though, it shut off from being too cold, so I stuck it in my bra, and later, my
fleece pocket, to warm it back up. I
took pictures and video along the way. It
was actually hard to get my mouth to cooperate in forming words, and my hands to cooperate in pushing
buttons. I guess when it’s cold, its
blood flow is reduced.
I started going along the paved bike path, since it made for
much faster progress than the deep snow.
With the weather, it was comforting to see that there were other crazy
fellow runners out there, getting their runs in. I passed some marinas, then a shore where
there were big ice pebbles. Having grown
up close to the beach in Charleston, it was crazy-looking to me. As I got closer to downtown, the city skyline
came into view through the poor-visibility snowy air. It was exciting to see it come closer and
closer. Chicago is like a condensed
cluster of skyscrapers, with the shore on one side, and much smaller buildings
all around on the other side, so it’s pretty striking.
Finally, I got downtown.
I saw the Ferris wheel that Tris climbed, from a distance. Chicago was a bustling place, with lots of
people walking around despite the slosh.
I finally made it to The Bean, and I took some pictures and videos. I had probably visited it once before, like
15 years ago, during a family vacation, although I’m not positive. At that time, they had “Cows on Parade”
statues scattered around, each one designed a different way, so that was the
part that I had remembered most. It was
getting close to sunset, so I rode the metro back… I only remember just now
that they did that in Divergent, too, with the raised platform and
everything. The metro ride warmed me
back up nicely. 8.5 miles in 1:37:36,
11:29 average.
Back at home base, a nice dinner, more games, and
talking. I got to keep reading more of
Sherlock Holmes volume 2, since they had the same book… nearly finished! It was a nice weekend. Even though I was travelling away from home,
it felt in a way like returning home, seeing old friends again.
The next morning, I was supposed to pick up 2 fellow
travelers at the airport, but they got delayed, so I drove out to Watertown,
Wisconsin, by myself. I had a productive
few days there. I didn’t run on Monday
night, since all parts of my legs were moderately sore from the different
muscles that got used while running through snow, and because I was too tired
after dinner. The soreness by itself
would’ve been fine, but one foot felt a bit bruised, too.
Tuesday morning, I went to the hotel fitness room to run,
but the treadmill was taken. I should’ve
gone out at 5:30am like I had originally planned, instead of sleeping in and
waiting until 6am. Maybe it was for the
best, though, to let the bruisy ball of my foot to recover. I did the stair stepper instead, for 35 min,
breathing through my nose after the first three minutes. It was a decent, low-impact alternative to
running. If I had had the time, I felt
good enough to do a short run after that, but I had to get on with getting
ready for work.
Wednesday night, finally got in a run again. In the past week, I had only done the one 8.5
miler, so this 6.0 in 49:05, 8:11 average, was long overdue. I was in Racine, Wisconsin, then, where the
hotel has a very very warm gym. It was a
good run… not too hard, got in the miles.
Thursday morning, while I was running to my car, I slipped
on the ice, haha. I fell on my side, so
it was only a short distance to the ground.
I felt nothing at the time, although my right bursa-area seemed to be a
bit bruised. It might’ve been just a
flare-up of my bursa, but I think it was probably the fall. I prefer that it be fall-related, as opposed
to the more chronic flare-up.
Friday morning, I did a strength session. For the past few weeks, I had been feeling
like my kinetic chain wasn’t as strong as it used to be, particularly compared
to how it was when I was training for Obstacle Course Races. What I mean is that the muscle groups aren’t
in balance, so some muscles have to make up for others… like my back and butt
don’t feel as strong. Burpees would
remedy that, though. Whenever my muscles
feel out-of-balance, with some over-used and some under-used, the strength
session does a good job of re-setting everything. Friday night, flew back to Greenville, which
brings us to another story…
I landed at 11:30pm, and it seems like there was something
wrong with the baggage claim, because flights kept coming in, and no conveyor
belts were going. We waited for 1.5
hours, until one finally started going.
My suitcase was the 4th one, jackpot – so I got it and headed
home. I had only like 36 hours at home,
so I had to get laundry going for the following week’s trip to Canada. When I opened up my suitcase, though, I
discovered that it wasn’t mine! My
suitcase model has been appearing in various stores in the past year. It looks unique, but apparently, many people
have it. Fortunately, I live close. I felt terrible about not checking, like the
announcements often ask you to do. I had
been so excited to get my luggage. I
dropped it off, then left my contact info so that when mine got returned, I
could pick it up.
That night, I decided on another new year’s resolution:
Everything in its place (putting stuff away as I go along, instead of living in
a tornado disaster area), so that I don’t have to hunt for stuff as much. In the past, I’ve kept stuff out for quick
and easy access. But sometimes, it means
hunting. At the plants that I’ve visited
for work, I’ve seen how they put outlines of tools in the spots where they
belong, so that stuff goes back to where they should go. I won’t go as far as putting in outlines, but
the general idea is there. Another cool
concept I learned at work, is that of “interleaving”, where instead of going to
pick up something, putting it away, going to the next item, and putting it
away, such that you’re only carrying stuff one-way, you can carry stuff both
directions, and put stuff away with almost half the time. I’m not sure whether or not I was already
doing this naturally, when cleaning my apartment, but I certainly do it very
intentionally now.
Anyway, I had to fly out to Canada on Sunday morning, so
that left one day to get my luggage back.
I was dependent on the person with my suitcase figuring it out and
driving back to the airport in time for me to make my flight. On Saturday morning, therefore, I started
packing as if I wasn’t going to get my luggage back in time. I decided on another optimization
strategy. Instead of packing and
unpacking my one set of supplies repeatedly, I decided that even if I did get
my luggage back, it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and buy replacements of stuff
like a comb and other toiletries. I
could just keep that stuff in a bag, just to be used for travel, while keeping
my existing set at home. I ended up
getting my luggage back at noon, having gotten the call just as I was driving
home after the shopping trips. So… there
was a bit of drama, but my irresponsibility in not checking the luggage has
prompted some changes that should help me save time in the future! And it’s cool when stuff from work/school is
applicable in the real world.
I got in my long run on Saturday evening. 12 miles were on the schedule, and I managed
12.8 in 1:54:59, 8:59 average. Temps
were chilly. Right before the run, I had
an almond butter + peanut butter + cinnamon wrap, plus a mini bag of chips,
just seconds before, because I craved the calories and salt. Didn’t need any fuel or water during the run,
though.
The next morning, flew out to Canada…
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