nat [dot] waz: My Zen Week

Chicago Marathon FINISHER!

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. :)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

My Zen Week

So since my 20 miles I haven't done much at all. I'm starting to get real anxious about the marathon so I've been trying to lounge about, sleep, rest, and not run as much as possible. I came across a good article in the NY Times today about reaching one's peak performance through relaxation.

The author of the article explains that keeping the muscles tenses while performing aerobic exercise isn't the answer to moving quicker. The paradox of athletics is remaining relaxed while pushing hard and straining the body and muscles.

Winner's win because they are able to achieve this balance of tension and calmness within their bodies. “It’s the paradox of athletics,” said Rick DeMont, associate head coach for men’s swimming at the University of Arizona and a former Olympian. “Tension is slow, tension is inefficient. You need to be relaxed.”

And so that is the strategy I'm following this week and on Sunday. Work hard but keep the body-- and most importantly the mind-- relaxed.