Sweet Sixteen

We're celebrating how sweet it is:
a. to reach a new milestone in distance;
b. to see the sunrise on the lake;
c. to surpass our halfway point in fundraising;
d. to do all of the above;
e. to finally turn sixteen (16) and get our drivers' licenses.

To find out the answer, check the bottom of this post and turn your computer screen upside down to read.

Anyway, our training group met one hour earlier (6 a.m.) to account for the longer distance (16 miles) and the hotter seasonal temperatures. Our pace group also was set at a slightly slower time to otherwise account for any difficulties. We were lucky enough to see the sun rising on Lake Michigan, a bright red disk reminiscent of the Japanese flag, and a sight that neither of us has had in several years.

Leaving from Foster Avenue, we ran down the Lakefront Path south past Randolph Street, turned around, and ran back up. Kinnier's knee was a bit tender but was not in nearly as much pain as two weeks ago. (See prior post, entitled Second Coming for details.) Jennifer had recovered from sinus surgery just nine (9) days before, and was back running without a problem. Generally, the run went pretty well with warm, but manageable, temperatures. On the northern portion of the path, there is intermittent shade, but downtown where the lakefront is all concrete to the water's edge, it warms up fast. The uneven pavement radiates heat and the sun's rays reflect of the waves without mercy. Kinnier and others definitely noticed a drop-off in energy during the last couple of miles but the pride of reaching a new long distance kept us going.
We also encountered Eric, a friend of ours (and colleague of Kinnier), on way back up the path. We don't often see people we know on our runs so it was a pleasant surprise. (During our July 3 Nike Run Club session we saw Matt, a friend/former co-worker of Kinnier.). We were slightly embarrassed since Eric saw us on one of our timed walk intervals. It was a great pick-us-up, and the embarrassment quickly passed when we realized the pride of running sixteen (16) miles.

Statistics:
Distance: 16.0 miles
Start Time: 6:29 a.m.
Time: 3:20:51
Temperature at Start: 68 degrees
Temperature at End: 79 degrees
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Maximum HR: 161
Average HR: 142
Money Raised to Date: $4,435
Days until Race: 79

Answer to Opening Question:
P

City without (My) Love

Update from CKL:

We were still without Jennifer on our East Coast trip. After the wedding and family weekend, my brother and I went to Manhattan from Sunday evening to Tuesday morning. The time went quickly, but we did enjoy some highlights. We watched Chicago the Musical on Broadway. It was really good and even better than we expected, though it reminded me nothing of home. We were hosted by Paula, a close friend who has known Jennifer and me as long as we have known each other. She took us around while juggling her work schedule. She introduced us to the best New York-style pizza we have ever had at Joe's Pizza, near Washington Square. She took us by Pinkberry and the potentially even better Red Mango. I had the frozen treat (tasting like cream cheese frozen yogurt) with wonderfully sweet blackberries. K.C. had his with Cap'n Crunch, and Paula had one with pieces of mango, though they were not actually red. They were quite refreshing in the hot and humid weather in the mid-90s.

Monday morning, K.C. and I went to Central Park and ran the full loop of the running path. We started and ended at Columbus Circle (pictured here). We took some detours and ended up running seven (7) miles. The weather warmed up quickly but there was a decent amount of shade from the trees. With the hills and winding roads, it was just the variety to give the mid-point of our training a good spark. We were further challenged by all of the stuff we were carrying, without pockets. We passed the time chatting, while playing deejay for the other and announcing the playlist songs that each of us was listening to. I also carried a camera so everyone could enjoy the short excursion. We ran around all of the major sites within the park and see why it is such a jewel of the city.

K.C. (a.k.a. Brother Philip Neri) and I had a good run, although I again had difficulty in figuring out what my proper pace is. I ran my brother and myself too fast for the first two miles, but we enjoyed a smooth run for the remainder. Even with us carrying 2 liters of water and other items, we had some gas left in the tank to sprint at the end.

After the run, we enjoyed a pleasant stretch and I participated in a couple of conference calls on a rock on the southern end of the park, a calm oasis from the city of cities. Overall, the run was a wonderful way to fend off a case of the Mondays.

Statistics:

Distance: 7.0 miles

Start Time: 8:13 a.m. (EDT)

Time: 1:18:49

Temperature at Start: 81 degrees

Location: New York, New York

Maximum HR: Unknown

Average HR: Unknown

Money Raised to Date: $4,135

Days until Race: 85

Following the run, we had all sorts of good food to refuel. First we went to Bouchon Bakery at Columbus Circle, a small outpost of Thomas Keller, whose French Laundry is the Napa Valley is one of the country's most famous restaurants. (Jennifer and I prefer Bouchon and Bouchon Bakery, located in both Napa and Vegas, as casual and better valued alternatives.) K.C. and I both shared an incredible cherry marscapone danish and an excellent chocolate almond croissant. Because we did not want to scare the urban patrons in our present state, we decided to eat outside. On the way home, we ate at Gray's Papaya and each ordered a recession special (two dogs and coconut juice).

After a shower and change, we fueled our minds by going to the Museum of Modern Art. Although I would have enjoyed some soup despite the heat, we could only observe. photographed a number of other paintings and even our single celebrity sighting (Leann Rimes). Pictures and even the story of our interaction with her can be supplied upon request.

For the rest of the day we had some specialty brews at the Ginger Man, the New York outpost of a Dallas favorite, http://www.gingerman-ny.com/.

Following a good dinner at Buddakan, apparently the site of the rehearsal dinner in the Sex and the City movie, we finished the evening at a favorite place, Billy's Bakery http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/. Although the red velvet cupcake was not as good as the first time (in Fall 2006), the vanilla was even better than I remembered. Three cupcakes and some milk (just for me) was the perfect end to a wonderful trip. Let's pretend it was necessary carbo-loading for the sixteen (16) miles on the coming Sunday.

City of Brotherly Love

Update from CKL:
There was a wedding this past weekend near Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. Jennifer was unable to go for the weekend, but the rest of my family was there. We stayed with one of my cousins, Shiela, and her husband, Jon, across the river in New Jersey. First thing on Friday morning, they had a nice morning jog running about 3 miles. At 7 am, it was still quite cool.

We ran a few laps in the suburban subdivision and enjoyed the limited scenery, basically three different types of homes in a range of colors. Running with the family was fun and served as a small preview of the half marathon that all of us will be running together in February 28, 2009. Jennifer and I figure that it should be no problem at this point. We have already run fourteen (14) miles and will run even farther within the week.

Although our paces were totally different, running with my brother and parents was wonderful. Jennifer was the only thing missing, and it was a long weekend without her. The Cowtown Half Marathon should be very special when all of us try together. My headmaster/form master will also be running the race, but he'll be doing an ultra marathon. http://www.cowtownmarathon.org/

After the weekend in Philly, my brother and I took a bus to NYC. During the ride, we enjoyed a film that my brother had downloaded, Saint Ralph. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384488/ I had not realized that my brother had brought it on his iPod nano because it fit the theme of our training. Released in 2005, it was a funny and touching coming-of-age film about a high school boy in a Catholic prep school who tries to win the Boston Marathon, thus performing a miracle. I had never heard of it, but I really enjoyed it and was moved by the story. I won't ruin the major plot points or the ending, but I would recommend it. Campbell Scott is the second lead as the priest who serves as the cross-country coach. I suppose the next film I should see is Run Fatboy Run.

Second Coming

Perhaps because we did not post our entry right away or maybe because we have so many people supporting us daily, we have received several inquiries into how our long run went on Sunday. Our training program called for a 14-mile run on Sunday. The weather was really good, especially in light of what is possible in mid-July and likely coming this weekend. To all of our wonderful supporters, here's the answer, slightly delayed because of schedule constraints.

Our course followed the normal path, but just kept going farther before the return leg. We started at Foster Avenue and ran on the trail, passing underneath Lakeshore Drive at Diversey, down to the North Avenue pedestrian bridge, and crossing over Lakeshore Drive and running along the lakefront down to Ohio Street. There were many events that day including the AVP Chicago Open beach volleyball tournament at Oak Street Beach (Misty May-Treanor won her 100th beach volleyball championship with her partner Kerri Walsh), a rowing competition in Lincoln Park, and a soccer festival near Wilson. They formed the perfect backdrop for a new long distance for us, passing the half marathon distance by a full mile. Not everything went according to plan, but ultimately, nothing prevented us from reaching our goal.

According to Kinnier's U.S. history teacher, 1968 was the year everything fell apart. (The phrase originates in part from William Butler Yeats's poem "Second Coming," a post-apocalyptic poem which a New York Times editorial recently called the theme of the current Iraq War.) For our pace group, forty (40) years later, this past Sunday marked a run where many of the group fell apart. It really was the first time, although we have had one person occasionally fall back. They Might Be Runners remained unfrazzled. In fact, Jennifer conquered the run feeling great, so great that she did not want to say a word because so many of our pace group companions had such trouble.

Kinnier was one of those who had some trouble. In an entirely different "second coming," the nagging patella tendinitis, which had been absent for almost two (2) months but was recently aggravated during an unwise football game on the afternoon of the 12-mile run, returned. During the run, between miles 6 and 9, Kinnier's knee pain was sharp, and his running form was unidentifiable. Meanwhile, another person in our pace group had what appeared to be even more extreme knee pain radiating up her hip. She was forced to walk the last mile or two. (She had been during many of our previous weeks, one of the fastest performers.) A few other people had problems as well, causing them to walk the end or jog it much more slowly. One person even suffered from nausea and threw up. Thus, out of the fourteen (14) people in our group, about a third lost some of their mojo, or mo-jog if you prefer. (We doubt that you do, because as far as bad puns go, that was a new low.)

In the end, it's better to face trouble now to have everything go smoothly on race day, so we'll look forward to next week. Please note that the run time in the statistics is particularly slow, because in addition to the problems above, practically every one of us was on a different bathroom schedule. Hydration is catch-22. We stopped no less than four (4) times, and possibly five (5) times or more, so different people in the pace group could take bathroom breaks. That undoubtedly added several minutes to our time.

Statistics:
Distance: 14.0 miles
Start Time: 7:20 a.m.
Time: 2:53:50
Temperature at Start: 68 degrees
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Maximum HR: 160
Average HR: 141
Money Raised to Date: $3,807.50
Days until Race: 93

On a positive note, after several weeks of planning, we finally went to Kuma's Corner for its famous hamburgers. http://www.kumascorner.com/ It's kind of like a heavy metal, biker bar, but with a family, neighborhood feel. Our server did not like us much despite our attempts to be friendly, but we had a friend (Trent) visiting from out of town to keep us entertained. Kinnier had the Mastadon and Jennifer had the Iron Maiden. You should check out the website to see what the ingredients on those burgers are. They were both excellent and the chili appetizer was pretty good too. Our hunger dictates an earlier dinner time on Sundays, and this worked to our advantage because Kuma's gets very crowded. The reputation appears true because when we left at 6 p.m. or so, there were dozens of people waiting to get in.

As the days have passed since, our legs feel pretty good and the fatigue has been minimal. Kinnier's knee pain is a shame, because the distance felt great on us.

Now We're Cooking

Last night, after a long condo association meeting, we still managed to do squeeze in a 35-minute maintenance run and to bake for a fundraiser bake sale at Kinnier's office. We have been going to bed a bit later than usual during the last few days, so we were much more tired than usual. Much like baking, training is about the process. We'll take the so-so run in stride. (Why do the running puns keep coming up?)

We baked a vanilla cheesecake and a pan of cornbread and will bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes tonight for sale on Thursday. The cheesecake recipe was from the December 1998 issue of Martha Stewart Living, Kinnier's first issue of approximately five (5) years of issues. The cornbread recipe was from Kinnier's brother, K.C./Br. Philip. It's a cross between corncakes and cornbread, a little cakey, with real corn, and originated from Kinnier's brother's brother, who is neither Kinnier nor a non-existent brother of Kinnier. It's K.C.'s/Br. Philip's fraternity brother, Julio, who actually got it from his mother. (And yes, he has heard the joke about being "down by the schoolyard.") Were you able to keep that straight?

Kinnier was going to start the bake sale near lunch time, but in the morning, one of Kinnier's colleagues, Nick, requested a slice of cheesecake to go with his coffee. Because a second person entering the break room also wanted to buy, Kinnier started the bake sale early. The cheesecake sold so quickly, that it was gone before he could leave the room. Because of our time crunch Tuesday night, we did not fully monitor the short run to enable the statistics. We do have statistics from the bake sale, which is ongoing. A wonderful surprise has been the number of people who have suggested keeping the change over the suggested prices for the baked goods. Diana in particular has extra luminescence from her halo.

Wednesday:
Official Bake Sale Start Time: 9:18 a.m.
No. of Servings: 12 Cornbread, 12 Cheesecake
Time until cheesecake sold out: 0:16:00 (estimated)
Time until cornbread sold out: TBD
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Bake Sale Proceeds: $82 and counting
Money Raised to Date: $3,022

On Thursday, we will sell the cookies and cupcakes. (Thanks, Chrissie, for the cupcake suggestion.)

As you will see, we have reason to celebrate. We reached a new threshold of donations, passing the $3,000 mark. We want to give a special thanks to David Gee of the Chicago Bar Foundation (http://www.chicagobarfoundation.org/) for putting us over that hump yesterday. His generosity and the generosity of everyone in the Team They Might Be Runners are really inspiring. We've got a long way to go though and will continue working. Thanks to everyone. We won't let you down.

O Captain, My Captain

From now until the marathon, one weekend long run is followed by a shorter, "recovery" run. We ran twelve (12) miles last weekend and we will run fourteen (14) miles next weekend. Today, our training program had us running six (6) miles. (The "recovery" runs are always half the distance of the previous week's long run.)

Walt Whitman wrote one of the most favorite parts of Leaves of Grass about Abraham Lincoln. With the next U.S. President potentially coming from Illinois, today's run showed on a smaller scale how important leaders are. Our pace group leader, Dave, was out with the flu. Nonetheless, he showed up at the run site to support the group. And although we were not responsible for bringing the post-run food today (we have to re-fuel everyone after next week's 14-miler), Dave helped cut up and serve the fruit and bagels that all of the program participants enjoyed.

Dave was Kinnier's R.A. in his freshman year dorm at Northwestern. Not to get too sentimental, but he was a great R.A. and really helped Kinnier and some of his friends with their adjustments to life away from home. They kept in touch over the years and we were ecstatic when we unexpectedly saw him at the first training run. As it turned out, Dave and Kinnier ran at a similar pace, a slight bit faster than Jennifer. It worked out that we could really bond during the training if all three of us ran in the same pace group. When the members of the pace group had the assignment to select a pace group leader, no one volunteered. After some quiet moments of us just staring at each other, Dave took one for the team and volunteered. Since that first week, Dave has filled the post well. Running us at the "right" speed (in compliance with the assigned pace group), keeping the group together, and monitoring the group for fatigue and injuries, are not as easy as one might think. Most runners only have to worry about themselves, and watching a dozen or so others, who started out as strangers, can be difficult.

Kinnier figured that out firsthand today. Dave stayed back at the starting site in street clothes -- though not "plain clothes" as Dave looked quite fashionable. He asked Kinnier to take over as pace group leader. We did okay but we finished ahead of pace by almost a minute per mile, and faster is not necessarily a good thing. We ran the first half really fast, and despite the conscious attempt to run slower during the second half, we could not slow down enough. On the plus side, everyone seemed comfortable with the pace. There were even a few people who wanted to run a bit faster at times. The most awkward part of being pace group leader is having to tell people to slow down when the group spacing gets too large or when those people are running too fast. After the run, Kinnier got into a little trouble for getting ahead of pace. However, the group had made the mistake during a previous week by an even greater margin (when Dave was out of town on vacation) so it was not too bad. In the end, Kinnier is happy to cede the position back to Dave when he returns.

Dave, get better soon. We won't be mourning you as the poem mourns Lincoln's passing. However, when we succeed in our first marathon, we will recall some of Whitman's words:

O CAPTAIN! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won[.]

Statistics:
Distance: 6.0 miles
Start Time: 7:12 a.m.
Time: 1:06:33
Temperature: 68 degrees
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Maximum HR: 155
Average HR: 140
Money Raised to Date: $2322
Days until Race: 100

Independence Day

Thursday evening we ran with the Nike Run Club. Jennifer had run with the club before, but this was the first time we ran together. Nike is the new apparel sponsor of the Chicago Marathon, but it has sponsored the Thursday evening Run Club for some time. From its Michigan Avenue store, various Nike pace leaders lead groups on 3-mile, 5-mile and 7-mile runs along the lake. Because the weather was so good, and the next day was the July 4 holiday, we had a little more time and ran 5 miles. A friend of ours, Monica, has been running in the club too, but she decided to do a faster pace this week. Monica's friend, Conway, also met us there.

Although it was a bit windy, the run was a lot of fun. We ran east on Erie towards the lake and ran along the lake up to North Avenue Beach and back. There were already a good number of people on the lakefront getting ready for the fireworks that night. However, the crowds were light enough to run unobstructed. Kinnier's patella tendinitis, which came back during our weekend in Lake Geneva (from either the hills or the PARC football game) for the first time since April, started acting up, so that will be under watch.

Still, it was a nice run at a good but easy pace; and it was another day where we got to appreciate the beauty of city. Families, couples and groups of friends were all out enjoying temperatures in the high 60s and the festive atmosphere. There were people swimming in the lake in tri-suits, most likely training for a triathalon. The chess players near North Avenue looked focused but strangely, in a relaxed way. We ran to Castaways, the beach cafe at North Avenue, where people were also taking advantage of the great weather and were getting dehydrated in other ways. After the run, Nike has bagels, cream cheese, bananas and water for everyone. It's a pretty good time and we met some friendly people.

We were enjoying everything so much that we decided to do something else together for the very first time: we stayed downtown to watch the City of Chicago fireworks. For those who are not local, the annual fireworks take place on July 3, not July 4. In theory, it works well for us since we go to visit friends/family in the suburbs every July 4. We had previously only seen them on tv though. In fact, we have not watched fireworks outdoors and in-person since the Sydney New Year's Eve celebration. The Chicago fireworks were not the best we had ever seen, but they were well worth the price of admission. There were times when we "oohed" and "aahed" and Kinnier got really giddy because he loves fireworks. We have been trying to take advantage of city life this year, though we say it every year. So far, so good. We have run throughout the city, we have gone to museums, and we have visited the farmers market almost every week, which we also did this week.

When things are going your way, everything seems brighter. We are feeling fit and have a lot of energy on a daily basis. We went to bed much later than usual, but we would definitely like to see the fireworks again. To quote Bill Pullman's carnation of the President:

We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're
going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence
Day!

Well, that might be over-dramatic, but we are loving the training, and no shin splits or patella tendinitis will keep us from reaching the finish line in Amsterdam.

Statistics:
Distance: 5.0 miles
Start Time: 6:36 p.m.
Time: 0:51:29
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Maximum HR: 153
Average HR: 140
Days until Race: 103