The Number 23

We ran the Banco Popular Chicago Half Marathon on Sunday and that's not all. As background, we registered for the half marathon to get some experience in a long-distance race prior to the marathon. We later discovered that it was the same weekend as our longest training run of twenty-three (23) miles. In a decision equal parts wisdom and foolishness, we decided to kill two runners with one stone, or so the saying goes, by running the half marathon and ten (10) more miles on top of that.

The race was a completely different experience than our previous training runs. Running on the actual Lakeshore Drive was also pretty cool. The spectators cheered us on in many places despite the terrible weather and the music was lively (although the selection of "Rock Me like a Hurricane" may have been poorly timed.) Worse than the weather was that we had to run without our pace group, who have become so important to us. Their friendship and support has meant a lot and really brought joy to the hours of running. We particularly feared the challenge of staying mentally strong and occupied without the jokes, stories and conversation of a dozen friends. Ultimately, we'd be without them in Amsterdam so we figured we should lose the crutch. As a surrogate, we had the crowds, at least for part of it. Those crowds included our friend, Lindsay, with whom we have been meaning to get together for a while, and the fantastic AIDS Marathon staff (Beth, Steve, Dan, Darren and many others) who appeared at different points on the course and screamed louder than anyone. In addition, our bib numbers came with our names pre-printed so strangers called our names (e.g. "Go, Caesar! Viva la Mexico!" with some Spanish accent) and gave us high-fives.

Mother Nature vented (figuratively and literally), raining on us for the full twenty-three (23) miles. In fact, the festival area at the start and finish was partially flooded. We finished the 13.1 miles soaked but feeling great. The finish line "celebration" was truly bittersweet without our pace group, but it's part of our journey (figuratively and soon literally). Running more afterwards was the really hard part -- no crowds cheering, no clear course to follow. Worse yet, the rain was hardest and coldest afterwards, especially during miles 15 to 17. To borrow a phrase from Lost -- Run together; die alone. We'll choose running.

Statistics:
Distance: 23.0 miles
Start Time: 7:30 a.m.
Time: 4:54:13
Temperature at Start: 64 degrees
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Maximum HR: 169
Average HR: 145
Money Raised to Date: $8,430
Days until Race: 35

We are on the home stretch now, which is a reminder that we'll need to stretch more at home. Fortunately, one of the best accessory purchases of Kinnier's life was an Iliotibial (IT) band wrap with compression pad (http://www.injurybegone.com/), which helps reduce the strain that has caused Kinnier so much pain recently. (Discomfort now rendered the later miles difficult but possible.) We've logged more than five hundred (500) miles so far. Sweet Baby!, On that theme, we quote Sweet Baby James (a.k.a. James Taylor):

Won't you look down upon me, Jesus?
You've got to help me make a stand.
You've just got to see me through another day.
My body's aching and my time is at hand. And I won't make it any other way.
* * *
Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun.
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around.
Well, there's [sic] hours of time [in] the [running group] line to talk about things to come --
Sweet dreams and flying machines [to take us to Amsterdam].

Oh, [we]'ve seen fire and [we]'ve seen rain.
[We]'ve seen sunny days that we thought would never end.
[We]'ve seen lonely times when we could not find a friend.
But [we] always thought that [we'd run more again].