Saturday, June 4 was the Renegade Trail 10k. It's been about 6 weeks now, so I'll do my best to remember it!
I set out early-ish for Palatine, as and soon as I left our garage I noticed the tire pressure light was on. Great! So I stopped at the first gas station I came to and filled the one low tire. I then began wishing and wishing that it wouldn't give me any more trouble, as I would be driving a bit of a distance, and on the expressway. Thankfully, it stayed fine until the next day.
After a dreary spring, the weather was abruptly warm and humid. My legs felt pretty good, but my lungs were not enjoying the trip. After an age group award-winning finish in a previous series race without really trying, I actually wanted to put a little effort into this race. The course was enjoyable, with some hills, plenty of mud, and a bit of crushed limestone. There was also plenty of shade, which really helped my comfort level.
I started out in the middle-to-back, as usual. Maybe if I did more warming up before races I'll feel better about starting in the middle, but I'm always afraid of using too much energy up. And psychologically, I feel better about picking people off as I go, rather than the other way around. I finished in 55:21, and my Garmin suggested that the course was a bit short.
After I finished, I got my water bottle and Nuun tablet from the car and headed to the picnic shelter for water. I had a banana and a bagel. I hung out for a bit, feeling kind of good about my time, so I thought I'd wait for the awards. After a couple of delays, they announced that there was trouble with the timing system, and that they'd try to have results online by midnight. They announced the first male and female finishers. I hit the road, as we had a soccer game to get to, and I needed to pick up trophies and photos for P's team.
I bought gas and jumped back onto the highway, where traffic suddenly slowed and stopped. I was sad to see a half-burned white Thunderbird to the side of the road as I passed and the fire trucks were leaving as I approached. I'm no good at identifying years of old cars, but it had fins, and I think it was a convertible. I imagined a 60-something man somewhere was feeling pretty sad then. I hope no one was hurt. Traffic cleared, and I arrived at home with enough time to run to the bathroom while the guys loaded up for soccer. Away we went to the rest of our hot and busy day.
Race results didn't appear for another few days. The organizers sent an e-mail apologizing for not being able to provide times, and said they'd mail the plaques. I looked up the results, and finished 4th in my age group--no plaque for me, but I still had a great time.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Where have I been? And where am I going?
So, I just got around to finishing my Bike the Drive post. And I'm getting ready to do my Renegade Trail 10k post, a month after the fact. I certainly have had breaks in posting in the past, and I'm sure I will again, but I went into a bit of a tailspin last month and am now just getting myself back on track, workout-wise.
On Tuesday, 6/7, we got an offer on our condo. After roughly two years and three months on the market, an offer! After a bit of haggling, we gladly accepted. About six weeks before this happened, T got the word from his work that they wanted us to move to Colorado. We didn't know whether it was possible without selling our place, and tried to figure out how we could make it work. Right when I'd really lost hope, the offer arrived. Since then, it seems like our lives have been kind of a surreal and busy time. School ended. We told the boys we likely would be leaving Chicago in the summer, so they had an opportunity to say goodbye to teachers and classmates. The boys went to day camp near my mom's for a week, and T and I flew to Colorado to find a house to rent. Now the kids are attending day camp here, and we've gotten moving estimates this week and signed a lease. Looking back it's gone fast and crazy, but in the moment it feels like every step of the way takes forever, and I've been terrified all along that something will go wrong and the whole thing will fall apart. Everything seems fine--our buyer seems well qualified, and our inspection went fine. The length of time between looking at houses to rent and choosing one and actually signing the lease has seemed glacially slow, but we signed and FedExed it yesterday with our deposit and first month's rent, so I think we're actually getting this done!
I am so happy to be going, but have been keeping myself from getting overly excited in case something doesn't work. I think I'll believe it when we get there. I'm so looking forward to running on trails, but a little worried that altitude and hills will turn me into a jogger or a hiker! I will adapt, but I don't yet know how. More (quite a bit more) to come on this.
On Tuesday, 6/7, we got an offer on our condo. After roughly two years and three months on the market, an offer! After a bit of haggling, we gladly accepted. About six weeks before this happened, T got the word from his work that they wanted us to move to Colorado. We didn't know whether it was possible without selling our place, and tried to figure out how we could make it work. Right when I'd really lost hope, the offer arrived. Since then, it seems like our lives have been kind of a surreal and busy time. School ended. We told the boys we likely would be leaving Chicago in the summer, so they had an opportunity to say goodbye to teachers and classmates. The boys went to day camp near my mom's for a week, and T and I flew to Colorado to find a house to rent. Now the kids are attending day camp here, and we've gotten moving estimates this week and signed a lease. Looking back it's gone fast and crazy, but in the moment it feels like every step of the way takes forever, and I've been terrified all along that something will go wrong and the whole thing will fall apart. Everything seems fine--our buyer seems well qualified, and our inspection went fine. The length of time between looking at houses to rent and choosing one and actually signing the lease has seemed glacially slow, but we signed and FedExed it yesterday with our deposit and first month's rent, so I think we're actually getting this done!
I am so happy to be going, but have been keeping myself from getting overly excited in case something doesn't work. I think I'll believe it when we get there. I'm so looking forward to running on trails, but a little worried that altitude and hills will turn me into a jogger or a hiker! I will adapt, but I don't yet know how. More (quite a bit more) to come on this.
Bike the Drive
Sunday, 5/29, was Bike the Drive, an opportunity to ride a bike on Lake Shore Drive without cars. I'd say it's an annual opportunity, but a person probably could've taken a bike out on LSD after the blizzard before it was open to traffic in February. One can also bike on Lake Shore Drive as a participant in the Chicago Triathlon, but there are cars on it then as well.
Sunday morning was cool, foggy and misty. My plans for taking cool photos of the downtown skyline and landmarks and miles of car-free bikes-only LSD was thoroughly foiled, but I did take a few pictures.
I wasn't sure whether I could ride the whole distance, not having ridden more than 10 or so miles at a shot this year. For that matter, I don't know if I'd ever ridden 30 miles before... So I left feeling flexible, and took my el card with me in case of a disastrous change in weather or just wearing out 15 miles from home. It actually was just fine. I started at Bryn Mawr, the northern rest area/entry point, went at a leisurely pace, stopped at the rest area set up downtown for a snack and some air, and continued to the Museum of Science and Industry. There I got some more food (they had Oreos!) and hit the port-a-potty. On my way back, I stopped by Soldier Field for a foggy picture of the stadium with a UFO parked in it (or is that the Love Boat?).
The fog was a little less dense down south, but it misted on and off throughout the ride. I decided that rather than exit at Lawrence and go home that I'd go all the way to the northern turnaround at Hollywood so I could say I did the whole thing. Then I headed for home, pretty well soaked by that time. My legs felt tired, but surprisingly (to me) decent! I am accustomed to a multi-hour outing of exercise to result in some pain, but that really didn't happen to me. My legs definitely felt tired the next couple of times I ran, but I got to experience the appeal of low-impact endurance exercise.
Sunday morning was cool, foggy and misty. My plans for taking cool photos of the downtown skyline and landmarks and miles of car-free bikes-only LSD was thoroughly foiled, but I did take a few pictures.
I wasn't sure whether I could ride the whole distance, not having ridden more than 10 or so miles at a shot this year. For that matter, I don't know if I'd ever ridden 30 miles before... So I left feeling flexible, and took my el card with me in case of a disastrous change in weather or just wearing out 15 miles from home. It actually was just fine. I started at Bryn Mawr, the northern rest area/entry point, went at a leisurely pace, stopped at the rest area set up downtown for a snack and some air, and continued to the Museum of Science and Industry. There I got some more food (they had Oreos!) and hit the port-a-potty. On my way back, I stopped by Soldier Field for a foggy picture of the stadium with a UFO parked in it (or is that the Love Boat?).
The fog was a little less dense down south, but it misted on and off throughout the ride. I decided that rather than exit at Lawrence and go home that I'd go all the way to the northern turnaround at Hollywood so I could say I did the whole thing. Then I headed for home, pretty well soaked by that time. My legs felt tired, but surprisingly (to me) decent! I am accustomed to a multi-hour outing of exercise to result in some pain, but that really didn't happen to me. My legs definitely felt tired the next couple of times I ran, but I got to experience the appeal of low-impact endurance exercise.
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