A small group of friends gathered at my house for a bbq on Saturday (was meant to be a fundraiser but kind of fell through. Everyone's just too busy!). Thank you Nate, Blanca, Al, Miah, Josh and Rodrigo for hanging out on a beautiful (hot!) summer day.
Also, many thanks to my former instructor Sister Helen M., cousin Amy H., mom's friend Colleen D., and college buddy Will M. for making a donation to Hope Runs! Tonight I'm hosing a little bbq fundraiser at my apt. so I'll soon have more people to thank. Slowly I am reaching the goal of $5k...
6 Hours, 29 neighborhood and numerous gel packs later, Chicago Marathon 2008 is finished! The temp reached 84 degrees that day, and 33,000 runners participated.
A big thank you to all of my supporters for helping to make it happen. Adrienne and Dave made sure I was fueled at mile 9, Teri met up with me at mile 13 to run by my side through the hottest part of the race, I bumped into Rodrigo and Addy at mile 18 while grabbing more gel packs, and Rodrigo found me on the bridge and sprinted the last 200 meters with me (in his flip flops!). It was awesome!
And even more amazing is over $700 will be donated to Hope Runs, which will help its children's program in Tanzania and Kenya. Read more about it at www.hoperuns.org. And fittingly so, the male Kenyans dominated the race this year. Read the Tribune's coverage here.
Along with all the congrats and hugs and handshakes, a question I keep getting is will I do it again next year. If you asked me around mile 23, the answer would have been a exasperated, exhausted and angry " NO WAY!" But a month has passed, the pain wore off, so only more time will tell. Running is addictive so odds are, another marathon is on the horizon. :)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Stitches. Now that's a good excuse for not running!
I've been real lazy with my running lately, or at least real sloppy. I'll put off the day's scheduled run and "do it tomorrow." When I finally get out there, though, the run feels good so that's a bonus. It has been difficult getting back into the groove of regular distance running since returning from vacation but the runs are getting easier which, as a result, cause me to actually enjoy running. Can you believe that? Yes, I like to run. Wahoo!
I went for a night run on Saturday with Jeremiah, the 17 year old bro of Josh Hagan (not to be confused with college buddy Joshua Hogan, although there are striking similarities). I told the boys-- Rodrigo, Josh, Jeremiah-- I was going running while they went to get video games and White Castle. Okay, that's a lie. I told them I wanted to go but Rodrigo had to coerce me into actually doing it (told you I've been a bit lazy!). When Jeremiah (or Miah, as we call him) heard this, he piped up and insisted on accompanying me so I "didn't get mugged." He refused to go north towards Evanston so I opted to show him my usual path down Sheridan and to the Lake. I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to stand the distance (only 4 miles) when, in fact, he kept the pace quick for me. He sprinted at the end. Damn kid. Oh to be 17 again!
So that was Saturday. Sunday I slept in and when I finally popped out of bed I ended up stepping on-- not knocking over but actually crushing-- a glass of water. Which, of course, sliced my foot and blood began pouring all over. Greeaaat. I called for Rodrigo, four more friends rushed over, and Rodrigo concluded we had to go the hospital for stitches. Wonderful, right? The pain wasn't bad; I was more irritated than anything.
So, to make this long story short (although I could comment extensively on the hospital experience and the screwiness of our heath insurance system, I will not), I ended up getting six stitches. This did not hold me back from attending a 3 Doors Down and Staind concert last night nor from walking all over the city on errands today. Unfortunately it is preventing me from my 5.5 mile run today. And that sucks. But I guess that's just how life goes. Gotta get well, get this damn thing healed by the weekend, because I've got my first really far run: 10 miles. Yikes. As if that wasn't enough to worry about! Well the best way to put it-- and how fitting for it to be Bastille Day!-- is c'est la vie!
And I will post some sick/cool photos of my foot once I find a decent camera to use. Proof of my battle wounds and all.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
