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.