A Big, Happy, Rainy Milestone of a Day

This day officially marks the end of 50 Mile training and the beginning of taper and recovery. 12 days to go! My legs are pretty shot after a 72 mile week (a p.r. for me!), but I am excited to have finished the training phase healthy and injury-free. As Gary said, all the hay is in the barn. I'm ready.

Chicago Ultrarunners had a group run at Palos this morning. Fourteen people (I think..) showed up to get in on the fun. At one point, it was raining but the sun was shining through the trees. Very ethereal. All in all, a truly awesome run. When you're with great people and running through mud and streams, 18 miles can fly right by. As I was running along, I was struck by just how happy I am to have met these new friends (all relatively recently). Days like today were exactly what it's all about. What I think Chicago Ultrarunners should be about. What ultras are about. Putting cool people in beautiful scenery and building up lasting friendships. I'm in!

Some pics, thanks to BGaines:

Part of the group after getting slightly lost.

And some stream-crossing videos:

Torey

Geof

My Kind of Merathon

Sunday, April 19th: St. Louis Marathon. The day officially started with my phone's alarm telling me it was marathon day. Unfortunately, it was 1:15am. For some reason, that's the default time for my phone's calendar and I never changed it. I heard Mer's sleepy voice from the other bed, "Is it time?" Oops. Sorry, Mer! When the intended alarm went off at 5:00am, we woke up and donned our running gear, race bibs, and bunny ears and fluffy tail.

Why bunny ears and fluffy tail? It seemed like a fun way to enjoy our first marathon together, enjoy spring, enjoy youth, enjoy being girly. And they were only $2.99 at Walgreens. That was about as much thought as we put into it, although we got countless questions about which famous bunny we were channeling. We decided we were 1/3 Easter bunny, 1/3 Playboy bunny, and 1/3 Energizer bunny. That satisfied everyone. I also decided to carry my camera the whole way to document the experience and keep things fun.

The race started at 7:00am and it was 60 degrees and raining. The first few miles went by quickly, as we passed the Anheuser-Busch brewery. I was excited to see a Budweiser clydesdale standing outside as we passed. I love them. Miles 1-20 went along smoothly. Mer was hurting more than in her first marathon, as the course was quite hilly and she had dealt with some setbacks during training. She was a trooper, though, pushing through discomfort without complaining. True marathon spirit right there, baby! We walked the uphills (hello, Clayton) and coasted the downhills and flats. We passed through Washington University, which was my favorite part.

Actually, my very favorite part was all the friends we made with our bunny ears. Judging by the reaction from kids, you would think we were the real Easter bunnies passing right before their very eyes. We high-fived a LOT of tiny little hands, which was awesome. But we also received a startling amount of attention from adults. Other runners stopped to talk to us, spectators started looking for us (some used us to gauge the position of their runners along the course), cops directing traffic would turn and smile, and passing cars would honk and yell things out of the window. It was, truly, almost embarrassing the amount of attention we received. During a marathon, however, it's all good. Bring on the shameless adoration! We also heard bunny jokes all day:

"Wasn't Easter last weekend?"
"The Energizer bunnies keep going...and going...and going."
"Hugh Hefner is chasing you" (from a fellow runner with a striking resemblance to HH)
"Nice tails, bunnies"
"Hop to it, girls!"

We got a lot of "The bunnies! I've heard about you" from the relay racers and spectators. From a spectators perspective, though, it makes sense. It's hard to cheer for runners whose names you don't know, and few runners had names visibly displayed on their shirts. So to a wet and bored spectator, it is easy to spot 2 tall bunny ears in a mass of otherwise normal runners. We smiled, waved, joked, and felt famous all day. Best $2.99 I've ever spent! How am I ever going to run another marathon without them?!

The ears were surprisingly comfortable and didn't bounce while running. However, I can only wear handbands so long before the pressure behind my ears starts to bother me. I started to get a headache later on in the race, but those babies were NOT coming off. Give up being one of the main attractions of the marathon? Ha. Not happening.

By mile 20, Meredith was feeling good. Or, as she says, she was still hurting but at least you're supposed to hurt at mile 20. We picked up the pace after that and started passing people. I was feeling so good and enjoying the experience to the fullest. I kept thinking, "There is no place I'd rather be in the entire world than with Meredith at mile 23 of the STL marathon." Life could not have been any better at that moment. Seriously, if you could bottle endorphins...

We danced to 'YMCA' and 'It's Raining Men' as we passed aid stations, thanked the volunteers, and sang all of the songs about rain we could think of. At mile 25, we came upon Franklin, who decided to run the marathon on a whim with no training. He ran to the finish with us, which was great. Mer and I crossed the finish line in 5:16 with linked arms and received our medals. The marathon had run out of space blankets- bummer. The walk back to the hotel was really really cold and really really wet. This is the only thing I would change about the Go! St. Louis marathon. Everything else was superb- they put on such a fantastic event.

So we finished- bunny ears intact and all! They were even waterproof, although our tails were not. Those went right into the trash can. When we got back to the hotel, Mer did her usual ice bath. I thought I'd try it out, since I'll be ramping up training again starting...today. Whoa. I used to ice bath in college, but this was crazy miserable (the picture below is deceiving). I got in for 1 minute and would have preferred amputation of a non-dominant limb than stay in any longer. I think my body temperature must have been dangerously low from the frigid walk home. Or, I'm a wimp?

The rest of the day was a return to reality. After warm showers, we changed into all of our dry marathon gear and wore our medals to lunch at St. Louis Bread Company. I was enjoying my half-soup, half-sandwich combo when, after a particularly crunchy bite of sandwich, I saw an ant walk out from underneath it. I am not a fan of bugs. However, being the big girl I am, I let it go. Not without thoroughly inspecting my soup and chocolate chip cookie, though. Why is it that those things seem to happen to the people who hate bugs the most? The drive back to Chicago was a little tough, too. Mer and I took turns driving, but it poured rain the entire time and seemed to take forever. Whoever said St. Louis is a nice 4-hr drive from Chicago must be cutting across cornfields; it took us at least 5 hrs each way.

So that's a wrap! It was a wonderful weekend, a crazy fun race, and another mark on the marathon tally for both of us. Luckily, my body feels great post-marathon, because I'll be back out there for another long run this weekend. T-minus 17 days until Ice Age!

Still Kickin'

Is that a....maybe....yes...it's a heartbeat! The blog is alive!

After almost exactly two months of radio silence, I'm giving 'er another whirl. Between creating & updating the Chicago Ultrarunners website and creating & moderating the members forum, I do feel like I've been blogging intensely the whole time. I'm going to head in a slightly different direction with this blog. Don't worry- I still love cuddly bunnies...and macaques, tigers, and pigeons that love cuddly bunnies. I still like to take a gazillion pictures of the family dog. But, I'll be focusing more on running, various races, and the awesome stories that inevitably come from that. Why do you think so many ultrarunners keep blogs? Because the sport is bursting with funny stories, hardcore pictures, and lovely and unusual people.

So first up...the St. Louis Marathon on Sunday! Meredith, my best friend from college, is coming to Chicago tonight and we're driving to St. Louis tomorrow. Quick story about Mer: This will be her second marathon in less than 6 months. She wanted to be a marathoner for a long time and signed herself up for the New York City Marathon in November '08. I think it was the day OF her first marathon that she called me and wanted to plan a spring marathon. That was awesome...and FUNNY considering how I felt about running after my first marathon. Anyways, I couldn't be any prouder of Mer for going out and achieving these dreams of hers. I know she considers me an inspiration with running, but sometimes it really is the other way around. Aww. See? There will always be mush on my blog.

Our alma mater is Washington University in St. Louis and this is the school's official alumni weekend, so it'll be a ridiculously fun mix of social + sweaty. Sunday's forecast predicts thunderstorms, which is not awesome, but we'll tough out whatever the running gods decide to throw our way. Plus, we're wearing costumes, so we'll be IMPENETRABLE!! What costumes, you ask? Here's a little hint:

Okay, maybe not quite like that. But the pink + bunny ears is on the right track. I'll be carrying my camera with us the whole time, so expect some good pictures and good stories on the blog in a few days. St. Louis, here we come!