But alas, I had things to do, places to go and miles to run! Today marked the beginning of my first coaching stint...I'm volunteering with USA/Chicago Fit as an assistant marathon coach. Pretty sweet, huh! I had to be at Montrose and the lake at 8:00 a.m. (literally one block from my old condo), so I set the alarm for 5:45 and hit the road at 6:30.
Holy crap, it was windy. I got downtown, one Poptart and a bottle of water later, and froze my ass off. I actually got there early, so I roasted a little in the car with the heater on full blast, then went out to the meeting spot once I saw peeps gathering. It was a small group today, but it's supposed to be larger next week. Jeff is the organizer and big cheese. We had to run 3 miles to determine what pace group each person will fit into, and that was pretty much it for the day. The Lakefront Path was packed, and I mean packed. Everyone and their mother was out there with a training group and none of them knew the first dang thing about path etiquette. Run on the right, pass on the left folks! There were also a bunch of kids out there for something, not sure what. But I am sure that they have never run in an organized setting before. They were all over the place, walking, running, sprinting, suddenly halting in the middle of the path directly in front of you, causing one to swerve and roll their ankle. But, I digress.
I think I'm going to like this whole coaching thing. It'll be a good challenge, and a great base-builder for my training :) So, after our little 3-mile skip down the path and a quick group chat, I hopped in the car and made my way back to my new favorite spot, 40 Acre Woods, in Palos Hills. What? You didn't think I was going to call it a day at 3 miles, did you? The wind died down and the sun was battling with the clouds to come out and play. It finally did and it felt great. The woods were beautiful today, even greener than last time. Not a whole lot of action on the trail, but I did run into a few bikers, hikers and couples out running. And a lot of horse shit. Literally. We share the trail with horses so there's evidence of them all over the place :)
The yellow loop is 8.something miles and I had originally only planned on 10 miles, but Chili Pepper Mike made me feel guilty for not having a long enough long run prior to Pineland Farms 50M in two weeks (and next weekend would be too late to do a long run), so I opted to do the loop twice and knock out 20 miles for the day. Why not! It was kinda tough, out there alone without any distractions...no iPod, no running partner, noone else to laugh at my jokes...but I did come across a deer (a doe?)...!
Coming around the toboggan slides, there's a little bit of limestone singletrack that brings you back into the canopy of trees and woodland. It made me think of Maine :)
A great day. I had some Chinese food with my mom and Richard for dinner. I ate A LOT, and way beyond being satiated :) I can't resist perfectly fried crab rangoon, I just can't.
A bunch of my CUR's ran the Ice Age Trail 50M today and I'm so happy for them all!! Lots of stellar finishes and I can't wait to hear all the stories from the trail. Mike had what I like to call a 'character building' experience at the Wapack 50M in Massachusetts. Trust me, his race report is going to be epic. All this 50-miler mumbo jumbo had me wishing I was partaking in one this weekend, but all in good time :) Pineland Farms is a measly two weeks away!!! I can't decide what I'm more excited about...Maine, another rockin' 50M, Camp Atayne, the ultra dome in all its glory, or more cowbell!
Crash, out.
4 comments:
No jokes or sly remarks from me today. Way to go Paige! Loved the report, loved the pictures, and absolutely loved that you got this one last long run in before Pineland. My race report is for sure going to be epic - the hard part will be choosing a title fitting of this weekends ultra tomfoolery.
Beautiful pics, Paige! Love the flowers. Looks like a great trail.
Way to be tough and get in a long, solo run. And nice legs! (Can I say that? :) )
Wow, no sly remarks?! Tomfoolery, love it.
Thanks, David and Mike!
Wow, good for you on your Palos long run! Thanks for sharing the pictures -- it definitely looks greener out there, love this time of year.
Sounds like you will have a great time coaching, looking forward to hearing more stories along the way about that. It's fun to witness marathon newbies hit those "first" milestones.
Have a great time in Maine in a couple weeks!
-Kelly
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